Those of you who are travelling - or plan to - in retirement

[LornaDuh]

Where do you go? When and for how long? Where do you stay - hotel, airbnb, campervan, cruise ship?

Do you get homesick? Do you have pets? What about your garden?

What are your future travel plans?

Just curious as it's mentioned quite a lot of this board 😊

Our DC finish uni in the next couple of years. Our family dog died last year and we have an eldely cat. We bought a campervan this spring and although we are both still working, we now go away in the van for the weekend as much as we can. When we retire in the next year or 2 (and the DC are hopefully settled in jobs and need less support) we are planning to do longer european trips in the van as much as our Shengen days will allow, and lots of travel around the UK. We will also do a few long-haul trips as there are places in the world we really want to see, but neither of us really like flyin, so I don't think we'll do that many. We want to do some backpacking before we get too old and knackered!! The main dilemma is the cat. Our neigbours will come in to feed him but I would feel too guilty to leave him for too long. He might not be around by then though, so we'll cross that bridge etc.

This is exactly the same as me.

@GiantTeddyIsTired So you need to budget carefully but are paying for Dc to come to Japan and NZ with you? By definition, you must be loaded!

We love to travel. We've done several long haul trips to Africa, Japan, Canada, South America and the USA one of which was New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Also a few European breaks and we're off to Switzerland next week. We usually do organised tours but as we have dogs we don't go for more than 3 weeks at a time. DSS house and dog sits for us so the garden gets watered and the dogs love him. We would love to go to Australia but would want to go for at least 6 weeks as there's so much to see so it's unlikely to happen because of the dogs.

We enjoy several holidays a year but admit to really missing the GC’s so 2 weeks at a time suits me. We never go away in school holidays when prices are high and places are crowded. We are off on Friday for our autumn escape 🛫

I planned to travel but it hasn’t quite worked out.

first one kid landed back with me for a year and then I had a year of doing a fair bit of travel and then the other one landed back with me and now my mum is looking shaky and needs support.

so for the moment me and mum are doing lots of U.K. trips - Norwich, York, Bath, Windermere, Alnwick and similar.

i have two weeks in the Canaries booked for January and a week in Zurich for June. My DD can cat sit seeing as how she’s currently living with me rent free.

I retired slightly earlier than intended in order to make the most of my reasonably fit years. My trips mostly involve independent backpacking, but I know that there's a limit to how long I'm be able to do that for. So I'm getting the 'difficult' long haul destinations under my belt while I can. Hopefully when I can no longer do that, I'll be able to visit the European countries that are on my list, with cabin baggage, and when it comes down to it, I hope I won't be too proud to take coach trips in the UK.

I used to get sitters from Trusted House sitters for my elderly cat, but when he died, I decided not to get another. Cats have been in my family for 65 years, but it's been very freeing to be able to be spontaneous and just lock the door for the last few years.

We have done several long haul holidays since retiring. Canada, Caribbean cruise and South Africa with a safari. This year we have done a family holiday to Majorca and Centre Parcs and we have a trip to Canaries booked for November. We have a river cruise booked on the Danube next Spring and probably a trip to China. We also do numerous UK trips and I do walking holidays with friends. We have no pets and usually don’t go for more than two weeks unless long haul when it is closer to a month. Usually hotels, sometimes a cruise and a lodge in South Africa. We are usually ready to come home after two weeks to see our daughters and grandchildren. Not bothered about the garden. I miss my friends too and as we live in Cornwall which is a lovely place we do get homesick.

On our wish list for the future is
Greek Islands although we have been there before. We like to do places like this or Canaries in Winter when it is quieter.

The Alps or Pyrenees in the Spring.

Morocco for the history and weather.

Ireland and Scotland as we haven’t done those before.

Isles of Scilly

Portugal, Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Basically European destinations mainly. I have no desire to go to the States and although we have done Australia before it is too far. Thailand or Japan are also on my wish list. We love Scandinavia too but have been before.

@Cornishclio You are truly missing out by ignoring the USA. Having been recently I can assure you people were kind and welcoming. It’s an amazing country and has a lot to offer visitors so it’s a shame you discount it. Why is this? Do you know what you can see there? I guarantee you won’t get a whiff of Trump! Thailand has been under military dictatorship 12 times in 90 years and what about China?? Hardly a beacon of upholding human rights.

We have been to various places in the US over the years but won’t be returning. We have visited New York, California, Nevada and Florida. My husband has been to some of the Southern States and said they are weird there and stuck in some 1950s time warp with women treated like second class citizens. Most Americans we found to be pretty loud and tend to be very focused on money and status and constantly talking the US up although they may not be doing that so much now. All pretty false. Trump and the gun culture is something neither of us are keen on and I think it is quite unstable over there now. I would like to see some of their National Parks one day but not at the moment.

My nephew gets married in China next year and he went recently and said it was amazing.

@Cornishclio We truly haven’t found that at all. I’m not interested in Florida or Las Vegas though and certainly didn’t find anything not to like in California! Maybe look at somewhere much more cultural and you might be surprised. We have found museums first class, national parks wonderful and everyone helpful and friendly. No great restaurants in lots of places but we did some self catering this time. Try somewhere better and you will be surprised. Yes, a few are noisy in restaurants - as in uk. This time everyone who spoke was ashamed of the politics there. They won’t dare express that in China!

@TizerorFizz Did you really like LA? We just thought it was really tacky when we went about 5 years ago. Honestly there are so many lovely places in the World I just think US doesn’t really hold any appeal for us now but to a degree that is tainted by the fact they elected a man like Trump as President. The ones you spoke to may be ashamed but a large proportion must support him.

@Cornishclio I didn’t “do” LA in the same way you did I expect. We stayed in Santa Monica in a lovely bed and breakfast. The Getty Centre is outstanding as is the Getty Villa at Malibu. We drove up into Pacific Pallidades and along the coast. I also really enjoyed driving along Mulholland Drive and into the Laurel Canyon area. We visited the Paramount studio and the only grubby bit was around the Max Factor museum of costumes. We didn’t do ghe grubby bits because I knew they were.

No Trump supporter spoke to us last spring. I would not condemn a country by the voting patterns of people you won’t speak to. You don’t go around questioning peoples politics do you? We found Democrats willing to speak but they initiated the conversation, not us.

There’s many great places in California. We would like to go to the north west pacific parks and definitely the Smoky Mountains and Georgia. Washington is a fantastic destination with world class museums. Ditto Boston. Chicago is a great city for tourists too. They even had a few good restaurants!

We mostly use our caravan for our travels. Currently in San Sebastian en route to Benidorm. We'll stay in Beni til mid November.
In September we had two weeks in Lake District using time share points.
May/June we toured Wales for 3 weeks with caravan
March we were in south of Spain (Benalmadena) using time share points
We also love cruises, barge holidays, Christmas markets in Europe, city breaks, music festivals.
Next year we hope to go to Brazil for a month.
I would prefer not to travel as much as we do but dh becomes a grumpy old git at home. I love my small garden and home hobbies esp dressmaking. We have downsized but haven't got around to decorating. I would love to join Rock Choir, do voluntary work locally, and become more settled in our community but can't commit to anything because we are never there!
No pets to worry about but I do miss my adult children and only grand daughter.
I guess as we get older we won't be able to travel as much. DH already has health issues and medical appointments he has to take into account,
so he's probably justified in traveling as much as he can now. I wish he'd take some trips for solo travellers but he won't!

We retire next month and will be going away every month for a few days. I'm not interested in long haul, cruises or heat.
To be fair we go away most months anyway. We like city breaks or walking trips....I plan a mean itinerary and try and find unusual things to see and do.

No pets and no intention of getting one.

Santa Monica and Santa Barbara were lovely and we did the Pacific Highway.

We actually do talk about politics when we travel as it is generally part of a country’s culture so when we travel we like to embrace that and obviously though we don’t always agree with them we are polite as they are. We spoke to many Americans in Canada two years ago and South Africa last year and as you say generally they were Democrats and ashamed of the direction their country was heading.

US has seen tourism decline apparently since the American first and trade sanctions rhetoric has stepped up. I think the Trump administration have badly misjudged how to handle their international policy. Also the food is awful over there but I am glad you had a nice time. Do you plan to return any time soon?

I'm really enjoying reading your replies but -my god! - some of you must be loaded 😂

I plan a mean itinerary

This is something I need to start doing as I can get bored just wandering around on holiday.

@Cornishclio We also drove down Highway 1 on another trip. From SF.

We make a point of not opening a conversation with politics and not have any opinion until asked for one. That paid off this year but we found the people who spoke to us wanted to come to uk on holiday or had already been. We were in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Colorado is Democrat.

Great food can be found but it’s a struggle and now very expensive with tax and tips. Self catering wasn’t cheap either! The best meals we’ve had were in Washington and Chicago. More discerning diners maybe?

Of course we will go again. More national parks await and I like the idea of going north from Boston. Also some southern states in USA taking in Asheville for music. More of the NW pacific coast too. Overall we’ve got lots of the world to see though.

So far we have done a 6 week interrailing trip around Europe, last minute week in the winter sun in The Canaries, lots of trips around the UK visiting friends and relatives, a canal boat holiday, a week in a Campervan (Scotland and Northumberland) and yesterday I was looking up flights for next weekend - the option to go at short notice is great. We've been retired for 12 months and are early/mid 60's.

When we did the 6 week trip, DS was still living at home. He's since moved out but isn't far away so can pop in and keep and eye on the house if needed.
Our house insurance allows 60 days absence.

We don't have pets -everyone said "get a dog" when we retired. Much as I love dogs, there's no way we're restricting ourselves with that commitment.
We have lots more adventures planned - including buying a campervan.

DS now jokes to just let him know if we're actually at home rather than telling him we're going away!

I did enough travelling when younger and prefer having pets to not, so bought a campervan about 5 years ago and tootle around in that. I’m planning a month in France maybe next year, but will hire a motorhome or something bigger for that. It’s an exciting time of life and I wish you all the best.

I went to China 6 months ago and it’s firmly in my top five holiday list.

I also have no desire to go back to the states. Have had many trips there- great museums, national parks etc, but ime decent food is very expensive, I dislike the tipping culture- (put the prices up and pay people a decent salary) and I find it all too loud. Much prefer Canada.

@MyElatedUmberFinch agree. We lived in China for 12 years and it really is the most amazing country.

I think the Trump administration have badly misjudged how to handle their international policy. I agree and don’t see the need to reward them with my tourist dollars when there are many, many alternatives as illustrated by this thread 🤷‍♀️

@Mikart - what would be an example of a recent mean city break itinerary? We kind of wing it which generally works well but im open to planning more!!

Comfortable - my house is paid off, my pension is healthy, and I'm frugal in most ways (old cars, DIY everything, home cooking etc), so the savings will start to mount. I'm still working at a C-Level job right now and for the next couple of years through a limited company which allows me to tax plan much more efficiently. - 10-15k every other year is budgeted in for big trips.

Budgeting carefully throughout my life is what makes the trips possible. I started out with literally nothing, and through careful spending, and a lot of sacrifice (moving every 6-18 months for 20 years is a hard life - especially once kids are involved) I'll be able to do it.