If you had unlimited time, money, and energy – and responsibilities didn’t get in the way – how often would you want to travel?
It’s an interesting question to mull in retirement. Most retirees have limits on how much we can travel even without full-time jobs, whether due to caregiving, money, health, mobility, or a combination of those and other constraints. But knowing what our ideal might look like can help us be more intentional about what kind of trade-offs we want to make in order to fit travel into our retirement.
“I want to travel more after I retire” is kind of vague. Would that include a months-long trip driving across country? A cruise around the world? A few big glorious trips? Driving to explore areas closer to home?
Are there specific places you want to see? People you want to visit? I’m not a fan of “bucket lists” as such – I don’t need another to-do list in my life. But thinking about things you’ve wanted to do can help make the most of your available resources, time, and energy.
If finances are an issue, are there lower cost options, whether a less expensive time of year, last-minute deals, or lower-cost lodgings? If it’s caregiving, are there people who can pitch in and help? If mobility or energy are issues, are there adaptations that might work and fit your budget, such as help with airport transfers or travel packages that take these into account?
Flexibility is a plus here. Your ideal in early retirement may not be the same as it was when you were in your 20s, or even your 50s, and that’s OK. Better to know what you want and can realistically do now instead of convincing yourself you should want a specific type of trip just because you used to.
And, what you want in early retirement will likely change as things like health, mobility, and caregiving responsibilities evolve. Update your travel wish list as appropriate! One of the great privileges of retirement for many of us is to do more of the travel we wished for while working – and explore vacations we might not have done pre-retirement.
For example, I haven’t been a fan of driving vacations, when one risks spending more time in a vehicle than experiencing a place. But my husband and I met a friend and ended up doing a driving vacation to Niagara Falls in Canada this spring. I’d wanted to fly there – fares were surprisingly cheap at the time, and the thought of all those hours sitting in a car did not appeal.
Yet the meandering drive there and back turned out to be enjoyable, too. We stopped in multiple places, including staying at the site of a 19th century utopian community that’s now a combined museum and inn (the Oneida Community Mansion House if of interest). It was relaxed and interesting and fun. And I didn’t have to worry about “wasting” my precious few vacation days for the year if the trip wasn’t what I’d hoped.
One of my post-work travel dreams has been to take more frequent trips to other continents. But for a variety of reasons, I didn’t go on an overseas trip after I stopped working until two years into retirement: a sisters’ trip to London. It was great fun! I even met up with a former boss and was quite relaxed as we chatted about our lives and his work 😄.
No, I didn’t have the same energy as I had when in Europe 20 years ago. But my sister and I still enjoyed a pleasantly full agenda – and did a ton of walking, getting in close to 20,000 steps on several days.
Travel in retirement has felt a lot less “high stakes” so far. I no longer worry about not having enough paid vacation time to cover sightseeing, rest & relaxation, and other things I need to do. When planning a big trip, I no longer think about balancing how many vacation days to spend on “recovery” (I’m not great at time zone changes of more than 3 hours) versus actually being away.
Returning home is more relaxing, too, once the traveling home part is finished. (My sister and I flew home from London Wednesday in the midst of a major air traffic control glitch at Heathrow Airport that cancelled or delayed thousands of flights. “Misery at Heathrow: ‘Never Seen Chaos Like That’” was the NY Times headline. Luckily our flight was not among them.) I’m easing back into real life at my own pace. Yes to catching up on postal and email my first full day back, no on the mountain of laundry, which can wait until today. Instead, I spent part of yesterday afternoon relaxing with my husband on our patio and going out to lunch.
I do have a freelance project to finish up now that I’m home, but that’s nothing like coming back to the pressures of a demanding full-time job. And if I wake up yet again before 4 am, I don’t have to worry about putting in a full day of work until evening.
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