Canceled a trip 8 days ahead; or, retirement travel advice?

Congratulations on your retirement. Many years ago I recall looking at the Washington DC cherry blossom festival wishing that for once I could go when it dawned that OMG! I can! I retired from teaching the previous June and this was perhaps the following March and I was still just catching on. It was a self-slapping moment. I did however make it my business to take a trip, any trip, that first September away from school and work. It was amazing to see September somewhere from other than a classroom. Now most major (foreign) travel is April/May and/or Sept/Oct. with driving trips in between, and likely to continue. The freedom to travel at will can be intoxicating. Having no pets any more made it dangerous. Congratulations again.

Hank,

I had somehting sort ofsimilar happen to me. To abbreviate the story, there was a reason for me to delay planning my next trip until Christmas when 3 of us would be in the same room. The next trip will likely be May. I certainly could plan a great trip in 5 months, but I will enjoy it more if I have 10 months. This really is my favorite part of the trip.

Congratulations on your retirement.

I am fully retired but I have budget constraints.

I do not travel anywhere in the summer or around the holidays. I do not want to deal with the crowds (and sometimes the chaos) at the airport and the popular tourist destinations. .

I do not want to deal with being a tourist in the heat. I live in Austin, Texas but I do not sightsee in 90 plus degree weather. I stay home until 7 pm except when it is necessary to go out in the daytime.

Travel is more expensive in the summer and around holiday periods. Being on a tight budget, I prefer traveling during time periods that are less expensive.

So to you my friend, I suggest avoiding travel in the summer and around the major holidays. You have fall, winter and spring to travel. Use the summer to plan your travel for the other seasons.

Thank you all for the congratulations and the tips!

I didn't think about the cheaper thing, but I certainly don't hate cheaper. I have found locally that mountain areas are cheap in fall - summer hiker's gone, winter skiers not there yet. You're a little nugget of advice now. Has me thinking about a drier part of the Austrian Alps in October. :). Thanks

Other retirees - any advice or anecdotes for how to adjust your travel to an endless(ish) open schedule?

My one piece of advice: be very careful when scheduling your regular repeating medical / dental appointments, try to cluster them in months (and in the same one or two week period in that month) when you are least likely to travel. For example, I have upcoming eye, dermatologist, and primary care appointments in August, a month we quit traveling in 21 years ago after suffering during an extremely hot summer in Europe...the above also applies to your spouse or significant other, if you travel together, get on the same page on the appointment timing.

We love to travel from October to December, and also April/May...we keep those months as clear as possible of appointments and other social entanglements...

Congrats to you, from a now one-year retired person. Like you, an endless open schedule was a bit perplexing after a busy 31 year career with few moments of respite. I'm following this post for advice for when I can travel again (needing to be home now for family medical reasons). Already a genius suggestion about medical appointment scheduling!

Yes, good call batching medical and other commitments. Smart.

So wise to abandon an August trip since you no longer need to travel then!

We like to go to Europe (usually Italy) for 30+ days in winter and early spring. We also now put ourselves several hours onto Europe time to avoid what used to be a week or more of bad jet lag --- even a couple of hours helps. Be sure to shift your meal times, not just sleep times. Anyway, give it a try now that you can!

Travel is more expensive in the summer and around holiday periods.

Not necessarily. It depends on where you are going.

I head out next week for a trip to mostly central/northern England and Eastern Scotland. It's cheaper at my selected hotels than in the spring.

As for medical.....early January is when I cluster all of my yearly doctor's appointments and get new prescription script (with renewals for the entire year.). I also need to go back every three months for prescription renewals so I might pop into to see a doctor or my dentist for a cleaning while there.

Besides that, you're free to do whatever you want for however long you want.

Once you're retired, you can keep saying to yourself...."there's no school tomorrow."

As a recent (1 year) retired educator, I am still almost daily reminding myself that I am not on "summer vacation" and I don't have to get home projects completed before September. Last summer I was still sorting through materials and helping organize adjunct materials so I didn't feel like I had a first retirement summer. Becoming more active in this forum has helped to develop an excitement with the planning process.

Enjoy!

Other retirees - any advice or anecdotes for how to adjust your travel
to an endless(ish) open schedule?

Today, go as much as you can as often as you can. Unfortunately, you may not be able to go tomorrow.

Hank, welcome to retirement!

I certainly enjoyed not having to count up the number of days I could use for a trip to Europe once I retired. It’s very nice to have the flexibility to fly any day of the week instead of planning around trying to add the extra weekend days on both ends.

I spend a tremendous amount of time planning a trip because the planning part is a large portion of the fun for me. Being retired, I like to make it my “day job” during the winter months, ; ). My home office has several canvas prints of past trips on a wall for added inspiration!

When we both retired, we added an extra week to our typical February trips to Hawaii. This year, we added even more time when the February trip was spent in southern Spain. We liked that length and location so well that I reserved places for 2025 once we returned. That extra time is exactly as you describe it. There’s much less feeling that every day must be packed & maximized. They can be enjoyed, spontaneous & a chance to explore more local activities.

Another aspect I wouldn’t have considered while working was the chance to take a second trip the same year. My plans this year were our February trip to Spain, my solo month in southern Italy in May, and a week-long art class in Orvieto in September with an extra week afterwards in northern Italy. So, retirement can give you a chance to explore your favorite hobbies while on vacation, too.

I love this topic! I retired several months ago, but have found I'm bored too often. Most of my friends still work, so I have too much time alone, so much in fact that I'm thinking of going back to work part time. One thing I wonder about is how do people feel about leaving their houses empty for long periods of time. I've not traveled more than 2 1/2 weeks, but like the idea of a longer, slower trip, but don't know that I feel comfortable just leaving my house empty so long. I have a friend who normally checks on my house and picks up my mail and waters my plants every few days when I travel, but I can't ask her to do that for extended periods of time. The other thing I wonder about is finances. I worked out a retirement budget of course, but what if the market takes a turn for the worse and suddenly there's not enough money. Then again, I want to travel a lot while I'm young enough and strong enough to manage my own luggage and climb all the towers and things like that. I do recognize how fortunate I am to have such problems, but want to manage my decisions in the wisest way possible.

I have no advice or anecdotes to give, as I'm still struggling with this myself, but I am so glad this topic came up.

One thing I wonder about is how do people feel about leaving their houses empty for long periods of time.

It bugs me a lot, particularly in the lead up to the trip, but I do everything I can before the trip (inform neighbors with my phone number for texts/calls, have the mail stopped, have my brother periodically check the house, pay the yard guy to come and do the yard each week, etc)...but I find that once I am on the plane, the stress starts melting away, and by the time I land in Europe, I stop worrying so much. Knock on wood...never had a problem at home.

One limitation of having your mail held by USPS is it is for a maximum of 30 days...the only workaround for that, I assume, is having someone pick up your mail? The longest trip we ever went on was just under 30 days, so I did not have to figure that one out...

workaround for that, I assume, is having someone pick up your mail?

For my longer than 30 day trips, I pay USPS $1.10 to forward my mail. That works for the important stuff that doesn't come electronically. It doesn't work for junk mail. So I still place a hold mail for that. They do work together in that the forwarded mail gets redirected before arriving at my local post office where junk mail gets held.

However, the hold is still only for 30 days. I'm still trying to figure out how to end one hold and start another without the box of junk mail arriving at my door. Last time, a neighbor kindly picked it up.

Right now, I'm hoping my new driver's license is delivered in time because the DMV says that won't get forwarded. And if I don't get it, I get to return to the DMV for a lost license application.

So, I may need a neighbor's help more this time.

For my longer than 30 day trips, I pay USPS $1.10 to forward my mail.

Forward it where? Do you have another address, like a work address or a relative?

The 30 days limit on vacation holds is annoying, but it has worked and will continue to work for our lifestyle and travel choices of being gone, at most, a month at a time.

We also have everything "important" e-delivered (bank, CC, brokerage, etc), but there are one offs (like your drivers license) and occasional really important pieces of mail that we have no control over the delivery or the timing of that delivery.

One thing I wonder about is how do people feel about leaving their houses empty for long periods of time.

I guess I'll tell my "horror" story of leaving my house semi-alone. I was gone for 3 months, which I only felt comfortable doing because good friends were planning to stay at my house for about a month in the middle. Thankfully, my friend was checking the outside of the house each day because one day she discovered a leaky sprinkler pipe which turned into a pond and then a bubbling stream.

It took a while to get the water turned off at the meter, which ran up a $1500 water bill. (The water company reimbursed half, per policy.)

So, what to do to minimize that risk? I can't turn the water off at the meter if I need the sprinklers to run. I can turn the water off to the house, but that wouldn't have solved the location of this leak, which was on the separate sprinkler pipe.

I bought a water flow meter, which wraps around the water meter and detects unusual flow activity, alerting me on an app on my phone so that I could alert a neighbor And now, as part of my pre-trip planning, I pay my gardener to come weekly to check the sprinkler system for leaks.

That still leaves a window of time for a leak .... but that could happen even if I'm away for just a few days. There is only so much you an do.

Hank, I foresee you taking three weeks off next July, in France, and chasing Le Tour. Or maybe you’ll be riding the route each morning ahead of the race, then sticking around the finishing area to mingle with your fellow riders. After the Tour wraps up, head somewhere else.

P.S. Really sorry to see that your Tour de France thread got locked. That didn’t seem necessary.

P.P.S. Our first trip to Ireland, in June 2011, was done by bicycle, starting in Galway, riding a narrow road full of Swiss tour busses (on the “wrong” side of the road in pouring rain, then ferries to the Arran Islands, then returning to the mainland, working down the coast to Dingle and beyond. Except for one B&B with a cooking school, and a thatched-roof stone cottage in Dingle, everything else was seat-of-the-cycling-shorts decide where to put up for the night (or a few nights), and winging it. Heavy rental bikes, loaded down with all our clothing, and one additional downpour day, which sidelined us until we’d dried out. That was before full retirement.

P.P.P.S. We’re both retired now, and post-Pandemic, have taken a number of 5-6 week trips, mostly late spring and in the fall (Mud Season in the mountains at home - no hiking or skiing). Any longer and I miss my cats just too much to be away. We’ve gone so much that we don’t have enough frequent flyer miles to use for another trip, so the next one won’t be happening before 2025. Income is less when retired, so just buying plane tickets and paying for several weeks of lodging isn’t as feasible.

@KRS I feel your challenges. I didn't work for 1 year after I retired and I had way too much time on my hands. I'm a retired teacher so there was an easy solution for me. I started substitute teaching a day or two a week. I love being with the students, I have none of the other headaches of teaching, and I decide when and where I work. I'm basically a day laborer and I love it!
One hobby (teaching) helps pay for the other hobby (traveling). I also volunteer at my church's foodbank. I guarantee there are volunteer opportunities around for you.

I agree that one of the other biggest challenges in retirement is balancing doing the high priority items while you can and making sure that you have resources for the far future. The biggest trick is that no one can predict the future. I think you set up a plan to the best of your ability (which you have) and then you just go forward with life. Long before I retired I already had a monthly expense in my budget called "travel fund". I still put an amount aside each month for travel. If the economy tanks, if my health fails, etc, I may need to stop that budget line, but until then it remains.

Forward it where? Do you have another address, like a work address or a relative?

I have my mail forwarded to my parents. I take my dog to them while I travel, so I can collect forwarded mail before and after each trip.

You could also forward to a trusted neighbor. But you still have to deal with junk mail, which doesn't get forwarded, through a separate hold mail. I'm currently coordinating with a neighbor to file 2 consecutive holds and have them pick up the first.

A post office box is also an option, though I've never done that.

We have a trip coming up next year that will be just a bit over 30 days. If we don't have someone actually staying at the house to take care of the cat--and so bring in the mail--I'm planning on having the mail delivered the first few days of the trip and then held for 30 days. This will work for us since we live in a condo complex and have mail delivered to a locked box, and I figured I would mention it as a possible solution for anyone with the same type delivery situation. We get so little mail these days that 3-4 days of mail fits easily in the box, effectively giving us a 33-34 day hold on the mail.

44 days until my retirement and I'm looking forward to spontaneous changes to my travel schedule. One thing I've always dreamt of is spur of the moment flights when the temperature drops drastically. For example, in January its been known to drop to -30C for a week or two. I'll have the freedom to look for the best deal and go; LA, San Diego, heck there are direct flights to London and Paris that time of year if I want. I'll miss the planning, but I'll miss the sub zero temperature less.

For adjusting to retirement in general, this is what I did:

A few months before I was going to retire (the first time), I created a list with different categories, such as Family, Volunteer, Friends, Continued Learning, Hobbies, Travel, etc. Then I listed everything I could think of for specific things that might interest me or something I always wanted to do but didn’t have the time. I printed it out and stored it in my home office - just in case I became bored with too much time and wondering what to do.

By the time I retired 18 months later (my company offered me a 3-month sabbatical and a part-time schedule to stay longer), it was a smooth transition into retirement. I pulled out that list two years later, and most of those items have been what I’ve been doing.

Now that I just wrote this and am proofreading it, it might be wise to take my own advice and make a new list over the next few months for this new stage of my life without my husband.

I have retired about 50 times. Actually sending clients off to "retirement" and I'm facing my own personal evolution in the coming year. Here are observations and tips I have discovered and implemented throughout years of experience:

1. prep for "retirement" 5 years prior to the big day. Develop hobbies, get active in things you like to do. Have something planned--like a trip. There may be an event- a reorg, a change- that accelerates that final day of work. Be prepared and ready to move on at anytime.
2. Give yourself permission to live your life.
3. Travel as much as you want. You never know when a health issue will impact ability to travel. Also, what about another pandemic or world event?
   
4. Have a retirement income strategy. Understand what you can safely withdraw from investments, have money buckets for fixed costs and another for discretionary items. This gives you confidence to travel and do fun things.
5. Know what you spend. I cannot tell you how many times people underestimate what they truly need. In addition account for taxes.
   
6. Have a social network and friends.
   
7. Focus on the future and let go of the titles, duties, etc. This is probably the toughest and biggest challenge to the ego. Find ways to stay relevant-- I think this prevents a depression that occurs when people feel invisible or written off after leaving the work world.
   

jkh,
I now have your quote on a post-it as a reminder while wondering if we should take another trip so soon:

Today, go as much as you can as often as you can...you may not be able to go tomorrow.

let go of the titles, duties, etc. This is probably the toughest and
biggest challenge to the ego. Find ways to stay relevant

As the big day gets closer, this is the hardest to let go.

Another school system retiree, 4 years this past July 1. Since it was still Covid, I spent the first year cleaning out closets, drawers, and nooks & crannies. I’m still cleaning things out, I just do it in January and February when it is dark and gloomy.
I did panic that first September, did I do the right thing, did I retire too early, 28 years/63 years old), is my replacement up to par (I couldn’t train her like I wanted to cause of Covid). Of course all my worrying was for nothing, in fact I had lunch with my replacement today, we have kept in touch.
And, we are traveling like crazy, crazy good! It’s GO TIME! Last year we traveled to Egypt/Jordan/Israel in March for 3 weeks; Paris/London in May for 3 weeks; a family Disney cruise in August; and Croatia with friends in October for 4 weeks.
This year was Norway/Netherlands for 3 weeks in May; Family wedding in Denver end of July; then Croatia/Italy/Camino/Portugal starting August 14 for 7.5 weeks, then another family Disney cruise in November. Retirement with good health and extra funds is a blessing. But we also understand it can all change on a dime. We do not take any day for granted. We try to keep active, watch what we eat, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke, etc.
So, don’t sweat the small stuff as the saying goes. Book, cancel, plan, go last minute, it’s all good.

I'm planning on having the mail delivered the first few days of the trip and then held for 30 days.

We have never been able to find anyone who will stay at our home to look after our macaw. So we have the expense of daily visits from a pet nanny. It works out great because she's really good with all of my indoor plants and will bring in the mail if needed.

It's almost always best to hold the first 30 days of mail because there is a 10 day period in which to pick up mail when the hold period ends. Otherwise I'd rather have the first 30 days held and then have the nanny pick up the rest just to cover any delays getting home. But that 10 day limit makes that difficult.