Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do all (any?) of you retired people still take vacations, or is retirement your vacation?
Since moving to Europe, I have been given 30 work days a year to use as vacation days. When I crossed 62, I was handed another 12. At 70, I'm now working 4 days a week and in 2 years I will be retired. I can't imagine a life without vacations. My wife and I are currently enjoying the mountains in Slovenia.
One of our plans is to go back to the US and take 3 month driving vacation through the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest states, two regions in which I spent a long time. We also want to return to New Zealand for a long stay and the Western Cape of South Africa for something other than work. We're not much for Asia, but we've talked about a long stay in Argentina and in the North of Romania, another world, although the country is in the EU. So many places to see!
I'm retired now ... I take trips. What would I take a vacation *from*?
I'm still working and still plan on taking vacations. Last year I did my first vacation in nine years! I didn't have any plans for this year, yet, but my son was here for two weeks and I think that was my 'vacation' for this year! lol I took six days off and we did a little road trip around AZ to places he'd never been. Spent a buncha money too that would have been vacation money later. I will still get my vacation later in the year but won't be going far!
When are you doing another road trip to AZ???? Do you still plan to move here or have you changed your mind??
One difference between working and 'taking vacations' and being retired and 'taking trips' ... is that at the end of a 'vacation', one always has to 'go back' to the 'salt mine.' Therefore, one always feels a little more 'squeezed' and anxious than retirees ... who invariably look forward to returning home - so they can 'relax' after a long, tiring trip.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,690 posts, read 57,994,855 times
Reputation: 46171
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frihed89
Point well taken. I haven't turned the corner, yet.
I wonder how hard/easy it will be to turn my retirement into a vacation?
The HARD part...
1) It is no longer a PAID vacation.
2) You are too busy with other hobbies to find time.
3) 'Trip' may not be as eventful / fun, but is still enjoyable
Easy part...
1) planning on YOUR schedule
2) going
3) returning on YOUR schedule ... (no hurry )
We're taking lots of trips this year. Of course, this is the first year of retirement, so it's probably way more trips than we'll take once we settle down and get used to being retired. We went to Italy, we've been on several smaller trips to places like the Berkshires, Vermont, Rehoboth and NYC to visit family members, and we spent some time in Williamsburg & Richmond to do some house sitting and to look at houses. We're about to head out to Bolinas (near San Francisco) for a week, and later in the summer we're going up to the Berkshires again, and then that's it for travel plans... right now.
Probably we'll stop for awhile. Or maybe not. It's a lot easier to be spontaneous when you don't have to worry about your job, and right now we're still enjoying the novelty of that.
What I like about traveling after retirement is having plenty of time to rest after you get home. We had a very energetic itinerary in Italy, especially when we were in Venice, and when we got back it was great to not do much of anything for several days.
The down side is budget concerns, of course. Travel can be pricey, and earlier this year I was a little sad that we might not end up doing much travel at all after we retired. As it turns out, we've been lucky to find some good deals and to be able to stay with family most of the time. We also just decided to go for it even if it did mean cutting spending in a few other ways. We look at it this way: Right now we have both the time and the energy to do it. Who knows when either one of us will get sick or too tired to enjoy travel--sometimes it happens sooner than you think. So we'll do a lot now, knowing that every year won't be like this.
We moved to a Vacation area. I suppose we may eventually take vacations to other places but where we live is so wonderful that we simply don't like to leave.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
)
