Travel- How often, how long, how much $$?

[W2R]

One year to retirement... Thinking about annual spending budget including travel.

Summary question- How often do you go on recreational travel; how long are typical trips; assuming a set budget do you go shorter with more luxury or stretch it out with lower priced options? [...]

As others have already said, the frequency and amount of travel in retirement varies widely from retiree to retiree. We find that we prefer no travel at all, so we haven't gone on a single trip for fun so far in our 14 years of retirement. Turns out, much to our surprise, we like being homebodies.

We did have to evacuate for hurricanes twice after retiring (Hurricane Isaac in 2012, and Hurricane Ida in 2021). But that was no fun! Other than those two evacuations, we haven't been more than 5-10 miles from home since we retired.

 

[athena53]

Here's a photo of me on the 2-mile hike to that very volcano of which you speak. Memories that will last a lifetime.

I've got a similar picture of me! DH wasn't up to that trip but he enjoyed my stories and pictures when I came back to the hotel. They told us Charlie Sheen had taken that excursion but was helicoptered in with a gaggle of young women in spike-heeled shoes and he had to be asked not to indulge in cocaine on the premises.

 

[Chuckanut]

I travel as much as possible. Last year I was gone for 10 out of 12 months - not the entire month - which included one domestic flight and four international flights.

I am curious. When you travel that much are these trips planned well ahead of time? Or do you see an opportunity to get away, buy tickets, make a few hotel reservations and then go?

 

[pacergal]

I guesstimate $10-20,000 a year for travel in our budget. We are starting year 7 of retirement. One year we went on 4 trips, most years one longer one by air travel (2 weeks is max for us) and several shorter road trip ones.
We have a few places on our bucket list, however, we are pretty happy close to home.
One of our favorite destinations is less than a two hour drive.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When I was married we took 1-2 big flying trips a year and also did rv travel for up to a month at a time since we could take all 4 dogs. I would do all the planning and booking and we spent anywhere between 4-14k/year. Now single I am going once a year to Europe. These trips are between 5-7k for 11 day tours. I don’t like being gone more than 2 weeks because I miss my dogs and life.

 

[tulak]

I am curious. When you travel that much are these trips planned well ahead of time? Or do you see an opportunity to get away, buy tickets, make a few hotel reservations and then go?

Yes, I try to plan the trip as soon as I know my dates of travel. I'm time constrained, by travel partners and/or work, so I don't have much flexibility for spontaneous travel. There's also a certain comfort not having to figure out travel details while traveling.

I have left dates open in the past, but it's rare and usually I have a rough idea of what to do and I'm not picky on where I want to visit and/or stay. In those cases, you might not find great accommodations, but it doesn't matter if you're staying one night. But if you want to spend 5 days in Paris in the summer, then you definitely want to book sooner.

This might change for me if I was to be gone for 2-3 months in a single stretch, but all of my trips are shorter. My longest trip last year was 5 weeks and it was all preplanned.

 

[SoloDrifter]

^I'm planning on traveling solo all year next year (occasionally back in US for a couple weeks every few months or so) and am hoping to do it semi-spontaneously with about 2 months pre-planning per leg (next 2 months while on a leg). Planning a mix of cruises (mainly as transport with room/eats) and hotel/apts stays about a month in various countries (mostly Euro/APAC).

Need to work out health/travel insurance, possibly Cigna Global and Sapphire card. Am planning to use booking.com for short term apt leases (3-4 weeks) rather than AirBnB if anyone has thoughts on that.

 

[2017ish]

... Am planning to use booking.com for short term apt leases (3-4 weeks) rather than AirBnB if anyone has thoughts on that.

We've had good luck with booking.com. It often ends up as DW's go to for non-USA bookings. We've not done quite as long as you are talking about, but have had several 2 week stints over the last several years.

 

[rodi]

When we first retired the kids were still at home full time so airfare/lodging/meals were for 4. Because of this we did a European trip every 4 years, and 2-3 week big trips during their summer breaks during the non Europe years. We did a "Blow the Dough" 9 week Europe trip with the kids in 2015. Managed to pull that off (including Biz class airfare) for under $15k.

As of Fall 2021 we were empty nesters during the school year and started planning longer trips during shoulder seasons. Covid wrecked our spring 2022 trip which was to start with a transatlantic cruise followed by a 3 weeks in Italy. MSC Cruises canceled with not a lot of notice and were really reluctant to refund our money. Just shows that best laid plans can get waylaid by world events.

We also purchased a beater van in 2021 and did a minimalist conversion (tent on wheels) for camping. State beach parks are cheaper than hotels, but still pricey ($30-50/night). Since it's not a full conversion (no bathroom and we bring our campstove and cook outside) we're not really set up for boondocking. That was great during covid. We're still using it - in fact leaving Monday for Anza Borrego to go camping, Joshua Tree next month, and other trips in process of planning.

So - with the kids at college, we're doing 1-2 big bucket list trips a year (overseas) for 10-15k and a bunch of $200-400 camping trips spattered in. Plan is for $20-25k/year.

 

[brett]

Traveling for two or three months at a time if far different that travelling for two or three weeks.

We become much more spontaneous travelers. We may do one way flights or we may do open flights. Not uncommon for us to fly, for example, to Athens, Rome etc. and have a return flight from London or Paris. Why those two...because there are lots of low cost flights to those hubs and they offer the best fares for us back to NA.

On our last pre covid extended trip the only hard reservations we had were for a flight to Athens, connecting an Ioanina flight, hotel and car in Ioanina, and a flight reservation home from London 8 weeks later, and one night pre flight at a Gatwick Airport hotel. We do exactly the same on our last pre covid Mexico trip. Flew into Cancun and then home from PVR
after seven weeks of independent travel. Ten days ahead of plan because of covid.

We planned on four weeks in the Ionian Islands, time, then time in Athens, and two weeks somewhere else. The somewhere else might be Israel, Cyprus, or Morocco depending on flight and accommodation opportunities. Everything else was booked on the fly based on long we wanted to spend on each island. Partway through our trip we reserved air to Cyprus and air to London.

It is not unusual for us to change our plans if we are able to pick up a last minute cruise at a bargain fare. We have done this five or six times in the past.

We also realized that we would have to do or arrange for laundry over an 8-9 period. That was one of the factors that made us realize that carry on was the best option for us.

 

[tulak]

Traveling for two or three months at a time if far different that travelling for two or three weeks.

…

We also realized that we would have to do or arrange for laundry over an 8-9 period. That was one of the factors that made us realize that carry on was the best option for us.

There’s a strong chance that’s how I will travel when I’m gone for 2-3 months. Right now it’s max 5-6 weeks and has to be planned due to mine and others time constraints.

I tend to stay at Airbnbs, but even if it’s a mix of hotels/Airbnbs, I try to find a place with at least a washing machine once a week. It’s a lot easier if you can do laundry without having to find a laundromat.

 

[brett]

We do both along with sending laundry out at 9AM and getting it back by 5PM in Thailand and Australia.

We do not mind laudromats in Europe. Why? In many instances they offer fold service. You drop off the clothes and the kind ladies do everything else including fold.

We have met fellow travelers in and outside laundromats a number of times. Great opportunity to trade travel recommendations and on occasion, books. More often than not they have been Australians.

We don't sit in a laundromat watching our clothes go round. We are either have a drink in a cafe next door or across the street or when we are having dinner at a nearby cafe.

 

[DrRoy]

I am curious. When you travel that much are these trips planned well ahead of time? Or do you see an opportunity to get away, buy tickets, make a few hotel reservations and then go?

We plan everything ahead, sometimes as much as a year. Some places that we go, the lodging fills up quickly and we want to have our choice of location and time. This is especially true for national park lodges.

 

[brett]

We have a general outline of where we want to go. We may make some tentative reservations but nothing non refundable.

Last time we went up the Pacific coast in Mexico we thought we would spend at least a week in Huatulco. We only reserved for two days. Extended that by a day and took the bus to Puerto Escondido. Made the reservation whilst in Huatulco. Liked it so much we stayed for a week. Did the same for Acapulco,
Zi, and PVR. We do the same in Europe and SE Asia.

IF we have a plane reservation home we will make hotel reservations for at least one night before the flight. Likewise, we always have a hotel resevation for the first night or two once we fly in.

On our 6 month trip we had a safari booked in South Africa. We had a condo rented in Costa Rica for a month. Everything else was done while we traveled. We picked up three last minute cruises along the way. A med, a TA, and an Xmas cruise from MIA.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When we took the rv to national parks we usually had to reserve a spot a year in advance.

 

[meleana]

One year to retirement... Thinking about annual spending budget including travel.

Summary question- How often do you go on recreational travel; how long are typical trips; assuming a set budget do you go shorter with more luxury or stretch it out with lower priced options?

We typically take a few weeklong trips per year. Any longer and it's too miserable coming back to mountains of work at my job. This year we are heading to Aruba tomorrow, Puerto Vallarta in April, Hawaii in September, and probably a weeklong hiking trip this summer. We also take a couple trips to visit the kids at their colleges across the country. We seek out deals and although we've moved on from Motel 6, we still have the mindset that lodging amenities aren't worth money when we're asleep. Typical weeks in Hawaii have been running us under $3000 in hotels, about $2000 if we share a condo and cook for ourselves. We spent about $12,000 on travel last year.

Realistically I don't think we would be doing more trips, just longer. Probably one bigger splurge per year farther away from home such as the South Pacific, South America, Europe. Definitely long hiking/backpacking trips but those don't really cost much other than transportation.

My seat-of-the pants guess is that $24,000 annual travel budget for the first several years of retirement would be plenty- a bit more for years we do a spurge trip. In fact it appears ridiculous but I also think hotels and restaurant meals are ridiculous so maybe it matches?

We retired to NH just as the pandemic hit. We did go to our timeshare in Vermont that year but that’s been it since. We no longer have the Vermont timeshare. Had 22 years of great vacations there.

We live in a vacation area in the lakes region and it’s like we’re always on vacation. We also have a annual timeshare week in the summer in the White Mountains just an hour away from home that we use for a change of scenery.

That said, we did book a one week trip/tour to South Dakota for this June to get out of town during Bike Week here. But I developed a bad back issue that I am having surgery for very soon, so hoping I am recovered by then.

We aren’t crazy about flying or driving more than 6 hours in terms of a road trip. We also don’t like living out of a suitcase. We have been spoiled in the past with timeshare travel having a condo and keeping meal costs down.

When we worked we liked having 2 weeks off in a timeshare condo. We took both one week and 2 week vacations across the country and even one week in Scotland one year. Overall we averaged 3 one week vacations throughout the year with eating most meals in, since food is usually the biggest expense.

Now retired I’m not sure I’d like to be away from home more than a week at a time.

I don’t budget anything for travel except the fixed cost of the one week timeshare. If we are going to do something like the South Dakota Trip which is a tour and will be around $7000 total ( yes - expensive- includes cancel for any reason travel insurance and the tour company’s flexible airfare) plus meals and whatever other spending money, well that’s just an exception. ( we’ve always done mainly independent travel but we decided to do a tour and booked through a travel agent because of all the issues with flying these days )

 

[rrs26ja]

Vacation Budget

We usually budget and take 2 major vacations a year. These are usually 10 to 14 days and include airfare, hotel or VRBO, rental car, eating out, and some spending money. We also plan on 5 weekend get always. These are usually 2-3 days and its usually within a 3-4 hour drive. Our yearly budget is about $17,000-$20,000 per year. We retired at 62 in 2018. We budget this from 62 to 75 and increase it by 5% each year, and then reduce our yearly budget after 75. We figure once we are in our 80's we probably won't be vacationing much.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

I'll be honest here. I have learned that nearly every trip we take, counting all expenses, runs close to $10k a week regardless of how we travel. We stay in 4-star plus and travel Business class, eat at better restaurants etc. AirBnB is the most expensive option and has tons of add-on fees that are pretty shocking when you get the final bill. The same for VRBO. So, with that mentioned we tend to opt for hotels but depending on where we go may opt for a BnB instead. Business travel turns out to not be much more expensive and gets you out of the cattle car. We are in our 70's and it is important to be comfortable so why suffer? We can afford it and it doesn't really cost all that much. Since COVID we have only taken one trip so far, mostly due to my wife's ongoing dental issues that are now in the 5th year caused by a sterile upper jaw abscess requiring multiple bridges, implants, 2 major surgeries to clean the abscess, and fill it with some kind of bone matrix, and now braces, plus new bridges after that. So, travel has been limited. However, we do plan to drive to Barcelona and also drive (yes ferry from Scotland and back to Norway) to Iceland.

We are based in Hungary and driving is a good option. I can say our last 2 weeks' trip to Italy in September was fantastic and the Mercedes EQS EV was not a problem. It turns out most public garages throw in charging the car for free. So, roughly 2/3 of the charging was free to us in the sense we didn't pay extra for it. On the other hand, parking is roughly 50 euros a day. We did get roughly 600km range and fast chargers were not an issue. The garages were all at 11 kW/h (3-phase 400V 42 amp) although one in Maori Italy was only 2 kW/h but we stayed 6 days there so not an issue. The 108 kWh battery is enormous and takes some time at 2Kw/h to recharge. But, this is the most comfortable car I have ever driven and it is a joy to drive. As an aside the range is dependent heavily on the speed you drive. Faster equals less range. The car will set itself to a drive speed and driving style according to the distance to the destination and consumption rates if you want it to get to the actual destination you set or you can have it plan alternates. It changes the way you drive completely.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

To answer the sp[ecific question, we usually take to major trips per year. We never go anywhere for less than 2 weeks and often more. For big trips like going to China or Thailand, we took one month each. We really hate cruise lines and tend to avoid that but I can see that coming when we hit our 80's. We do take shorter trips such as flying to Moscow or Israel to see relatives for a major event.

The former is an issue for me as I only have an American passport (my wife is a dual citizen Russian/American) so going to Russia is a huge hassle getting a visa for me. Now it may be impossible as believe I am still bound by TS-SCI classification issues and we are basically at war with Russia so legally I have no clue where I am at. Technically security clearances end when you leave the job but retired military such as myself (actually twice the second from civil service but both identical jobs doing BW stuff) are actually still in the service until death so bound by these kinds of poorly defined issues. The Brits dealt with this by passing the Official Secrets Act that defines the limits but the US has no corollary. So, I am curious if anyone knows what is the actual endpoint for someone with security information in their head to not be covered by this? Technically I stopped all work in 2012 and all documents are stored at the facility where the work was performed. I ended my TS clearance when I left my last job as a contractor. I never signed and end release nor was I out-briefed. So, beats me when this ends or if it is even an issue at all. I don't want to find out the hard way though. I did get a letter from the military a few years back warning me that all former officers can be recalled to active duty to be court-martialed should we be deemed to be in violation of the UCMJ. That came out of the blue. I have asked a former colleague who is a military JAG and she had no clue either. It really is an undefined and open-ended problem.

 

[jdnd9091]

Not there yet

We are still two years from retirement, and our travel budget is one of the things I'm concerned about. We love to travel, and take our kids and grandkids on 1-2 trips a year with us. We have been spending between 40-70k a year for the last 10 years, and I know we will need to pull that back when we retire. We did buy a motorhome last year, so I think trips in the motorhome won't be so expensive. We just finished a snow board trip in Jackson Hole over the Holiday's, and just 6 days cost almost 10k. I'm a believer that we might as well have fun now while we are healthy, because you never know. It would be interesting to know what full time RV's spend a year to live. Enjoy life while you can.

 

[gayl]

I don't think I go or spend alot but the kids say I go every season. And it's not exceptionally cheap but probably only 12-13k this year. It helps that I don't like group excursions and have no issue taking public transit while traveling. (ie: National Express Coach is much MUCH cheaper than a driver.) Plus locals help me find the best spots.

 

[SJ1_]

about 4-5 trips per yr
2 weeks average
some short wkend trips
budget 40k+
actual is usually around 25-30k

I love travel but when I retired, I didn't have to have it like when worked.

 

[explanade]

I've been dreaming about renting an apartment for 2 months at the same price as a hotel for 2 weeks.

As I noted in my original post- $24,000 per year for a few trips sounds crazy. I'd rather do more low-key travel where we enjoy scenery, culture, and experiences vs. fancy hotels and expensive tours.

It depends on how your retirement finances line up and how much you want to prioritize travel.

For many here, the prospect of traveling more is often one of the main motivations for retiring early. The premise is often that you will be able to do do more travel while still younger.

Also a common experience here, people are more willing to splurge on business class tickets more often and nicer hotels -- larger rooms, centrally located, maybe better views, large buffet breakfasts, maybe simple things like elevators.

So you can see that the travel budget range could be very wide, as well as the amount of travel different people are doing.

 

[explanade]

^I'm planning on traveling solo all year next year (occasionally back in US for a couple weeks every few months or so) and am hoping to do it semi-spontaneously with about 2 months pre-planning per leg (next 2 months while on a leg). Planning a mix of cruises (mainly as transport with room/eats) and hotel/apts stays about a month in various countries (mostly Euro/APAC).

Need to work out health/travel insurance, possibly Cigna Global and Sapphire card. Am planning to use booking.com for short term apt leases (3-4 weeks) rather than AirBnB if anyone has thoughts on that.

It depends on the location. Airbnbs tend to give you more room and maybe lower prices.

Obviously you don't get things like breakfast or daily housekeeping.

For longer stays, which for me is more than 2 or 3 nights, I value more space.

I'm glad Airbnb exists as an option, no matter how much hotels and their allies try to ban them in many places.

 

[palomalou]

We spent about 9000 for 5 weeks in Italy in July 2021 (that included language school intensive for us both). This winter I estimate $10,000 for 2 months in Italy again because the airline tickets were bought economy for points. We may do the same in the fall. So sounds reasonable to me. We are not luxury travelers by any means. My big splurge will be my 68th birthday dinner party for maybe as many as 20 Italian and a few American friends in a restaurant, but no Michelin-type place!