Traveling in Retirement is Wonderful

My wife and I have been retired for about seven years, and we have followed through on our biggest goal: to see the world.  While we haven’t gotten to all corners of the globe yet, we are very pleased with our progress.  Traveling in retirement is wonderful and for those who think it might not be worth the effort anymore, there are some things I’d like to suggest.  The first is to find ways to enjoy the journey itself and the second is to learn as much as possible about your destination.  Don’t just be a tourist but try to become an expert about the places you are seeing.  This is not to show off or brag about what you know.  It is to enhance your travel experience because I have found the more you know about a place the more interested you become.  What is even more amazing is that after you come home and hear about that destination in the news your whole perspective has been changed.  You pay more attention to what you’re hearing because you know this area now. In some ways it is the best educational experience you can have, and it can make you a little bit like a citizen of the world.

The amount of free time we enjoy in our post working days also makes traveling in retirement wonderful.  To get to those far off places that you only dreamed about, you can now break that journey into more manageable segments.  A journey to Australia from New York sounds quite daunting and the twenty hours or more on a plane could be seen as a very good reason not to go.  We had New Zealand and Australia on our list and were determined to get there.  One long flight was not something we were looking forward to and with the number of time zones that you travel through to get “down under” we knew that our age we should look for something less demanding.  Flexibility is the best thing you can build into your travel plans to follow the suggestion of enjoying the journey.  We made two stops on our way to the land of the koalas and both were for at least three days.  A stop in California put the first six hours behind us with the beautiful city of Palm Springs as our reward.  A flight to Hawaii got the next six hours out of the way and left us with a week to explore Kauai.  We could have turned around and come home and still have had a nice trip, but it was on to Aukland with a long but manageable nine-hour flight.  We were able to enjoy this marvelous city from the moment we got there while some of the people who checked in at the same hotel were zombies for the next two days.  Traveling in retirement is wonderful when you can make the journey to your destination as enjoyable as possible.  Retirement gives us the gift of time so we should make sure that we use it.

Traveling in retirement is wonderful if you can make it leisurely.

Since some of the destinations you travel to may be once in a lifetime destination, why not take our second piece of advice to heart and learn as much as you can about the place that you’re visiting.  Some people read books before they go and that is an excellent practice.  You’re spending a lot of money after all so why not get all you can out of the trip.  Making a list of the things you want to see ahead of time is a great way to make sure you experience everything you came to see.  While many people try to design their own tour, I have found that hiring an experienced guide can be one of the best investments you can make.  It’s not as expensive as you might think and a good company usually has different ways that will help you avoid crowds, customize your experience to fit your preferences and provide wonderful insights into the most enjoyable things to do.  This almost always includes restaurants that have the best local food you can get.  They’ll also give you some cost-saving tips that can easily turn into your best memories.  On our first trip to San Francisco with our children we opted for the ferry to Sausalito rather than the expensive guided tour of the harbor.  We saw the same things as we would have on the bigger ship so packed with tourists that you had to struggle for a spot to take pictures.  We had a less crowded voyage and money left over for a nice lunch.

Traveling in retirement is wonderful because it makes you realize that not only do we live in a wonderful world, but we’re all in this together.  On our last trip to California the devastation of the fires was very evident, and it became much more real to us, especially after talking to people who nearly lost their homes.  The summer heat in Europe is something we follow more closely now after seeing how few places have air conditioning.  We take a lot for granted in this country and traveling in retirement is wonderful in giving you a different perspective and a sense of appreciation for all that you have.  We live in a wonderful world.  Why not get out and see it and Enjoy Retired Life!

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