Plan slow travel, some of the time. What else?

[2029FIREaway]

I would say that one to two weeks in a location is enough for slow travel. Italy is pretty big and varied. I would consider Dolomites, Cinque Terra, Rome, Florence, Naples, and Sicily.

Love it. Thanks!

 

[2029FIREaway]

I’ve found slow travel is easier in the mid size and smaller cities. There seems to be more and better places to spend several hours wandering about or just doing not much of anything while sitting in a café and watching the world go by. It’s also easier to chat up the locals.

It’s harder in big cities, though at times, I have taken a bus or Metro to some corner of the city outside the main tourist corridor and found peace, quiet and chatty locals. That said, slow travel is a skill that I still need to work on. I find that as I age, it gets easier to do. The park has a great view of the city and that bench in the shade is open. Sit down, enjoy, and recharge.

Reminds me of Belgrade. Such an awesome city to sit at outdoors at a cafe/bar and people watch. So relaxing.

 

[2029FIREaway]

This is/was our plan. Probably about 3 years out. Also likely staying in the Bay Area due to its goldilocks climate, despite the costs.

Our eldest is in college now and has needed/wanted to come hope every few weeks for a mental break/family support. That wasn't something I had not factored into our plans so something to consider.

Other complicating factors is our health and our parents' health. At 54 my plantar fascitis is becoming a real problem. Running has been impossible for years but now long walks are becoming more difficult/painful. Also, our parents have needed us more due to their health problems. Abandoning them for more than 3 months is probably not realistic.

Finally, we adopted too many dogs during the pandemic. They are great but boarding them is too expensive. We also miss them on longer trips so extended travel is not likely unless the kids move back to take care of the dogs or the dogs finally cross the rainbow bridge before we do.

So as another posted said, Man plans and God laughs. Still fun to plan though.

Thanks. Great points.
I think if we get a year or two to do some slow travel that would be an amazing achievement. May not be able to do it after that for reasons you state.

 

[anothercog]

Thanks! Yes, time is flying by quick with kids in busy years of school. We head to Japan for a 12 day trip in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to some good family time after a busy school year!

We had a great family trip to Japan last summer. It was 15 days in mid July but it was brutally hot. Being outdoors mid-day was exhausting. If you're going in June you'll hopefully avoid terrible heat but you'll likely experience rain.

If you have time, I recommend ending your trip in Hakone. It was great spending two days exploring locally in slightly cooler mountain temps and relaxing in the onsens after walking all over Tokyo.

 

[rodi]

It’s harder in big cities, though at times, I have taken a bus or Metro to some corner of the city outside the main tourist corridor and found peace, quiet and chatty locals. That said, slow travel is a skill that I still need to work on. I find that as I age, it gets easier to do. The park has a great view of the city and that bench in the shade is open. Sit down, enjoy, and recharge.

We found when travelling when the kids were younger that having to find parks with play structures gave us that. I remember running into one Dutch family that seemed to be hitting up the same playgrounds at the same towns in/around the Chianti region... We crossed paths with them in San Gimignano, and Greve. We'd also see them at Gelato shops in Firenze. It became a funny situation that we all laughed at. So we got to relax (while the kids played), talk to locals at the park, and talk to other slow travelers.

People watching from a park or cafe is one of the best parts of travelling... Just watching the locals go about their daily business.

 

[brett]

My pre retirment business life and leisure travel was well planned.

That all changed with retirment. Our first trip was 7 months. The only definite in that six months was the timeing of an African safari. We started in Europe with a tentative list but it was very much subject to change.

Now, we may book a flight in to Athens or Rome with a return flight 6-8 weeks later from London. Why London? Because we know that whereever we end up in Europe we can usually get a low cost flight. This was the case on one recent trip. Found ourselves in Greece with two weeks open. On a whim and because of a great fare we flew from Greece to Cyprus for two weeks.

Just did the same in Morocco. And we do same when we go to SE Asia/Australia in the winter. For the most part it is all proactive travel.

 

[KarenF]

This is/was our plan. Probably about 3 years out. Also likely staying in the Bay Area due to its goldilocks climate, despite the costs.

Our eldest is in college now and has needed/wanted to come hope every few weeks for a mental break/family support. That wasn't something I had not factored into our plans so something to consider.

Other complicating factors is our health and our parents' health. At 54 my plantar fascitis is becoming a real problem. Running has been impossible for years but now long walks are becoming more difficult/painful. Also, our parents have needed us more due to their health problems. Abandoning them for more than 3 months is probably not realistic.

Finally, we adopted too many dogs during the pandemic. They are great but boarding them is too expensive. We also miss them on longer trips so extended travel is not likely unless the kids move back to take care of the dogs or the dogs finally cross the rainbow bridge before we do.

So as another posted said, Man plans and God laughs. Still fun to plan though.

Thoughts on PF - you can fix it long term with stretching. It takes months but it works. Stretch your hamstrings and all 3 calf muscles every day. Wear a PF boot at night, and never go barefoot until it stops hurting/inflammation is down.

 

[skyking1]

Thoughts on PF - you can fix it long term with stretching. It takes months but it works. Stretch your hamstrings and all 3 calf muscles every day. Wear a PF boot at night, and never go barefoot until it stops hurting/inflammation is down.

Mine got bad and I replaced the insoles on my work boots and shoes with premium insoles. It was like magic.
I will get to stretching them too. I don't want it to come back.

 

[imnontrad]

Start with one location first. You can always take day or overnight trips from there.

 

[anothercog]

Thoughts on PF - you can fix it long term with stretching. It takes months but it works. Stretch your hamstrings and all 3 calf muscles every day. Wear a PF boot at night, and never go barefoot until it stops hurting/inflammation is down.

Thanks. I have been doing that and sleeping with a boot at night. It's slightly improving. I'm also determined to take off some weight as that has been a contributing factor.

 

[brett]

We did a great deal of slow travel. Travel post retirement changed our eating habits and our previous non existent exercise regime.

Now we eat a combo of a Med and a SE Asia diet. Much ess red meat, more fresh fruit poultry, and seafood., lots of fresh salads w/ olive oil or balsamic. Almost no prepared food, no fast food, or fried food.

Not on purpose. It just happened as a result of travel. Our tastes slowly changed as we moved away from the typical NA diet. Plus more exercise. Our health has improved but as important we feel much better. Lost weight without even trying....it just happened.

 

[2029FIREaway]

We did a great deal of slow travel. Travel post retirement changed our eating habits and our previous non existent exercise regime.

Now we eat a combo of a Med and a SE Asia diet. Much ess red meat, more fresh fruit poultry, and seafood., lots of fresh salads w/ olive oil or balsamic. Almost no prepared food, no fast food, or fried food.

Not on purpose. It just happened as a result of travel. Our tastes slowly changed as we moved away from the typical NA diet. Plus more exercise. Our health has improved but as important we feel much better. Lost weight without even trying....it just happened.

Love this. Thanks Brett!

 

[2029FIREaway]

My pre retirment business life and leisure travel was well planned.

That all changed with retirment. Our first trip was 7 months. The only definite in that six months was the timeing of an African safari. We started in Europe with a tentative list but it was very much subject to change.

Now, we may book a flight in to Athens or Rome with a return flight 6-8 weeks later from London. Why London? Because we know that whereever we end up in Europe we can usually get a low cost flight. This was the case on one recent trip. Found ourselves in Greece with two weeks open. On a whim and because of a great fare we flew from Greece to Cyprus for two weeks.

Just did the same in Morocco. And we do same when we go to SE Asia/Australia in the winter. For the most part it is all proactive travel.

London can/will be a base for us. Family/friends/having a UK Passport are a big draw. We don’t anticipate leaving the US full time or selling our house. We’ll see if that changes over time!

 

[2029FIREaway]

We had a great family trip to Japan last summer. It was 15 days in mid July but it was brutally hot. Being outdoors mid-day was exhausting. If you're going in June you'll hopefully avoid terrible heat but you'll likely experience rain.

If you have time, I recommend ending your trip in Hakone. It was great spending two days exploring locally in slightly cooler mountain temps and relaxing in the onsens after walking all over Tokyo.

Thanks! We had a great time. Weather was generally good. Got hot/mid high 80s the last couple of days. Just love everything about

Hakone was awesome, Mount Fuji was clearly seen!

 

[1242Vintage]

Had a great time with Slow Travel last winter. We left the house in NorCal on Thksgiving (flights are cheap when you travel on the holiday) for an “Endless Summer” in Central America; Belize and Costa Rica.

Youngest daughter joined us for a couple weeks, which was sweet! We popped back home for a quick Christmas celebrations and then back down south.

This winter it’s a slow crawl through Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Columbia (Medellin).

The good part was that one of our kids was able to join us …. And … we missed the atmospheric rivers that hammered the west coast.

 

[brett]

Planning five years out is a bit of a stretch to me. Our first, post retirement trip was planned about five months out.

We are independent travellers and very spontaneous. We can be slow travelers based on where we find our selves. Not unknown for us to book a place one or two days ahead of time for one night. Then like the area so much that we stay for a week or ten days. That is what slow travel means to us. Often when we leave home we know where we will be flying to and then only a general idea of where we want to go after.

Our longer trips are two months in duration, twice a year, with some shorter ones in between. Book marked by DW's desiire not to be away more that 2 months at a time and a sixty day limit on our out of country travel insurance.

Our advice if you plan on extended trips. Travel light, carry on only. Be flexible, don't commit yourselves in advance for places unknown. If you do not like it, leave. If you like it, stay awhile. Absolutely go with the flow and never expect things to be the same as they are at home.

Our children very much have lives of their own. One seems puzzled at why the fossils go to these places and a little worried that some places are dangerous when they are not. The other is a traveler. His idea of a good trip is traveling through the 'stans' on his own.

We have been at it for thirteen years since retiring at 59. Lots of travel...except during covid of course. We still have fairly long bucket and revisit lists.