Retired & No Desire to Travel....?

[dvcgirl67]

I love traveling. Both in the US and outside of it. To me it’s the essence of life…seeing new places, eating new foods, hearing different languages. My favorite places are the most exotic…Africa, Jordan, Morocco, Bali, Singapore, viet nam, Cambodia. We are in our 70s and I hope we can still travel for many years to come.

We feel the same way. You've been do some amazing places....hope to do the same, and hope we'll be traveling like you into our 70s!

 

[soccerdad72]

As evidence in this thread alone, everyone has various opinions on what ideal retired life should be. To each their own. We intend to do some travelling, but we're always enjoyed seeing different parts of the country and other countries. That's just us, though.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Do you any of you not want to retire? I'm in my mid 50"s and work 50 hours a week plus. I think I'll be bored to death if I retire. I have female family members my age that don't work and depend on their spouse's income. They seem very happy which befuddles me, but they don't have the money to travel.

The only downfall to working that I have right now is not enough vacation time. Other than that I like waking up every morning with something to do and feeling productive.

My DH had no desire to retire when he was about 60. He worked 50-60 hours a week, and I had to really bite my tongue about how he enjoyed work, but I never saw him. His financial advisor kept telling him "Don't worry, you'll know when the time is right". And sure enough, a few years later, he did a 180, called his financial advisor and said "Can I afford to retire?" and he hasn't looked back. One word of advice-find a hobby you love.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Our plan is for DH to retire at 65--it was what we agreed to when we conceived our youngest (now 18). We were 42/43 when he has born.

On the good side, DH really likes his current job. It's less money, but also less stress, than previous jobs. He's also been working on developing both part-time retirement work, and volunteer work to fill his dreary (ha!) hours when he does retire. He currently does crisis management for work--he could do just that (and get paid), once he retires from the engineering side of things. He also does a lot of volunteer work with Scouts--he's an Eagle Scout, and teaches gun safety classes. There are also plenty of household chores (always!), and he's heavily involved in geneaology. I'm not worried about him being bored, with or without travel.

On the money side of things, he could, theoretically, retire tomorrow. But, with 3 kids in college, it makes more sense for him to work. Plus, we'd rather have a fat nest egg--him retiring now could work, but would require much more financial care.

 

[shh]

i'm jealous of all the people who enjoy working - I am so burned out. I wish I enjoyed it.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We did so much traveling in our younger days as we wanted our son to see as much and learn as much about other people and cultures as possible. He admits it was a game changer for him. Back then flying wasn't such a hassle and DH and I didn't have so many aches and pains making us miserable after only two hours crammed in an airplane seat. Long car trips are miserable for us too, as I guess we just aren't up to it anymore. We do not feel cheated at all! Our son and DIL travel frequently and often to places we've been...fun to reminisce over dinner here on the mountain.

Friends and family are blown away by our new home as it is so comfortable in NH "vintage lake" style we created from a contemporary interior. DH and I are happy to spend our retirement years going to the lake (pick one, we have four in town) or ocean or quick drive to the heart of the White Mountains. We watch gorgeous sunsets over the mountains every night. Not for everyone, but we are content and loving it. Two years ago I would have thought it was a crazy idea! I'll admit we did question our commitment while waiting for construction to finally end, but believed in our hearts it was for us.

 

[DCLMP]

We did so much traveling in our younger days as we wanted our son to see as much and learn as much about other people and cultures as possible. He admits it was a game changer for him. Back then flying wasn't such a hassle and DH and I didn't have so many aches and pains making us miserable after only two hours crammed in an airplane seat. Long car trips are miserable for us too, as I guess we just aren't up to it anymore. We do not feel cheated at all! Our son and DIL travel frequently and often to places we've been...fun to reminisce over dinner here on the mountain.

Friends and family are blown away by our new home as it is so comfortable in NH "vintage lake" style we created from a contemporary interior. DH and I are happy to spend our retirement years going to the lake (pick one, we have four in town) or ocean or quick drive to the heart of the White Mountains. We watch gorgeous sunsets over the mountains every night. Not for everyone, but we are content and loving it. Two years ago I would have thought it was a crazy idea! I'll admit we did question our commitment while waiting for construction to finally end, but believed in our hearts it was for us.

We traveled a lot with our kids. They've been all over the world. I continue to travel with my youngest son because he's like me when it comes to traveling. My dh is happy just playing golf and going on cruises out of the US. I'm not sure where we will retire at, but he has his heart set on Florida. I could see us spending a lot of time on cruise ships if that happens.

I'm also really glad I traveled with my kids and still do. It's an interesting experience for them and me. I'm looking forward to taking my son to Japan later this year.

 

[amcnj]

I enjoy traveling and I also enjoy being home. I have always done some of each and see that continuing.

There were/are a few serious travelers in the family. They were/are on the go as much as possible.

Don’t worry what others are doing. There is no right answer here. We all have different likes and interests and have to do what makes us happy.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Hey, if you're old enough to retire, you're old enough to not care what other people think about whether or not you choose to travel.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We traveled a lot with our kids. They've been all over the world. I continue to travel with my youngest son because he's like me when it comes to traveling. My dh is happy just playing golf and going on cruises out of the US. I'm not sure where we will retire at, but he has his heart set on Florida. I could see us spending a lot of time on cruise ships if that happens.

I'm also really glad I traveled with my kids and still do. It's an interesting experience for them and me. I'm looking forward to taking my son to Japan later this year.

You have to do what you enjoy! We are glad we instilled the joy of travel and sense of wonder in our son. Our DIL also loves to travel so they venture out wherever and whenever they can.

We thought we had our home picked out at Stone Creek in Ocala...then it just didn't feel right. Good luck with your retirement dreams!

 

[QueenIsabella]

We did so much traveling in our younger days as we wanted our son to see as much and learn as much about other people and cultures as possible. He admits it was a game changer for him. Back then flying wasn't such a hassle and DH and I didn't have so many aches and pains making us miserable after only two hours crammed in an airplane seat. Long car trips are miserable for us too, as I guess we just aren't up to it anymore. We do not feel cheated at all! Our son and DIL travel frequently and often to places we've been...fun to reminisce over dinner here on the mountain.

Friends and family are blown away by our new home as it is so comfortable in NH "vintage lake" style we created from a contemporary interior. DH and I are happy to spend our retirement years going to the lake (pick one, we have four in town) or ocean or quick drive to the heart of the White Mountains. We watch gorgeous sunsets over the mountains every night. Not for everyone, but we are content and loving it. Two years ago I would have thought it was a crazy idea! I'll admit we did question our commitment while waiting for construction to finally end, but believed in our hearts it was for us.

You know what they say about New Hampshire--80% of it is covered with trees, the rest is underwater!

 

[georgina]

We didn't have the money to travel internationally when our kids were young. We did some US national parks, a couple of cruises - Alaska, Caribbean) Both of our DDs made up for that on their own during and after college, DS not so much although he did a summer study in Japan.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It's your retirement. If you don't want to travel, I don't see a thing wrong with that.

 

[DCLMP]

We didn't have the money to travel internationally when our kids were young. We did some US national parks, a couple of cruises - Alaska, Caribbean) Both of our DDs made up for that on their own during and after college, DS not so much although he did a summer study in Japan.

We had a lot of money to travel when our kids were young. In the current economic state of the union I don't feel our salaries are keeping up with the inflation rate. We will see how much traveling we do in the future, but I'm really glad we did all the international trips and Disney cruises in Europe when prices on everything were reasonable. We still have a little left over in the tank for traveling, but not as easy as it used to be.