Travel in Retirement

Retirement Travel Tips for Planning a Vacation

ocean beach with red umbrellas - retirement travel tips

Traveling can be a major part of your lifestyle If you are part of the baby boomer generation. With the children grown and gone, these empty nesters have all the freedom to spend their time and money exploring the world.

We all know that traveling can be exciting, but it takes time and effort to set up your travel itinerary and organize a whole trip. Even though it does take time, but it is well worth it because it will ultimately save your precious time when you are actually there to explore.

Here are some helpful travel tips to consider before planning a vacation or going on a long-term trip:

Prepare your home before going away.

It might be hard to leave your house when you are going away on a short or long trip. But creating a list of tasks needed to prepare your home is one of the most important tips.

When you check off each task accomplished, you can head off on your adventure knowing that your home is safe.

Clean out the refrigerator and freezer and get rid of all perishable goods.
Empty and wash all trash bins.
Empty the dishwasher and leave it cracked open, so any additional water in the system will evaporate.
Set the thermostat to practical temperature. For our winter trips, we always set the thermostat to 55 degrees. It keeps the house well above freezing and prevents the pipes from bursting.
Make sure that the smoke detectors are working properly.
Turn off the water valves to toilets, sinks, dishwasher, and washing machine. This can prevent any damage from water leaks. We usually turn off the main water line into our house before we leave.
It is recommended to turn off the water heater. There is no reason in maintaining a hot tank of water for months when you are away traveling.
If you are leaving for a very long time, I would recommend unplugging all electronic devices.
Arrange with the local post office to have your mail is forwarded or held. Mail can be held for 30 days or less, and you can do it through USPS.com. Although, our small-town post office can hold mail for three months. Also, reserving a P.O. Box from a local post office can be a good idea as well. Even though we pay all our bills online, we still receive a lot of leaflets and flyers in our mailbox. When you are away on a long trip you do not want a bunch of letters hanging out of your mailbox, shouting to the world that you are not home.
If you are planning a long-term trip, try to put on hold your cable TV and internet. Not all cable TV and internet service providers will allow you to do that, but some will. So, if it is possible put your expensive services on hold.
I like to leave my house clean before I go on vacation even though it is the last thing you want to do in the middle of packing. That is why I always thank myself and feel happy when arriving back to a clean and uncluttered home.
The ideal way to leave your car is parked in a garage out of everyone’s eyes. We do not have a garage, so we have to leave our cars parked in our driveway. Another tip is to disconnect the car battery to prevent drainage.
It is important to have trusted neighbors or hire a house sitter. When we travel, we leave a set of house and car keys with our trusted neighbors. We feel grateful to have good neighbors who help to keep our home safe while we are away.

Benefits of using travel apps.

There are apps for almost everything these days and it includes traveling. The rise of websites gives us direct access to hotel and airline booking.

But let’s face it – vacation planning can be overwhelming. You can spend hours browsing hundreds of travel websites and blogs researching destinations, accommodations, available flights, tours, and activities. You can go back and forth multiple times before ultimately choosing one.

But if you want to spend more time enjoying your trip and less time planning, you should consider using travel apps.

Even you do not use apps in your daily life, consider taking advantage of many helpful apps when you start preparing for your travels.

person holding a smartphone - retirement travel apps

If you are looking for a travel app to help to book your trip, Kayak is one of the best apps to make that part of travel easy. I prefer to use Kayak because it is a one-stop shopping app for browsing hundreds of websites for the best deals on hotels, flights, vacation package deals, and car rentals.

I like to use TripAdvisor while researching and reading reviews of restaurants, hotels, and destinations. The best part is you can make reservations directly from the app.

Yelp features reviews written by people who visited local eateries, cafes, diners, restaurants, etc. I even wrote several reviews and posted them on this website. If you are looking for a local flavor, this app might be your best bet.

Google Maps is one of the best driving directions apps available. You do not need to carry a printed map with you anymore. It might be not perfect, but it helps me to get around in places or towns I never visited before.

WhatsApp is one of my favorite apps to communicate with friends and family who live overseas. I use simple text messages, group chats, video chats, and phone calls to keep in touch with everyone when we travel. We can exchange photos and videos without SMS fees.

The Best Travel Apps from NomadicMatt

Benefits of using a travel agent.

The travel industry has changed over the last decade. These days many people prefer to plan their own trips because online booking makes it easy to book airline tickets, hotels, tours, or cruises without visiting a travel agency.

However, the traditional travel agencies have not entirely disappeared. Many have adapted to the modern era. And there are still some situations when you may want to work with a travel expert instead of doing it yourself.

Here are the top benefits of using a travel agent:

Travel agents are well-connected experts. They will do all the work for you if you do not like planning or have a complicated itinerary. If you are planning a big family vacation in another country, a travel agent can help to coordinate all the logistics. So, instead of spending hours on the computer searching for the best deals you will just pay the bill and show up at the airport.
Many travel agents specialize in a particular type of travel such as cruises, luxury tours, resorts, etc. Travel agents have established relationships with many travel companies. They can help you plan a trip that meets your budget and needs without wasting your time and money on the things you are not interested in at all.
Travel agents often have access to benefits that you might not be able to get on your own. Whether it is a hotel room upgrade without added expenses, better seats on the airplane, reservations to a popular tour, or event tickets, a travel agent can add some perks to your trip.
Using a travel agent can help you save time and money even you have to pay a fee for their services. Generally, all agents receive information about rates and discounts and access to promotions from the resorts, tour operators, cruise lines, and other travel industry providers that are not available to the public.
When you are working with a travel agent you can rely on her/his travel assistance if something goes wrong with your trip arrangements. You can call your travel agent if you need to rebook your flights or need assistance with the wrong hotel room or no scheduled transportation to a resort or a theme park.

Consider buying travel and medical insurance.

You do not have to be a frequent traveler to know that decent travel and medical insurance can save you time, money, and a lot of hassle.

We always buy travel insurance when we go on our overseas vacations.

But choosing travel insurance is not one size fits all process. You have to consider trip cancellation, medical emergencies, policy cost, exclusions, etc.

It is recommended to buy travel insurance within 15 days of making the first deposit on your trip, since buying early can qualify you for bonus coverages. You have to read through the insurance policies to understand what coverages are offered without an additional cost. Those bonus coverages may include:

Coverage for pre-existing medical conditions
Emergency medical insurance moved from secondary to primary
Additional accidental death coverage

The main thing to remember is that you must buy travel insurance coverage before it is needed.

Even though some travel medical plans are available for purchase after you have left, most plans with medical coverage are required to be purchased before departing. That means you cannot buy any medical coverage once you got sick and need medical help.

The same applies to all travel insurance coverage.

You do not need to be in perfect health to start traveling. But you need to be in good enough health to endure the stress of being on a road for a long-time. Therefore, if you have a chronic health issue, I recommend checking with your doctor before making long-term travel plans.

Keep in mind, that Medicare does not cover medical expenses happen outside of the US. That is why you will need to buy travel insurance to cover any medical emergency.

How to Find the Best Travel Insurance from NerdWallet

What to pack for long-term travels?

When packing for a long-term trip, the most important things to keep in mind are the length of your trip and the weather.

woman in boots with luggage bag - retirement travel tips

When I am preparing for a trip, I always start with a travel packing list, so I do not forget anything important. My general packing list includes:

Clothes – underwear, sleepwear, socks, T-shirts, a casual shirt, one pair of jeans, one pair of pants, shorts, a few dresses, swimsuits, a sweater, shoes, and sandals.
Accessories – a hat, sunglasses, an evening bag, a purse, a few belts, jewelry, and an umbrella.
Toiletries – toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, deodorant, hairbrush, curling iron, sunscreen, makeup kit, medications, bandages, a small bottle of shampoo and conditioner.
Electronics – cell phone, universal plug adapter, laptop, and electronic chargers.
Documents – passport, copy of passport, emergency contacts, list of medications, a printed list of passwords, credit cards/ATM card, money/ cash.
Misc. items in my handbag – house keys, glasses, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, earplugs, headphones, a book.

We all know that the pandemic has changed the way we travel. Make sure that you have your vaccine passport (vaccination certificate) or negative Covid-19 test results in your handbag. Many airlines require one of these forms to proceed. And do not forget to have a face mask on you and to keep a few extra in your handbag or carry-on.

Safe and Happy Travels!

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What are your favorite tips when planning a vacation or a long-term trip?

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How to Travel on a Budget in Retirement

by Maggie 4 Comments

man in the field - travel on a budget in retirement

Traveling in retirement is the most common dream. Ask anyone about retirement plans and you will find something in common – a desire to travel and see the world.

According to the Transamerica Retirement Survey, almost 70 percent of American workers want to travel the world in retirement.

Why? Because retirement is the ideal time of life to travel, to enjoy the views and taste of the places people could not afford to experience when they were younger. But travel as a dream often gets left unfulfilled because many people worry about the high costs of travel.

According to stats, an international trip typically costs up to five times higher and lasts three times longer than a domestic trip.

For those people who are still working, travel often means a rushed one-week or maximum of a two- week vacation. But when you retire you have more free time on your hands. And having more time on your hands means being more flexible. You can relax and enjoy your destinations at a slow pace. You can travel as long as you choose, and you can time your trips the way you want.

However, you have to be careful about how much you are spending because you are no longer receiving a regular salary and living on a fixed retirement income.

In this article, I have provided some helpful tips for your future travels in retirement and how to budget for it.

Pick destinations that off-season.

One of the biggest ways to cut your travel expenses is to travel during the off-season. You can cut the costs on plane tickets, hotels, food, museums, and tours. When places on your bucket list are less crowded, they are also less expensive.

For example, summer (and winter in some places) is the busiest travel season for tourists in Europe. Therefore, spring and fall are good for traveling on a budget. You can enjoy mild weather, smaller crowds, natural beauty, and low prices. However, the Caribbean islands are a good place to travel during the summer. It is cheaper because of the hot weather and hurricane season.

Keep expenses low by traveling slow.

All travel blogs recommend traveling slow if you want to cut the cost of travel expenses. By staying put in one place longer will allow you to reduce the costs of tickets and accommodations. For example, going on a trip to Paris would cost me about $1,350 from Boston airport (round trip ticket) and a mid-range hotel about $250 per night. Overall, I will spend around $2,850 for transportation and accommodations on a one-week trip.

I can stretch that trip to two weeks and the price will go up only $1500 since I do not have to pay for the plane ticket for my second week. But if I choose to travel during the off-season, I will only pay half price for the same travel expenses.

Paris is a very expensive city, but you can keep travel expenses low by renting a room or an apartment instead of staying at the hotel. So, if I prefer to rent an Airbnb apartment the cost would go down to $100 per night and I can cut expenses on food and eating out.

Instead of rushing through the city or country, take more time and try to experience the destination more like local people would do. The trick is to spend more time in one place so you can reduce your per-day travel expenses by spreading the cost of an airplane ticket over a long trip.

Cut travel costs on lodging.

The best way to avoid costly travel in retirement is to cut the costs of your lodging. Everyone likes to splurge on the fancy hotel. But if you are retired and traveling on a budget it is better to reduce your expenses by finding inexpensive lodging. Depending on the type of accommodation you choose and the city (or a country) you are visiting, you could be spending from $50 to $300 or $400 per night.

B&Bs (bed and breakfast) often offer a better price than a hotel, homemade breakfast, and plenty of local flavors.

Airbnb is another popular option for travelers today offering to rent a room, a beautiful apartment, or the whole house. Renting an Airbnb is much cheaper and ideal for staying in one place for several weeks or even months. You can buy food at local stores and prepare it at home or ask your host for budget-friendly local places to eat. Every potential host has a profile with pictures of their accommodations and references from previous guests.

Debby and Michael Campbell have been traveling since 2013. They blogged about their travels at “Senior Nomads”. To help to budget their travels they stayed at over 270 Airbnb’s and called them home while traveling through 85 countries.

If you want to cut costs on lodging use vacation rental websites such as Airbnb and VRBO to stay in one place longer and cheaper.

Airbnb

VRBO

Another way to save money on lodging is house sitting or house swapping. It became very popular among travelers of all ages.

House swap or house exchange.

If you do not plan on selling your home, you can put it to work when you are away traveling. The typical house exchange is an arrangement where you swap houses with somebody else in another country or city. It is a great way to vacation if you want to stay in one place for several weeks or a month.

For example, I live in Boston and planning to spend three weeks in Madrid. If there is someone from Madrid who wants to visit Boston at the same time, we can do a house swap. That way, I will save money on lodging and get to experience a new city in Spain. Websites like Homestay.com and Lovehomeswap.com make it easy to find an available home and provide safety measures for your peace of mind.

Cut travel costs on transportation.

The cost of airline, train, and bus tickets, as well as renting a car or using a taxi, makes traveling expensive. But there are a few strategies you can use to make your traveling in retirement more affordable.

mini-bus on the road - cut the costs of travel in retirement

Airplane tickets became very expensive with an additional cost of reserving a seat, extra fares for check-in luggage, carry-on bags, food, in-flight entertainment, and more.

The best way to find a cheap flight is to compare prices. We use Skyscanner, Kayak, and Expedia to compare ticket prices and make sure we get the best deal.

Another tip is to avoid buying tickets on Friday, Saturday or Sunday – these days are the most expensive to book airline tickets. Wait until Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday when there are not so many people browsing the internet to book the flights.

Even we are not retired yet, we always try to save money on airline tickets by flying during the middle of the week. We fly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays because no one wants to fly on these days and the airline tickets are the cheapest.

Another way to save money is to fly an early-morning or late-night flight. You can significantly cut the cost of your airline tickets if you choose to fly between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m. Prices are also cheaper if you fly after the major holiday or on the day of the holiday. Once we flew back from Europe on the 4^th of July day and Boston airport was completely empty.

There are a few other ways to cut costs on airline tickets:

Let the airline choose your seat.
Bring your own food.
Do not purchase in-flight movies and TV shows.

Once you get overseas, you can save money on popular budget airlines like Ryan Air, Easy Jet, or Wizz Air. You can fly between European cities for as low as fifty dollars.

Traveling in Europe is wonderful because just within a few hours you can be in another country. If you do not want to fly, you can choose fast and reliable public transportation such as a train or bus. If you are on a tight budget, buses are almost always your cheapest option. Reclining seats, Wi-Fi, clean toilets allow you to travel in related comfort if you do not mind spending hours on a highway.

Trains, unlike buses, go straight through the countryside. So instead of staring at the never-ending highway, you can see more of the quaint towns and scenic landscapes.

But traveling by train can cost more than by bus unless you have a rail pass or book your tickets a few weeks in advance. The best way to buy European train tickets is through websites like Trainline, Omio, or RailEurope.com.

For example, if you travel around Italy, the high-speed train tickets will be more expensive (around 50-70 euro per ticket) than Italy’s regional trains.

Rick Steves gives the great overview of Italy rail passes and train tips.

Cut travel costs on food.

Food is another big travel expense. Eating out three meals a day or just dining at fancy hotel restaurants can take a big bite out of your travel budget. According to Business Insider reports, you can expect to spend an average of $71 per person at the fine dining restaurants (think ‘The Capital Grill’) and that does not include tax and tip.

Most people like to have pleasant dinner with appetizers, entrée, and dessert and splurge on expensive wine or cocktails. However, many restaurants have the same menu for lunch and dinner, but they mark up their prices for dinner.

One of my favorite ways to save money on food while traveling is to eat a big lunch. Eating a bigger lunch will fill you up, and you can still have a small and affordable dinner at the end of the day.

variety of snack on table - cut the costs of food on retirement travel budget

Another way to cut travel costs on food is to go and shop at the local markets. You can make your own breakfast or cook dinner with fresh ingredients instead of spending money at an expensive restaurant. During our travels, we like to experience the local cuisine. That is why we prefer to find mom-and-pop diners or eat at local cafes and bakeries.

When we travel and stay in an Airbnb apartment instead of a hotel, I like to take advantage of the kitchen, refrigerator, and microwave. We typically eat breakfast at home, then go sightseeing and stop somewhere for a big lunch. At the end of the day, I will cook dinner and then we will go out to have a few drinks at a local bar. I have learned that eating out for every single meal puts a lot of pressure on your travel budget.

Cut travel costs on activities and entertainment.

No matter where you travel, there are so many things to do that will cost you little or no money at all. If you are first time in the city, check out the popular tourist attractions. Many historical buildings and sites do not cost money to view. Hiking the trails, spending time on the beach, or checking out nature usually does not cost you money. If you bring your own lunch and water, you can have an amazing day outdoors without paying a fortune.

Many cities offer free local walking tours. But you will need to do research and plan ahead of time to reserve your spot.

9 Best Websites to Book Free Walking Tours

Before going on a trip, I use a few websites to book our sightseeing or day tours and other activities:

Viator

Get Your Guide

Keep travel costs low and cut on buying the stuff.

When you travel on a budget in retirement, you should prioritize your spending. If you want to keep the travel costs low, choose to spend money on experiences rather than souvenirs or trinkets. When you are on the road for many months, you do not need to own many things. You can save a lot if you cut on buying the stuff and focus on experiences and living life.

When you experience something, you create longer-lasting memories. Browse local markets without buying anything, take a photo to preserve your travel memories, and post it on Instagram or Facebook.

Related Posts:

Final Words

As you can see, there is a lot to think about traveling in retirement. Whether it is a short road trip or a long journey around the world, you need to prepare for it thoroughly.

Are you planning to travel during retirement? How do you budget for your travels?

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5 Tips on How to Create a Travel Budget for Retirement

by Maggie Leave a Comment

lake and mountains with boats - travel budget for retirement

You’re in your 50’s or 60’s working hard, saving money, paying off debt and doing everything to prepare for an enjoyable retirement. You always wanted to travel more, but with a tight work schedule, and kids, it was not possible for many years.

But now, when you’re an empty-nester and getting closer to retirement you started daydreaming again. This dream is about how to quit work, sell the house, pack a suitcase and head out into an adventurous life of travel. And it crosses your mind more often than ever.

But before you get on a life of travel, you need to find out if you’re financially ready for this kind of life.

These 5 tips will help you to determine if you can afford to travel the world in retirement and how to create a travel budget for your trips.

1. Envision your retirement years

How do you envision your retirement years? Are you going to relocate to a warmer place, join the country club and play golf 5 days a week with one exotic vacation trip per year? Or you’re planning to retire in place and go on extended trips to see your family and friends.

Maybe your idea of retirement is to have a more adventurous life – to sell all your possessions and live the life of senior nomads exploring the world.

Any kind of life you choose in your golden years requires the decision of how to pay for it. In retirement, you live on a fixed income, and you’ll need to have enough savings to pay for any travel and leisure activities.

It means you need to create a travel budget first.

2. Calculate how much to spend on travel in retirement

3 glass jars with coins - travel budget for retirement

You know that you want to travel in retirement, but how much you can afford to spend on it? To come up with the answer and estimate your travel budget you need to start by taking an honest look at your finances.

First, calculate your current expenses and get the idea of your cost of living in retirement. Then find out the size of your nest egg.

Take an inventory of retirement accounts including 401(k), IRAs, Roth IRAs. Then add to that number all your savings from the bank checking and savings account, your investment accounts, and any income from rental properties or business. The final number will show how much is your current nest egg.

When you stop working you expect to receive an income from several sources:

Social Security retirement benefits
Pension plans – if you’re a lucky one
Retirement savings – your nest egg

Use a 4 percent rule of thumb to calculate how much retirement income you can generate from your savings. As a general rule, you can withdraw 4 percent of your nest egg each year without worry of running out of money in retirement.

For example, your total estimated nest egg is $600,000. Based on the 4 percent rule, you can withdraw $24,000 annually from your retirement savings.

Your total retirement income includes a combined income from your Social Security, pension and calculated withdrawals.

After estimating how much you will spend on basic living expenses like housing, transportation, food, insurance, and medical cost in retirement, you’ll find out how much money will be leftover each year.

For example, your estimated retirement income from your nest egg and Social Security is $60,000. Your basic living expenses are $40,000. You’ll have $20,000 leftover each year, and you can spend it on travel without taking any extra money from your other savings.

3. Create the categories for future travel

table with smart phone, piece of chocolate, laptop & color pencils

The key to any successful travel is to plan ahead of time. After calculating how much you can spend on travel, the next step is to divide your travel ideas into separate categories.

I would recommend creating the categories or groups for your future travels:

Weekend getaways
Road trips
Camping trips
3 to 5 days of mini-vacation
Cruise vacation
1 to 2 weeks of international or domestic trips

Are you planning to have an annual vacation with your family? If yes, this might be a separate category in your travel budget.

If you have a retirement bucket list or just list of places you want to visit, put it as a separate category.

After you laid out all categories you want to know how much they might cost.

4. Estimate the travel expenses

If you’re in your 50’s or 60’s and still working, you have lots of time ahead of you. But keep your traveling vision in focus. Start mapping out the details of your travels. Think about what you want to do every day of your trip.

You should talk to your spouse or partner and decide how many travel trips you want to have per year and calculate if you can afford it. It’s important to figure out what kind of trip is more important to you and then find out an approximate total cost.

World travel doesn’t come cheap and if you envision going on 1 to 3 months international or domestic trips, you need to do some preliminary budget planning.

Think of every step involved, including flights, accommodations, local transportation or car rentals, groceries and eating out, entertainment, and insurance. You’ll need to have a hefty nest egg if you like to stay in chic hotels while traveling through Europe or North America.

But if you are willing to stay in modest accommodations like rented apartments or budget hotels and use public transportation instead of rental cars, you can travel inexpensively.

When you go on long-term travel, you’ll have the same basic needs as you do at home. Do your research and get the idea of how much the adventure will cost rather than just guessing at it.

After you created a list of your future trips, write beside each item what that is going to cost. Then build your travel budget around those numbers. When planning for long-term travel in retirement don’t forget to leave a room in your budget to pay for your household expenses. Even you’re exploring the world, you’ll still need to pay for your cost of living at home – mortgage or rent, utilities, insurance, phone, and more.

A website like Numbeo.com will make it easy for you to figure out the cost of living in different countries.

Numbeo

Many websites provide excellent travel deals. You can get discounts on flights, hotels, and cruises from Kayak, Vayama, Cheap-o-air and Google Flights.

Kayak

Vayama

Cheap-o-air

During the travel, the cost of the accommodations is the highest besides the plane tickets. A website like Airbnb helps to find comfortable and less costly accommodations for travelers. VRBO is a great source for finding vacation-house deals.

Airbnb

VRBO

Many cities in the world offer discounted public transportation passes for a day, a week, or a month.

If you read my blog, you already know that Roman and I love to travel. We constantly talk and discuss our future travels. Right now, our vacations usually include 1 or 2 international trips, a couple of weekend getaways and sometimes a short domestic trip for 3 to 5 days.

3 starfish - travel budget for retirement

We are still working full-time and our regular paycheck helps to pay for our travels. Moreover, we set up a separate bank savings account and save money there each month diligently. The money we saved is part of our current travel budget. When we travel, we like to splurge and allow ourselves to spend money on boutique hotels (if we can afford it), all-inclusive resorts or cruise vacations.

Once we retire, we’ll be living on the reduced income and our travel budget will be different. Our retirement bucket list is long, and we want to travel and explore the world, go to places we have never been to before. So far, our estimated travel budget for retirement is $30,000 per year.

We would like to start our retirement by traveling to Europe. We are planning to have two trips per year and each trip is up to 90-days, so we don’t need to apply for a long-term visa. Our travel budget is $15,000 per trip.

If cannot afford two trips per year we will have to scale it down to one 90-days trip to Europe. Then we can visit other countries and travel to more affordable places like Southeast Asia or South America.

With a limited travel budget, we will have to change our travel habits. We are planning on staying at rental apartments, using public transportation, buying our groceries, cooking our meals and scheduling our trips for during the off-season.

5. Decide how to pay for travel in retirement

master card -travel budget in retirement

Once you’ve figured out the cost of travel and your retirement income, you’ll need to take a serious look at your numbers and decide how to pay for your trips in retirement. If you want to accommodate regular or full-time travel and don’t have enough funds, you need to start saving more money now.

Save more money

Open a separate bank savings account, call it “travel” and start stashing money there regularly. Even $50 or $100 a month will help with funding your future travel.

Sell your home

If you’re planning to be on a road for a year or more, it’s time to discuss the downsizing to finance your trips. Selling your home, your cars and a big part of your belongings is not an easy decision, but it will help to increase your travel budget.

Rent your home

Another option is renting out your home while you travel. The rental income will help to pay for some of your cost of living at home and the cost of your trips.

Swap your home

House swapping is another way to afford travel in retirement. If you’re not planning to sell your home, you should put it to work supporting your travels. The house swap means you and another homeowner moving into each other’s house for a scheduled period of time. It may seem like too much hassle or too risky option for many people, but it’s a great way to travel around the world and stay in places for free.

Home Exchange

Work part-time

Some retirees like to work part-time with their paychecks set aside for travel. This gives them peace of mind that they are not reducing their nest egg.

5 Ways to Reorganize Your Life to Afford Retirement

Smart Ways to Take Money Out of Retirement Accounts

5 Easy Steps to Calculate Your Retirement Income Gap

Putting It All Together

How do you create a travel budget for your future trips in retirement? What is a reasonable amount of money you can spend? It’s all depends on your retirement income. Everybody is different and we all have different spending habits.

If you’ve always dreamed about traveling the world or even retire abroad, you’ll need to take an honest look at your financial situation and your travel goals. I think the priority is to find an amount of money you’re comfortable spending and then fit your travel into your financial limitation.

How will you pay for your retirement travel? Did you think about setting up a travel budget for retirement?

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Here’s How to Travel the World in Retirement

by Maggie 2 Comments

Are you dreaming about traveling and exploring the world in retirement?

If yes, you’re not alone. According to the 18^th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey, to travel the world is the most common retirement dream and shared by 70% of Americans.

When you retire and have so much free found time on your hands, traveling the world will be an ideal time spending. It would be nice to find yourself leisurely strolling the cobble streets of Florence, enjoying the secluded sandy beaches of the Algarve region in Portugal or hiking the mountains and ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.

People entering retirement today are more active and adventurous, and they want to explore the world. I know that many of us have a bucket list of places and countries we want to visit in retirement.

But traveling could be expensive. It includes not only dreaming about beautiful places, but the cost of air tickets, accommodations, transportation, food, tickets to museums and exhibitions, travel insurance, and more.

When you retire, you’ll likely spend more than you ever before. The good advice is to hold back on big spending and stick to your budget. You don’t want quickly to blow through your savings like there is no tomorrow.

But before mapping out your trip schedule, you need to look at your finances and see if you can afford to travel.

Look at your financial situation

two people discuss finance-travel ni retirement

When you stop working and start living on a fixed income, you have to be careful with your spending habits. In retirement, the only paycheck you have is the one that comes from your savings and another one from Social Security.

Look at you your overall financial situation and decide if you can afford to be a long- term traveler or just allow yourself a couple of visits to see family and friends. There is a big difference between life- based travel and a two-weeks’ vacation trip.

If you’re planning to retire within 5 to 10 years, take an inventory of your retirement savings – 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, your investments, your bank accounts, and estimated Social Security Benefits. Calculate your total retirement income.

Then look at your expenses and calculate the cost of mortgage or rent, utilities, cars, food, clothing, insurance, and medical cost. Subtract your calculated expenses from the total retirement income.

Do you have enough money to cover the cost of travel?

For example, you calculated that your retirement income coming from all sources will be $50,000 and your basic cost of living is $40,000. According to the calculation you can spend $10,000 on travel without taking any extra money from your other savings.

Make a list of places you want to visit

a boat on a water in Venice Italy-travel in retirement

The key to any successful travel is to plan ahead of time. Do you have a list of countries or places you want to visit? The world is a big place and there are so many wonders you want to see and explore.

Once you got an idea of how much you can afford to spend on travel, your next goal is to make a retirement bucket list.

Our retirement years are a wonderful opportunity to fulfill those dreams we’ve held for many years. If you don’t have a retirement bucket list written down yet, don’t worry – most people probably don’t have it either. But I am sure that you may have a few places in mind that you love to visit.

I discovered that writing down your bucket list is a great way to put down on paper your hopes and dreams for your retirement years.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, here is my retirement bucket list. Read through some of my ideas and combine them with your own.

Live for 3 months in Paris, France
Take a boat vacation on Canal du Midi in France
Go to Brazil for the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Travel across Italy by car or train
Take a gondola ride in Venice, Italy
Take a food tour in Rome, and a cooking class in Florence
Buy tickets for La Scala opera house in Milan
Travel across Spain and Portugal by car or train
Take a trip across Austria and Switzerland
Visit Argentina and Chile
Visit Singapore and Hong Kong
Visit Japan for cherry blossom season
Book a trip on the Orient Express
Go on African Safari
Visit Morocco
Take 15-days river cruise along a Danube river
Visit Azorean islands
Visit Madeira island
Travel to Seychelles
Spend Christmas and New Year in London, England
Visit Edinburgh Castle in Scotland
Live in Aix-en-Provence, France for a month
Go on a cruise and visit Greece and Turkey
Visit Dubai
Visit Thailand and Malaysia

Estimate the cost of travel

Finding enough funds to do everything you want in retirement can be challenging, especially if you have to live on the reduced income.

After you figured out how much you can spend on travel and came up with your bucket list, the next goal is to get a solid sense of how much the trip will cost.

Today it’s very easy to find all the necessary information about the cost of living in different countries. The internet is full of websites with all kinds of data from different sources.

Roman and I like to travel. We have set up a separate bank account for travel expenses and save money diligently there every month. We are still working full-time and our regular paycheck helps to pay for our current vacation trips. On average we spend 5,500 for two people per seven-day trip. But we like to splurge and during our travels, we stay at the nice hotels, all-inclusive resorts or going on the cruise vacation.

We found that the average spending amount is comfortable for us and try to fit it into our travel budget when planning for a trip. I know that everything will change once we retire. We will be living on a fixed income and have to fit our future travels into our financial limit.

For your travel in retirement, you might prefer to go with a more detailed analysis of budgeting. If you do, you should calculate the cost of accommodation, transportation, food, entertainment, and then build your budget around those items.

Are you planning to take short travel trips like 5 to 7 days? Or you can afford to go on long-term travel, like 3 to 6 months or maybe even a year-long?

When you go on long-term travel, you’ll have the same basic needs as you do at home. Research the fixed cost of rental apartments, utilities, groceries, and public transportation and then budget it as a per-day amount. Then add the cost of air tickets to get to your destination.

Here is the list of items for your research:

Rental Apartment
Utilities – Electricity, water, cooking gas
Groceries
Eating out
Cell Phone
Public transportation – bus, train or ferry
Rental car, gas, insurance
Entertainment – entrance fee to museums, art galleries, tickets to a movie theater, opera theater, local excursion, food tour, cooking class
Clothing
Health Insurance
Air tickets to the destination

After you created a list of your future travel expenses, write beside each item what that is going to cost.

A website like Numbeo will make it easy to figure out what will be your cost of living in different countries.

Numbeo.com

When planning for long-term travel in retirement don’t forget to leave a room in your budget to pay for your household expenses. Even you’re away exploring the world, you’ll still need to pay for your cost of living at home – mortgage/rent, utilities, car insurance, phone, and medical insurance.

Schedule your trips

Once we retire, we are more flexible in our travel time and that is why we may be able to reduce the overall cost of each trip. If you want to maximize every travel dollar, you should schedule a trip during the off-season (sometimes it’s called “shoulder season”), which is the time between the peak and low seasons.

You don’t want to travel to Europe in the middle of summer – June, July, August because you will hit the major tourist crowds and will overpay for everything. You’d rather choose your trips during September, October, November or March, April, May.

Watch online for airline deals to find the best prices:

Vayama for International flights

Kayak for Domestic flights

Cheap-o-air for European flights

Plan for slow travel

a young woman kissing a stone sculpture at the sea

Decide what do you want out of your travels? A fast tour seeing everything there to see and changing locations every 2 to 3 days? Or do you want to spend your travel days leisurely and got to know the places, people, culture and food in a more authentic experience and off the beaten path?

Traveling slowly can be a more inexpensive option than a typical tourist vacation trip.

You’ll save on the cost of food if you buy your groceries and cook your own meals instead of eating out. Instead of buying food at the supermarkets, visit the local markets and buy fresh and seasonal products from the local farmers.

During the travel, the cost of the accommodations besides the air ticket is the highest. You’ll reduce the price of accommodation if you stay in rental apartments, hostels or budget hotels instead of staying in upscale hotels.

Also, if you want to save on air tickets, try to combine a visit to several places in one trip. Instead of going to France one year and to Spain the next, plan to go to both places in one trip. You’ll have the 90-days visa-free to explore both countries without applying for a long-term visa if you want to stay longer.

For example, flights from Boston Logan airport to Europe are about $1,200 on average per person. The price of a rental apartment is about $100 per night or less if you rent it for one or two months. A two-week trip to France will cost you $3,800 – $1,400 accommodations and $2,400 air tickets.

But if you stretch that trip to three weeks, the price will go up only $700 since you don’t have to buy an air ticket for the third week. So, the cost of a three-week trip to France will cost you $4,500 – $2,100 accommodations and $2,400 air tickets.

Stretch that trip to four weeks and the price will go up only $1,400 since again you don’t have to buy plane tickets for the third and fourth weeks. The cost of a four-week trip to France will cost you $5,200 – $2,800 rental apartment and $2,400 air tickets. The longer you stay in one place the more money you’ll save on your travels.

Those websites are helpful to find accommodations for your trips:

Airbnb

Home Away

VRBO – vacation Rentals by Owner

Final Thoughts

Traveling the world in retirement can be your dream life. While many retirees will be happy to spend time at home and go on a short vacation trip once a year, others prefer a more adventurous lifestyle.

If you’ve always seen yourself traveling around the globe in retirement, you need to start preparing yourself for the next adventure of your life. Take an honest evaluation of your finances, write down your travel goals and dreams and prepare your daily budget.

Bon voyage!

Are you planning to travel in retirement? Share your thoughts and ideas with us about your future travel trips.

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