Travel in Retirement

[2TxAgs]

My DH is starting to use the R word, and speaking of it happening by year's end. I'm interested in hearing from those who are retired or planning to do so in the near future. Did you budget an 'x' amount for yearly travel? Do you plan far out or are you finding that you're able to get and enjoy last minute deals? What about Disney - are you traveling there more or less often than when you (and the kids) were younger?

 

[Disney Mickey&Minnie Fan]

My DH is starting to use the R word, and speaking of it happening by year's end. I'm interested in hearing from those who are retired or planning to do so in the near future. Did you budget an 'x' amount for yearly travel? Do you plan far out or are you finding that you're able to get and enjoy last minute deals? What about Disney - are you traveling there more or less often than when you (and the kids) were younger?

Great thread topic!

Not at retirement yet, but thinking ahead into the future.

With the children out of the house, we travel more -- more time and more money for travel.
Purchased Disney Vacation Club points after all the children had graduated high school.

Current plans for retirement:

• Cruise once a year
• Travel to a warm climate for a vacation during the winter months
• Create a bucket list of places to visit
• Take an Adventures by Disney trip

 

[cvjw]

We are almost at retirement age, but have been traveling much more the last couple years. When my husband does retire, we plan to spend even more time traveling. And yes, there is a large line item in the retirement budget for travel.

 

[amylevan]

We aren’t quite there yet, the plan is 12 years to retirement. But planning ahead, travel will continue to be a budget line item. We have slowly been reducing our Disney time though. We just haven’t been enjoying it as much, and don’t feel it’s worth the price tag for our current enjoyment level. Once we have grandchildren to take, that may change again.

We have a 5th wheel now, but we will upgrade to a more higher end one closer to retirement and plan to spend months on end traveling the country.

 

[kathy884]

DH has been retired for four years. I am still working full time, but do get 30 days a year of vacation, however, I am not allowed to use more than 10 days (two weeks at any given time).

With jobs that give us / gave him in (DH's case) generous time off, we have always done a bit of traveling and the amount of traveling we are doing now that DH is retired and when I am retired is/will be almost exactly the same as when we were working. I plan to budget the same amount of dollars and time for travel pre-retirement and post-retirement. (We don't have the travel bug big time or the finances we want to put to that, but do like to do a little traveling, mostly domestically).

On top of my normal travel budget, I did budget for one longer and higher expense trip to Paris, Disneyland Paris, and Belfast (bucket list trip for DS we are taking this year in September -- DH was going to come too back when we were going to do this in 2020 but plans were canceled with the pandemic. DH being three 1/2 years older with a few more aches and pains isn't interested in doing this trip now, so it will just be me and DS.)

If you want to do the travel do it while you can. The older we get the more of a hassle travel seems to be and the less we want to do.

 

[wannabee]

We are actually planning on full time travel for the first few years of retirement. We plan to sell the house and most of our stuff. When we settle down I hope to do it in Florida. After that, I think we will do less travel. Maybe 1 trip a year. I hope to be close enough to Disney to get my fix... Dh is not a fan.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Travel is definitely very very high on the priority list now that we've recently retired. We love Disney and have been doing extra trips just to enjoy it at a very casual, magical pace. But not just Disney - areas around the country and around the world, especially now that the world is in a better place with Covid. Not great to retire during a pandemic, but we certainly couldn't control that! For now, though, we're going to enjoy travel, seeing different cultures, and loving our time while our health allows it - while still having plenty of time for family and home, too.

 

[bakerworld]

We retired in the summer of '21 but we've only ever planned on WDW and Williamsburg VA as we have a home situation that doesn't make travel stress free. That said in 2022 we went to WDW 4 times, a Fall WDW/DCL vacation and I went to Europe with our youngest. During our December WDW vacation DH asked to slow down so this year we've only enjoyed a March cruise and have a WDW vacation planned for late October. I think we'll eventually settle on March, May and October WDW vacations and enjoy Williamsburg in December. Luckily we are only a few hours plane or car ride away from both. DH has talked about seeing more of the US but IDK if we have the knees, breath or brain health new adventures.

Good luck with your planning - heck planning is half the fun.

 

[Narnia_girl]

We are several years away yet, but hoping to travel more as we become empty-nesters and retirees.

One encouraging tidbit: I talked with a widow friend this week who is embarking on a 2-week tour of Italy with another friend. She's 74 years old and I thought at the time how wonderful it will be to still be having grand adventures when I'm that age.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I retired many years ago, my husband is a lawyer in private practice so he could do what he wanted. And he is partially retired now. We have been traveling for years. At least one trip to DW, one Disney cruise, one annual dude ranch week, one annual trip to Mexico, all with kids and/or grandkids and a couple trips just as a couple. We have been able to travel around the world without worrying about budget. But now that my husband is retired we will have to budget a little more carefully. We will still do most of our family travel but probably limit our couple trips more. There are still a few more places on my bucket list that I want to get to while I’m Mobil enough. .

 

[gmi3804]

DH (60) just retired last summer. I'm (57) and not far behind.

We just planned our third Aulani trip in one year* for October. Also coming up: Telluride Film Fest over Labor Day weekend (our 29th festival in a row, except for 2020 when it was cancelled), DLR* for five days in December, 10-night Regent Seven Seas cruise to Western Caribbean in Jan/Feb, Tokyo Disneyland/Japan/Hawaii in early-May '24. Eyeing a Mediterranean cruise for late summer '24. Yeah, we're traveling.

We have a strong financial picture, and are planning on dying with as little as possible because we want the tears at our funerals to be real.

*Keeping our DVC points/money out of Florida for now.

 

[OKW Lover]

I've been retired for over 10 years now. Travel is very important to us. We love cruising especially. We've found that you can get good prices if you go places during their off season. For example, cruises are expensive in January-April. But the same cruise in August - October is significantly less expensive.

Take advantage of the flexibility being retired gives you.

 

[barkley]

we are retired but don't travel much if at all due to issues with our disabled adult son who lives with us BUT had a co-worker whose post retirement plans were to cruise, cruise and cruise some more. she was hooked into some kind of travel sites that listed rockbottom last minute cruise deals on unfilled rooms or cancellations. being on the west coast she could easily make last minute short flight arrangements to the various departing port cities and she made sure her/dh's passports were always current. i saw her a few years post (her) retirement and they had travelled like crazy.

 

[gmi3804]

we are retired but don't travel much if at all due to issues with our disabled adult son who lives with us BUT had a co-worker whose post retirement plans were to cruise, cruise and cruise some more. she was hooked into some kind of travel sites that listed rockbottom last minute cruise deals on unfilled rooms or cancellations. being on the west coast she could easily make last minute short flight arrangements to the various departing port cities and she made sure her/dh's passports were always current. i saw her a few years post (her) retirement and they had travelled like crazy.

My parents had friends who lived near Ft Lauderdale who did this too. They were always cruising somewhere or other, and loved it.

 

[DogCat]

I retired many years ago, my husband is a lawyer in private practice so he could do what he wanted. And he is partially retired now. We have been traveling for years. At least one trip to DW, one Disney cruise, one annual dude ranch week, one annual trip to Mexico, all with kids and/or grandkids and a couple trips just as a couple. We have been able to travel around the world without worrying about budget. But now that my husband is retired we will have to budget a little more carefully. We will still do most of our family travel but probably limit our couple trips more. There are still a few more places on my bucket list that I want to get to while I’m Mobil enough. .

A dude ranch week sounds great! Do you return to the same ranch or different ones? I would love to hear some specific ranch recommendations!

 

[Disney Mickey&Minnie Fan]

If you want to do the travel do it while you can. The older we get the more of a hassle travel seems to be and the less we want to do.

The Three Phases of Retirement:
The Go-Go Years -- Early actives retirement years, approximately ages 50s, 60s, and early 70s -- filled with travel, activities, family, socializing, . . . (aka - the pickleball years)
The Slow-Go Years -- approximately mid-70s to mid-80s -- activities slow down, less travel, medical issues, . . . (plan for more nap time)
The No-Go Years -- approximately starts in the early 80s to early 90s, depending upon the individual and their heath needs -- health and medical needs affect activity choices, medical costs increase, . . . (develop good relations with your medical care providers)

Important to look ahead and make decisions on how to spend the retirement years!
Commit to a healthy lifestyle to make the most of your retirement years!

 

[wabbott]

I'm pressed for time now, but I have a bit to add from out experiences. In fact, at this very moment, we are cruising down the Rhine River in Germany on a Viking boat.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'm pressed for time now, but I have a bit to add from out experiences. In fact, at this very moment, we are cruising down the Rhine River in Germany on a Viking boat.

We've enjoyed a couple of Viking River Cruises. Great way to see parts of Europe besides the major cities.

 

[tvguy]

We retired 2 years ago, and are living off savings so while we did budget for travel, we are really watching our money. And the pandemic really helped make it easier to stay home. We will really start our retirement next year when we both reach full Social Security Retirement age of 66 1/2. Our Social Security alone will be double the $3,000 a month we have been living on the past two years. So then we will have a lot more financial flexibility then.
We did do a 3,600 mile road trip in April. Got brave. And got covid, both of us. Which seems to be the norm now with travel judging from my Facebook feed. Doesn't matter if it is by car like we did, a cruise, or air travel, people are still getting sick, just not as sick.
As for Disney, we haven't gone yet. Our Granddaughters have been since they live close, so they would be the first reason we would go. We're getting a little old to hop in and out of the Matterhorn bobsleds. And my son gets free admission to Disneyland and he commented even with that, it was a VERY expensive day for them with everything else.

 

[a742246]

We retired last year. We live in rural Vermont so between May 1 and November 1 no vacations are necessary. So our goal was to vacation in the shoulder seasons. Which means for us November and December, then March and April.

At first we were planning to spend 6 weeks a winter at Disney World. But when Covid hit and Disney started changing, We sold off half our contracts and bought beachfront timeshares instead. Note, our DVC that was sold bought 5 consecutive weeks in Redington beach between Nov and December. Which is perfect for us. We will spend about 17-21 consecutive days in March and April at Disney. All told we budgeted about 15k a year on our vacations expenses Including mfs.

Home and cars and tractor are paid off.

So far things are working out for us.