Retired Couples who Trek the Globe on a Budget

[omni550]

Just saw this online : 5 Retired Couples who Trek the Globe on a Budget.

One couple just travels extensively, another are RVers, two couples seem to prefer a combination boat & home lifestyle, another couple rents out their Florida home while they rent a place in Hawaii....

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-retired-couples-trek-globe-100000037.html

I didn't recognize our ER forum "regulars" as any of the 5.

omni

 

[Chuckanut]

As much as I enjoy traveling, I would still like a home to come back to and enjoy from time to time. However, I could be talked into getting a smaller home that makes more $$'s available for travel.

What interests me in some of these article is that the amount some people save by not owning a home is big enough to fund a year or so of travel on the cheap. Houses really are expensive things when we start to add it all up.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

I found the wisest words in this article to be those uttered by Lynne Martin, the wife in the first couple interviewed - Postpone nothing!

We have gone hard since we ER'd three years ago. We have no idea how long we'll have our current good health, nor how long we'll have until our two remaining parents may need us. Until then, our plan is to go as hard as we can for as long as we can. Currently we travel about 50% of the calendar year, a mix of RV'ing, apt rentals via VRBO, and more traditional cruising and touring.

Love the idea of being a nomad, and give sincere kudos to each one of the couples chronicled, but for now I too am happy to have a place to land in between trips. In our case we have brought a close relative into our home to take care of things while we are gone. They pay us a small monthly rent, which does a pretty good job of covering many of the expenses that continue even if we are not at home - utilities, insurance, HOA fees and lawn service.

 

[BellBarbara]

I love this idea too. We are still late 50s, and have a large house with a huge yard that is sucking money from us. Our goal is to sell the house once the dog passes (he is 10), and downsize to something like a small condo. We would then be on the road most of the time.

I am very appreciative that we are healthy, but don't feel we can count on it 100%....my DH's family has the early onset Alz gene - he does not want to be tested. I keep pushing him to spend while we can! I also watched both my grandparents and mom die with lots of money, but not much experience. I don't want this to happen to us.

 

[walkinwood]

The Martins are all over the retiree media! Lynne was in the PR business prior to retiring, so that helps, I guess. I'm on the waiting list for their book at the library.

I'd love to try out that lifestyle for a few years - but DW isn't buying it for now.

 

[tulak]

I'm about half way through the Martin's book right now (Home Sweet Anywhere) and it's getting to be a bit repetitive. I like the idea of what they are doing and have respect for them packing up in their late 60's, but the book doesn't really offer much perspective of what's involved. Most of it is stories about their travels to their various destinations. She tells you how they hit the local grocery store, made friends with whoever they are renting from, and what a pain it can be to drive in a foreign country. For people that were well travelled before selling everything and hitting the road, you'd think they'd already know this. I guess they are writing to a different audience. The last kicker for me was how she wrote they can't wait to be back on the cruise ship to go home. But wait. I thought "anywhere" was home.

I'm debating if I should call it quits or just skim the rest of the book, but I should probably move on.

 

[donheff]

I found the wisest words in this article to be those uttered by Lynne Martin, the wife in the first couple interviewed - Postpone nothing!

+1 That is why DW and I decided to sell our weekend house. We don't want perpetual travel but we do want to do more and we don't travel frugally. 4% of the house principal plus the annual maintenance costs will fund a lot of alternatives.

 

[Focus]

I'm about half way through the Martin's book right now (Home Sweet Anywhere) and it's getting to be a bit repetitive. ... I'm debating if I should call it quits or just skim the rest of the book, but I should probably move on.

Skim. It doesn't get better. I found it unpersuasive. What it comes down to is packaging an intriguing idea into a padded book (part of which recounts how she came to write the book!), branding the "home free adventure" concept, and promoting the heck out of it to increase book sales. It's working, based on how it's gained some traction in the media.

 

[FUEGO]

I thought we might become perpetual travelers. Then we had kids.

The best I can hope for right now is to spend summers somewhere awesome (and hopefully cooler than the southeastern US).

We "only" have a little over $5,000 per year in our travel budget, so developing nations like Mexico and Central America or SE Asia are within our price range if we want to spend a summer somewhere. We'll see how the kids do when they get a bit older. A one year "trip around the world" isn't out of the question but wouldn't be possible today with a 2 year old.

And from the article "trekking the world on a budget": the first couple has a fixed $6000/month budget. That's a budget but not what I expected in terms of budget travel. I guess the article is a good one for those that think only megamillionaires can trot the globe at their leisure.

 

[sailor]

We "only" have a little over $5,000 per year in our travel budget, so developing nations like Mexico and Central America or SE Asia are within our price range if we want to spend a summer somewhere. We'll see how the kids do when they get a bit older. A one year "trip around the world" isn't out of the question but wouldn't be possible today with a 2 year old.

$5k for a family of 5 to SE Asia in an ambitious goal. Unless you found some magic discounts on flights, the cheapest flights from east coast to Asia I was able to find are around $800 per person (and your 2 y.o. can't travel on your lap any more).

We do 6 weeks jaunts to Europe in summer with the family of 5 and it's still possible to score some decent flights, if you are willing to drive within US to a popular airport.
For example Norwegian flies from FLL, MCO and JFK to Scandinavian countries and can be really cheap, if you buy it in advance. They also do have kids discounts, so it's still possible to get family of 5 to Europe for <$2k total.

Mexico or Central America: easy-peasy with $5k.

I'd love to go to Asia with $5k budget for a family of 5, as the two older kids are begging to see China & India.

 

[Alan]

Sitting here in Vanuatu I found the article interesting and could relate to it just a little. This is our 5th year in retirement and each year so far we have spent 5 - 7 months away, but we do like a home base to return to.

In readiness for retirement we sold the big house and moved into a rented apartment in a complex where we can "lock and leave".

So far this year we have spent a week in LA, 6 weeks in Queensland, Australia in 3 different places, a week in Vanuatu and are moving back to Australia tomorrow for 3 weeks in Victoria, 4 weeks in Tasmania, a week in Sydney and then 2 weeks on a cruise around New Zealand.

Next year will be a North American 6 month trip including Alaska and Canada, and the following year we plan on setting up a 2nd home in the UK and slowing down somewhat, taking shorter trips to places in the UK and Europe.

We typically spend around $6k/month on these trips so it is not what I would describe as "living on a budget"

 

[walkinwood]

Alan, Write a book!

 

[FUEGO]

$5k for a family of 5 to SE Asia in an ambitious goal. Unless you found some magic discounts on flights, the cheapest flights from east coast to Asia I was able to find are around $800 per person (and your 2 y.o. can't travel on your lap any more).

We do 6 weeks jaunts to Europe in summer with the family of 5 and it's still possible to score some decent flights, if you are willing to drive within US to a popular airport.
For example Norwegian flies from FLL, MCO and JFK to Scandinavian countries and can be really cheap, if you buy it in advance. They also do have kids discounts, so it's still possible to get family of 5 to Europe for <$2k total.

Mexico or Central America: easy-peasy with $5k.

I'd love to go to Asia with $5k budget for a family of 5, as the two older kids are begging to see China & India.

Oh yeah, I forgot some people still pay for plane tickets! We have many hundreds of thousands of miles/points on a few different airlines, so hopefully we would be able to cobble together most of five tickets to/from Asia. Otherwise, it would be hard on $5k. Of course we might spend $8k one year and $2k the next year. Or increase the travel budget in good portfolio years.

Eventually we might exhaust our supply of airline miles or our credit card travel hacking might dry up, and we would be forced to pay up. So far so good though. I doubt we will do a long summer trip abroad every year, and might stick with shorter domestic trips (or simple, closer to home stuff) some years.

 

[nwsteve]

Sitting here in Vanuatu I found the article interesting and could relate to it just a little. This is our 5th year in retirement and each year so far we have spent 5 - 7 months away, but we do like a home base to return to.

In readiness for retirement we sold the big house and moved into a rented apartment in a complex where we can "lock and leave".

So far this year we have spent a week in LA, 6 weeks in Queensland, Australia in 3 different places, a week in Vanuatu and are moving back to Australia tomorrow for 3 weeks in Victoria, 4 weeks in Tasmania, a week in Sydney and then 2 weeks on a cruise around New Zealand.

Next year will be a North American 6 month trip including Alaska and Canada, and the following year we plan on setting up a 2nd home in the UK and slowing down somewhat, taking shorter trips to places in the UK and Europe.

We typically spend around $6k/month on these trips so it is not what I would describe as "living on a budget"

Alan
We have looking at Australia as a possible extended stay destination for awhile. Curious about locations you have stayed and costs. My limited research seems to indicate Oz is pretty expensive by most measures.
Any more details on visit would be great
Thanks
Nwsteve

 

[simple girl]

Alan, Write a book!

+1

You are living the dream Alan! So happy for you two!

 

[Alan]

Alan, Write a book!

That sounds too much like the W word

 

[Bestwifeever]

That sounds too much like the W word

A reality show, Travels with Alan and the Missus, then

 

[Alan]

Alan
We have looking at Australia as a possible extended stay destination for awhile. Curious about locations you have stayed and costs. My limited research seems to indicate Oz is pretty expensive by most measures.
Any more details on visit would be great
Thanks
Nwsteve

Oz is pretty expensive from all we have seen so far. It has been 17 years since we were last here and I don't recall it being so expensive then. Income tax is also very high, my brother says it is the most heavily taxed country in the world and I can believe it. (try Googling the tax brackets - my brother is in the 47% bracket plus there is now a 3% additional income tax to pay down the debt)

This first 6 weeks have been inexpensive for us as friends and relatives have put us up and loaned us cars for the whole time.

In a couple of days time we are going to St Kilda, just south of Melbourne where we have an apartment rented, total cost for 14 nights including internet and cleaning 1,792 AUD ($1,672). Will use trams and buses while there then we pick up a hire car for 8 days at a cost of 252 AUD including insurance. We plan on driving along the coast (Great Ocean Road and beyond), staying at hotels as we need.

Gas prices are ~1.36 AUD / litre ($4.76 / US Gal).

In Hobart, Tasmania we have a condo booked for 3,199 AUD for 28 days. Haven't booked any cars yet as we don't know yet what trips we'll be taking.

Internal flights aren't bad at all cost-wise. We have flown/will fly

Sydney - McKay

McKay - Brisbane

Brisbane - Melbourne

Melbourne - Hobart

Hobart - Sydney

All fares have been under 150 AUD per person including all taxes, fees and 1 checked bag, and all flights on Virgin Australia. (Amazingly they feed you on these flights!!)

 

[Alan]

A reality show, Travels with Alan and the Missus, then

Maybe that I could manage

 

[Moemg]

I admire all the older nomads including you Alan because you are all still open to adventure .

 

[Dreamer]

A reality show, Travels with Alan and the Missus, then

I would love to watch it! I agree that it seems like you and your DW are living the dream. Good for you.

 

[Alan]

I admire all the older nomads including you Alan because you are all still open to adventure .

I would love to watch it! I agree that it seems like you and your DW are living the dream. Good for you.

Thanks,

For us our motto is "adventure before dementia", we've known too many couples where one or the other becomes too ill to travel. Fortunately this is something that both of us wanted to do and were able to retire early enough to do while still in good health.

 

[haha]

Skim. It doesn't get better. I found it unpersuasive. What it comes down to is packaging an intriguing idea into a padded book (part of which recounts how she came to write the book!), branding the "home free adventure" concept, and promoting the heck out of it to increase book sales. It's working, based on how it's gained some traction in the media.

I waited a couple weeks to get this book from library, and lasted for one chapter. It seemed like another "aren't we cool" book.

If someone wants to travel a lot on relatively small money, experienced travelers on this board get right into the nitty gritty, and this seems very helpful.

Ha

 

[In-control]

Sitting here in Vanuatu I found the article interesting and could relate to it just a little. This is our 5th year in retirement and each year so far we have spent 5 - 7 months away, but we do like a home base to return to.

In readiness for retirement we sold the big house and moved into a rented apartment in a complex where we can "lock and leave".

So far this year we have spent a week in LA, 6 weeks in Queensland, Australia in 3 different places, a week in Vanuatu and are moving back to Australia tomorrow for 3 weeks in Victoria, 4 weeks in Tasmania, a week in Sydney and then 2 weeks on a cruise around New Zealand.

Next year will be a North American 6 month trip including Alaska and Canada, and the following year we plan on setting up a 2nd home in the UK and slowing down somewhat, taking shorter trips to places in the UK and Europe.

We typically spend around $6k/month on these trips so it is not what I would describe as "living on a budget"

This is great and the direction we are heading - except the $6k per month - that's 100% of our budget. I could see tooling around staying @ lower priced chain hotels, spending little time there, and exploring an area until were bored.

Keep the details coming inquiring minds would like to know more.

 

[phil1ben]

Planning on retiring in June, 2015. I will be 55 and DW 52. Our primary home is in the northeast and we have a beach house at the New Jersey shore. Our annual plan is as follows:

Jan or February - Rent a 2 bedroom home in the Caribbean likely from VRBO or Homeaway. Like St. Barts (but very pricey) may rent on St. Croix, Anguilla or St. Lucia. We have three vacation rental properties (in close proximity to our primary residence and beach house) we rent as landlord through these websites and have been very happy with the return. We have been surprised how well people have taken care of our vacation properties. We have not experienced any of the nightmares we have all read about. Hopefully this will continue. Also have met some wonderful people from all over the world.

March-May - Primary Residence

June-September - Beach House

October - Rent a 1-2 bedroom apartment in a European City. Our favorite is Paris but will vary year to year.

November-December - Primary Residence.

We expect the two single month long trips will together run about $20,000.00/year including rent. Now just hoping I have the courage to take the leap........First step is to have a plan. Next step is to carry through with it.