Traveling in retirement survey?

[JoseSantiago]

Hi friends, for fun/planning:




Your age:

Budget annually for travel in retirement:

How many trips per year:



Look forward to responses thank you to anyone who participates.

 

[ScoopKona]

Age: 53
Annual Budget: $25K or so
Trips per year: 3-6

Caveat: My wife and I still backpack, take trains and public transportation, stay in timeshares, AirBnBs and hostels, cook most of our meals. Our vacation daily expenses aren't much higher than our normal daily expenses. Perhaps $100 per day higher for each of us. Often far less.

We typically take 2-3 foreign trips per year, and 1 big domestic. With loads of weekend getaways as practicable.

 

[2017ish]

We are now 62/61. Retired 57/56

"Budget" to date has kind of been six figures.

We travel 6+ months of the year, with most trips being a month or more (Max has been 3.) Pre-covid roughly 50/50 domestic/international. Last year (and this) nearly 100% international/noncontiguous USA; 2020 was only about 40% international.

Like ScoopKona, we travel cheap--except for diving, safaris, business class flights, and fine dining. If not a dive trip or safari, we do carry-on only, stay at Airbnb or hostels, do our own breakfast and lunch, and generally avoid tours.

In the USA, we do long driving trips with an econobox and stay at Quality Inns (but the meals add up).

 

[rodi]

Age - 60 (DH is 70)
Budget... not sure -varies from year to year... This year it will be about $20k. Would have been 20k higher if the stupid cruise line hadn't cancelled our transatlantic cruise to Italy - which trashed our couple weeks in Italy plans. (We would be leaving this weekend if MSC hadn't been poop-heads.)

We try to do 1-2 big trips a year... and lots of small trips. We are doing Machu Picchu in the fall. We've done a few camping trips in the scooby van. In fact we're leaving on a longer scooby van trip next week. This trip was planned after MSC pooped on our bigger Italy trip.

Camping is nice because we can bring the pooch. When we travel without the dog we tend to do vacation rentals - both foreign and domestic. Camping is cheap - but we stay in campgrounds (state and NPS) which isn't as cheap as you'd think... but usually comes with flush toilets and pay showers.

 

[caninelover]

$7.5k/yr for travel. One big trip per year with many local trips mixed in. We live in Cali and there are so many gorgeous places to hike and camp nearby. Plus some domestic trips to visit family.

Age 49, turn 50 next week.

 

[ivinsfan]

Age - 60 (DH is 70)
Budget... not sure -varies from year to year... This year it will be about $20k. Would have been 20k higher if the stupid cruise line hadn't cancelled our transatlantic cruise to Italy - which trashed our couple weeks in Italy plans. (We would be leaving this weekend if MSC hadn't been poop-heads.)

We try to do 1-2 big trips a year... and lots of small trips. We are doing Machu Picchu in the fall. We've done a few camping trips in the scooby van. In fact we're leaving on a longer scooby van trip next week. This trip was planned after MSC pooped on our bigger Italy trip.

Camping is nice because we can bring the pooch. When we travel without the dog we tend to do vacation rentals - both foreign and domestic. Camping is cheap - but we stay in campgrounds (state and NPS) which isn't as cheap as you'd think... but usually comes with flush toilets and pay showers.

I'm feeling the hate for MSC

 

[Souschef]

I retired in 2009, but DW and I started traveling together in 2007 when we got married. At that time for the next years, we were spending $40 K on travel.
By the time the pandemic hit, we had done 18 cruises, 52 trips for a total of 511 travel days.

 

[Scuba]

Ages 63/61.

Budget varies - spent around $25K in 2021 but will spend closer to $40K as we ramp up travel this year.

Trips vary - try to do one “big” trip and several other smaller trips. This year, we will do 2 family trips to GA, a 2-week trip to Hawaii, a long weekend in Houston, and almost 2 months in Croatia. Mat do another trip late in 2022 but not sure yet. Favorite trips are beach vacations with great diving, but we like to mix in some historical/cultural trips also.

 

[Dtail]

Ages 62/61
Budget for 2022 16k
Usually 2 big trips and a few smaller trips

 

[Bamaman]

Ages 71 & 73
Budget: None But I assume we spend $10K traveling yearly.
Two trips to Europe yearly.

We were due to take a very inexpensive Royal Caribbean cruise of The Baltics including St. Petersburg 5/2022, but it was cancelled. Still have 1/2 price flight into Heathrow scheduled and paid for. Plan to visit The Alps in Austria and maybe Switzerland.

We did take a trip to Las Vegas 6/2021 on a $141 round trip flight. Took 10 & 13 year old grandkids, and they ate their way thru the west going to 3 national parks.

Wife's hobby is staying up late nights finding cheap airfares. I plan the rest.

Only place we travel domestically is the Blue Ridge Mountains of North GA where our RV stays in storage.

 

[Ronstar]

Ages 66/67
No budget - spend around 15k per year
3-4 trips per year, mostly domestic road trips to national parks, staying in hotels

 

[old medic]

58/53
Budget.... cheap...but what ever it cost
We have hauled our camper out about once a month for years, normally within a few hours drive, 3-4 day weekends, and try a long trip or 2 a year. couple years back spent about $2K and 3.5 weeks wandering up to Maine and back with the grandson. Have a nearly 3 week trip planned going to a family reunion in NY this summer.
Cant wait till the DW retires....

 

[Luvtoride]

Ages both 64
DW retired, me planning retirement this year

Budget-$25-$30k including the maintenance fees on our timeshares

5 trips this year including DR tomw and Italy in October

Plans for full retirement include virtually the same budget and # of trips 4-6/year

 

[donheff]

Age 73 and 69

Budget - none but typically spend $25-$30K.

This year includes a Grand Canyon raft trip and a Croatia cycling trip. We are exploring Antarctica option for next year so it could be higher than normal.

 

[Life2.0]

Ages: 50/48
Budget: $48k (plan for 4 quarterly trips each year)

This year: 3 Weeks in BI/Kauai in Feb... 3 Weeks in Italy in Apr/May .... 3 Weeks for Midwest/Great Plains road trip in July... back to Europe in the Fall for 2 months (starting in Amsterdam)

 

[Dawg52]

Age 67 Single

Budget: None. But when figuring my actual expenses should I include expenses related to my beach condo? I travel there every month and have HOA fees, assessments, utilities, etc. I try to take one trip a year across country so adding that in my cost comes in around $12k/yr.

 

[DrRoy]

63/62
$40k
5-7

 

[SJ1_]

69
4-9
$40 k but usually in the $25 to $39 k range

 

[athena53]

Single, age 69.

Usually two major trips per year- COVID interrupted that but this year (I hope) will include Munich on my own next month and a tour of E. Europe (former Balkan countries, no former USSR countries). Maybe 8 road trips to visit family.

Budget is about $25,000+. Hotel stays in the US are Hampton Inn types and I fly Coach within the lower 48, but go for Business on long-hauls. I'm also doing more small group tours and small-ship cruises. It's kind of nice that of something goes wrong it's their job to fix it!

 

[Gumby]

That's not such an easy question to answer. We are 63 and 61 and retired in June 2019. Originally, I had budgeted $25k per year for travel, and we made good progress on that in the first 7 months of retirement, with long trips out west and down to the Florida Keys. But then we were locked down like everyone else. Over the past two years, we have taken one driving trip for a long weekend this past September (my 40th year USNA reunion in Annapolis) and that's it. Now we're finally ready to travel again and have booked a three week trip to Egypt and Jordan in October, which will be substantially over that budget.

What I have realized in this time of Covid is that I have a lot of money but not a lot of time left. So, from here on out, it is time to loosen the purse strings. We are shooting for two main foreign trips a year and several shorter domestic driving weekends. Our normal living expenses are fully covered by income from pensions and social security, so we can spend as much as we like out of our portfolio on travel. In essence, our limiting factor is just time. We have a cat and a garden to tend and other things we like to do around our home.

 

[2017ish]

...Now we're finally ready to travel again and have booked a three week trip to Egypt and Jordan in October, which will be substantially over that budget.

What I have realized in this time of Covid is that I have a lot of money but not a lot of time left. ....

That will be a great trip! We did the same length of trip to those countries a year ago--we drove around Jordan for a week, spent a week diving in the red sea via liveaboard, and finished by cruising up the Nile on a small boat. Very nice.

Agree on the clock ticking on travel as we age. That caused us, unlike most, to take calculated risk of continuing to travel after a 2 month pause in 2020.

________________

Will be interesting to hear back from original poster to see what his/her thoughts are after getting responses from all over the place!

 

[Surewhitey]

We're 51&57.

Still not fully retired, but we spend a month in Mexico (3-4 trips annually) and usually one to Cali, FL and a few short, driving trips. We probably squeeze in 6 weeks / year.

Budget is around $10-12k & surprisingly we stay pretty close to this. 1st year covid was closer to $5k.

We're expecting to pay more than usual this year due to demand and overall costs. May do a camping trip too (no dog / house sitter)... We don't worry so much about costs, just living in the frugal mindset even on vaca & look for good value experience for our $$.

Probably heading to Hawaii this year and a couple of trips to Mexico. DW has a NY biz trip we'll tie in with a visit... Free air / hotel is a win-win for a few of the days.

 

[Venturer]

Age - 60 (DH is 70)
Camping is nice because we can bring the pooch. When we travel without the dog we tend to do vacation rentals - both foreign and domestic. Camping is cheap - but we stay in campgrounds (state and NPS) which isn't as cheap as you'd think... but usually comes with flush toilets and pay showers.

Your DH may already have it but if not you might consider the Golden Age passport which would give 1/2 off camping in NP, BLM,COE, or some other Fed. campgrounds. We have always done a lot of COE camping mostly closer to home but now going further afield it is nice. Besides the camping fees it also gives free admittance to NP which have fees. Good luck and have fun.

 

[COcheesehead]

59
$30,000
Usually a trip to Europe, but these have been on hold.
Couple longer domestic trips
Lots of 2-3 night getaways 2-6 hours away.
Most centered around hiking, but always in hotels. No more camping for us.

 

[novaman]

Your age: 58 (FI @ 47, “retired” @ 54)



Budget annually for travel in retirement: no real budget. Expenditures vary but has been as much as 40k in a year



How many trips per year:

Travel is a big priority for us in retirement. We average around 6 trips a year. Our aim is to do at least one bucket list trip a year and then a bunch of other trips, mixing up fun vacations with visits to family and mission work.

Our trips run anywhere from 4-5 days to a few weeks, but we have found our sweet spot to be around 10-11 days- any longer than that and we begin to really yearn for the comforts of home.