Snowbirds: Are you a lone eagle or do you prefer to flock?

Markola

Markola

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DW and I supposed to be traveling the world right now to celebrate the first year of FIRE. Since that ain’t happening, we at least bailed on a Minnesota winter and have migrated down (with our two cats!) to Savannah for the winter. We are renting in the gorgeous historic district, where entertainment is as easy as going for a walk to gawk at endless 200+ year old homes, 22 squares, the beach nearby or various colonial historic sites. We get takeout from some delicious restaurant or other when the mood strikes. It can be chilly but we’ve also had sunny days in the high 60s. We feel our decision is working out great.

Yet, I don’t really feel like a tourist here either, since I grew up in this area and my mother lives here. DW and I are committed snowbirds now and are already talking about future years. We might explore a different state or country each year or settle into this spot for a while and maybe get to know some folks. My parents’ continued good health might be a determinant.

I am curious what others do? We are mid 50s and I suspect we will tilt toward exploring a variety of locales for a while. We have no interest in purchasing more real estate but many people we know from Minnesota aim every year for the southwest coast of Florida, mostly to second homes there. Heck, so many Minnesotans go to Naples every year that it sounds practically like a suburb of Minneapolis! They have lots of relationships in both places, which also seems appealing.
 
We fell into flocking. We had rented a condo in Naples a number of years ago and some friends who snowbird to Sarasota invited us to visit with them on our trip home. We liked the area and there were a number of people from the same area of Vermont who we know that were here, so we decided to rent in Sarasota for the following winter and later bought a condo here.

Fast forward a few years and there are 7 couples who live in the same area of Vermont who are now in the same neighborhood in Sarasota... we've lost a few men over the last couple years so we now are 4 couples and 3 widows. Most of us were/are golfers so we frequently golf together, occasional game nights, dinners out (pre-covid), shows, etc. We don't spend as much time together as it sounds but it is nice having a core network of friends that travel back and forth.
 
Markola,
I'm on year two of snowbirding from Minnesota.
I rented in Bonita Springs and Sarasota last year. Bought a place in Bonita last February, just before Covid shutdowns.
I love missing out on the cold winter. I also tend to enjoy having my own place.
The drawback is going to the same area each winter, but that can also be a positive. Places become familiar, and we may even get to know some people around here. A possible weakness in my personality, but I like a place that is mine.
We have our personal items here, and I tend to enjoy messing around with some upkeep around the place.
If Covid didn't exist, I'm sure we would have family and friends visiting, but it is working out just fine as is.

Good luck, JP
 
When I was a kid my grandparents snowbirded from the UP of Michigan to Lake Worth, Fla. Talk about retirement enclaves -- lots of Finnish immigrants and first-generation Finnish-Americans located there and in Lantana. You could literally hear Finnish spoken on the street. There is still a Finnish-American CBRF down there, although the old central-city bungalow neighborhoods have passed on to other ethnic groups.

DF and DM also bought a place down there in the '80s but by then the neighborhood was getting a little rough. We were down for a visit once and, while sitting in the living room one evening we heard a string of about six gunshots from a couple blocks away.
 
Mr._Graybeard said:
When I was a kid my grandparents snowbirded from the UP of Michigan to Lake Worth, Fla. Talk about retirement enclaves -- lots of Finnish immigrants and first-generation Finnish-Americans located there and in Lantana. You could literally hear Finnish spoken on the street. There is still a Finnish-American CBRF down there, although the old central-city bungalow neighborhoods have passed on to other ethnic groups.

DF and DM also bought a place down there in the '80s but by then the neighborhood was getting a little rough. We were down for a visit once and, while sitting in the living room one evening we heard a string of about six gunshots from a couple blocks away.
Click to expand...


You old Suomalainen you.:)
I live in an area of NH full of Finns and those areas of Florida are still Finnish haunts.
 
DW and I live in the woods in NE MN, about 18 miles from Canada by canoe. We're completely FIRED, upper 50's.


We enjoy the winters but wouldn't mind a winter trip, starting out for a month and maybe working our way up to two or three months if we like it.


We are not anti-social, but we prefer to be on our own without any social structure. The idea of a retirement community doesn't appeal to us at all. My parents spent winters in a trailer park in Texas. They liked it, but didn't want to get in a social circle that does EVERYTHING together.


I like the idea of renting a place by the month in an area that is not traditionally thought of as a "snowbird" area like southern Florida, Texas, AZ.... We would rather rent a place among the local community not as far south as most snowbirds travel. We'd consider anything from Georgia to Missouri to Nevada/New Mexico. Upper 60's would be fine, great hiking weather, (we had -20 the other night, and that's not even considered cold). If we wait til February & March we should find sweatshirt weather without traveling as far south.


We don't mind MN winter until February or so. It is nice to sit by the wood stove days like today after enjoying some ice fishing, snow showing or snowmobiling. Saunas are very popular here. You can't keep a Finn out of them.


March and April are the long months up here, that's when we'll travel.







We're thinking of traveling for a month or two starting when the travel bans clear up, hopefully the winter of 21-22. We'll be doing it on our own.
 
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Lone eagle. We typically spend our time travelling to warm countries that are on our bucket list. IF we do every buy it will probably be in Mexico or Central America.

So far, we seem to favor Thailand, SE Asia and Australia for our winter trips. Last year it was 7 weeks of independent travel in Mexico. This year is is home in the snow belt. Next year it will be Thailand again. We do meet up with friends in Australia but that is about it.
 
We went to Florida for our first two years of retirement and knew no one the we shifted to PV MX and have developed a significant group of snowbird friends from the US and Canada.

Thie year, we are relying on our resident friends for limited social interaction, mostly American. It is definitely a different year.
 
Kcowan,
What is PV MX? Thanks.

JP
kcowan said:
We went to Florida for our first two years of retirement and knew no one the we shifted to PV MX and have developed a significant group of snowbird friends from the US and Canada.

Thie year, we are relying on our resident friends for limited social interaction, mostly American. It is definitely a different year.
Click to expand...
 
FYI: I went off on a tangent, and didn't answer the question.
We are definitely lone eagles right now.
In fact, I don't really want close new friends who want to visit and have dinners and drinks all of the time.
We do get some light social interactions with people in our community, and it seems just right.
I would like more visiting from friends and family moving forward. Hopefully post Covid that will happen.

JP
 
When we get tired of the long haul flights (18-23 hrs) to SE Asia, we will more than likely focus on Mexico and Central America

We want a location where direct, reasonably frequent, and competitive air access is available. Mexico fills that bill, more specifically Puerta Vallarta.
 
I am not a snowbird, but like to think of myself as a lone duck.
 
NW-Bound said:
I am not a snowbird, but like to think of myself as a lone duck.
Click to expand...


Same here, the winters are mild.
It's those long, long, hot summers.....I guess we are firebirds when fleeing the inferno to higher pastures.
 
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Mr._Graybeard said:
When I was a kid my grandparents snowbirded from the UP of Michigan to Lake Worth, Fla. Talk about retirement enclaves -- lots of Finnish immigrants and first-generation Finnish-Americans located there and in Lantana. You could literally hear Finnish spoken on the street. There is still a Finnish-American CBRF down there, although the old central-city bungalow neighborhoods have passed on to other ethnic groups.
Click to expand...



That’s a very interesting anecdote, which I’ve never heard before.
 
This will be my 4th straight year “flocking” to Destin FL to a rental condo that has about 60 annual snowbirds (we have a dues paying group) that all rent in the same building and have lunch outings and if preferred join golf/shuffle board leagues etc. It is relatively inexpensive and right on the beach. It’s nice to get to know the same people each year and be reunited again.
 
brett said:
Lone eagle. We typically spend our time travelling to warm countries that are on our bucket list. IF we do every buy it will probably be in Mexico or Central America.

So far, we seem to favor Thailand, SE Asia and Australia for our winter trips. Last year it was 7 weeks of independent travel in Mexico. This year is is home in the snow belt. Next year it will be Thailand again. We do meet up with friends in Australia but that is about it.
Click to expand...

Do you usually return to the same spot in Thailand? What spots do you recommend? Do you speak any Thai? If not, is it easy to get around without?
 
Doing some winter travel to warmer climes. I like off the beaten path and I travel solo, so truly a lone eagle. And in these covid times I mainly drive.
 
anothercog....we have spent 5 winters in Thailand. No, we do not speak or read Thai but this has never been an issue. We have not found it to be an issue in Malaysia, Cambodia, or Vietnam either.

We have been as far north as Chiang Mai. We prefer the south but tend to avoid Phuket and Ko Samui touristy areas. We like Ko Lanta, some of the less crowded islands like Ko Libong and Lo Ngai. We tend to head south from Krabi...Baan Krut area and south to Malaysia. We avoid resorts and tend to stay in smaller areas. Always a few days in Bangkok though. No matter how often we go we always see or do something that we have not experienced before.

We find it incredibly easy to get around once you understand the system. We have done air, rail, bus , ferry, van, etc. Air in SE Asia is incredibly inexpensive and frequent.

Thai people are wonderful, so welcoming. Our first visit was last minute. It was early Jan, lots of snow on the ground. We had not made any plans. Saw an advert for inexpensive air. Ten days later we were landing in Bangkok. Enjoyed our time so much we simply kept going back to the area. The only downside is the long flights and change of plane. We were in Mexico last winter, home this winter. We are very much hoping to get back to Thailand next winter.
 
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Our summer home is in northern Michigan, but we spend winters in west-central Florida. We are not really "flockers", but we do like a home-base that stays the same from year-to-year, which is one big reason we ended up buying a small house here. We are not in a retirement community, or anything like that..........our house is in a very small neighborhood (4 houses on our road), and we are some distance out of town. DW and I have made some good friends down here, and we now look forward to seeing those folks every winter (with COVID, we still see most of them this winter, but our meetings are less frequent, and outside). Another thing is that I like to fish, and it takes a while to find the really good fishing spots. Now that I have discovered some of those here, I enjoy coming back and fishing them again in the future. And there are many other things about this area we both like as well. It works for us, but I know some folks prefer more variety, and that's fine too.
 
Not a snowbird.
An artist, some 50 years ago made a painting, which she said represented me. She labeled it, ls99 "The Lone Eagle". Thus, an Eagle I am.
 
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