nytraveler

Probably at least 30. And what's the matter with an obsession?

cigalechanta

I wish I could afford more than our one trip a year.

bounty

I would travel at least 3 months of the year if it were financially possible-which it ain't! Hey, you only go this way once-uh, I think!

KathyM

In retirement I plan to travel just about constantly, if I can. However, there are a couple of subquestions here. The kids/friends are feeling neglected. My mother-in-law would go anywhere and everywhere at the drop of a hat, regardless of anything special going on in the family. That was very hurtful over the years. If my children or grandchildren have something special going on, you can be I will be there. Also, that travel is "all they do and all they talk about"? What is that?

GoTravel

Bunch, you behave!

I'd live on the ResidenSea if I had the money. I saw on the Travel Channel that they estimated your net worth had to be $5 million dollars minimum before you could afford the ResidenSea.

I shudder to think what monthy dues cost once you buy your multi million dollar stateroom. Probably several thousand dollars a month minimum.

I doubt seriously my parents are hording their money for the big "inheritence". Their money, they earned it, they spend the money. My inlaws are another story.

mikemo

23 weeks 0 days: 3 July '03 - 29 Sept '04.
M

ParrotMom

Joan..many years ago when we were in Lima there was an elderly couple..and I mean elderly, probably in their eighties... and I told them "I want to be like you when I grow up"..do you know it's been said to us..lol Actually a couple from the midwest said to my husband..."for an elderly gentleman your really computer literate" (we both own our own computers)..I think this was 5 years ago...I thought Parrot Pop would bop him (we were using our first digital camera) Another elderly couple on the same trip at Machu Pichu, the woman in inexpensive house dress and I asked where her husband was....she pointed to the top.. the Watch Tower...she said he climbed mountains for a hobby..lol Ah yes, come join us..the best is yet to be. With a little bit of luck we'll of spent all our $$ and leave my yuppy son to pay off our funeral expenses..lol

gualalalisa

ParrottMom: You are so cool!

My gut response to this was 50 weeks a year - I, too, don't believe you can ever travel and explore too much.

However, I just asked hubby and he said: "Eight weeks - four every six months."

Can this marriage be saved?

GoTravel

gualalisa, start making non-refundable reservations, pack his bags, let him know the night before! LOL!

This works best when you start out with little overnight trips.

"Honey, I told you three weeks ago we were going to ______________ for the night".

gualalalisa

Thanks GT, that probably would work since I plan all the trips anyway!

BTilke brings up the crux of our debate. I consider travel my No. 1 priority (we have no kids) and hubby thinks we should keep (endlessly!) working on our property/home, "because it raises the value and is something permanent."

But to me, my travel experiences are just as "permanent" 'casue they stay with me as memories that help me get through "real life" until my next trip!

ParrotMom

The only problems folks is the laundry! Anybody remember the paper disposable dresses from the 50's? In alll seriousness, the one thing we have is memories..and NOBODY can take that away from us..Ordering a bowl of chicken soup at the Tumi in Cuzco and finding half a chicken...being invited to the home of a family we met at a flea market, trying to find a rest room in the pitch black on top of a mountain..Last, but not least...the people whether fellow travelers or residents of wherever...from shop keepers and the artisans..not to mention local souveniers that decorate our home like a statue that a friend says has "somebodies soul", a rain stick, a dish bought behind the doors of a hacienda outside Guadalaja... Taking pictures of a room where there was a ghost and having that picture blank and best of all walking into the very warm Caribbean water in February after having left a snow storm... When people asked why I never sided my home or put in new windows....I say... I'd rather spend the $$ towards a trip...and we did.

kaudrey

ParrotMom - you are like my parents! And I LOVE it! They are comfortably retired, thanks to careful planning - they retired in their mid-50s, bought a house on a lake in NH, and love their life. They travel to the south for a few months in the winter, and usually take a fall trip somewhere etc - but don't spend extravagently.

Whenever my parents "splurge" on something - a golf school for Mom, new golf clubs for Dad, my Mom teasingly says "We are spending your inheritance!". And I say - GOOD, spend it all. They EARNED it. I hope they live until they are 100 or older and spend every dime they ever earned.

We live about 600 miles apart, and I see them about 4 times a year. If they decided to travel 20 weeks or more a year - I'd say "GO FOR IT!"

They do not owe me time or money. I love them, I want to see them, but it is not wrong for people to live their lives as they want to. Isn't that why we all work so hard?

Karen

gualalalisa

ParrotMom: Amen!

bennnie

Parrot Mom - I love the Auntie Mame reference - one of my inspirations for life. I have no intention of leaving anything for my kids except some real estate. I wish my parents had felt the same way. They traveled a fair amount when they could but unfortunately Dad passed away at a relatively young 69 and Mom's health limits her. They did make it to Europe several times not including trips home to Ireland as well as saw a great deal of the US and Canada. My mom's favorite memories of her husband all involve either we kids or the trips that they took.

The money they saved will be divided between their 8 kids after Mom goes - none of whom want or need a penny of it. They gave us great educations and our incomes reflect that. We would rather have had them spent it all but that just wasn't their nature. God Bless them.

GoTravel

LOL ParrotMom!

If you could see my home you'd think we traveled all the time!

razzledazzle

OK I'll admit it too, Marilyn.
We'd just miss our kitties! Even
tho we have a vet tech stay here-
darn it we just miss those little
guys. Oh, the guilt when we pack for
Samoa and they'll be hopping in the suit
cases looking out with those big eyes.
Sniff,sniff as I pack my scuba gear...
R5

SimoneSassett

Nothing wrong with traveling 20 weeks out of the year!!!! If you spread it out all year long, why not?

If you can afford it - do it! People who complain about it are probably just jealous. I sure as hell am jealous! I would love to work one month, be off for a month, and so on.... Now, that's the life!!!!!

joan

I am like qualalisa, only my husband's response was worse: "six weeks"! I was horrified.

But I will use all the tips from GoTravel and soon we will be retired and missing (and of course posting all our trip reports here), following in the wake of Parrot Mom (and Pop!).

Stephanie

20 wks to me would be too much. I love being home. If I did travel it would be on day trips locally along with long distance. However, I am glad I had the grandma I did because she enjoyed her grandchildren and couldn't imagine taking off the equivalent of 1/2 yr and never seeing us. But it is their life and everyone should butt out of it and get their own life.