RETIREMENT TRAVEL

Travel Is the Second Best Retirement Gift 

for Retirees to Give Themselves

(Health Is the First)

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
- Walt Whitman

The joy of travel is in the wandering.
- Joe Robinson  
 

Travel can enhance your retirement life significantly since it provides an elevated degree of stimulation, freshness, and pleasure not encountered in your everyday routine and environment.

Of course, travel is a great teacher. Regardless of where you go, you can always learn something new. Learning about the food, the cooking, and the clothing of a country, along with what retirement means to the locals, are just a few things that can broaden your knowledge of the world.

Here are the Top-10 Travel Goals People Posted on 43 Things.com

Particularly when you go abroad, travel takes you out of your element and inspires you to new insights about your life in general. It is an effective way to get yourself thinking in different ways about the world and what it means to you.

Above all, travel to other countries can jolt you out of your unconsciousness about how good your life is into a deep, conscious appreciation of all the great things that you have going for yourself in retirement.

I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.
- Mark Twain

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
- Oscar Wilde

If the travel bug gets the best of you in retirement, you may want to stay close to home and discover your own state or province, or you may want to venture to foreign lands.

The image above is related to The Get-a-Life Tree, an important retirement planning tool.

(Only available in How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free)

Four of Fourteen Important Retirement Travel Tips

• If one of your retirement dreams is relocating to another city or country, then head there and treat your vacation as an adventurous research expedition.
• When visiting towns and cities, take the extra time to check out the local cafes and diners instead of eating at the restaurants catering to the tourist trade. You will experience cheaper and better food as well as a more interesting atmosphere.
• To make vacations more affordable, escape expensive hotels and meal costs by finding short-term apartment, villa, or cottage rentals. These can cost less than 50 percent of hotel room prices and be much more interesting to stay in.
• Take a vacation to a destination that has special meaning to you. Visit a place where one of your parents was born or a place where you used to live but haven’t visited for a long time.

NOTE: The above 4 retirement  travel tips come from the 14 travel tips in the topic "Tips on How to Enhance Your Next Retirement Travel Journey" from "Chapter 7: Travel for Fun, Adventure, and More" in The World's Best Retirement Book: 

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Retirement Wisdom That You Won’t Get from Your Financial Advisor

See a Great Review of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Quintessential Careers.

Here are the travel topics covered in the World's Best Retirement Book: 

Chapter 7: Travel for Fun, Adventure, and More

• Take yourself out of your element and inspire yourself with new insights
• Spend all the money that you can on travel if travel really turns you on
• Tips on how to enhance your next journey
• Use the Internet to make your travel adventures affordable and enjoyable
• Travel with a difference
• Implement something unique into your next trek
• Become an ecotourist
• You don't have to be rich to spend a month or two in a warmer climate
• Enjoy yourself in a myriad of ways at a recreational vehicle retirement resort
• Why travel alone when you don't have to?
• Swap your house for a neat pad in some faraway paradise
• Try a working vacation for a more satisfying traveling experience
• Journey close to home and do the things that an out-of-town tourist might do

Retirement Travel Guide Resources

• Round the World Travel in How Long You Like

• Slow Travel for Retirement

• Istanbul as a Travel Destination for Women

  The U.S. Department of State Travel Guide: Check out travel information about visas, passports, and U.S. embassies.

• World Travel Guide: You can learn a lot about a particular country or region - anything from its history and its government to its climate and its accommodations.

• Virtuso Travel for Rich Retirees: Research travel adventures catering to the carriage trade, i.e., to people with expensive tastes who can afford to travel first class to anywhere in the world.

• Over50andOverseas.com : Over 50 and Overseas is an interesting and informative web site for seniors who want to volunteer abroad in order to make a difference.

• 50PlusExpeditions.com : 50Plus Expeditions is an adventure travel web site for people over 50 who are looking for active, off-the-beaten-path trips around the world.

• ElderTreks.com: Elder Treks offers completely tailored travel for people 50+ who want to travel in confidence in small groups.

  More Retirement Travel Guide Resources

Here is a list of Hotel Review Sites and Travel Communities to help you with your retirement travel:

• TripAdvisor.com
• TravelPost.com
• Trivago.com
• Igougo.com
• Uptake.com
• Hotelicopter.com
• Virtualtourist.com
• Holidaywatchdog.com
• Vinivi.co.uk
• Holidays-uncovered.co.uk
• Globalhotelreview.com
• Mytravelguide.com
• Travbuddy.com
• Shermanstravel.com
• Hotelscombined.com
• Hotels.about.com
• Triptake.com
• Hotelmotelreviews.com
• Hotelscoop.com
• Hotelshark.com
• Driftr.com
• Bootsnall.com
• Travellerspoint.com

General Travel Tips for Retirees

Regardless of how far you go, the degree to which your next trek turns out to be pleasurable, adventurous, and satisfying will depend on how well you plan your trip.

The quality of your journey will also depend on your ability to be spontaneous and how well you are able to maintain a positive attitude throughout.

Here are a few general travel tips for retirees to help make their voyage more pleasureable.

• When traveling, leave the good jewelry at home.
• Put your address inside your luggage as well as on the outside.
• Check hotel bills carefully when checking out.
• Take along two big safety pins when so that you can pin the drapes
  shut in your motel room.
• Carry our own alarm clock when traveling. Hotel wake-up calls are
  not 100 percent reliable.
• Carry a small pocket knife.
• When you have the choice of two exciting things to do, choose the
  one you haven't tried.
• Ask anyone giving you directions to repeat them at least once, even
  twice.
• Don't use expensive luggage. Thieves expect expensive luggage to have expensive things in it.
• Carry your edition of The World's Best Retirement Book wherever you go.
• Trust in God but always lock your valuables in a safe.
• Remember that the shortest way to get anywhere is to have good company traveling with you.
• By all means see new places, but remember to take along an open mind.

 

Bon Voyage 

COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Ernie J. Zelinski
Author of The World's Best Retirement Book
All Rights Reserved