Eating Dessert Early in Retirement

[Chuckanut]

Last year, I flew to Europe for about $1400. I was offered an upgrade to business class for $500 when I checked in. Great! I thought, a business class round trip to Europe for only $500 more. But.. it was not for the entire round trip but only for the first leg of my trip, in other words, my flight to NY. After that back to coach for the next three legs including the long trip across the Atlantic. I turned down the offer.

 

[Independent]

It has been my experience that most coach seats on long overseas flights are tolerable, but then we are skinny people. Perhaps the seats are a bit wider, and spacing between rows are increased an inch or two, I am not sure....

SeatGuru seems to have width and pitch for most aircraft for most airlines: Airline Seating Charts - Best Airplane Seats - SeatGuru

Regarding upgrades, I've noticed that on Delta if I ask for coach first they'll give me a price and have a "click here for upgrade button". It may be my imagination, but the few times I've clicked I think I've gotten better prices than just starting with first class.

 

[Nords]

Are the width of the seats wider on flights to Honolulu? My GF says they are but I dont trust her (Im not talking 1st class either). I think she is trying to trick me as there is no turning back once boarded. The longest flight I have been on was Chicago to Vegas and I was about to go crazy on that flight. I will need to get mentally tougher to sit for 8-9 hours!

I've never thought to bring a tape measure to check. That's sure a new one on the old comedy routine "Does this seat make my butt look fat?"

I've flown first class and business class and economy/bulkhead. I like any of those much better than being stuck in the middle of the five-seat row, even if the bulkhead seat puts you next to a bathroom. If you're going to pony up for a more expensive non-stop flight then you might as well spend the extra $35-$70 for a seat with legroom.

The "good" news about the longer flights is that some of the food is free (depending on the airline's policy of the week) and at least one movie is free. But again the best news of all is that the flight staff whip through most of the customer-service routine in the first two hours and don't bother you again until the last hour before landing. That gives you a quality nap or two instead of being interrupted every 10 minutes by someone trying to tell you about something.

The "nice" thing about the Houston redeye is that it takes off from Honolulu at 7:20 PM and lands at 8:30 AM. That means you tuck yourself in around 9:30 PM and wake up around 4 AM in your Hawaii time zone, but you still have enough energy left to get you to the hotel and a lunchtime nap.

 

[Htown Harry]

"Income smoothing" in retirement is a new concept to me. I am wondering if it would be worth it to start a thread on this topic to share ideas ?

I believe Midpack is referring to "consumption smoothing", coined by Laurence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns?

The Commonsense of Consumption Smoothing | ESPlanner Inc.

Smooth your Income for the Long Haul - Registered Investment Advisor

From a review of their book Spend 'til the End:

Eschewing the standard financial advice to use replacement income as a guide on how to save, they instead accomplish this by analyzing spending habits, utilizing consumption smoothing as a way to ensure that you neither starve yourself in old age nor end up with more money than you need by depriving yourself during your working years.

 

[NW-Bound]

Ah, now that I have calmed down from the recollected trauma of being stuck in a middle seat in a packed-full domestic flight, I can recall a few times that worked out well for this poor traveler.

It was a couple of times we flew red-eye on a wide-body twin-aisle 777 with seating arrangement of 2-5-2 in coach. The flight was perhaps 50% full, or maybe less. We were able to occupy an entire middle row of 5 seats, and when the aircraft was at altitude, took turn to lie down across multiple seats and had a really nice sleep.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I am of two minds. What we finally do will depend on the situation when I finally retire. The specter of long-term care costs cautions me not to splurge early.

My wife and I have done some world traveling, mostly for my work. We can take it or leave it now. We would be perfectly happy if our travel were confined to the US and Canada. My interest in other places has to do with economic survival, not travel for the sake of travel. I don't think she would go for a life on the road--airplanes, buses, hostels and hotels and so forth. She is practical enough to go for a relocation however.

off-topic, NW-bound reminds me that I need to make damn sure to get my isle seats on my coming 20 hour flight.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Couple of things:
Obgyn, there have been, I think, a fair number of threads on ESRPlanner here. Interesting tool and theory. I've tinkered with it a fair bit.

I agree with many who say that travel, especially international travel if desired, might be best done early in retirement, saving the "easier" trips in the USA for later life, simply because the older we get, often times the less adaptable we are to sudden changes and disruptions, of which travel seems to have more than a fair share of.

I traveled for a couple of weeks to New Zealand in 2003. My flight was around $1000 back then, and Air New Zealand coach was positively luxurious compared to domestic US flights. I'd put a return trip there high on my list of places to go, but only when I can stay for longer. The nonstop was from LAX to Auckland.

I love reading about perpetual travelers, but know it isn't the life for us. We need/want a home base, something to return to, and a place that is embedded in our psyches and peopled with our friends and family.