Slow Travel in Europe

[petfer]

Did the OP meant visa or passport?

Passport. Based on ancestry. Now we have dual citizenship which allows us to stay in Europe longer than 90 days.

 

[petfer]

…our kids are young and I'd feel bad leaving them without a home base until they are in their late 20s.

Yes. We postponed our full time traveling for a while for the same reason. Life is strange, now we have four grandkids we do not want to leave behind completely. Planning to keep our home base so we can return to see them occasionally.

 

[Tetto]

You could also consider housesitting. We are sitters on TrustedHousesitters and have had many wonderful experiences here in the US. Have not attempted international sits yet but they have plenty, and we plan to do so in the future

Trustedhousesitters.com sounds very interesting to me! Have you ever experienced any downside to doing this?

 

[simple girl]

Trustedhousesitters.com sounds very interesting to me! Have you ever experienced any downside to doing this?

Yes, everything has it's downsides. As sitters, here are the things we have learned to try to screen for when reading listings/reviews:

1) significantly older pets who are more likely to have serious health issues. (We had an experience with one pet who had a very poor appetite; it was very distressing having to offer multiple foods and wondering if she was going to become very ill at any point. Ugh!)

2) cleanliness of home (Only one sit was a bit concerning after arrival, but I was able to remedy it by my own cleaning. I have since learned to look very closely at pictures and read past sitter reviews closely. I have learned not to take sits without reviews from prior sitters that are glowing.)

3) aggressive dogs - with people or other dogs: this hasn't happened to us but I do screen for it.

4) demanding or strange homeowners: We only had one homeowner who became annoyed with us when her cat knocked over an item and broke it...it certainly wasn't our fault, but I was relieved she didn't leave us a bad review which could have ruined our stellar housesitter "resume" . Note: TH offers basic insurance for these kinds of issues, which I very much appreciate and is one of the many reasons I love their service.

5) safety of location: Only once did it happen where we discovered after the fact that the neighborhood was not in a super safe area. This was very early on in our sitting experience, and again I have since learned a to read reviews left by past sitters very carefully!

6) last minute sit cancellations (by either party): It hasn't happened to us, but, it could. We are prepared always to find alternative lodging, it's part of the risk of doing this. TH does offer an upgraded sitter plan with some trip cancellation coverage if cancelled < 2 wks prior. Regarding us having to cancel or leave in the middle of a trip due to a family emergency, we acknowledge that one of us may have to stay on the sit until alternative sitters are able to be arranged. We will not leave any pets uncared for as they are our highest priority, and we take our responsibility for their care VERY seriously. So, you need to consider what you are signing up for and not take the responsibility lightly!

 

[anothercog]

Wrapping up a one week trip in Europe now and have learned a few things.

1. Obviously, one week is not long enough.
2. My wife and I brought American sized carryons and a smallish backpack. I felt we packed too much, my wife felt we did not pack enough. There is more work to be done there.
3. My wife is an anxious traveler. She wants everything planned out with lots of time to get there. Not sure if my slow, impromptu travel is going to work.
4. I think I’m going to need to increase my anticipated travel budget, especially in Northern Europe.
5. I hit FI this year and somebody mentioned my tolerance for bullshit would decrease. That is true. I have really had to restrain myself from curtly respond to work emails with “figure it out for yourself.”
6. I really need to retire sooner than later.

 

[Tetto]

5. I hit FI this year and somebody mentioned my tolerance for bullshit would decrease. That is true. I have really had to restrain myself from curtly respond to work emails with “figure it out for yourself.”
6. I really need to retire sooner than later.

Right there with you! Living it at this exact moment and the urge to leave is almost beyond my control….

 

[petfer]

Obviously, one week is not long enough.

Especially if you consider jet lag. Probably the shortest trip that would make sense for individual travel is at least 3 weeks. But considering your other point about everything planned out to the last detail, an organized tour from Intrepid of G Adventure might work for both of you better. Anyways, I believe, like so many other things, travel gets better after retirement, since you can go off season and can find ways to lower unnecessary stress that comes with being on the road. Don't wait, if you can check out as soon as you are able to.

 

[explanade]

Especially if you consider jet lag. Probably the shortest trip that would make sense for individual travel is at least 3 weeks. But considering your other point about everything planned out to the last detail, an organized tour from Intrepid of G Adventure might work for both of you better. Anyways, I believe, like so many other things, travel gets better after retirement, since you can go off season and can find ways to lower unnecessary stress that comes with being on the road. Don't wait, if you can check out as soon as you are able to.

I've settled on about 14-18 full days on the ground.

I do think about longer term stays like almost 3 months but that's becoming less and less likely.

 

[brett]

We settled on 2 months max. Works for us because that is the time limit for each trip with our out of country medical insurance. Now it ranges from 5 weeks to 7 weeks, with the occasional 2 or 3 week trip to Mexico.

We did our first organized trip, other than a safari trip, this past May.

Had 8 days with G Adventures in Morocco. Very much enjoyed it, glad we signed up, but not sure that we would do a longer organized trip. After that we did three weeks on our own.

We signed up late for the tour. It was a last minute decision. One thing I did ask was the age group on the tour. We had a choice of two dates. The first, 10 people, had an age group of 60 plus. The second was much younger. We selected the former.

 

[Scrapr]

One thing I did ask was the age group on the tour. We had a choice of two dates. The first, 10 people, had an age group of 60 plus. The second was much younger. We selected the former.

May I ask why you chose the geriatric tour? (I is one) The youngsters might be fun. Did the elder tour members complain much?

 

[Eastbayboy]

This is off the subject a bit, will your home be vacant for six months. We are taking an extended vacation for almost 5 months and our home owners insurance may not cover damages, fire and or water damage since no one is occupying the home to repair or report the damage to keep it at a minimum. we were told by our agent (Farmers) that the home needs to be occupied consistently or we wouldn’t have coverage. We are trying to get a friend or relative to stay in the house when we are traveling. This sucks!

 

[petfer]

“we were told by our agent (Farmers) that the home needs to be occupied consistently or we wouldn’t have coverage.”

Very good point, I need to look into this. I was planning to ask my son to check on our home regularly, but we need to make sure we are covered by insurance while we are gone. I think there is an endorsement you can ad to your policy if your home is not empty, just unoccupied for a while.

 

[explanade]

We were able to obtain EU passports, now it is time to start planning our 2025 trip to Europe. For 6 months we would like to visit different regions/countries, find a base where we can slow travel from, enjoying the sights, local food and everything else, avoiding the tourist season as much as possible. First draft of our itinerary: March = Portugal/Spain. April = Italy. May = Greece. June = Switzerland/Germany. July = Ireland. August = Hungary/Transylvania. I know costs are not the same at various places, but trying to come up with some high level budget. So here it is, not including the roundtrip tickets to Europe and the travel health insurance for both of us, I wonder, if this is even possible for an average monthly budget of $3500. We are planning to take trains and public transportation and minimize car rental while we are there. I am hoping to find long term rentals to reduce our accommodation cost, keeping it below $1500. So is $2000 per month enough for food, travel expenses, tickets to sights, etc.? Do you have any suggestions or ideas for various places we could stay at each region?

How did you get EU passports, ancestry?


As far as long term rentals, they may be cheaper but you may have to arrange for your own utilities and Internet.

That's why you pay more for vacation rentals.

But a lot of European cities are restricting or banning Airbnb and short-term rentals.

If you're trying to keep costs down, you could buy groceries and cook meals, but who wants to do a lot of cooking on vacation?

 

[brett]

May I ask why you chose the geriatric tour? (I is one) The youngsters might be fun. Did the elder tour members complain much?

No, definitely not geriatric. Very active 60's-65's. Some still working. It was either that or the next one turned out to be university students.

The main selling point. The tour left two days after our arrival in Casablanca. Had we selected the second, a week plus after our arrival we would have had to tour a little, then come back to Casablanca. The tour company was not known for catering to the geriatic or the 70 plus cruise crowd.

 

[brett]

Our experience (and we are now in our 70's) is that international travel is easy. The only mildly hard part for us is the flight when we are going to SE Asia or Oz.

Neither has language ever been an issue. SE Asia/Africa/Europe...whereever. It all works out. Just pack light and don't sweat the small stuff. It will all work out and go with the flow. Get over the differences and do like the locals do. This has worked for us after 50 plus years of international travel.

Safety....we feel far safer traveling in most places we have been in SE Asia or Europe than we do in a number of places in the US!

 

[justlikebike]

DW and I have dual citizenship with Italy. ( we are Canadian residents). We spent 5 months in Europe last winter. I think your choices for which months to spend in which country are good. Southern Europe in the summer is hot! One suggestion to save some money and give you way more flexibility is to short term lease a french car. I assume this is available for Americans in Europe. We leased a Renault Clio for 5 months for $6200 cdn. This includes full insurance and is a brand new car. Having a car lets you pick cheaper places off the beaten path to rent which could pay for the car

 

[Surewhitey]

Our biggest wins were backpacks and 1 carry on for longish travel. Rent with at least a washer or near laundry service. Or hand wash in sinks if you are so inclined.

Living near an Aldi/Lidl gave great option to meals. Lots more options for prosciutto, cheeses and much more than in the states.

We rented a car in Germany and traveled 4 countries to get the most bang & would do it again. Probably not much more than all the tickets and way more flexibility. Staying where parking is not a problem, of course. Stayed off the main roads probably offset some of the cost too, like up a mountainside in Switzerland with an amazing view with a nice couple who eventually shared their wines and cheese. She also had an amazing breakfast offering that we took leftovers on the road for snacks.

 

[brett]

We have always rented cars in Europe. More often than not one way rentals (especially in Italy). We would rent, drop the car as we entered Florence, Lisbon, etc. Stay in town for several days, sometimes a day trip by bus or train. Then rent another car when leaving town. We do not want a car in the city, nor do we want to pay parking and daily rental for a car that sits parked.

On our last trip to Portugal in June last year we planned to do most travel by train and rent for the few days that we wanted a car. Based on where we planned to go. We never did rent a car over the entire 5 weeks. First time ever with no wheels.

Train was great for us. Added bonus....Portugal trains provide a 50 percent discount to seniors.

 

[petfer]

“One suggestion to save some money and give you way more flexibility is to short term lease a french car… Having a car lets you pick cheaper places off the beaten path to rent which could pay for the car”

Thanks, this is a good option for sure, I looked into it. We decided to “slow travel” using public transportation as much as possible. We might rent a car for couple days when visiting hard to reach rural areas, but parking, tolls and gas prices would be hard to live with for extended time. High speed trains, buses, uber/bolt will work just fine for us, especially if we combine these with some small group local tours. We just need to pick the right base for each area with multiple transportation options.