Let the forum decide

[wildcat]

Given that we have a lot of people here who love to travel, we had the idea of possibly breaking up the current format a bit by adding a "Travel" thread that could include:

RVing
Vacation reviews, tips, suggestions, etc.
Other recreational activities - golf, hiking, etc. - that you are doing and would like to share

It seems with the current format, the vacation/travel threads get spread around "Other" and "Life After FIRE". "Other" could remain as the thread where we post completely random thoughts (err that happens all over) and "Life After FIRE" could remain as the thread where we post everything related to your post-retirement life minus travel.

Feel free to post your thoughts and/or vote.

[SecondCor521]

Travel thread, no.

Travel forum, yes.

2Cor521

[retire@40]

I recommended a travel thread a few years ago on Dory's old ER forum and he agreed and put one up.

In all the changes that happened since, it got jumbled into another category.

I like to travel and have been doing lots more of it lately. When someone asks about places I've traveled, I enjoy giving them bits of advice to point out some gems to look for as well as things to avoid. I've done that many times on this forum. I've also benefited from comments from other posters in the same way.

I'd like to see a travel thread again. One of the top things people say when asked what they would do if they were FI and/or retired is "Travel more."

[JustMeUC]

YES!!! I would love a travel forum!!

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

As an example, there are lots of RV and travel forums on the net, including a few very good ones. I enjoy hearing peoples' adventures, but would probably not make use a dedicated RV forum here, for example, other than for the occasional anecdote. For me it's fine under "other."

Just an observation: splintering a board into too many categories (trying to be "all things to all users") is not without its downside. I remember a gardening board which opened up a retirement forum; this previously friendly and very expert board got side-tracked, members started to bicker over retirement issues, and the gardening focus got seriously compromised. They ended up closing the Retirement one.

The diverse and "organic" content is wonderful here, but let's remember it is an Early Retirement Board. I could think of 20 other forums which might be fun (fishing, motorcycles, wine, music, baseball, running...), but I'm good using "Other Topics" for them.

So I guess I'd prefer limiting the addition of more and more forums, but continuing to use the Other forum freely and diversely.

[wildcat]

I voted "no" after reading Rich's post. Kinda agree. I opted to leave the poll open for 7 days so it would be great if we could get as many votes as possible. Thanks.

[justin]

Travel seems to be a broad enough category as it pertains to retirement to warrant it's own forum.

You have the perpetual traveler lifestyle folks. Then you have the folks who plan on traveling a lot during retirement. Then you have the "relocating to a cheap 3rd world country folks".

A lot of folks don't have much time to travel while working whereas during retirement, time isn't as much of a limiting factor. Getting kids out of the house (thereby increasing vacation options) typically occurs at the same time as "typical" early retirement would happen (late 40's into the 50's). The other hobbies/interests Rich mentioned ("fishing, motorcycles, wine, music, baseball, running") are easily enjoyable while working and while retired.

Adding a travel forum won't necessarily impact how I interface with the forums, since I view "new posts" all the time, but for a casual reader or a first time visitor navigating down to the thread level, having a "travel" forum might increase the odds of finding a pertinent thread. For example, I like lonely planet's thorn tree forums. I can go click on "Central America" then select "Honduras" as the forum. I see all threads on Honduras. The ER Forums seems to have enough interest and posts to warrant a forum on "travel" to include perpetual travelers, relocating to thailand/mexico/etc., and traditional vacation travel. Heck, there's probably enough threads on "travel to Hawaii" to warrant a separate forum for that! (Just kidding)

[retire@40]

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin ...Adding a travel forum won't necessarily impact how I interface with the forums, since I view "new posts" all the time, but for a casual reader or a first time visitor navigating down to the thread level, having a "travel" forum might increase the odds of finding a pertinent thread...

I do the same thing in navigating the forums. But it would be nice to keep all the travel posts organized in one place. This would make it much easier to locate travel-related post instead of trying to fish all around the forums looking for it or trying to remember a key word in that post to search.

[Bigritchie]

It would be nice to have a travel/picture section for people to post their travel tales and photos and their adventures.

It would be a nice resource if say we wanted to visit say Argentina, and there was a thread there with lots of pics and travel wisdom.

[tightasadrum]

I like the idea. Traveling is in the near future for me, so a place to go for caveats & things-not-to-miss would be great.

[Andy R]

This is an interesting topic. I see both points of view. I know on some of the other Social Knowledge sites we have some cross over forums, especially cooking/recipes section on the Airstream site and Fitness site. At times I thought it would be better to cross link them to Discuss Cooking but really they each have their own reasons for having that forum and each site also has it's own culture. On the Airstream site people are talking about cooking out of their Airstream Trailers (little kitchens, campfire, BBQ, etc). On the Fitness site they are talking about healthy recipes, high protein diets, etc. Although discuss cooking has sections for the above I still think that having that section at each site is better then trying to cross pollinate the sites.

So even though there are some fantastic travel forums out there I think having an area for this here on E-R.org would be great. A dedicated forum or tagging them in Other both work as options IMO.

[kcowan]

If I am interested in travel, I can search for the word. This is safer because many topics morph after starting into something unrelated to their thread title. After my three regular trips each year (Mexico, San Diego, Ontario cottage country), the destination is specific enough that I will google it to get a broad sampling of experience.

[wildcat]

Just FYI -

The poll will remain open for another 2 days so please vote (even if you mostly lurk in the shadows). If lopsided vote tally continues, we will begin making preparations for a 'Travel' thread. Thanks again to all those who have voiced their opinion and/or voted.

Yes

[citrine]

I like the idea of a travel forum...count me in!

[FinanceDude]

I'm in........

[Eagle43]

Travel seems to be a major option/goal of ER. Makes sense to me. Plus, I'm interested in it. So, yes, why not?

[wildcat]

OK, looks like we have a clear winner and we will get the Travel thread up and running soon. I will try to move some older travel threads over to the new section as well. Thanks for the participation.