Traveling in retirement-how is it different?

I retired a few years ago. I always traveled in the spring and fall, which hasn't changed. My trips have become longer - not bounded by vacation limits - to spread the cost of the flight over more days in Europe. With the extra time, I have both increased the number of places I visit on a trip and the length of time I spend at each destination. Whereas previously I might have visited my Tier 1 list of sights, now I make time to visit my Tier 2 and Tier 3 sights. I also allow much more time for wandering, and long-lazy lunches or dinners.

Rather than extend my trip into summer months, I will split it into two trips. I have more time to shop for flights, and flexibility on the days I fly. I can lengthen my trip to take advantage of a cheap airfare day. So the cost of 2 flights hasn't really doubled over the cost of flights when I had more constraints.

I just retired this January (at age 60 which is early in the US with my official retirement age where I can draw retirement is 67), but with the issues the world has been having I have not done a lot of traveling.

The little travel I did do this year was at a much more relaxed pace than previously. I had nowhere I needed to be when I got back from my trips, so no stress with delayed or cancelled flights. If I wanted to stay a couple extra days, as long as the airline had openings I just moved my return.

I did have a two month schedule of back to back tours set up for Europe and then a month in Hawaii. All of which got cancelled. The multiple tours in Europe is a cost saver for me since that means I only needed to pay for one air ticket vs. previously where each tour required me to fly on separate tickets.

My only issue would be carrying enough of my prescription meds for the longer trips, especially those requiring refrigeration. I guess I will find out how that all works for me when I start traveling again.

Vastly more time available. Less money. But to some extent time can substitute for money.

I've been spending about 4-1/2 months in Europe each summer. I do find I begin to run out of gas the last few weeks, but I think that's because of the shorter days, something that doesn't bother most people. I don't worry about whether I'm using every last minute of every day, and I spend a lot of time in smaller cities than the typical tourist, just enjoying the different architecture and food.

I'd urge you to travel as much as you can, as early as you can. Even if your basic health is fine, as mine is at 68, there's a good chance physical annoyances will crop up that make travel somewhat more difficult. For example, I weighed my medications before heading out on my last trip, and they totaled over 6 lb.

Allan, you are Canadian. Have you no thoughts to snowbird somewhere for winter? Maybe this winter, as we most likely still need to quarantine on our return home, maybe you better develop some at home hobbies.
Kidding aside, does your work offer pre retirement counseling?
I am still a strong advocate of having hobbies and social spheres that can last well past travelling years.
I retire November 2021. Once family Christmas is done, I am hitting a few SE.Asia for 3 months.

I'm a huge advocate for retiring as soon as you possibly can - you'll find many ways to stay as busy (or even busier) than you are while you're still working.

Now that we're retired, my husband and I are more leisurely travelers than we were when we were working - and we have more flexibility in scheduling so that we can plan for travel during off-peak times. Also, we can be more spontaneous if we find an especially good airfare.

We typically plan for a destination in Europe in the spring and fall - each about one month in length for each - six week trips are a bit long for us. We try to avoid one or two night stays and spend 3-5 nights in each stop - we try to build some flexibility into an itinerary so we can stay longer if we like a place.

For winter travel we look for a something in a warmer climate for mid-January to mid-February. Two years in a row, we've rented an apartment in Chiang Mai, Thailand and spent one month there. This year we rented an apartment in Malta.

In between, we travel domestically - these are shorter trips. There are many places in the U.S. that we'd like to explore.

We have volunteer activities that we enjoy when we're not traveling so we are very content. Looking forward to a time when we feel safe getting back on a plane again.

Best wishes!

Before Covid I found that we traveled much less than when I was was working. On the UK railways I had 28 days holiday a year, 1 week in spring, 2 together in summer and 1 week in autumn/winter. It was all rostered on a rotating roster (everything alternated early and late each year, and moved down a week) so unless you swapped you took the rostered time. We used to travel for at least the spring leave and the summer leave, and usually not the winter leave, or a least just around England. In addition I got 20 application days to take to pad out holidays, extend long weekends, go to appointments, etc.

Since everything was rostered we pretty much had to plan a bit and go when it was time. And we did.

I've been retired just over 2 years now and our travel is way down, even before the virus. As we get older one or both of us tend to get sick or have illnesses or aches and pains so sometimes we just don't want to go. But mostly I am much busier than I ever was when I was getting to work at stupid o'clock and working an 11 or 12 hour day. Once you are retired there are all sorts of jobs needing doing and word gets around that you are a potential volunteer. Now we don't go if it is too cold or too hot, or too much traffic, or too wet because there is always next week or next month, but the same happens again. Sometimes we just don't feel like it. We still go, but because it isn't scheduled we are easier to disuade. I'm probably spoiled because the Channel is just 3 hours away by car, and it then only 35 minutes in the tunnel to France, and as frequent travelers we buy tickets in carnets and we don't have decide on an actual crossing until 24 hours ahead. And we never get hotels until we have decided on the crossing .

I'm probably unique on these Forums, but that's me, and you did ask an open question.

I am retired and I basically travel full time. Or at least I did until you know what hit us. I'm in my early 60's.

My trips are usually divided into three month segments. (I can only get a 90 day supply of my prescriptions.) Three of the four segments are usually spent outside the U.S. One is spent in the U.S. and mostly relaxing....and planning.

I travel slower, take my time, plan in rest days. I have been known to find an extended stay type hotel in some areas and hunker down for a week or more. That allows me to hit the local markets rather than have to eat in restaurants every day. I don't worry about filling the time every day as there is plenty to see. But without being rushed, I can have that second cup of coffee or an afternoon nap withouth feeling that I am wasting time

One thing I do, that many people here are against, is to look for chain hotels that offer points. I use those points for free rooms and airfares. And being top tiered in these frequent stay/flyer programs mean I get free upgrades, free food, better treatment. I combine that with the use of branded credit cards and the points rack up. The hotel credit cards usually come with one free night and the cost of the room is more than the annual fee of the card. I should also mention that to keep my costs down, I sold most of my stuff and got rid of my home. Whatever was left went into a small storage unit.

I have to admit that even after three months, I'm sad boarding the plane back to the U.S.

What an interesting question, Allan, and leading to fascinating responses. It’s so cool to hear about people’s different approaches.

I retired 5 years ago aged 51. When working, I had 2 main holidays abroad a year, each of 2-3 weeks duration (I had 6 weeks paid leave each year). Since then, I tend to travel for at least a month per trip. We travel independently, not on tours and stay in cottages, not hotels.

The last trip before Covid was 4 nights in Dubai then onto Sri Lanka for a month of wildlife watching and cultural sites. This would have been a 3 week trip if I was still working and would have been more rushed. I had to cancel 7 weeks in France this May/June. The only week long trips we take are winter city breaks.

Winter is the most difficult time to fill, when it’s cold and wet and the days are short at home. We are intending to undertake Southern Hemisphere travel at this time plus we usually have a 4-6 week trip to the Canary Islands for some winter sun.

We now travel in May/June and September/October rather than in peak season, which is much cheaper for flights, car hire, airport parking and accommodation. We are flexible on flight dates so as to obtain the best price and rarely fly over the weekend.

We have far more time to plan trips than we had when we were working, so we get more out of each trip.

Wife and I were going to retire after one more semester, but the virus led us to bail early. So, here we are, retired, and looking very much forward to traveling once a vaccine is available. We're looking at spending a good part of the winter away from Maine--birding in AZ, CA, TX, or Central America, or visiting someplace warm abroad like Portugal, Greece, or Morocco. We'll go to Europe in the fall, though this will be a trade-off relative to the gorgeous fall colors in New England. One thing we probably won't do is go to Europe during the summer, since it is too hot for us. In fact, even Maine has been (very unusually) uncomfortable this July, and I will try to talk Sandy into hanging out in Newfoundland if we get similar hot spells in the future. In general it is fantastic to be retired; job silliness is simply no longer there.

I am 69, Sandy is 64, so the clock is ticking. But we are doing all we can--and that is a lot--to stay functional for a good while. I hope and expect to travel into my 80s, and will certainly need to if I'm to visit anywhere near all the places on my list, which grows steadily.

I retired 2 years ago.

My wife and I travel to E 1x/2years. We do not do tours. We use cheap hotels.

Retirement means that I can no longer travel partially supported by my employer. That means that trips will increase in price.

Here are some things to consider:

1) Hostels sound forbidding - people with rings in their tongues arguing about Flaubert at 2 AM. But many hostels have separate rooms, can be quite reasonable, and expose you to young persons.

2) Consider 2-3 M trips.

3) There are limits on the upper age to rent cars. So get in the habit of NOT RENTING CARS. The RS forum has many tales of woe about people who got tickets MONTHS after returning for hundreds of dollars. Take public transportation.

4) Realistically, you have about until the older person is 80. For my wife and myself, that is 9-10 years. So we will see about actually living in either Croatia or Serbia in 2 years after my mother passes.

5) We use the Chase Sapphire Card. We accumulate points until our trips. Airfare is covered by the points. Our last trip from Sioux Falls, SD to Athens and back cost $2.81.

I'm probably unique on these Forums, but that's me, and you did ask an
open question.

Nigel, an open ended question was on purpose, I definitely didn't want yes or no answers. Thanks for your input.

Maria, being a snowbird isn't for me. I still play hockey twice a week and tell my wife I'm not leaving home in winter because I don't want to miss playing. There's an 80+ league in Calgary that I have my eyes on 24 years from now. I do look forward though to spontaneous flights to Southern California in January and February for a week or so when the cold snaps hit and the temperature stays at -30.

Over 80 hockey. Excellent plan, Allan.
Sign up for emails from whatever airline is left for Canadians, check prices at a whim or utilize SellOffVacations dot com charter flights to somewhere fun.
I don't think Canadians have any card as good as the US points CCs....unless you were a high flyer with fancy gold cards. I am envious.

Allan, I just retired July 1, and my husband will retire as soon as he is called back to the Hilton. We are both 63. I had much anxiety before Covid, and that did not help. I almost changed my mind; I was a school secretary and if I didn’t retire, the woman hired as my replacement would have to be excessed and sent to another school, and the 2 Part time people hired for her full time position would also lose their jobs. Anyway, I worried would we have enough to keep us busy, would we be able to maintain our health, and would we have enough money for our trip list. My husband doesn’t worry about any of those things, even though he had a health episode last June. So, we are still getting our feet wet in retirement and trying to figure it all out. Our plan is to go to Europe 2x each year and one other trip around the US. I also want to throw Japan in there somewhere. But, and it is a big but, we have an apartment in Croatia to hang in and reset between smaller trips. We figured we would stay there for 2 months, maybe a few days longer, and train, fly, or drive to other locations for a week or so, or maybe on the way home if it is too far. We also figured we would take our first RS tour - Turkey. Another plan was to not plan so far in advance and take advantage of cheap airfares and off season discounts. Since we always had to travel when the school was closed, I feel we will have this freedom to travel last minute if we want to, to the Christmas markets, festivals we read about, Easter time, etc. I can circle back this time next year and give you more details.
Paul, I’m just curious where in Croatia you would like to retire to and if you have family connections. We go back and forth since my husband has his Croatian passport so it would probably be easy for me to get a long term visa. I just don’t know if I could make that decision with my children/grandkids living here and all my other family - I am one of 8 children - so our family is pretty big and we are very close.

You did not mention any point of interest regarding your preference in terms of where you want to spend your vacation.
I retired when I was 57.  And prior to being a full time retiree  -- we went on short trips to Asia, Europe, South America and Australia. Short trips as in three or four days.
I am now well past my full retirement-qualifying age -- and my wife and I are (thankfully)  in good health.

Other than one or two doctor-prescribed medications . . .we carry over-the -counter meds like seasickness, bloating and headache pills etc.
This last trip that we had,  I lost my knee support . . . which I think I forgot at a hotel in Budapest.  It was really nothing more than a cut-off sock that slips over my left knee.

I found a pharmacy  near our hotel in Munich and saw one displayed near the door entrance.

I went over to the counter and the young girl held me for a lecture  on how to use it.
I thought to myself. . .what could be more complicated than  having to slip a tube- like contraption on your knee. LOL.
I guess pharmacy workers are trained how to treat customers in Germany.

They call pharmacy APOTEC (or apothec) 

A year before I retired--I bought a thirty three-foot motor home. . . complete with all the niceties of a regular home--that I park in my side yard. This came in handy especially  in this day of  Covid.

So, being on lockdown  doesn't make any difference.
We could spend days at the lake or campsite down on the western coast. They were closed for a while but are now open.

European sojourn is no longer on top on my list. . . and besides --visiting cathedrals,  castles and other historical sites and museums  don't give me anymore excitement than when I was in college when I first went on backpacking trip one summer  in Bavaria.

For new entrant like you-- into this nomadic  life style -- it would be exciting.

Enjoy it and good luck.
 

My husband I both retired before 65, comfortable financially but not rich and all debt paid off. Other than our honeymoon, the main traveling we did before retirement was visiting family or work related. We had military careers so the chance for worldwide travel. About 6 years ago we took the plunge and did a European river cruise. The sticker shock for it and the airfare was unnerving. But we had such a great time and realized later "what were we waiting for". We've done 3 more river cruises and two land tours. This year's tour has been resked for 2021. Trips have gotten longer as we learned the hard way that airfare and jetlag are the same for 1 week or 4. For all travel we try to avoid the prime/busiest times like Jul and Aug. Aside from the crowds there is more chance for a heat wave in those months. European A.C. is frequently absent or marginal.

Oh, having the company cover parts of my travel expenses. Forgot to mention that.

I had 5 weeks of vacation as well as 10 government holidays for most of my recent career and that went up to 6 weeks last year, so I was always looking for a way to spend those days off. It was wonderful to be sent somewhere on a business trip and then be able to extend it for 10 days or so of vacation and have the entire round trip air (usually business class!) paid for and to have the corporate travel agency to call when I needed help. That was how I got to take several of the RS tours I went on when they dates lined up in my favor. Also, they paid for emergency air lift coverage in case of severe injury or illness to get me back home as soon as I could travel (luckily never needed that) that covered every trip including ones having nothing to do with work. They also allowed me to ship suitcases at their cost when I extended my work trip so I could swap out my business outfits for more casual vacation clothes. These perks, and the paycheck, are really all I miss about working and will have to remember I no longer have them when I return to full travel mode!

We had a small family business and it wasn’t possible to do much traveling other than in-state and usually no more than 3 or 4 days. My husband passed away before he was able to retire, so I retired early. A few years later, I started to travel internationally which I had never done before, I didn’t even have a passport.

Since then I have been taking international solo trips twice a year. The Longest trip I took was just over 4 weeks. It was a little too long for me. I have taken another long trip and I found out the destination makes a lot of difference as to how well I endure being away from home for so long. My usual trips are 10 days to 2 weeks. I would love to take a few months in the winter some day and take language and cooking classes and really get to know an area. But I have a dog at home. And kids. And grandkids. And my house and bed. I think it would be different if I were traveling with someone I loved. Maybe I wouldn’t miss home as much. I guess I’m a homebody who loves to travel.

Now that my grandchildren are getting older, I have plans to take my oldest grandson on an international trip fall 2021. Cross my fingers and toes that we have this virus under control. I want to instill a love of traveling in all of my grandchildren and decided age 14 or 15 would be a good age to take them, one at a time, if they want to. Some may not want to go, that’s fine. I’ll just travel solo that year. In spring and early summer I’m busy with classes I teach, so I like to take trips in late winter and early fall.

There are a lot of wonderful posts here for you. I hope this has helped. I wouldn’t wait. Retire as soon as you can. Travel as often as you can. Life is short.

Prior to the pandemic, the other thing that limited my travel in retirement is aging pets.

Allan,

As one of my former colleagues remarked, "retire as soon as you can because you can never get the time back." Of course that has to be tempered by the reality of your financial situation.

Prior to retirement, I attended a couple of planning seminars and one of the scenarios they covered was the person who dreams of doing a lot of fishing, spending every day on the golf course or doing a lot of travel either abroad in Europe, on cruises, in a motorhome exploring North America or spending the winter months in the U.S. or Mexico as "snowbirds". Those scenarios don't seem to work out for everyone, and some people end up finding a part-time job at Home Depot (or where ever), as they quickly became bored with their "dream lifestyle" after a few months and find that it's not what they thought it would be. The retirement planners said that many people eventually tire of their "dream" lifestyle after about 10 years or so, and some people find that their retirement income isn't enough to pay for the lifestyle indefinitely, and they have to start cutting back.

I retired at 59 due to circumstances at the time, and was able to get an attractive "package" by retiring when I did. I have absolutely NO desire to play golf or wander around in a motorhome, as travels in Europe is the only thing that appeals to me. I've travelled for up to two months at a time, often using a combination of a RS tour as well as time on my own. I've always travelled solo or with a group for part of my trips and have found that's a good combination for me. I've thought about going right to the 90 day Schengen limit, but have found that two months is about my limit. By that point, I'm getting tired of living out of a backpack, experiencing some "sightseeing fatigue" and also anxious to sleep in my own bed. One other consideration for me is that home and pet care was expensive so the two month limit was about all I could manage. I did one two month trip when I was still working and that required an enormous amount of planning, and another two month trip in the year that I retired.

My interest is strictly in Europe at the moment, and I've never had any desire to explore any "world-wide" locations except for perhaps a relatively close location to get some sun in the winter. I've been to Mexico and have no desire to return there, but have considered Cuba and locations in the Caribbean. I've also enjoyed Hawaii in the past, but won't go back until they get rid of those rip-off "resort fees".

One thing that happens to most people eventually is that new "medical issues" arise at some point and that tends to complicate travel to some extent. With age and pre-existing conditions, the cost of medical insurance increases (sometimes sharply), so that's another good reason to retire early and get as much travel in as you can. I now have some conditions that I didn't have at the time I retired, so I will definitely be paying more for insurance on my next trip. I used to get an annual plan, but will probably have to settle for trip-specific plans from now on.

Of course, COVID-19 has changed the whole picture so my comments here were referring to a "normal" travel situation.

I am in the same situation as several on here. turn 59 later this year, had planned working in a job I enjoyed until maybe 62, but when this hit, I can no longer do my job as well, and did not expect to be able to for some time (I worked with Suppliers to a major Aerospace company). So when offered a generous retirement package, I went for it, all within a few weeks.

I too, will miss the opportunities Corporate travel gave me, at least one trip a year to Europe with easy ability to extend travel for personal use, but also the Airline miles and status that comes with it, plus Hotel and rental car status. However those are small perks in the big picture.

As for travel, Yes, slower travel is in the plan, maybe a month kicking back in Rome or another favorite city. A long list of places we have not gotten to, maybe Asia.

One thing I do not think I see mentioned, is preparing yourself for longer travel. Going for a couple weeks, even just over three was not much of a problem, but we had Adult kids nearby or living with us, so they could watch the house, mow, feed the koi, watch the dogs. However the logistics for going for 2-3 months are a different game, even leaving the dogs with a willing, trusted person for that long is more giving them up for adoption than "dog sitting".

But, in all, retiring earlier, and travelling while we are able, was one of the main factors in deciding to retire...now to just be able to travel.

Allan,
We had already traveled a lot prior to retirement, since we lived overseas. I lived in Germany four years and Saudi Arabia five.

Yet when we retired at 62 (about 10 years ago). We have traveled to all the continents except Antartica. We are still going strong, once COVID-19 is in the rear view mirror.

The key elements to travel were always time and money. When you retire the time issue goes away.

We have nice retirements and saved a good bit for travel. We spend about $20-25K per year on travel. We usually do two overseas trips a year and a couple of trips in country (mostly to visit family). I use my Delta AmEx card for building up sky miles and about half of our overseas trips are paid for with miles.

We have done 20 ocean and 4 river cruises in 10 years. Also, done tours by bus, taken the train as well as on your own, rent a car and go. Good travel requires research and it saves you $$$. You don't need a five star hotel every night. Of course, in a place like Egypt, you want to be in a four or five star hotel due to hygiene and safety.

We always take trips of 3 weeks or more. We have been gone as much as 7 weeks (Flew to Australia, spent time there, then New Zealand, then back to Australia for a Transpacific cruise (23 days including Fiji and Hawaii) ending in Seattle.

When you retire is important, I loved my job and could have kept working longer, but in your early 60s you realize that you aren't going to live forever. I found an internet site on life expectancy and after answering several questions it pegged my life expectancy for age 83, which was 21 years after I retired. I knew that my bucket list of places to visit was long, even thought I had traveled quite a lot. After 10 years, I have done about 2/3 of my bucket list, with still plenty to see. However, even though I am active and in good health, at 72, you do slow down. You must take that into consideration. We did Peru last year and at 71 and Machu Picchu was wonderful, but climbing those steep mountain 500 year old steps at 8500 ft. was strenuous. I wish we had done Machu Picchu earlier.

You will need less money for clothes, gas for your car (no commuting), but you will spend more on medical expenses, just going for checkups.
Figure out how much money you will need to travel like you want every year and try not to retire too early before you have what you need.
You cannot collect SS until 62, but even then, you take a reduction.

The time to travel becomes unlimited once you retire. Our life took on a different structure. Living in Florida meant winter was the best weather and summer we built a cabin in the hills of western NY. Spring and fall became the major time to travel. We plan trips to locations relatively close together so less time on transportation during 3 to 4 week trips. Tour books and the internet make planning much easier today. When you are younger take the most active trips when health is the best. We had fun zip lining, rappelling and white water rafting in Costa Rica 15 years ago. Things slow down as you age, like it or not. We take tours to continents other than Europe. Like others, we but health insurance now. Never considered it at 60. 20 years of traveling has given us a boat load of memories in 75 countries. Financially we are comfortable but plan trips to be economical. The closer to the ground you travel the more you enjoy the people, food and local areas. We like to add an extra day to each locality for “serendipity.”

Based on the comments so far, this group is enjoying their retirements. I'm happy for all of you, and crossing my fingers that I figure it out as well. Our current style of vacation is to go go go. I'm up at 6 or 7 and out the door exploring while my wife gets ready. Then at 8 we're usually out the door and may not come back until late. Rest is something we can do at home. That works for us over a two week holiday, but I'm doubting it works for an extended trip. I really wonder if I'm going to have to change my style.

I love cities and one place I can see myself spending a month would be London, but when I think of the cost of staying there, then I start thinking I may be better of on the outskirts. But then I'm missing what I love about cities; the action and being in the middle of it. I loved my stay in Covent Garden, but is the noise and cost of that location sustainable over a period longer than a week? How about my need to be constantly exploring; can I keep it up for a month? So many thoughts swirling in my mind. I have a good friend who likes to say that experience is something you get 5 seconds after you need it. I guess traveling and retirement is that way, I won't know until I try.

Allan, you asked how is it different.
- no back of the mind pressure to get back to work or to keep up with whats going on by email.

- a simplified life that gives you time to prepare for a trip properly
- a bunch of friends and family who think you're foolish for wasting money you might need for that hip replacement

A lot of the things that impact retirement travel have already been discussed - grandkids, house-sitting, pets, medical issues, elderly parents, etc. We've found that the time and opportunities to travel (especially on short notice, or a special deal) are greater, but the physical stress is a limiting factor. Even the long flight over is becoming increasingly daunting. Two weeks or so, is about all we can handle. I look at it as having around 10 good years for travel left, and want to get in what I can. After that, the easier, shorter trips are going to be the norm. So we have moved to less independent travel, find RS-style tours a good fit, and been willing to pay more for comfort. Travel is your reward for a lifetime of working, so we don't skimp anymore.

As long as you have the financial means to feel comfortable prioritizing travel, I tell friends to travel as much as you can while you can.

Being retired takes much of the pressure of work off you back, but old habits are hard to break. When I set a retirement dater for myself, we booked a trip starting two days later, to force myself to keep the date.

Dont worry about needing to keep busy - your days get filled with small stuff, to the point where you wonder how you got anything done while your working. New things will come along that will catch your interest. One thing I strongly recommend, however, is to start a routine of exercise, so that you dont get sedentary.

Frank II, living the life I am hoping to do when I retire in about 10 - 12 years.

“what to do in retirement....do you travel more?”

I retired two years ago, and my husband retired last year. I had planned to retire in 2017, but my company persuaded me to take a 3-month sabbatical, instead, and the option to reduce to a 32-hour work week for that last year. For me, that was the perfect transition to fully prepare & be excited for real day-to-day retirement. I did create a list of “things to do” in various categories: family, recreational, volunteer, new things to learn, home improvement, etc. so if I was questioning what to do next, I was ready to go! (I only needed to refer to that list a few times.)

Retirement travel pre-Covid
We liked to travel for two weeks to Hawaii or Arizona to escape the winter. After retirement, we extended that to a 3-week trip. The advantage of retirement is that there’s no mental transition from work mode to vacation mode those first few vacation days!

The Europe trips each year were 14-20 days before retirement, and are at least three weeks after retirement. My husband & I have differing ideas of the perfect European vacation & timing. So, we have discussed lots of options and come up with what works best for us. Last year I went to France for a 3-week vacation and my husband joined me for the last seven days. In the future, we’ll probably add another week for both of us - a 4-week trip for me; he comes halfway through the trip. He loves to golf during Spring-to-Fall at home, so this September Europe solution works best for both of us. I tend to go-go during my solo trip, and then when he arrives we slow the pace to 3 plus-night stops. We’re both happy!

Vacations visiting our kids’ families - they’ve asked us to stay longer, so we usually stay about 7-10 days.

We also find that we like to do more 2-night local getaway trips throughout the year to explore our local area.

We always took a 1-week trip to a US state we haven’t visited, yet, and we continue with that plan but make it about a 10-day trip.

So an overall summary is that we tend to add a few more days to all of our trips now, but we also gain the mental feeling of being on vacation earlier in the trip, and our at-home days feel much more like vacation days, too. As an example, yesterday we kayaked with friends all morning and finished with a leisurely outdoor restaurant lunch. We do enjoy being at our home and new area (just moved to Coeur d’Alene area last November), so we don’t feel quite the need to get on an airplane to be in vacation mode. Retirement is wonderful!

I would assume that everyone is little different. For us, retirement travel is high flexibility. It has been almost 15 years. Trips are longer, slower, and with min planning and, of course, no sons. With both of us in education our past travel was limited to academic schedules and summers. Now we travel when we want to and not when we had to. We look for deals and can go on short notice. We boost that if something came up, we could be packed and at the airport in three hours. No house plants to water or dog to feed.

In the past June was our big travel month and now it is more Sep/Oct, Jan/Feb, and Apr/May. We had the good fortune to have retirements programs and investments that provide us with income that triples our working income. So travel funds are not an issue. Our travel plans are mostly independent travel but often include a cruise in the middle. The cruise is our vacation from vacation. We do spend most of Jan and Feb in the Caribbean on various cruises. We learned a long time ago that booking cruises in the Caribbean is far cheaper than renting condos in Florida in the winter. Still doing some skiing so we like to be back in Colorado by late Feb for spring skiing in March, And there are now a few trips that include the granddaughters and our two sons with spouses. In a given year we are traveling around three to four months. Seven years ago we moved to a lock it and leave it condo --- and we do and that helps a lot. We limit our community involvement so that we are free to come and go.

We are now approaching 80 with more sorer knees, back, etc., so I assume we may begin drifting towards organized tours with less physical activity than we have had in the past. But as long as we can lift the bag and walk a few miles we will keep at it. And business class is our savior on the plane.

Hi Allan. I'll start by addressing your latest comments.

I used to be a go go go tourist. There came a time when I began to slow down. For a year or two it really bothered me that I didn't have the energy I once had and I was "wasting" precious time. I have come to embrace it. I find joy in spending an hour or two in the afternoon over a drink at an outdoor table and enjoying the scene around me, watching the changing light on a cathedral façade, or the people passing by, tourists and locals, or seeing the city by from a bus or tram. You'd be surprised how often you can have interesting conversations with people nearby, indoors or out. If you love an early morning coffee drinker you can find yourself sharing the space with the locals at the neighborhood café. I've stopped trying to see stuff every minute - you will never see it all anyway. Instead my goal is to enjoy every minute.

You'll learn what time frame works best for you as you travel more. I dislike everything about the air travel experience, so my trips are for as long as I can manage. I find that 3-1/2 weeks is my limit for a European trip and some are as short as 2 weeks. Like the Europeans on the Forum, I can fly almost anywhere in Europe non-stop in 2-5 hours and relatively low ticket prices. I've taken several trips to SE Asia and one to Australia and New Zealand. Those were all around 5+ weeks to "justify" the long-haul flights, which were all non-stop and usually 8-10 hours. For a lot of people the idea of a weekly "vacation from the vacation" day works well. Plan to have a "recharge" day about once every 7 days. You'll want to get caught up on laundry, shopping for stuff you've run out off, catching up with friends and family or your travel diary. Pick a place where you can enjoy simply being there. When you have more time to spend, you are likely to feel less pressure to rush around.

London is an expensive place, but there are ways to cut costs. I planned a February trip this year for two weeks and found pretty good hotel options for reasonable places to stay in good locations, thanks to help from folks here. In the end, I cancelled the trip for personal reasons unrelated to Covid, but fortuitously it turned out. I travel often in February, occasionally in March. Sure, there are a few things I miss out on, but I get low season hotel rates (expect 30-50% less), uncrowded sights, and see more locals than tourists. The weather in southern Europe (much of Spain and Portugal, some of France, nearly all of Italy) is mild and often sunny. You can't sunbathe but you can enjoy outdoor dining. For example, most of the tourist shops and restaurants on the Amalfi Coast are closed in winter, but Sorrento and Salerno are open year round and there are always empty seats on the buses and no traffic jams. The villages and coastline are just as scenic.

Nearly everyone I know who has retired has found that they don't have as much free time as they expected! Somehow, when you have more time to do stuff, stuff takes longer to do. It's only the last few months that I've found I have too much time, thank you, Virus. I had planned to spend 2 months in the US, staying with friends and family, then spending this month in the final plans for a 3 week fall trip to Europe and another 2-week December trip to Budapest-plus and thinking about a February or March trip.

While I was working here in Israel, I was able to take 2-week trips to Europe about once a year. Then I made a temporary move to the SF Bay Area which turned into 8-1/2 very good years. I flew to Israel 4-5 times, but I decided not to visit Europe - too far and too expensive to fly - knowing it would be so much easier once I was back here at home. In California I was very fortunate to get a job with tons of overtime in busy season and 1-to-1 comp time that I used for frequent 2 and 3 week auto trips all over the west . . . including my first visit to Calgary. For scenic beauty, the North American west beats Europe hands down. I still daydream about drives on the Ice Fields Parkway and along the Colorado River.

The big differences for retired me vs. working me, are that I have lots more time for planning and I can choose when I want to go and for how long. I travel on a budget, partly to stretch my dollars and partly because it's my nature. I can afford the occasional splurge when I think it's worthwhile. As a solo traveler living close to Europe, airfare is a considerably smaller portion of my budget than lodging which is always the biggest and I usually stay in double rooms.

I thought I would run out of places to visit, but the more I travel the longer my list gets. Seeing the Alhambra was a decades-long dream. I planned 21 full days in Andalucia to explore "in-depth" and check it off my list. That was 7 years ago and I've been back 3 times. I finally went to Greece on an RS tour 3 years ago, been back once and sad that I can't return this October, thanks again Covid.

I retire in 55 days 7 hours and 53 minutes (at time of posting) not that I am counting.
Okay I am based in Europe (Scotland) and have been taking 3 -4 trips to mainland Europe for quite a number of years and don't intend to stop. I am hoping to take advantage of the cheap Low cost carrier flights and travel on the days it is cheapest to travel.I have a few friends that have similar plans to me and are either already retired or will be soon.We have a list of places we want to go to and once all this Covid 19 crap is over we will be travelling. One of my American friends is also retires and as an ex airline employee gets several free flights to Europe each year and again when this Covid19 crap is over will be joining us in various places as he has done in the past (we were supposed to be meeting in Prague in May).
So retirement will make a big difference to me because I will be able to do more trips and hopefully cheaper rates than I have had whilst working, also the lenth of trips can vary to suit prices of flights and accommodation .I am quite looking forward to lots more travel , just hope things get back to normal soon.
BTW Allan I saw the great Jaromir Jagr play hockey for Kladno (just outside Prague) in January this year, might be getting on a bit (48 now I think) but certainly can still play and when he is on the ice he is the BOSS.

I retired two years ago just short of my 61st birthday in Germany. I have a residence permit/Aufenthaltstitel. Living in Germany away from the US already puts me in a different place. Big retired plans for travel with a major trip each year. Made it to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore last year (35 days), but the 14 day Norway Cruise this June was canceled. I am doing what I can/traveling with the coronavirus restrictions in the EU making week long trips when possible. I can take advantage of better deals/prices Monday-Thursday now and if I want to stay longer or try another place it’s no problem. I don't have to return for work, but caring for and watering the garden in high summer keeps me closer to home sometimes. I can avoid a lot of traffic on the Autobahns! I think generally I’m more relaxed. I do find myself somewhat biding my time at home between vacations/trips though. No telling when or where the next big trip will be with the coronavirus, but I think we'll pass on cruises.

BTW Allan I saw the great Jaromir Jagr play hockey for Kladno (just
outside Prague) in January this year, might be getting on a bit (48
now I think) but certainly can still play and when he is on the ice he
is the BOSS.

A bucket list for retirement is to go somewhere to watch a game in one of the European leagues, however my wife is not a sports fan or a cold weather fan, so trying to convince her to leave the cold weather during hockey season to visit another cold weather location to watch hockey isn't getting a lot of support. It's been hard enough trying to convince her to spend a month in Florida for Spring Training.

Biggest difference I have noticed is flexibility -- no need to request time off from work months in advance ... and no two-weeks-at-a-time limit.
Able to jump on flash airfare sales when they pop up ( as long as they don't conflict with medical appointments.) And we travel slowly, spending more days in each place so apartments with kitchens and washing machines are more doable.
Make sure you are comfortable with your post-retirement health insurance coverage -- I stayed on my job just for the insurance until I was within the 18-month COBRA range before Medicare eligibility at 65. And made sure I got a Medigap policy with international emergency coverage. I also use a travel credit card that has limited overseas medical coverage.

Allan, world Championships are usually held in May so warmer weather. I watched Canada beat Czech republic on the big screens in Old Town Square Prague a few years ago, then watched the USA beat the Czech republic in the 3rd place play off the next day, never saw a bloody thing as I am so short everyone around me was about a foot taller, still a great atmosphere and I still have my Jagr 68 shirt from that trip

Allan,

Thank you for this thread, I have enjoyed reading the responses.
I am wondering if some folks that haven't retired yet, and are over 65 would add their perspective.

I am 55 and have been taking an out of the country trip yearly since 2015 (sadly, my trip this year was cancelled).
My husband doesn't travel and I enjoy going by myself or with my son. My husband is currently retired.
I am not good at home. I can't even take more than 2 weekdays off in a row and stay home. I do put in 40-50 hours of work per week and go to the office 4 days a week, so I am not overworked. I enjoy working and plan to work as long as I can. Maybe, cut down to 3 days per week at 65. I also feel better about the expenses of travel if I am bringing in a paycheck. For now, 3 weeks away from home is too long. I miss my husband, pets and my own stuff.

As long as I am working and no pandemic, I will travel at least once a year....so I hope to be working for a long, long time. : )

"my wife is not a sports fan or a cold weather fan, so trying to convince her to leave the cold weather during hockey season to visit another cold weather location to watch hockey isn't getting a lot of support." Allan, of course this is coming from a now 'single' woman, but maybe you can use your early retirement to review the priorities of travel for both of you. Consider separate travel. Many happily married couples do it and they do say 'absence make the heart grow fonder'. I also think it can help both to know how to travel independently should death, illness or disinterest enter the picture. I feel so sad when I read the travel posts from women who found themselves widowed or divorced at a late age and have no skills to cope with traveling independently - or even the confidence to join a group. I expect your wife is a more independent age, but just putting it out there. How about fly together to Frankfurt (or other useful hub), then you catch the plane to 'cold and hockey' and she catch a different plane to 'anywhere warmer and not sporty'? Meet her there for a couple trip and return home together.
My ex-husband was in the Navy so I traveled on my own often. When he was at sea or when home so he could reconnect with kids. Some times only an overnight a way, but I always had his and my family's support. I have passed these skills and verve for travel on to my kids, and that trust in myself paid off when life has thrown many a curve ball.

Maria, I've suggested that before but she is such an extrovert she hates the idea of being alone, traveling alone, sleeping alone. It might be a trip where we can take my mother-in-law with us and then I can ditch them both for a few days. Every couple of years we do travel with other people, me and a friend follow the Blue Jays and she makes a girls trip and will travel to a concert in Vegas or other warm location.

At least you have talked about it. More than many couples. Adding others may be the ticket.

I retired 4 years ago at 63, and I have not regretted it for even one day. I know that I need a bit of a schedule, so I immediately signed up for classes, ping pong group, and a volunteer position with the USO. I also got my first dog since I became an adult (lucky that my son, my dog's favorite person, watches her when we travel). So in normal times, I have no problem keeping busy. When we travel to Europe we go for 3-4 weeks. We definitely travel much slower than when we had to cram everything into 2 weeks. Traveling slow and soaking up the atmosphere is now my favorite part of traveling. My husband maxes out at 3-4 weeks, but I think I could happily be gone another week or two... the comments above made me think that maybe I will go early and meet my husband after a little time on my own. We are doing things that are more active now, while we are able. Retirement is fantastic and I highly recommend doing it as early as you can. If you get bored, you could find a "retirement job."

I retired in April 2017, but started traveling to Europe 13 years before my retirement date. We have been fortunate to have taken nine trips abroad. In recent years we have been able to take one three week trip to Europe per year - RS tour with some time on our own before and after. Retirement has meant less regular contact with people and more togetherness with my spouse. Therefore, the social aspects of the RS tours is even more appealing in retirement.

We are also enjoying our first granddaughter (with a second on the way). It is hard to imagine being away from them for extended periods.

@Barbara:

I have a number of friends in Croatia, and one of them talks about setting up a consulting group. How realistic this is I have no idea. I would probably look near Zagreb. I like the coast but that is very touristic. Also I might consider Serbia or Western France, near Quimper.

I took my first post-retirement trip in 2009 lasting 67 days, solo. should have spent a couple more in London. Main difference now is more time, more flexibility, which is what you make of it, though I still travel basically as I did in the youth days.

I travel more often with more detail planning, can put up with more so-called discomforts, all relative in definition, and usually the trips are longer when doing them solo in Europe. I have no problems in keeping busy if one were to use that phrase.

I consider myself already retired ( but, still have 2 teens at home). My husband just recently informed me he wants to retire in 2 years at 62. When we can we want to move to Palm Springs for the winter. Summers will be spent traveling the USA ( and some of Canada) in our airstream trailer. Spring and possibly Fall will be spent in Europe for 6-8 weeks at a time. And to kick off retirement, a World Cruise. Oh yes, got it all planned out!

Just to comment on MariaF‘s suggestion for people other than Allan - “ maybe you can use your early retirement to review the priorities of travel for both of you. Consider separate travel. Many happily married couples do it and they do say 'absence make the heart grow fonder'. I also think it can help both to know how to travel independently should death, illness or disinterest enter the picture.”

I planned a fantastic solo trip to kick off my retirement in 2018! It was so much fun, that I did a hybrid trip the next year of two weeks solo, and my husband joined me for the third week. Here’s the trip report of my retirement trip: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-trip-to-italy-2018

My husband & I really enjoy spending lots of time together, but some of our hobbies differ from each other. Since I traveled occasionally for work, taking a solo vacation trip wasn’t a huge stretch. And yes, we were both excited when I was back home afterwards.

As someone who retired this year I want to make one comment regarding health insurance.. Just because they say you still retain your health insurance from your job does NOT mean you are not required to get Medicare part B if you are over 65. Many,if not all,plans are considered secondary to Medicare if you are old enough to enroll in Medicare ( age 65) So Medicare pays first and your company’s policy becomes your supplemental policy.

Thanks for the link to the Trip Report Jean. I really enjoyed that first part about things you did differently as a solo traveler. It wasn't until I joined this forum that I realized how many people are solo travelers and it still surprised me that there were 3 on our RS tour last year-1 guy, 2 gals, plus a couple of women were traveling together because their husbands had no interest in the trip. I'm glad I started this post, so many opinions.

I try to be a Solo traveller and have done many solo trips, but so many of my friends see what I get up to these days they want to join me on my trips. I think as I get older I slow down a lot, trips that in my younger days would have been considered a half day trip now seem to take the whole day, but I walk slower, stay longer in the pubs and restaurants and tend to take the longer way to get to places as I just enjoy seeing the city, town on countryside go by. these days I do enjoy just sitting in a nice beer garden somewhere with a cold one and a decent book.

Tom_MN Something I am sure Canadians never have to even think about. That isn't quite true. Sure we have supplemented health care, but it is to a certain level. There are Canadians with families who work longer in order to keep benefits. Private or semi private, vs ward hospitalization, glasses, prescription coverage, extended services (massage, chiro, physio) and dental are all part of our work benefits and can be a significant cost. I know one woman who actually retired early when we moved from a hospital employer to a separate lab employer who wouldn't allow coverage after retirement. Because she left while still hospital employed, she could keep the plan afterwards....whereas I have to find a plan to buy for any service other than a ward bed. Or the guy with a son with a kidney transplant. He will have to work for an extremely long time in order to cover the thousands of dollars of prescriptions every month. They never expected son to live this long, so the trade off of having him still here, is that someone else needs to pay for his care.

As we age, we all benefit from the services that are not covered by a government medical plan as well as the extremely high cost of dental work. (and for what it is worth, not every province provides basic medical coverage 'free' and to everyone. You are either billed annually, or only eligible if you pay taxes.)

Tom, if she is over 65, maybe it is in BC. But I have worked medical jobs for decades, and as the one man doctor's office secretary in BC in my early work days, I can tell you a significant part of my day was taken up trying to get payment from all those who let their coverage lapse or weren't eligible yet because of a 90 day period after application when coverage is usually covered by your other province's policies. The costs are pretty nominal compared to US, so maybe to all intents and purposes, she considers it 'free'.
Though some might consider it a 'tangent', we could look at it as learning the differences between foreign countries. Also something for Allan to consider in retirement.

Thank-you for this post and all the great responses!! I just turned 47 and you all have me wishing I was closer to retirement. 😊 I have learned from you all that I should try to travel more while I’m younger. I need to take better advantage of the 7 weeks of Paid Time Off (PTO) my employer offers and perhaps even purchase an additional 5 days. I’ve been toying with the idea of trying some solo traveling and I just need to try it!! I also like the idea of retiring “early” if finances permit.

unclegus, I love the phrase “I try to be a solo traveler”! I had a friend invite herself on a potential 5 week trip next fall - and another friend on a 2 week U.S. car trip in October! I may not have nearly as much solo travel as I had anticipated.

I mostly retired this summer and am now just “advising” my replacement. With the quarantine came a very sudden adjustment, trip cancellations, and a lack of certainty to see how retirement, travel, and normal activities are going to play out together. Because of work and family, my trips have all been 2 weeks or less. I am looking forward to longer trips, maybe at a slower pace. I am picturing those longer stays (if I find I like them) in spring and fall, with an occasional shorter trip tossed in if something pops up. I can then fill in my days at home as I want to with other interests.

Allan, like your wife, I have always been an extrovert - I can talk to a brick wall - and wondered how that would translate as a solo traveler. On my trial run (the “Canadian” Toronto to Vancouver with a few days in Jasper & Vancouver), I found a large variety of really interesting conversations took place because of being on my own - it was somewhat unexpected in a really good way.

I am somewhat independent and I know what I want to see and do - so a tour doesn’t usually appeal to me. I am hoping retirement will give me the time to indulge myself deeply for a few years.

I am somewhat independent and I know what I want to see and do - so a
tour doesn’t usually appeal to me. I am hoping retirement will give me
the time to indulge myself deeply for a few years.

Travelmom, an unintended benefit of our RS tour last year for my wife was the companionship of others. It also benefited me because I was able to wander off on my own and not worry about her as she had 26 new friends and didn't need to find a brick wall to talk to. I was surprised how much free time we had. We were supposed to have been in Scotland in June and that wasn't going to be a tour because we had several things we wanted to see and do that were not part of that tour. As well as the tour, we've cruised and done Europe on our own. We'll continue to use all three methods based on our wants and desires.

Three months into shelter in place (SIP) we were at our granddaughters’ house when the youngest one (15 years old) said “if this is what retirement is like, I can’t wait to retire”. She was relishing designing her own time each day. She was doing online class work with plenty of gardening, baking, walking, sewing, reading, craft and building projects built in to her weekdays. She knows that travel has been a big part of our retirement lives and she loves to travel too. We told her to pace herself but certainly look forward to retirement.

Now, why have I been reading this thread?? Gets me down. Technically my work pension will let me go in six years, but its more likely I will go in ten when CPP kicks in, but maybe can squeeze out in eight. Doesn't help my sis just retired at 53 (not semi... full on retired).

Most of our trips are three weeks, but we have done one 29-day, and one 30-day. I don't think we are ever ready to come home. Maybe if it didn't mean back to work... can't wait for that first trip when returning to work is not an issue. Must feel so free.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll adjust as well as DH. He's got lots of hobbies and is better at finding things to do than me. I told him I must retire twelve months before him because I want four seasons of discovering what appeals to me.

In the end though my motto has become 'I'd rather be bored at home than busy at work'.

Things change as the years go by. I always thought I would work until I was 70 just because. Well, it didn't turn out that way. I retired at 60 due to a mix of various factors mainly as every year passed I just got really depressed at the thought of dragging myself out of bed every morning for another 10 years to go in and fight with management who had no idea what my group did or why when things didn't go as they expected (the medical issues I currently have [with no impact on my being able to complete my work assignments] that my employer grudgingly accommodated to the bare minimum also played a factor). My last employer was also generous with the offer that finally got me to leave which helped in the decision too. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the work I did and the people who worked directly with me. I guess I was just turning into a grumpy old man, possibly because I did the exact same job for too long. Although I have been retired only since January of this year, I am enjoying myself and rediscovering the hobbies I had and never felt I had the time to pursue while working.

I am not saying I am permanently retired. I would happily take on a contracting position for the right pay and right job. But that will wait until after the current world wide pandemic gets put under control.

And I never see myself being bored at home. There are just too many things I can do to keep me occupied from minor home repairs to going on camping trips to siting on the porch and petting the cat to cooking a nice meal for friends and family. There is always something to occupy me.

hey hey all
have to laugh with UncleGus. he's on that countdown, love it.
i retired 3 years ago. people mentioned if retire when you can, i did. working within grocery for 30 years life changed real fast. my brother-in-law, the best and who i loved as a brother for 40+ years received the worst news, cancer of the bile duct, lived 13 months and sister asked me to fly home to hawaii while he was on hospice. made it home 4 days before he passed. wake up call, flew home to california and got the ball rolling to retire, i am a union worker, had my pension, 401K, medical coverage, company sold to investment firm that could care less about employees only $$$ in their pockets, no more commuting up to 2 hours each way, early SS at 63, now on medicare and i'm a happy camper now.
i was able to travel usually in september/october with a few other friends at that time of year, no summer vacations. had 5 weeks vacation on the books, 9 weeks sick leave (used it all before retiring) and left. there is not any pension anymore (have to invest in 401K which no one does and they don't match), paying your medical and all part time hours now. glad i ran, life has changed with many employers.
i'm able to survive with what i have, cheap rent for many years, not much debt, was moving to hawaii to live with sister in her little coverted family room apartment, haven't gotten there yet but always open for me. i loved my job and thankful with what i have now even though it's so different.
waiting for hawaii to open, cancelled trip in may like many other posters have cancelled. i traveled alot, USA, Canada, Europe, cruises since my friends have the travel bug and every year was somewhere, (last year geneva, annecy, paris). will wait to see where this pandemic leads us to travel again
thanks allen for your post.
aloha

My husband and I both retired in 2004. He was 55 and I was 58.

My impetus was two serious health conditions and a desire to enjoy what time I might have left. His was that I retired and he'd had it after 27 years at his employer. I'm still here at 74 and so is he at 72. It must've been a good decision.

From 2004-2009 we fixed up our house in the Tacoma WA area to sell, moved to Tucson, and rented for almost 4 years while we learned about the area, planned and had our house built.

Before we retired, we took advantage of the retirement training our respective employers provided. Of course there were the usual financial topics, but 3 bits of advice in particular stood out.

The first was to NOT move to where your kids live. That was easy because the 5 kids and their spouses lived in 4 different states at the time.

The second was to NOT buy a house in the first year of moving to a different place, even if you'd visited there many times over the years.
Renting the first year made very good sense to us.

The third piece of advice was given by one trainer who said as part of her session on what to do in retirement that she didn't want hear the 4 letter word, g__f.

We cheat on that third one. My husband's g__f is open wheel road racing. He typically spends May through September based in the Pacific Northwest racing the road racing tracks in WA and OR. He also makes sidetrips to other tracks in the US during those months or shortly after them.

And my g__f is travel. I took my first self-planned solo trip at the age of 31 in 1977. It was 4 months long. I quit my job and sold almost all my stuff to generate enough money to do it.

From 1982-1985 I lived and worked in Nuremberg. Although I had little vacation time at first, I could arrange my work schedule so I could have 5 days in a row off, so I was able to easily travel then. I used public transportation or my car.

After my husband and I got our house built and moved in, we took what was his first trip to Europe. We spent 2 months. From Iceland to Sicily to Ireland, I planned it all. He went on 4 additional 4+ weeks trips with me. Three of those I did all the planning. The last combined an RS week tour to Istanbul with 4 self-planned weeks in Greece.

He hates flying, so after that trip, he decided he didn't want to go to Europe anymore. Now I go on my own and have done 6 self-planned weeks in the UK and 4 RS tours with time in-country before and after since he opted out.

I love the dreaming and planning. The RS tours get me up and going in the morning. My self-planned time before and after may be in a B&B or a hotel and except for breakfast hour limits, are much more relaxed. I also stay in apartments and have never felt less safe in an apartment than in any other lodging by myself.

To answer your questions directly:

Yes, I travel more and for longer.

Two weeks are way too short, 6 weeks are just about right, but if I didn't have a dog, I'd probably stay longer.

No matter how long I'm gone, I have no problem filling the time when I'm not on a tour. I just like being there and prefer doing only 1 or 2 things a day.

We don't do family trips.

When we were working, all our trips were domestic ones and most were hooked onto my work travel. Others involved visiting family and friends.

Since we retired most have been to Europe. The rest have been connected to racing with friends and family visited along the way.

I thought of travel as a vacation when we worked. If I had more money, I'd travel longer and more often. Then I'd call it a lifestyle.

I thought of travel as a vacation when we worked. If I had more money,
I'd travel longer and more often. Then I'd call it a lifestyle.

Lo, I like how you worded that. That's exactly how I see retirement travel in my mind; a change in lifestyle.

In the mid 1990s (I was 50), a same-age friend mentioned that her mother had a needlepoint pillow reading, "Screw the golden years." She also said, "My mom offers the suggestion of enjoying the 50’s by traveling and doing as much as possible." My friend's father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease three years before. I took the advice to heart, and my husband and I made our first trip to Europe in 1999. We have made 19 European trips total (2-6 weeks each) and are eternally grateful. Hubby was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease last year at age 72. DO NOT WAIT!

Hubby finally left his job in March and now we can't travel...sigh.

But for next year when we (hopefully) do the Scotland trip we were supposed to do this year, he said - add an extra day on for London since we always find something to do there (because he doesn't have to worry about asking for extra vacay days) and I'm like - ok, so I also need to add an extra day for Glasgow to do something I could otherwise not figure out how to fit in and I'm also thinking maybe we can tack an extra day on in York - but seriously - we were trying to keep our nights to 15-17 as we found 19-20 nights to be too much - and yet here we go adding nights on again! (I will say - with the 2 Rabbies tours I had booked, they would be doing a lot of the work for 5 of those nights).

Nicole P, maybe you need to add a few more days, just to have down days every week or so - because (as far as time goes) 'you can afford it'.

We retired almost 2 1/2 years ago at 60/59. To stretch our money, we decided to move to Italy for a couple years with our dog, Barley. By renting out our home in California, this paid for all US household expenses and provided some cash flow. On average we have traveled 1+ week a month. In 2 1/2 years, we have traveled Italy extensively, France (Normandy, Loire, and Burgundy), Switzerland, Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest. When we are home in Verbania, we live inexpensively, saving money for our travels.

We didn’t expect to spend time in Italy during a Pandemic. And original plans had us returning to the US tomorrow on the QM2, but now are waiting it out, staying in Italy until next Spring, hoping for a vaccine before returning to US.

While we have traveled in retirement, we do it at a slower pace, and in general, look for more economical options for lodging than when we were working.. While retired, money is more important than time, so often choose regional, slower trains, rather than spending more to save an hour or two. We normally only go out for one meal a day, and do picnic makings in paninis for the other meal.

Post lockdown we’ve travelled to Turin, Alba, Cinque Terre, Chiavari, Modena, venice, Perugia, Montepulciano, and Ravenna. Planing our next trip to the Dolomites in September.

We have found that we can live and Italy and travel 12+ weeks a year for the same as what it would visit to live in our home in California and take 1 3 week trip to Europe a year.

We retired (voluntarily) at 62. We traveled a lot during working years but it was tempered by kids and limited vacation days. I retired on a Friday and we departed for Paris on Monday mostly because I was tired of listening to everybody's comments. (you will get bored, you can still work, what are you going to do, etc) We started in Paris and ended up in Sydney 6 months later. We spent 1 month in Italy. The biggest difference is that we really didn't have a schedule we had to keep. Our epiphany came in an AirBnB somewhere in Italy when we decided to stay "home" listen to music and read all day.

Differences traveling in retirement
-You are not thinking about work
-You are not checking your work email
-You can do nothing all day and still feel productive
-One of our favorite things to do in Europe was go to the park and people watch, especially in the evening.
-We mixed group tours with DIY.
-All you have is time.

Side note: By the second month of retirement my Cobra had not kicked in and I was getting no help from the administrators. I was just a little stressed until I called my former company. My former company had not filed the paperwork for me leaving and just kept paying me. Privately, HR told me, "If you don't tell, we won't tell" . They didn't take the money back. I think we drank a super tuscan that night.

That was your retirement bonus. In my wife's school district she was allow to retire one year, begin drawing her retirement benefit, and return the following year to her teaching position at full salary but no benefits. Kind of a small bonus for 36 years of teaching.

Much of Chani and MariaF's comments really track with my experiences.

I found the biggest difference about retired travel is the lack of stress of the job, which lingered and sometimes remained with me. There were long hours to get ready to leave work for vacation and then long hours upon returning to catch up. The length of time on vacation after retirement only changed slightly, by day 16 I am ready to be home. But with retirement, I can travel more often.

I was lucky enough to retire at 59. There are no guarantees of health (or money even) so don't wait. I had traveled a lot before I was retired as well, just in case. I am frugal, but not in all things; balance is important. My husband is 13 years older than I, so he did a lot of solo travel when I couldn't travel due to my work commitments (he retired at 54). Consequently, he knows how valuable and fun solo travel is and has encouraged me to travel solo as well. If you are afraid to travel solo, start slow, but do it. Get out of your comfort zone...that is the greatest thing about being retired...you can remove yourself from your cocoon. However, I believe my first solo trip was to Europe when I was age 21, so I never was going to wait around for travel companions. I think this is important in retirement...don't wait for other people to join you in anything as you never know what might happen in the future. My husband and I have a great time traveling together, but he's becoming less interested due to his already extensive travel and older age. I have friends who say they want to travel but keep putting it off, and they are so inexperienced that there is only one I'd travel with now, because I'm not anyone's 'guide'.

I'd also like to say that we/I had mainly traveled independently, and I love that. Great fun. However, I took my first RS tour (Greece) in 2017 due to time limits in my life at the time and transport difficulties in the area. I will take more if he stays in business. The tour was wonderful. I loved it. Don't let people make you feel less for taking a tour or trying a tour, at least with RS as that's my experience, as there are pros and cons to any type of travel. Try as many different ways of travel that might appeal to you to find your fit.

What I get out of following this thread is this: what is different is mostly, you. When you are retired, you have the maturity, knowledge, experience time and (hopefully) the money to put more of yourself into traveling than when you were working. Travel becomes your part-time new job. You can devote the skills and effort you used to put into your job, into the planning (or not - no pressure), and get more out of it. You know yourself (and who you're traveling with) well enough to know what makes you happy, and how to manage your time. You can research as much as you want, take language courses, gather more resources, etc. Then, when you are traveling, you don't ruin the last couple of days thinking about having to go back to work.😕

Did you notice that not one person has recommended working longer?

I found the biggest difference about retired travel is the lack of
stress of the job, which lingered and sometimes remained with me.
There were long hours to get ready to leave work for vacation and then
long hours upon returning to catch up.

This is me. I've taken 3 vacation days this year and 2 of them I've spent the morning putting out fires at work. I'm really looking forward to the day that I get to wake up and not care. I suspect I'll eventually find a part-time job or volunteer opportunity somewhere so I'll have something to do, but to have nobody that depends on me to contribute something will be a vacation in itself.

We've taken a few river cruises where I am one of the youngest passengers (at 50-52). This is with Vantage, and they skew older than Viking to begin with, even more so on the 2 week cruises.

You get talking to all the other passengers and I'm amazed at how many places they've been. Each and everyone of them has advised us to travel as much as we can now, while healthy, and to retire as soon as we can, that we won't miss work at all.

I'd be foolish not to listen to all that wisdom, and will 'pull the pin' in 3 years at 57. Looking forward to going for longer than our 16-17 night trips. Was able to get away for 24 nights once for a Rhine/Moselle cruise followed by a week visiting battlefields and that was great. And if the wife completes the process for her Irish passport (Grandparents born in Kerry), then who knows?

Pre-Covid, my husband traveled constantly for work and when he went somewhere fun I went too. This year, I take digital birding courses, read, and declutter. My husband wants to move to Isle of Palms at some point, so I've got to get my AL bucket list done before then. We've lived here 16 years and I still haven't set foot in MS. The year I planned to go to Natchez and Vicksburg we had to cancel the trip due to the flooding there.

Lo, what was the reason to rent the first year when you move, even if you've been there many times before?

Did you notice that not one person has recommended working longer?

Well, the question was about traveling AFTER retirement. That would mean you have already gone through the "Do I retire now or work longer?" phase of life and have decided that retirement is the best course at this point of your life.

Wonderful input from everyone. Realize that you will spend considerably more for travel in the early years of retirement than later as you age. Health issues and vigor for travel will eventually result in less travel. Our mantra is if not now than when.

Often people don't realize that money not spent at home is spent traveling so not every dollar spent traveling is over and above what you'd be spending at home. For instance lets say we spend $1,500 a month for food and entertainment at home and when we're traveling we spend $2,000 so net we're actually spending $500 for travel. If we stayed home we would have spent $1,500. It may sound like rationalizing travel expense but it seems logical to me. We suspend as many services at home as possible while traveling including satellite, cell phone (we use sim cards when overseas) , internet, garbage, etc. Also expenses that are offset against travel costs are things like cost of house cleaning, gas for the car, etc.

We "slow travel" (yes, there is now a slow travel movement) and enjoy hanging out and leisurely and casually take in sights and experiences we're interested in. I'm originally from New York and my husband San Francisco so we're comfortable and prefer wandering around discovering shops, cafes, alleys and the unexpected in cities. We do travel and explore small towns, hamlets, villages but spend long periods of time in places like Paris, Florence, Bologna, Amsterdam, Barcelona, etc.

We've discovered a tour company that caters to small groups, is reasonably priced and that steeps you in the culture of the destination(s). When we first retired I planned all our travel but after discovering this company we combine structured and independent travel. They can provide experiences that independent travelers cannot duplicate. The tours are usually for 16-25 days and then at the conclusion we continue to travel on our own for another month or two.

We travel internationally continuously without returning home to Arizona. We find this preferable to returning home after a month or so and then to leave again months later. We live in the desert so most of our travel will span over the hottest summer months. For instance, we've done a structured African safari and at the conclusion flew to Paris and stayed 6 weeks using Paris as our home base from which we did some day trips and a few trips each of a couple days duration. Being there for 6 weeks gave us lots of time to include these side trips. We rent apartments so we can have space and kitchen facilities for reheating and breakfast. Normally we eat one nice meal out daily.

In addition to international travel we travel another 2 months domestically and again renting apartments including time with family and friends. There are times when we're going to be someplace for less than 3-4 nights and then we stay in hotels or B&B's.

We also do family trips within the US for about a week duration and next year planning a special international family trip.

We're now in our 70's and have decided post pandemic that we'll increase our time traveling since we love it so we'll do even more.

Good luck and enjoy all the adventures that await you. Sooner than later as none of us know what awaits us and every day is a gift.

We "slow travel" (yes, there is now a slow travel movement) and enjoy
hanging out and leisurely and casually take in sights and experiences
we're interested in.

This is probably the key question that I was wondering about when I posted. My current style of travel is if you're not tired when you get home then you're not trying. But with longer trips, i.e. a month in London I can't possibly keep up that pace nor am I sure I'd want to. But sitting around relaxing...???

I can't bring myself to plan a day off (can't stand lying on a beach or sitting on a balcony), but I do relax as I sit on buses and trains taking day-trips, and I don't rush to get out of the hotel early in the morning. It would be better if I did operate on a more normal schedule (I have sleep issues), because I tend to make up for a late start by not having a nice, leisurely lunch. Back in the days before the Internet, I traveled with a lot of paperback books and usually crashed in my hotel room by 8 PM or so to read. Now I do a lot of on-the-road trip-planning instead.

I think it helps that I often spend 3 or 4 nights in a small city so I can see it and one or two neighboring spots. I love large cities, but over the course of 130 days I need some variety of environment. Being in smaller places is more relaxing.

I think you'll pretty easily figure out your preferred rhythm when you find yourself on a long trip. I'd recommend trying to leave some chunks of the trip unreserved so you can be flexible about where you go and how long you stay. If you're covering short distances, you won't pay significantly more for late purchase of train tickets; you may only be on regional trains in any case.

And don't forget to check on senior rail-discount cards. They are a real boon if you spend a lot of time in one country; not so much if you hop from country to country.

I have always been a "slow" traveler. Packing in too much means it all runs together for me and I don't remember what I did! The "fastest" I have traveled is on the RS tours, but even they have a significant amount of free time.

To me, the point of a vacation is relaxation, which can include sight seeing and other high energy activities as well, as long as it is not at a pace that leaves me exhausted. I never wanted to come home from a vacation and feel like I needed a vacation to recover from my vacation. Maybe it was because for most of my working life I was lucky enough to have had more vacation time than most people in the US.

Anyway, the speed at which I travel will not change now that I am retired, the duration of the travel will increase once I am traveling again.

As a retired traveler I say that also depends if I am with the Mrs. If she is there, then there is a tendency to stick to a schedule, usually planned by her, even at a slower pace or quicker pace. The planned schedule is still operating. If I am going solo, the planned schedule isn't as strict.

True, sometimes it is just lethargy or inertia on my part, eg, just getting out of the hotel room without dilly-dallying....had to do at times. I am more prone to choose going somewhere more at the spur of the moment when obviously traveling solo In those cases when she is there and opts not to do that, then we compromise on spitting up for the afternoon or rendezvousing for dinner.

as of today I now only have 30 working days till I retire.

as of today I now only have 30 working days till I retire.

UncleGus, I'm jealous!

Congratulations Gus, and welcome to the Club. I, myself am a New member as of July 1st. I am reading, and re-reading these posts and taking notes. We have always stayed in hotels but may look into apartments if we decide the stay in a city for a month - which sounds very appealing. We are rethinking our travel model and know it can change at any time. We will definately be more “go with the flow” i believe from now on. We had two trips planned this year and moved one to next September. I know it sounds early but the B&B we rented in Dubrovnik had already rented out the room we preferred so we had to take a different one. All good.

Hi Alan,

I didn't mention that the most important reason for us spending long periods of time at a location is so we can experience it more like a local than a tourist. For instance, in Paris, because we've repeatedly spent long periods of time there the fish monger, the charcuterie lady, the patisserie wait staff and local dogs all remember and heartedly greet us as friends. We tend to favor a certain neighborhood and that happens to afford us the advantage of seeing familiar faces. Some of these locals will have conversations with us that they wouldn't with unknown tourists from the US. All of this enriches our experience. Upon our arrival we can't wait to go see the charcuterie lady as she kids us that our French hasn't much improved.

You will find your place, comfort level and much joy. Live your bucket list!

Sitting here in my former work-from-home office, I realize how happy I am with another aspect of travel that has changed in retirement. The home office has gradually been reconfigured into a hobby room, significantly dedicated to travel and my craft hobbies. Travel guidebooks, replacing the professional books and manuals, are now organized into a display. A magnetic white board, now covered with a world map, displays my collection of travel magnets. My travel trinkets have taken over the display shelves.

And the time I used to spend making presentations for conference calls, I now spend making travel presentations for our travel group who are meeting online to share our experiences.

the most important reason for us spending long periods of time at a
location is so we can experience it more like a local than a tourist.

In 1998 I made it to New York for the first time and kept thinking what it would be like to live there for a month. My mind kept going to the TV show Seinfeld and meeting at the local diner everyday. That was my first thought of extended vacations. 22 years later and London has taken over for that idea a month long stay. Nice in France is another target for an extended stay. I can't say any other location appeals to me for more than a week....yet.

Allan, let us know where you end up for a month and we will try and join you for a meal at the Diner. We plan on spending at least a month 2x a year in Croatia. They don’t have any Diners, per se, but we could improvise at the cafe.

well my retirement date has come, today | finally retire and now have less than 8 hours of my working life left. I was hoping to to a fair bit of travel over the next few months but that is on hold for the foreseeable future and I really have no idea when I will get travelling again.
Still I have now got the time to spend redecorating my house with the intention of putting it up for sale in the Spring and moving down the coast a bit.

Happy retirement, Uncle Gus. Congrats on the land mark, but sorry initial plans have gone awry. Good you have a backup.

I am in the same boat.. had the countdown to retirement at the end of last year, plans made ( we had a trip to Italy leaving Oct 5) . Our focus has been selling and moving closer to the grandkids who give us something to look forward to. With no travel plans for the foreseeable future I have to focus on things around here to keep a positive outlook. We wanted to travel so much that I actually worked an extra 6 months to be able to treat ourselves to the 2 week splurge trip to Italy as my retirement gift to myself. I keep reading these forums just to feel like I’ll be ready when we can travel freely

hey hey unclegus
congratulations on your retirement. you'll love it. no one to answer to except you. my retirement was 2 1/2 years ago. last trip was geneva, annecy, paris last sept/oct and a "glamping" weekend in friend's RV along the delta near home. planned my trip home to hawaii in may to see family and friends. who knows when that will happen, don't want to quarantine for 14 days.
now you have time to get that home up to par and sell. do you plan on living ocean front or with a view.
good luck in all that comes your way.
aloha

Simply put. Retire when you financially can unless you really love what you are doing. You will always find something to do in retirement and traveling (when you can) is sooooo much easier because you don't have time constraints. I retired at 59 and never looked back. My trips to Europe are generally around 80 days. Travel as long as you feel comfortable being away from home. ENJOY!!!

My trips to Europe are generally around 80 days.

What do you do to fill your time for 80 days away from home? I'll never know until I try, but when I think about it it seems to me I'd have a lot of days where I'd just be lounging around doing nothing, but in a place where I can't putter around the house keeping busy.

I think your question is about being away traveling for 80 days. Filling the time isn't at all difficult. The one thing I do every 14 days is take 2 days off from major sight seeing. You need the rest, trust me. I schedule those days where I think I can do a little sight seeing, but relax mostly, sleep in, sit in a park or just veg staring at a mountain or a lake. Those days for example have been on Lake Como, Lake Bled, Alsace, etc. Any place except a large city. Plenty to see every day because I rarely repeat places I've been unless transportation calls for it.

My recent trips have mostly been 130-140 days. Although I'm not one for lingering in cafes and restaurants (I'm usually traveling solo), I don't have trouble filling my time. In addition to sightseeing, I occupy myself with:

• Planning the remainder of the trip--booking hotels, checking on transportation schedules and sometimes buying tickets, looking up opening hours of sights I want to see, and figuring out what I can do on which days. I don't try to lock down all aspects of my long trips before leaving home because I value flexibility and hate the idea of having to leave a city without having seen the sights important to me.

• Reading this forum and responding to inquiries when I can. This takes longer than one might expect (very often multiple hours per day), because I travel with a tablet computer but no physical keyboard. I also keep up the news online and check in on a hobby-related forum.

• Potentially watching videos. I have a bunch stored on small USB drives so I don't have to depend on hotel Wi-Fi for streaming, which I suspect would be frustrating. In truth, though, I don't often find time to watch anything. It makes me feel good to have a bunch of videos with me, though, in case I should be stuck in my hotel room unexpectedly due to illness, injury or extremely bad weather.

• Potentially reading books. When I was working and could only travel for about 4 weeks at a time, I took physical paperback books with me (about 3 fairly short ones for each week of the trip), but that was pre-internet and is not practical for super-long trips. I cannot afford the weight in my suitcase. So I have some out-of-copyright ebooks loaded on my tablet computer, and I travel with the information needed to access other ebooks from my local library. In addition, I fairly often see English-language used books for sale at a market stall for 1 or 2 euros; occasionally I buy one. As with the videos, though, I seldom have time to do much reading.

• When I'm in London I sometimes go to the theatre, and I take advantage of late hours at museums when I can.

• I spend a fair amount of time in smaller cities and take side trips to neighboring towns. That puts me on buses and trains for an hour or more at a time (plus the time walking back and forth between hotel and train or bus station). That sort of thing sucks up a lot of time--it's like what happens when one changes hotels. So I spend some relaxing time just staring out the window at scenery, though I now have data service on my cellphone in Europe and can do some of my RS Forum reading while I'm moving from place to place.

Edited to add: Like Threadwear, I'm still spending the bulk of my travel time (roughly 80% - 90% of it) in places that are new to me. That definitely affects how much I want to do at each destination as well as the amount of planning time needed, a fair amount of which occurs when I'm traveling, as I mentioned above.

Like Threadwear, I'm still spending the bulk of my travel time (roughly 80% - 90% of it) in places that are new to me.

This is the biggest travel disagreement between me and my wife. She wants new places each trip while I have a habit of wanting to return where we've been to dive in deeper and learn even more about what we've already discovered. We haven't had a trip that I wouldn't do again. I figure if this is our biggest disagreement then we're doing pretty good.

you get a 10% old to new ratio - sounds fair to me

The one thing I do every 14 days is take 2 days off from major sight seeing.

Yes, I've definitely begun to add these "vacation from my vacation" days, as my retirement trips get longer. I'll plan for those in a small, picturesque town, or book extra days in a larger town. I'll linger over meals - longer than usual, that is - finding a balcony or a piazza to relax for a couple of hours, I might still get out and see a sight, but at a dawdling pace - which is not my norm.

I'll do what I do now, only for longer periods of time, going back to the same old places, maybe throw in the Loire and Dordogne if possible. (it all depends on the missus). Our holidays are a minimum of three weeks if going to Europe, two if staying in North America. Once I'm done with work, I'd like at least two months each in Britain and mainland Europe: see how it goes. Very slow, lots of hiking, sometimes on my own, though my wife is done with any sort of strenuous hike. Reading a book, on a balcony with a view, is a pleasure on its own.

I was re-reading this post from August when we made our decision to retire 2 years earlier than originally planned and it made me think how it already has affected our travel plan strategy. We had always focused on working around a 2 week itinerary, but with the upcoming freedom of time we've started discussing month long visits such as Athens PLUS several islands instead of having to do multiple trips to Greece. Or off-season locations such as London just before Christmas, or the South of France for a month and inviting friends or family to share SOME of the time with us.

Retirement, now that I've wrapped my head around it, the possibilities are endless. Target date is April 1, 2023.

April Fools Day?

Allan, my husband is also set to retire soon. We don’t have an exact date, but a year or two is what he tells me. When we went to Greece last year on our first RS tour, we only had that 2 week time for our trip. So, the only island we went to was Hydra, which was great, but we would have loved to have visited a few more with more time. We just bought our future retirement home in Palm Springs ( yeah, no more cold, dark winters for us), but I have told my husband that I want 4-6 weeks in Europe. Every year!!

Allan, what I did was book a tour (RS) for the day after my retirement date. That forced me to commit, and not back out at the last minute. It made for a clean break from work, and I didn't have time to brood about what I was going to do.

April Fools Day?

Not intentional, but yes. It sounded better than March 31st.

Tammy, 4-6 weeks sounds about right for me.

Stan, I like the idea of a clean break by booking something. That might be the time we book the RS Sicily tour and add some time on the Amalfi Coast.

I’m just catching up on this thread. Lo, your retirement financial advice comments made me laugh! We have completely broken all of these three and couldn’t be happier!

“Before we retired, we took advantage of the retirement training our respective employers provided. Of course there were the usual financial topics, but 3 bits of advice in particular stood out.

The first was to NOT move to where your kids live. That was easy because the 5 kids and their spouses lived in 4 different states at the time.” We moved within 20 minutes of our oldest daughter’s family.

The second was to NOT buy a house in the first year of moving to a different place, even if you'd visited there many times over the years. Renting the first year made very good sense to us. We bought our home completely spur of the moment - never had even driven through this town previously!

The third piece of advice was given by one trainer who said as part of her session on what to do in retirement that she didn't want hear the 4 letter word, g__f.” That golf word keeps us both sane. My husband loves to golf & I love to have him enjoy his golf! We’re both happy!

I'll be 60 pretty soon and "plan"--we know about how plans often work out--to retire from full time work to part-time in some fashion. I'm too antsy to not work and/or volunteer, but after 21 years in the Air Force and 23 years teaching, I've had about enough.

I'll have to do the math with the Hot Wife to see how our finances will work out, which will determine how much we need to work and what's available for travel.

We like hiking, walking, cycling, etc., but that's not enough to fill up 10 hours per day, and I worry about filling that time in a positive, productive way.

I'll have to do the math with the Hot Wife to see how our finances
will work out, which will determine how much we need to work and
what's available for travel.

I've been shaking my head at the stock market the past couple of months. I thought my retirement savings were going to take a big hit this year, but just the opposite happened. Here's hoping you have positive results.

I don't know the answer to this question yet, but I am looking forward to finding out!!
I plan on retiring in June from teaching and my first travel plan is a long held dream- I'm going to take a trip in September! This may seem a bit silly to those of you who have been able to take trips at any time during the year, but for a teacher a trip in September is something that is never possible. This year, if Covid restrictions ease, I should be able to do this.

Allan, yeah, surprised almost everyone. The "smart thinking" in March was to get the hell out, which in hindsight would have been an unfortunate decision.

There are so many variables related to travelling in retirement, chiefly finances and health. If you're in good health and money isn't an issue, of course it's heaven. I'd guess relatively few people fit that criteria.

I've known several people that did not like retirement. They were bored to tears, so they picked up some part-time jobs and volunteer work. It gave them a reason to get up in the morning. Those I've known that spent too many hours watching TV and sitting around did not fare well at all. Move it or lose it; I believe that's true.

....I've been shaking my head at the stock market the past couple of months....... Unfortunately the market has been artificially supported for the past two, three years since interest rates have been near zero. It will not last so it is important to be well positioned for . As I posted up thread we have been retired about 18 years and during that time our retirement income have nearly tripled from our days in education. And we saved a ton of money this year with no travel, no entertainment expenses with our two son's family, no dining out, no medical expenses. etc. Coupled with what may be a 15% return we ready to spend some money to support our local economy and the airlines. Just tell us when -----

Yes, Frank, today's stock market is reminding me of 1999 when my portfolio seemed to go up 1% a day ... until it took a serious dive (luckily I was still employed then and was able to ride it out.) Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

well I have now been retired for exactly 3 months ,had great plans for a few trips in the first few months of retirement, bought a new car but due to the Covid situation the furthest I have travelled has been to Aberdeen 285 mile round trip on Christmas Day to take my sister to visit her son who is a student there, Christmas day was the only day we were allowed to travel and we went into strict lockdown at midnight Christmas Day.mangae just over 4 hours in my nephew's house ,did nothing else. Trips to Lanzarote for a bit of winter sun have been put on hold as have all other trips, have not even been able to travel to Liverpool (220miles away) to spend New year with my other sister who lives there and a place i often spend New year in.
So far in retirement there has been no travelling for me.

UncleGus, hang in there. Better times are coming.

Donna K: Yes. Good insight.

The "smart thinking" in March was to get the hell out, which in
hindsight would have been an unfortunate decision.

Time has its advantages to be able to recover. I've poured extra money into my retirement savings during several of the downturns and it paid off. I felt like an ambulance chaser at the time but right after 9-11, then the crash of 2008 and of course last spring. Buy low-sell high is a tough discipline to adhere to, but it pays off.

Allan, you're a better man than me. I don't really understand the stock market so I've just left everything in there for 20 odd years and that's worked as well as anyone I know of. The thing is when do you determine when the market is high or low? It could keep going down or up.

I mean, I'm still eligible for the $600 check so you know I'm far from rich. Then again in West Virginia $50k is like $100k in, say, Washington DC.

Back to Allan's original question -- my husband and I didn't meet until we were both on Social Security, so all of our travel together has been post-retirement. First trip was 3 weeks, then they got longer (6 weeks most recently) -- and sometimes more spontaneous (jumping on airfare sales) -- and less structured. Less go-go-go, more sit-and-enjoy-surroundings.

Allan

So many great responses, and late to the party I offer the following. Every trip I take, I realize how much more there is to see, do and simply "be". Similar in age, we are trying to ease into retirement and hope to travel extensively (Europe is our primary focus, but we have other destinations in mind) depending on health/wealth limitations. I've adopted some of the "slow travel" movement concepts, but as a planner still add structure. While your hockey ambitions keep you from warm winters, we are planning on the inverse of "snowbirds", becoming "sunbirds". The plan is to move to AZ and spend late fall to early summer in the valley, then travel as much of the summer as possible to get away from the heat. Rather than a multi-month stay in a single place, we're framing multi-week trips often using airbnb and at times flats in week blocks to get weekly discounts and in some cases building a 28 day stop in the middle of the trip to really immerse in the local culture and people rather than focus on sites as we have in the past. We've found that a month in Prague, Edinburgh and even London or Paris can save 40% of daily rates, and not much different than a US snowbird rental would be. So a summer will likely be 2 or 3 one week stops, followed by a month at a primary location, then perhaps another stop or two on the way back home. We use a "on the 7th" day we rest approach. This day is used for travel, settling into our new town and a little grocery shopping (we'll try to cook a few meals to keep costs and health in line). We pack about one week of clothes and do laundry on day 7 too, as well as pay the bills, catch-up on emails and make video calls to keep up with friends and family back home. As for what we'll do during the other 6 days, sure we see key sites, but we'll try to strike up conversations, and with any luck we'll spend the rest of the evening chatting with new acquaintances. We'll likely take a walk in a different direction each day, finding a new cafe, pub or shop to visit. On our first family trip to Europe our daughter was 13. She started taking photos of flowers every day. At first frustrating as we were on a schedule after all, we now take flower and foliage pics whenever we travel and have as many framed as we do castles and such. You seem active, so plan ahead, try a new gym in each town, take a yoga class, learn a little of the language, try a local art/craft and be sure to shop the grocery stores as every country and location can be so completely different and cook a local favorite meal if you can. We'll likely from time-to-time invite family and close friends to join us for segments of perhaps a week, but have learned that longer can create problems. As for the Florida/Disney with grandkids, depending on your family dynamics, an extended airbnb stay at a large home near the parks or the beach can be a real winner. You could still spend a few nights "on property" but having your own place for meals, slower pace and hopefully a private pool to soak in can be awesome. Your window is likely similar to ours. God willing 7-10 years at best if we can get out early, and I already have more itineraries in the making than we'll be able to do, but travel planning/dreaming is a favorite to do for me! Best to you as you determine what works well, and simply remember that none of the advice and tips matter, if it isn't right for you.

We'll likely from time-to-time invite family and close friends to join
us for segments of perhaps a week, but have learned that longer can
create problems.

We've had a few friends hint that they'd like to tag along on one of our European adventures, but when I look at their travel styles compared to ours...I'm not sure we'd stay friends for long. While there could still be issues I have to think inviting someone to stay with us for a week of our month long stay somewhere would be a way to resolve their hints.

Knowing your friends travel style is a good start as sometimes "being on the road" can bring out very different traits than simply sharing an afternoon together. We've found that talking through the basics of "living together" for a week and setting a daily plan, including "time away" from the other couple to do their own thing, and then the key items you plan to do together is helpful. Even who showers first and who makes/gets coffee the morning of a prearranged 8:00am tour can be plus!

@Allan, do you want them to share your travels? If not, and if I recall correctly, tell them about your early starts to the day, filling in every hour, how speedy your pace is and maybe it will warn them off :-) But definitely discussing schedules and styles is important. Also being honest about maybe you wanting to be the ones to break off away and that they need to be comfortable taking care of themselves for a time needs to be discussed.
On the weekend travel Zoom meeting this past Sunday, one person mentioned that friends had tagged along to his 'plan'. He dragged them around churches and museums, which he loves and one day they were allowed to make the plan. They dragged him into all the shopping streets if not shopping indoors, then at least window shopping. Finally he said that he had had enough and couldn't he just meet them somewhere in a few hours? Turns out they had arranged this day as payback for having dragged them to all those boring museums and churches.
It may not be easy, but honesty and a realistic expectation is important to some level of success.
I also think that 2 separate apartments or hotel rooms may make things easier as well. It would help to have one big enough to have meals and drinks together, but some sort of optional self contained lodging may make those morning shower decisions easier.
Have you read MaiTai Tom's trip reports? He and his wife travel with another couple and they mix up the lodging styles. They have found some great ways to share space comfortably.

@acraven writes: "I've been spending about 4-1/2 months in Europe each summer."

out of curiousity, what do you do about your home back in the US? Do you have someone still living in it to take care of it?

I live in a condominium apartment. It's a high-rise with all external maintenance handled by the condo association. I travel in the summer, so I don't have to worry about things like frozen pipes. I make sure all my incoming bills will be paid automatically but don't have to worry about physical aspects of ownership. That's the good news. The bad news is that the monthly condo fees keep right on coming even though I'm not using any electricity, etc.

Pets would make it tougher. I had two cats at the time of my retirement. There's no way I would leave them for a long overseas trip, so I waited until they had died (of natural causes) before I started my long, post-retirement trips. I really miss having cats, but I'm trying to cram in as much traveling as I can while I'm still relatively healthy.

There are a number of "snowbird home watch" services that make periodic security checks, including doors, windows and yards. For multi-month trips they can come into your home run the water, flush toilets, check and replace furnace filters, check sump-pumps, start and run your car, etc. They can arrange to take care of the lawn and other routine maintenance if needed. They can also provide a thorough house cleaning and linen change the day prior to your return, get appliances plugged back in and kick-down the thermostat, etc. Some will even restock your refrigerator and wash your car! You'll need to search what's available in your local market. Commercial maintenance services may also provide some of these services. Also, if you don't already have one, consider installing an indoor/outdoor video security system with motion warnings that can be sent to your phone or viewed from your pad or laptop. Smart home thermostats, lights and other devices can also be turned on and off remotely whenever you want and wherever in the world you may be.

Blvallee3, that is great info. I hope for regular winters away and I see this sort of service is available in my town. A neighbor offered to watch the place but some of the concierge or external services may be better done by a professional. Thanks for that info.