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My dream at retirement is to sell our home in high stress "dog eat dog" Washington DC and put all our things in storage for a year and then travel to 12 different cities all around the world and live in a furnished apartment for a month at a time and live life like a local.
We would buy a "round the world airline ticket" and go to each place in a circle path. We would save money by eating at home and renting a smallish apartment. I was told that most major cities in the world have these type of apartments specially designed mostly for business travelers who will be assigned to a community for a short period of time.
We think we can do it for $4000 in airfare and about $3000 a month for our apartment in the various cities.
Once we got back to Washington DC we would move our furniture to our new retirement home in Chapel Hill NC.
Do you know anyone who has done something like this to start their their retirement years? If you did something like this where would you travel to?
My mother did this, kind of, although she didn't give up her house. She went around the world on a freighter, was gone 5 months I think.
And then an old family friend did this type of thing. She would choose cities and go (again via freighter) to some place like Hong Kong and live for a month or more. She spent a few months in Spain doing this type of thing.
Freighters are pretty much a thing of the past, but your plan sounds great!
Good idea but the fare maybe isn't too realistic. I did it some years ago but thrip wasn't long, only two months and few countries. For a year long travel, 12 cities, $40k isn't enough. Let us know if you have better idea so later on we may follow your pattern.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I think you are in the ballpark for RTW fare. I need to get that arranged myself via Star Alliance. I will probably do Southern Hemisphere using mileage points, as it is so expensive to buy. Previous tickets allowed 12 stop and 12 months to complete. I hear they dropped to 6 stops. With so few it will be important to choose cheap regional hubs so you can fly to nearby destinations (For me that will be back tracking from NZ or AUS to Cook Islands).
Your rents seem very doable, probably inclusive of food and regional transport. I have seen many places within an ez bus / train-ride of major city w rents under $1000. You can also join Evergreen, affordable or other travel clubs for $20 / night lodging (I travel for cheaper than staying home).
It is ez to find a moving and storage place for your stuff, or you can rent a heated / cooled private space. (We did 3 international 'living/ working' trips where 90% of our stuff stayed home (USA) in storage). The simplest is to have a moving company come and grab you junk and haul it to NC to store (cheaper / better climate than DC). This is also the most expensive way, but... I doubt if you can save over 50% be doing it ALL yourself.
As far as destinations, it is gonna be very dependent on what YOU enjoy / desire to see. I have a great time in MOST places (learning / being with locals), tho all are not pleasant while there. I like rural, so I do farms, agritourismo, and commute into cities on RARE occasion.
If you are uncomfortable with language, find some English speaking countries in each region you want to visit. Singapore was delightful, as all speak a form of Singlish, but it is a good hub to many SE Asia sights. If you can get away from Shopping, the locals are quite friendly / helpful.
We're planning on doing something similar in 2013 or 2014, only our circuit will include only U.S. and Canada and we'll drive.
Whether we sell our house or not will largely depend upon how the market's doing. We live in a fairly secure HOA and we'd get a property management to take care of it, so no worries about it being unoccupied. We might get a house-sitter.
My one concern, if we decide to sell, is not having a legal residence. For estate planning and income tax purposes, we want to maintain residency in our current state. How do you do that if you don't have a phyical residence?
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by biscuitmom
We're planning on doing something similar in 2013 or 2014, ... we want to maintain residency in our current state. How do you do that if you don't have a phyical residence?
You must be from one of the very few states that have preferential estate laws. Mine does too, but as long as my trust was executed in WA, and my acquired props in various states are held by my WA trust(or my various LLC's that are solely owned by the Trust / or Trustees with disillusion/benefit directed to trust); all assets and execution of estate will be according to WA trust, regardless of my domicile at death / departure.
Thus get your ducks in a row, get a company / PO Box addy to forward your mail (if there is still snail mail). keep your DL and voter registration active. Have a blast.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4
I am confused...an around the world ticket is only 4000?!!??
Don't be confused, I have seen them for much less (~$1200).
There are many new social media travel sites, and rates are VERY cheap, you could easily book multiple single leg flights and end up under $4000. My kid has made (3) 2wktrips this yr to different continents for well under $2000, He has done the equivalent of around the world, just that his are Round trips (Asia, Europe, Australia)
I just wish there was a re-occurrence of the 'Pass for a yr' plan. One of my friends was a professional speaker and traveled once a week to a different location for many yrs. $700 for himself and a companion for a full yr !!! AND he got to keep mileage on top of that. He used that perk to its full advantage Nearly 50% of that travel was international, so he got a bargain and went around the world many times. (usually at least 2x / yr for over 30 yrs)
I just wish I could have done my 'RTW' on a chartered Concorde
The cheapest options are not run by actual airlines but ticket brokers that will sell you a number of one way tickets that work out fine if my one year adventure is basically a straight line. Using this option you should be able to travel to 12 cities over a year for under $4000
Last edited by Workaholic?; 12-30-2011 at 04:29 AM..
My dream at retirement is to sell our home in high stress "dog eat dog" Washington DC and put all our things in storage for a year and then travel to 12 different cities all around the world and live in a furnished apartment for a month at a time and live life like a local.
We would buy a "round the world airline ticket" and go to each place in a circle path. We would save money by eating at home and renting a smallish apartment. I was told that most major cities in the world have these type of apartments specially designed mostly for business travelers who will be assigned to a community for a short period of time.
We think we can do it for $4000 in airfare and about $3000 a month for our apartment in the various cities.
Once we got back to Washington DC we would move our furniture to our new retirement home in Chapel Hill NC.
Do you know anyone who has done something like this to start their their retirement years? If you did something like this where would you travel to?
I had planned to do the same, but since retirement for me is indefinitely postponed, I elected to do a RTW trip last year (my first of many, since I had to break it up and hurry somewhat). I did the oneworld alliance, and in order to qualify for "elite" status, I maximized my mileage. The alliance tickets allow 16 segments these days. They all have a mileage based option, oneworld also has a number-of-continents based option that allows for backtracking within 6 (loosely defined) continents. My ticket was 6K--but in business class! The thing to keep in mind about these tickets is that pricing is not uniform: different fares for different origination countries, often amounting to thousands of dollars. Getting these cheaper fares is a subject unto itself. The second choice is consolidator tickets. Check out Airtreks. The site has a trip planning tool that will consume hours if you let it. Or, you could buy point to point tickets as you go. The good thing about them is that you aren't limited to 12 months of travel like you would be with the first two options, nor are you locked into a prepaid routing.
Edward Hasbrouk, who worked as an agent at AirTreks, has a new edition of his book out: The Practical Nomad. Read that and you will learn more than you could possibly want to know about RTW travel. All very dry and practical stuff. For inspiration try Doug Lansky's First Time Around the World (also a recent new edition).
This subject is near and dear to my heart--thanks for posting, Workaholic!
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Nearly 50% of that travel was international, so he got a bargain and went around the world many times. (usually at least 2x / yr for over 30 yrs)
