Perpetual Travelers

[kcowan]

The term PT is often used for retirees that are just restless and wanting to explore the world. Yet it seems that that condition also applies to younger people:
Young people on the go

Some of my retired friends are perpetual cruisers while others have RVs that keep them on the move. This seems to be a universal phenomenon among some of our peers.

Discuss.

 

[NW-Bound]

Back 10 years ago, when I was first contemplating ER, I heard about PT and thought it would be an adventurous life and exciting. And now, I know it is not for me. Even RV'ing, which is a lot more comfortable to me compared to living out of backpacks, I can do only a few months at a time. I need to have a permanent place to go back to.

Not too many can be PT, or even full-time RV'ers forever. I have followed a few full-time RV'er blogs, and quite a few quit suddenly, sold their RV and settled down.

 

[2017ish]

DW's idea of [a few years of] [near-]perpetual travel is a bit different than those folks'.

Although, that would enable us to quit the "OMY *3"!

 

[Meadbh]

This lifestyle has never appealed to me. I love to travel but I also love to come home.

 

[kimcdougc]

We just recently took a 7 week trip in our RV after retiring in Feb. We discovered we do not want to be full time rvers. 2 or 3 weeks at a time but then back home for some real r & r. Just our two cents.

 

[rodi]

Interesting article. I have a read who hopped a freight train in her 20's... She just did one multi-state round trip. (No addiction to it, as the article suggests is possible.) She's an artist and it was one of her go-to stories/memories.

I'd rather ride in 2nd class on the train (current extended travel mode.) I'm too much of a control freak to just go "where-ever".

 

[REWahoo]

We just recently took a 7 week trip in our RV after retiring in Feb. We discovered we do not want to be full time rvers. 2 or 3 weeks at a time but then back home for some real r & r. Just our two cents.

+1

We've learned that after 3-4 weeks we're ready to head back home.

 

[Nemo2]

An inexact definition of the term, but DW & I require our pied-à-terre when each session's travel is complete.

 

[user5027]

We just recently took a 7 week trip in our RV after retiring in Feb. We discovered we do not want to be full time rvers. 2 or 3 weeks at a time but then back home for some real r & r. Just our two cents.

Reminds of when I was working and the children were young and involved in their pursuits. After a weekend of driving them around from event to event, I looked forward to going back to work on Monday so I could relax.

 

[LitGal]

Travel is my greatest addiction, historically, though not the sort described in the OP's article about the young travelers.

Have never been gone for longer than 5 weeks and, after that, was glad to be home for awhile. A major motivation for ER was to have more time and freedom to travel in the off-season. I am hooked on seeing the typical historical and lit-oriented tourist sites, wherever I go. And the friend I usually travel with agrees that now, in our advancing decades, we enjoy the creature comforts that come with traveling in a more "mature" manner.

Which does surprise both her and I. During college, back in the '70's, she and I dreamed of hopping the rails (as per the OP's article), but did hear how dangerous it was......and neither of us was into any forms of alternative lifestyles. We just wanted to see the world before settling down at the ripe old ages of 24.

So, as most grads did back then, we found jobs in our fields. To celebrate we each bought a one-month Ameripass, allowing us to travel anywhere we wanted by Greyhound for a month. We did it in the summer of '76 (with our obligatory backpacks), the Bicentennial. What a blast: 4th of July fireworks over North Platte, NE; standing at the Lincoln Memorial watching Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip walk by; showing up at Grand Central in NYC at 4 AM. The adventures went on and on.

Now we listen to Rick Steves and enjoy his recs. But we're also getting interested in Globus (who does all the planning and "hard work" of a trip).

We used to think we were adventurers. Now we are just tired and need a vacation.

 

[anethum]

When I was 25 years old, I quit my job and embarked on an open-ended bicycle trip which took me to 3 continents and lasted 14 months (during 6 months in the middle, I was mostly not biking and stayed put overseas).

35 years later, I still like to go on bike trips, plus car trips, plus sometimes by train or bus depending on the country I'm visiting. I have no desire to spend such an extensive period of time away from home, but I still love to travel. My main travel limitation now is eldercare. If I didn't have that concern, I'd be tempted to go on a 2 month trip over the winter, probably to somewhere in Latin America or SE Asia. Biking would be part or most of it. For the time being, I don't go away for more than a couple of weeks at a time.

I had a cyclist stay with me 2 years ago who had been biking around the world for 12 years. He began when he was 28. I thought he might turn out to be weird, but when I met him, I was pleasantly surprised that he seemed quite sane. He had a reasonable plan on what he would do when he completed his trip and arrived home (which should have been about 6 months ago).

 

[Alan]

We've never considered a PT lifestyle, especially not in an RV or similar. This last 6 years we've spent between 5 and 7 months away each year, but predominantly in rented apartments, condos or houses (between 1 and 4 weeks in each place as we travel). Even this level of continuous travel becomes tiring so this will be the last year for a while, after which we'll start doing the snowbird thing, with 2 permanent residences, in 2 different countries.

 

[RockyMtn]

I did my PT as part of my job. Now other than a two week or so vacation here and there I stick close to the hood!

 

[Danmar]

This lifestyle has never appealed to me. I love to travel but I also love to come home.

Agree. In our case most of our travel is between our own homes. It is nice to get to a new place but your clothes are in the closet and your car is in the garage. We are indeed very lucky.

 

[audreyh1]

We enjoyed a 5yr stint as perpetual travelers. The RV felt like home no matter where we parked it. Putting on 10,000 miles a year, basically crossing the US twice each year is nice and leisurely when you have a whole year to do it.

We still travel - just not perpetually.

 

[Mulligan]

When I was younger and without money or time, I would have jumped at the chance. Now that I have the money and the time I have no interest in such an endeavor. 5-6 day trip every few months is all I can muster without missing home. What the hell happened to me....


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[MRG]

I did my PT as part of my job. Now other than a two week or so vacation here and there I stick close to the hood!

+1
I got paid to visit some great places all free. Stayed in the nicest hotels and toured great computer rooms. Never saw too much else, heard there was a Bay in Boston, time to go see.

 

[kramer]

I was a PT for my first 4 or 5 years of retirement, traveling in Southeast Asia and Latin America, until I settled down in the Philippines. I wanted to see new places and see if there were places I might prefer to live than the USA. And I tried living in several of those places as part of this process. In fact, I even consulted with Kcowan (the OP) at one point in order to learn more about Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (thanks) but decided to try Mazatlan instead, where I stayed for a couple of months.

I got tired of that PT lifestyle after a few years and I don't think I would ever travel again without a home base. That being said, I have no regrets.

One thing that made me tired is that I am not an extrovert and going to new places and thriving there really requires this. For instance, where I am now in the Philippines, I didn't make a lot of friends quickly but now I have a great social network there.

 

[Bamaman]

We feel like PT's, however our family responsibility taking care of our 27 year old daughter, a single mother of two, keep us very grounded at home. We're very good at finding budget airfares and always seem to be planning our next trip. We'll be taking in 5 new countries in Scandinavia on 8/25. We're just thankful for budget air carriers keeping the 4 big airlines in the U.S. somewhat competitive in prices.


We do admire the independence of the full time RV'ers, as we also have a 5th wheel trailer in the mountains. However we have a strong sense of community and a desire to have a place for all our "stuff" and toys.


We do intend to slow down traveling, as 4 major trips in just over a year has been expensive. That is until we find an airfare to Europe for half what everyone else is paying . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[Nemo2]

We enjoyed a 5yr stint as perpetual travelers. The RV felt like home no matter where we parked it.

Late wife & I fulltime RVd from mid-1997 until mid-2001 when she was diagnosed with cancer.....(she died 6 months later, and I continued alone until early-2004)......guess that didn't seem like perpetual traveling as there was always a base with (some of) our 'stuff' (the 5th wheel).

My (personal) interpretation of the term is along the lines of "Where do we sleep tonight?"...which I did some 50+ years ago.............I still remember, in Toronto, circa 1968, when a bunch of us rented an unfurnished house, and I was forced to buy a bed, (my clothes were in a suitcase on the floor alongside it); I recall standing looking at the bed and thinking "Is this where it (the accumulation of 'stuff') all starts?"

 

[winger]

We sold our house in Texas in 2006, and have traveled in an RV since. We are slow travelers, left south Texas in early April to be in Maine by August 1. Or so. Right now, we are in Ohio Amish country.

2014 was a decision year. Our old RV was showing the miles. We bought a new RV over the winter, and our travels continue. It's not your father's 1964 20' camper, and wherever we are parked is "home" to us.

We often discuss buying property or a small home somewhere, just haven't looked seriously at any area. Maybe someday........... We expect something in life will limit our travel in the future, and give us a reason to stop.

 

[H2ODude]

Interesting thread. Dispels the impression one sometimes gets that all retirees who can, travel all the time. With both kids and grandchildren overseas, we've done a lot of flying, to the point that it really is not attractive to me at all (DW is more tolerant). DD and 4 GC are returning to a 5 hour drive from here, so one incentive gone. DS and 1 GC still overseas, but we'll likely make that 30 hour jaunt only once a year.

We'd likely do more 4-5 day drives, but the pets make impromptu travel tough. Have discovered the pet sitters who come stay, but in itself is a hassle to some degree.

I think travel, like moving once retired, is something that beckons some more than others. You just have to decide what it really is you want and makes you happy. And my motto once I quit was "if it don't make me smile I don't do it"

 

[kcowan]

I think the nesting instinct is really strong. People seem to have a need to store their stuff even if they never use it from one year to the next. Yes an RV can serve that purpose and forces you to be a minimalist by space. We always thought we could travel more once our family obligations were completed (2008) and we do, plus we have seriously got rid our stuff. But we still enjoy having a place to go as our home base. I can understand why celebrities end up owning multiple homes. It seems to be a natural human condition. Even pop groups who have to be on the road all year have their places.

Kramer and the Terhorsts seem to be the norm. They start out with great plans to PT but then establish one or two home bases. I recall the Terhorsts bases were in Argentina and the US, while for Kramer it is The Philippines and California.

 

[Sarah in SC]

We "boat tested" the PT lifestyle in our mid 20s with a three month live aboard time in the Bahamas.
I'm not ashamed to admit that after 4-5 weeks, I was counting down the time til I could come home to my own house again. It was a good and relatively inexpensive lesson for us, and we know now that our travels will always have an end and we will want a home base.

Since then, we've taken a few longer trips, one that was 8-9 weeks and a couple that were 6 weeks or so, but knowing we are coming home makes them less anxious for me.

I love my multiple pets, my quiet house, and close friends too much to be gone indefinitely.

And, that introvert thing!

 

[Fermion]

We have finished building our RV and will be starting the perpetual traveler lifestyle as soon as we sell our house. Essentially the RV is a tiny house, with just a smaller version of things we have in our home and a much larger back yard.

I don't know if we will like it or hate it. I do know we have spent weeks camping and hiking, living in tents. We spent 3 months in Ireland a couple years back on a work assignment and it was a blast. We don't have any children and have lived in the same state for too long (20 years). The world is big and life is pretty short. Having to spend precious days or weeks traveling back to a home base seems like a big waste of time.

I am very open to renting a house for a few months at a stretch, especially in places like Alaska (winter, too cold for RV) or in the Florida Keys where there is little parking. If you rent for 6 months then move to another location, is that still permanent traveling?