Is there a country, city or landmark you’ve always wanted to visit but never found the time? Well, now you’re a retiree, there is no better time.
With all this spare time on your hands, it makes sense to travel the world, see things you’ve always wanted to and explore like many don’t get the opportunity to do. Many people like to travel after university and before heading into working life. This is called taking a ‘gap year’ but often with small budgets and a limited time, you almost feel like their not making the most of it.
When my children grew up, moved out and became fully self sufficient, my wife and myself started to holiday more. We went to more exotic places and had more money to spend on ourselves. Over the past 10 years or so, we’ve traveled so much and really enjoyed the time we have together on holiday. As retirement loomed, we started to think about the things we wanted to do with our retirement time, and as we love holidaying so much, we thought we’d travel more.
The more we discussed it, the more it made sense to use our retirement time wisely, to see things we only dreamed of, to visit places we only knew existed on the TV and to feel young again.
We started out by creating a list of all the places we wanted to visit, from Thailand to South America, hidden gems in Europe and even places in the UK we had never been. We started to split up these trips and focus on four or five different aspects which we would love to see during our time and then figured out a timescale of how long we’d need.
We tried hard not to worry about money too much, we wanted the experience to be the best it could be and knew that if we didn’t do it properly we’d probably come home wishing we did things differently. Obviously, we had budgets but the experience was the overruling factor.
We knew we weren’t going to pick up sticks and leave for a year travelling doing everything in one go, so we used our time to really research our destination, discovered the best routes, best flight times, and where to stay. We became so excited and after our first mini trip around a few spots in Europe, we became addicted.
We now have a list as long as our arm and up next we’re preparing for the biggest trip we’ve planned so far; Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Being our age, there are certain things you have to take into consideration, the biggest being healthcare. It’s vital you take out comprehensive insurance which will cover you in all instances. In this regard, knowing that you can rely on providers similar to colonial insurance, can be comforting.
Without family commitments, work commitment and time to do what we like with, travelling once retired is the best decision you can make. Many of us grow up regretting we did more with our lives, and for us, travelling was something we never got round to. Seize the opportunity to travel when you retire and I assure you life will become the best adventure.
Have you travelled now you’ve retired? We’d love to hear your stories, find out where you’ve been and take on board any tips you may have. Get in touch by following the contact us page.
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