Perpetual travel

J

JamesInSanJose

Confused about dryer sheets
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Messages
3
I want to travel after I retire. I have been working / living in one form of box or another for the last 25 years, and have built up a serious case of wanderlust. What interests me is the idea of an extended around-the-world trip, spanning at lease several years and all seven continents.

The basic idea is "travel as a lifestyle." With a pace that is slower than the standard whoorlwind vacation.

Have any of you here done, are doing, or are planning to do extended international travel? If so, what information, or references can you provide regarding the planning, budget, travel arrangements, or other issues to consider?

Thanks,
James
 
i'm on a similar path. never traveled much in my pre-er life. just the caribbean, bahamas, some northeast areas and florida. so i am not at all acclimated to travel.

i'm easing myself into it with roadtrips around the country. so far did blue ridge mnts, smokys and a trip up and down the east coast. next i will try summers away in a foreign land like three months in toronto. if i take to that i'll try going farther offshore.

within 3-5 years i see myself selling the house and becoming a perpetual traveler, living in each place for a minimum of 3 to 6 months. my goal is not to go around the world but to get a better sense of where i am so that by the time i die i will know where i was. i can think of at least 20 countries i'd like to experience and at 6 months each that alone would take 10 years.

anyway, that's the plan. now to see what life has in store.

there's tons of information on the web to get you going. when i first started researching i thought i could just bop around the planet and stay anywhere as long as i liked. but it doesn't quite work like that. so one website i find particularly useful to get an idea of the logistics of perpetual travel is
Visa and embassy information for all countries - Projectvisa.com.

another one i like a lot is www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html which gives really good information on each country.

there are also considerations for someone like me who is gay and would rather not find myself dealing with too much homophobia. for instance, i thought i would like to spend some time in belize until i recently came upon this article (referenced by some one on thorntree) Belize News - Belize's Leading Newspaper | Belize's Breaking News - Amandala Online

and so for my special needs there are websites which monitor homophobia worldwide such as LGBT rights by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and others.

so far my approach is working well for me. my first roadtrip had me running quickly back home but my last one kept me on the road for two weeks. i also find that i was happier traveling than i am in my house. this home just isn't what it used to be. time to hit the road.
 
I don't know about perpetual travel for myself. I would like to travel for an extensive period of time but the logistics seem to be more and more complicated the more I think about it.

I am planning on seeing the world in fits and starts. Lazy, your approach sounds great, but last summer a really fine man, a member of my extended family, lost his life to cancer at 58,my age. I decided that I would jump into travel feet first, no more dipping my toes in to test the waters. So I traveled to the place that has been first on my list of travel destinations for as long as I can remember and that was Africa.

My reasoning is that who knows what may strike me next? So I better get busy doing what I really want to do now.
 
Oldbabe said:
My reasoning is that who knows what may strike me next? So I better get busy doing what I really want to do now.
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I feel the same way about jumping in now rather than waiting .I'm retired but my SO is still working so between trips with him I'm going to try elderhostel .I also want to do a rode trip up the coast of Florida and back down the other side by myself just for the heck of it .
 
I'll travel some after retiring, but probably not perpetually. I suppose I could sell everything and hit the trail, but not interested in that. I have an 80-year-old aunt that still travels around the world. Sometimes she is gone for so long, we wonder if something's happened to her. Evertually, she shows up. She's been doing it for almost as long as I can remember.
 
I kind of did this backward. When I was 20 years old, I converted a van into a mini self contained camper and traveled around the US for 6 months with a budget of $10 / day, including gasoline. Traveled from Michigan to Maine to Florida to Colorado to S. California to Washington back to Michigan. On the way I saw nearly every National Park.

Four years later I drove to Alaska from Michigan coming back via Florida, in 3 months. I did find that after awhile I got tired of traveling and longed for the stability of my own real home, but I've never regretted seeing the USA in big, all you can eat bite.
 
oldbabe. i read your post on africa and was very impressed. sounded like such a great time. i often think if i went to south africa and played with a baby lion that i might never come back to the states again. also i'm only 50 so i hope i can still tip toe a little. actually, the travel i have in mind will involve 10 to 15 years of being, basically, homeless and so i want to be sure that i would enjoy that before committing.
 
tightasadrum said:
I have an 80-year-old aunt that still travels around the world. Sometimes she is gone for so long, we wonder if something's happened to her. Evertually, she shows up. She's been doing it for almost as long as I can remember.
Click to expand...

I want to be that 80-year old aunt!

Lazygood4nothinbum wrote: "actually, the travel i have in mind will involve 10 to 15 years of being, basically, homeless and so i want to be sure that i would enjoy that before committing. "

To me that sounds lonely, but, of course, everyone is different. I was lonely for the last 10 years of my marriage and now my children are grown and on their own, so I am craving friends, social life and travel partners. I will likely do most my traveling with tour groups for that reason.
 
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tightasadrum
I have an 80-year-old aunt that still travels around the world. Sometimes she is gone for so long, we wonder if something's happened to her. Evertually, she shows up. She's been doing it for almost as long as I can remember.
Click to expand...
I hope I am still able to travel at that age! Billy and I just turned 55 and we see the differences in ourselves from when we first retired at 38 (1991) and started traveling the world. We have different concerns now like eyeglasses and personal meds! Cripes. I'm glad we started when we did and not wait until now... I think it would have been harder....
OldBabe
I will likely do most my traveling with tour groups for that reason.
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Nothing wrong with that OldBabe! Recently I recommended Couchsurfing to a single woman relative of mine who is our age and she loved it. She went to Austria and was able to meet the locals who took her to all the right places and it saved her a good deal on hotel expenses.

More useful travel information:
Travel Involvment in Local Cultures

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement
 
JamesInSanJose said:
Some really great information here!
Has anyone else explored extended travel?
Click to expand...

Can't say I've done this - but I have traveled for looong periods of time for work, often 9 months. I find it lonely. I work mostly weekends and so traveled typically once each week and then stay some place for 5 days or so. I've traveled from hotel to hotel - horrible and then in a travel trailer or coach and this is somewhat better. You have some place to retreat to that seems sort of homey.

A few years ago I spent a year in the EU traveling (and working). Having to tote your stuff from location to location is a problem. Over time I accumulated more things than I could reasonably pack. I found that I missed having my own towels, books, coffee mug and a comfortable couch. 2 duffel bags, the tools of my trade and a laptop is a really different way to live.... but the sites were interesting and the people almost always worth the effort made.

I would suggest that you don't sell your home, rent it out for a year or close it up. Do a trial run.
 
Oldbabe said:
To me that sounds lonely, but, of course, everyone is different. I was lonely for the last 10 years of my marriage and now my children are grown and on their own, so I am craving friends, social life and travel partners. I will likely do most my traveling with tour groups for that reason.
Click to expand...

as i've mentioned probably too many times, i've already buried my partner, my best friend, the ol'man, my mom and my wolfpuppy is buried in the garden out back. this house is where it is lonely.

when i was on my own, visiting friends and making new ones on my last trip i had a great time the entire time. as soon as i got to my mom's old exit on i-95 on my way home i started to cry a little and when i got into my own house i broke down into tears.

your loneliness might be on the road, but mine is right here. as far as i can tell so far, travel will suit me just fine.

i've also considered group travel but only as a jumping off point and as a way to meet new friends with similar interest. i thought for far off lands it might be a nice way to get there and spend the first week, but then i'd like to think i'd be ok on my own. so i'll try that once or twice and see how it goes.

ps akaisha, i also happened to read your good story on lance (didn't realize that who it was at the time) just a few weeks ago when i visited your site to re-inspire myself on travel. thanx for both (the story & the inspiration).
 
LG4N

ps akaisha, i also happened to read your good story on lance (didn't realize that who it was at the time) just a few weeks ago when i visited your site to re-inspire myself on travel. thanx for both (the story & the inspiration).
Click to expand...

Thanks, LG4N

We did another interview on a Perpetual Traveler named Dale Knight Dale Knight who said one of his ways of making friends on the road was to eat at the same restaurant, drink at the same bar, and shop at the same sundry shop a few days in a row. Soon these people become familiar, and they will introduce you to their family and friends.

It's a simple and easy way to 'instantly' become local!

Great idea.

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to EarlyRetirement
 
Additional book recommendations: I've read, but never traveled as they recommend:

Otteson, Paul. The World Awaits: A Comprehensive Guide to Extended Backpack Travel. (John Muir Pub.)

Verlomme, Hugo. Travel by Cargo Ship: Listings on 400 destinations worldwide (Cadogan Guides).
 
Billy said:
OldBabe

Nothing wrong with that OldBabe! Recently I recommended Couchsurfing to a single woman relative of mine who is our age and she loved it. She went to Austria and was able to meet the locals who took her to all the right places and it saved her a good deal on hotel expenses.

More useful travel information:
Travel Involvment in Local Cultures

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement
Click to expand...

Good useful information. I have a lot to see here in the USA first, but someday I do plan to travel oversees. Not sure I want to travel abroad as a single though. The safety factor and just think I would enjoy it more with a group. But I'm not an extended travel type either. :-\

Good luck with your travel plans!
 
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Slower paced travel is covered by any author (usually male) who writes about train travel; almost all of them get divorced sometime between extended trips. My favorite is Paul Theroux.

Interesting comments here about loneliness; I think, like happiness, loneliness is portable.
 
We perpetually travel (fulltime RVer) - have for >2 years now. Love it! But it's all been in the US so far (although Canada is well within our RV "range"). You are interested in international? So not sure I can help provide insight.

We'll probably start adding international trips before too long, but probably not extended > 1 month. We'll have to park our RV somewhere safe before flying/shipping off somewhere.

We love nature travel. I expect our international travel will be with nature tour groups - it's so much easier that way. $$$$ but you get to see sooooo much for so little hassle that to us it's worth it.

Audrey
 
Dawg52
Good useful information. I have a lot to see here in the USA first, but someday I do plan to travel oversees. Not sure I want to travel abroad as a single though. The safety factor and just think I would enjoy it more with a group. But I'm not an extended travel type either.
Click to expand...


Thanks!
Couchsurfing is also available throughout the US as well, and so is the HomeExchange. My understanding is that the HomeExchange allows you to visit a place more like a local instead of staying at a hotel.

Also, I forgot to put the link to Lance's Interview Bill Clevenger for those of you who might be interested in a fellow ER Forum member who is a Perpetual Traveler.

Really great quotes on loneliness... Great insights! thanks!

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement
 
haha said:
Going it alone may be part of the culture here. For a different take, see a very successful ER named Phil Greenspun. He strongly states, go on a trip, but go in a group. A guided tour of some kind.
Click to expand...
I've been reading his blogged travels in Africa & Turkey, and I wonder when's the last time that he actually went on a tour with a group. But perhaps this was a sideline of business-related travel.
 
I've worked and lived 27 of 32 years in foreign countries.
Much of it was work long hours and 7 days a week.
owned a house in Thailand that I recently sold.
looking at traveling S./C. America now
 
haha said:
Going it alone may be part of the culture here. For a different take, see a very successful ER named Phil Greenspun. He strongly states, go on a trip, but go in a group. A guided tour of some kind.

Early Retirement

Ha
Click to expand...


A very interesting article! His reasoning about going on group tours made sense to me.

But I don't agree with the author's recommendation of the movie "Broken Flowers" as a good one about an early retiree. This is a movie about a guy who travels around to visit all his former wives + lovers to make amends. Wow. Most of the women want to break his bones. It's really sad and depressing (with occassional humorous moments that would be mostly appreciated by women).
 
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