Retirement travel
 

Starting to plan for the future years of great travel, and am looking for suggestions for a feasible, inexpensive way to do this.

Our ideas thus far include the following:

Rent a place for a month or so, but we like to see a lot and wonder if we'd feel too tied down always coming back to the same place each night. If we could find a convenient central location that would be helpful.

Rent a motor home, but not sure we'd feel comfortable driving something so large and towing along a car.

We love great scenery and hiking rather than being in cities if that helps with any suggestions.

Perhaps someone knows of a site that deals with this topic.

Do you have a home in a desirable location?

You could home swap or rent out your own home.

Friends that live in Manhattan are doing this. Renting out their apartment for two years and traveling the world.

Renting a motorhome for a month at a time would be VERY expensive. Renting one for a week to see if you would like that way of travel is a good idea. Have you ever considered towing a small trailer or maybe even a pop up trailer? They even have a hard sided trailer called a Hi Lo that lowers when traveling. Then you have the tow vehicle to go touring in for the day.

Utahtea

One fantastic summer we traveled with a camper. We only stayed in a place as long as we felt like it. It is very convenient to have all your things in one place. Our current camper is almost perfect without being too large but right now we only go on short trips. Our tow vehicle is a truck that is needed for work anyway. We are considering going to an area and working part-time, possibly a Workamper situation. (They have a website but most info requires a subscription.)
Retired friends rent a beach house near Wilmington NC. It is near family and the monthly rental is quite reasonable for the whole winter (about half the weekly summer rates!).
A month would not be too long in a place like New England. You might be able to get a reasonable summer rental in a furnished apartment that is normally rented to students. In a place like Concord NH there are apartment owners who specialize in short term rentals, usually people who have had a job transfer and need time before buying a house. You would only be one hour from the mountains but also plenty of local activities such as kayaking and biking.
Good luck! We hope to do a lot of traveling too.

Hi Clousie,
We live in UK, but for the last 4 years we have had 4 to 5 weeks vacation in USA every summer, so I have looked at this question in some detail myself.

Rent for a month is attractive if you can find the right place, both for property and location, but in the end you waste a hell of a lot of time and gas backtracking back to base. Also how far are you comfortable driving in a day and DOING SOMETHING WHEN YOU GET THERE. Whatever that distance is half it (round trip) and draw a circle that radius, centred on your proposed base, on the map. Does it take in all you wish to do in that area? I doubt it.

RV hire is expensive, the gas is horrendeous, and you still have hookups to pay for. Also there is little pleasure in nursing an RV round mountain roads in UT, CO, etc. Add a small car on a hitch behind and it gets worse.

I did an in depth costing, RV Vs Car plus hotel, a couple of years ago, when gas was still average about $1:40. For us the price was about equal, but we prefered the comfort of a car, a proper bathroom, and a real bed. Remember that we were coming from UK and RENTING the car, using your own car it becomes a no brainer!

If you use your own car; Priceline for hotels in the cities, and budget price motels in the rural areas, USA is one of the cheapest places in the World to travel, and in relative comfort too.

Enjoy your travels, Greybeard

When we researched renting an RV we found that it was cheaper to go anyplace in our own car, stay in inexpensive places, bring a cooler, eat inexpensively. Even the cheapest hotel room is bigger than any size RV you would be comfortable driving.

If it were me, I would get in my car, pick a destination at least 1000 miles away that I wanted to see, and then wander along slowly to that point - staying in local non-chain places, eating a local joints and civic and church ham and bean (or other) dinners, hitting local festivals that don't charge admission.

Outside of major cities, you can still get cheap clean hotel rooms for cheap (my husband just stayed at a Days Inn in Savannah - outside of the historic distric and across from a mall - for $53/night.) Breakfast can always be done cheap, bring a cooler for lunch and your major food expense is dinner.

Get someone to check on your home, deal with your mail, etc and then you can always stay someplace for a week or so if you like it. If you have adult kids, ignore them when they tell you that you are crazy.

Clouise, you may find this travel website informative, click on travel they also have a forum/message boards.

http://www.aarp.org/destinations/

I agree that renting an RV is very expensive -- for the cost, you could buy your own little trailer to hitch up to the car you already have, saving both rental fees and gasoline costs!

We do much the same as gail (until I bought an RV, that is), except that we do "picnics" for breakfast and supper, making lunch the main, restaurant meal of the day -- healthier and you can often get the same meal for less money, and/or have leftovers for supper.

Priceline and home exchanges are great ways to save big bucks if you're willing to be flexible and they fit your circumstances.

Once our destination is determined, I go to FreeTrip.com for routing, miles, time, and hotels in my price range. After deciding which hotels we are interested in, I call the AARP number to compare their rate with what I have already found. If AARP is higher, they will usually offer a rate lower than what the competitor quoted.

Most hotels, even the lower priced ones offer some sort of continental breakfast. If they don't, then we will buy buns, rolls etc. from a supermarket and use the in room coffee.
We carry a small cooler for our lunches, and stock up every couple of days at a supermrket. Taking a lunch break at interstate rest stops can be quite relaxing, and most are pretty decent.

Clousie, since taking an early retirement in 1995, my partner and I have been doing summer trips of 3 to 5 months each summer (we like escaping Florida in the summer -- so that's when we go). Most of our time has been spent in Europe, where until recently we felt we got more for our money than traveling in the states or Canada. In 2001 we spent five months driving to Alaska, making a huge circle from Florida, spending a month in NYC, then going to Maine, across Candada to Alaska, and heading down to California and back across the middle of the country -- 17,000 miles in all. But I'd never go the motor home route. I'm convinced that the costs including the rental or purchase, the hook-up fees, and most of all the fuel costs more than make up for the cost of motels along the way, where we personally feel more comfortable anyway.

We are torn between spending a month in one place or doing rentals of a week. Other than a couple of cities (NYC, LA, and SanFrancisco, primarily) there aren't many places we'd care to stay a month. But VRBO has many great rentals for just a week at a time, which become great savings over motels or hotels. On the other hand, rental costs for apartments usually come out so that if you were renting for three weeks, the fourth week to make a month rental is often free.

The idea of renting out your own home, or doing an exchange can be a great one, but certainly there are a lot of considerations to be made there first.

When I grow up, I want to be Patrick:-D

"When I grow up I want to be Patrick"

Me too!!

I agree that RV'ing is not for everyone, but my in-laws have been doing it since retiring a couple of years ago and love every minute of it. They are really enjoying seeing the country, going where the weather is nice season to season, deciding what they want to do or see week to week, and the nice people they meet on the road. They are also finding it quite affordable.

They sold their house and everything they owned and just troll around in the RV all year. Whenever anyone asks my MIL what she plans to do the next day, her response is always, "Well, I know for sure that I'm going to make coffee." :D

We've been retired a dozen years which has included lots of travel. We do have a 26 ft. trailer pulled by a Suburban which has been fine, although we've also been in many hotels and B&Bs along with family stops.

Advantages to RVing include staying in beautiful state parks, reasonable camping rates, cooking on your own, relaxing in nature, a good bed (most RVs incl. fold downs have a solid Queen sized bed).

Advantages to moteling include proximity to cities and interstates, some good rates such as our Comfort Inn,
swimming pool, breakfasts if you like donuts and cereal. Of course, B&Bs have breakfast treats.

And then some of our friends are big into timeshares which is another dimension. Or some rent a condo in Florida or cabin in Wisconsin. So you just need to plan what suits you best. You could buy an RV and pulling vehicle and try it out, or maybe a pick up camper if that's your style for mobility.

Good luck. P.S. We've also done overseas travel and many Elderhostel programs.
Bill Longman, Missouri [email protected]

I on the other hand, DON'T want to be Patrick. We've spent over 5 weeks on the road and I prefer my OWN comfortable bed, my OWN pillow, my OWN clean sheets, my own bathroom instead of dirty gas station or rest area ones, my OWN cooking and I don't want to have to PACK AND UNPACK everytime we move. In otherwords, I LOVE my MOTORHOME!

I know that the RV lifestyle is not for everyone, but it can be pretty cheap after the intital purchase of the RV Example: Campground at Canyon de Chelly National Monument Campground is FREE, rooms at Thunderbird Lodge is $106. per night. RV's hold their resale value...just check on a used one!

With an RV you can spend nights in some of the most beautiful locations for a fraction of what a National Park Lodge would cost and eat with views that no resturant has. Gas can be expensive, but the longer you stay in one location with cheaper camping fees vs motel costs, cheaper grocery bills vs eatting out, then RVing can be as cheap or maybe even cheaper.

But as I mentioned, renting an RV is expensive!

Utahtea

I have nothing against motor homes, but they just aren't for me. And while some of "us" may not like packing and unpacking, I'll take that over having to wash my own dishes, wash my own sheets and remake my own beds, mop my own floors, scrub my own toilets, and fill my own gastank constantly while on the road anyday!

And another thing, while I enjoy the national parks, I prefer spending even more time in cities -- kind of hard to travel in a motor home to midtown Manhattan where we like to stay a month at a time. And they really frown on overnight RV parking at Union Square in San Francisco!

When my wife and I first began thinking about how to spend our retirement years, we initially thought we might purchase a townhouse or condo in either the Carmel/Pacific Grove or Laguna/Newport Beach areas and live there half of the year, remaining in our own home the other half. The surge of real estate prices in the last few years has ended that thought unless there is a drastic drop in values.

Currently we are thinking of renting someplace for a month in the Spring and Fall through VRBO or some other company. Possible places such as NYC, Carmel, Montreal, Vancouver, Paris, Vienna, Venice and Kyoto come to mind.

We thought we could settle in, take our time to see the main attractions as well as secondary sites one might like to see but wouldn't have the time for on a shorter visit. We could also get a feel for the neighborhood we are staying in and the pace of everyday life there. Day trips within a reasonable distance would also be possible.

I'm not sure how this will play out ten years from now or the reality of it, but that's our current plan anyway.

Even though I have fun camping, I am much more the Urban Vacation Girl than the National Park Vacation Girl with the exception of Statue of Liberty and a few other urban gems.

Thanks everyone for your comments so far. Please keep them coming.

Patrick, or anyone else who has rented from VRBO, I'm curious about this company. Have you had any problems, or is it a first-class organization? I've just spent the past half hour looking through their listings, and there appear to be some excellent rentals.
Do you know of other similar companies?

To be honest, I haven't yet rented from VRBO, but you aren't really renting from an agency, you are renting from the individual owners. It is only a listing organization. There have been many glowing reports on rentals from them, and only a few negatives, which usually seem to be that the renter didn't research enough.

In Europe I've mainly rented from individual owners -- some in those countries, others US owners I deal with here, but who own property in Europe. I've yet to have a problem.

I'm currently working on a month long rental in Manhattan for June and possibly one for Los Angeles in August. I've started with Google and found dozens of possible sites. I've also gotten good feedback here.

Is there a specific area you are looking for?

By the way, to those who say they want to be Patrick when they grow up, so do I. I'm just hoping I never grow up, though. LOL

Hi, Clousie,
You stated that you didn't really want to do the urban thing, and you are more into hiking and scenery. My sister and brother-in-law retired early several years ago, and they have found RV rentals/sales places that need to have someone drive the RV up to Alaska. She is on vacation right now so I can't give you the name of the place they have used. They have done this twice. Maybe you could google this information. When she gets back, I will send you the details. The one time, they flew into California and drove up the coast of CA,OR,WA, spent some time in Canada and then to Alaska. I think you have to have the RV there within 30 or 40 days so it gives you plenty of time to tour the coast. She used AAA to chart out their trip via scenic routes. She talks about this trip as one of the best they have taken. Oh, regarding your concerns with the RV, the place makes everyone watch a video and practice lessons before you can take off.

They travel a lot, but try to make it as economical as possible. They use Priceline a lot since they are flexible with time, too.

She has used VRBO for rentals. Unfortunately, while the place they rented in Amelia Island, FL for 2 months was in a good location, the townhouse was filthy. She did not ask for referrals and learned a lesson. She spent the first week of her vacation cleaning. She did contact the owner and complained and he and his wife came down to repair the mold that was growing in the shower! They did not get bored staying in the one location. They enjoyed traveling around the area and getting to know it quite well, and in fact, making a few new friends.

She was going to rent through VRBO again in Pensecola, FL for this winter, but, you know the story there.

All my information is second hand, but I hope it helps. My feelings tend more towards Patrick. I don't call it a holiday/vacation if I am cooking and cleaning.

Good luck to you and enjoy your travels.

Mosey,

That idea of relocating RV's sounds quite intriging, and along the lines of what I was looking for. Please repost to this thread when you have a chance to get more info from your sister about the company.

When we travel now, I'm always looking for something unique to include in our trips, and just want to continue doing the "different" when we have even more time to travel.

The orginal poster was looking for inexpensive ways to travel. Motels are more expensive than campgrounds. Eating out is more expensive than cooking your own. Any time you have "someone else" do for you, it's more expensive than doing it yourself. I don't have to worry about someone being sick cooking my food. I don't have to worry about how clean the sheets or blankets are at the motel.

I don't even enjoy cities, so I have no need to camp in one. I live 45 minutes from San Francisco and you can count on one hand how many times I've been in the last 30 years but one of those times we drove our motorhome though the city and over the Golden Gate so our boys could see it.

I realize we have two different ideas of travel and vacations. There's nothing wrong with that, each to his/her own.

Utahtea

Yes, Utahtea, but it is all relative. I know folks who bought a major motor home (Fifth Wheel, or whatever you want to call it) for retirement for over $200,000. They forever tell everyone how much money they're saving because they rarely pay for hookups. But meanwhile they're traveling all over the country at 6 miles to the $2.00 plus gallon of gas. And I could stay at medium priced motels for about 3000 days -- that's over 8 years of every day motel staying just to catch up with their initial investment. If you traveled for two months a year, it would take nearly 48 years of motels to catch up with that initial investment. Of course the thing is financed, so actually I'd stay even more than that in motels to catch up! So let's think twice before we automatically call an RV or motor home, a less expensive option!!!

Patrick,

Clousie asked about inexpensive ways. A $200,000 RV is in the LUXURY class. You don't need to spend anywhere near that to get a motorhome, 5th wheel, trailer, etc. RV's also hold their resale values so even when you are done with them you are going to get some of the cost back. Example: We were looking at Southwind Motorhomes a the local RV show. New 2005 models with every emenity are going for as low as $85,000. 1995 ones are listed on rvtrader for $30,000 to $40,000. So you don't lose EVERYTHING. If you buy used you save even more.

We purchased a 1985 Winnebago motorhome in 1994 with less than 30,000 miles on it. It was in fantastic condition and had every little gizmo anyone could want for that year. We keep journals and records and I record data on spread sheets.

Total cost for the last 11 years including purchase price, sales tax, insurance, parts, maintance, registrations is $34,045.91.

Gas for the last 11 years & 71,167.9 miles we have put on the motorhome comes to $11,932.46

Camping supplies and camping fees for the last 11 years total $4,538.27.

Groceries for the last 11 years total $2465.00,

Dining out for the last 11 years total $248.16.

Grand Total $53,229.80 We have spent 324 nights and 351 days traveling in our motorhome. We also use it for day trips or just a ride in the country. DH has taken the motorhome to work when one of our other commute vehicles were in for repair. We live in California so we have "peace of mind" that in the case of a bad earthquake, we have someplace to sleep, cook, bath, and live.

When we retire the only cost that will really increase is the camping fees. Instead of spending one or two nights in locations, we plan on spending weeks so the cost of the gas will not be increase that much. BTW, even our old gas guzzler gets 7 1/5 MPG and the new ones get at least 10. Our Expedition only gets 11 - 15 MPG and if I travel, I wouldn't want anything smaller.

When people go full time RVing and sell their home, they don't have the cost of gas, electric, water, sewer, garbage, etc. because those are all included in their camping fees. They don't have to pay insurance or sales tax on their homes.

BTW, every 4 to 6 months someone stops by our house asking if we want to sell our motorhome. We have been offered $5,000 site unseen for it!

So how many days of vacation including your vehicle cost, sales taxes, registations, insurance, repairs, parts, maintenace, gas for 71,167.9 miles, motels, eating out can you do for $48,229.80?

Utahtea

Sorry, but I can't even begin to relate to your post, utahtea. I'm happy that you're happy traveling that way. But I'd be miserable in the first week spending only $248 eating out. Eating out is the MAIN thing I travel for. Spreading that amount out over 11 years is something I can't comprehend, just like I can't comprehend spending $2465 on groceries that you have to cook and clean up after. I'm glad you enjoy it, I just don't. We have different ideas of what "vacation" and what "travel" means to us. That's fine.

By the way, I have made major traveling trips spending less than $175 a day total, which appears to be your average daily cost. There are different ways of doing it.

I'm not sure how you came about $175 per day, but I came up with $164 and that doesn't take into consideration the resale value of the motorhome and the fact that we have a third vehicle to use if needed. That's just figuring night. If you figure days then you have to use 351. We go on many day trips without spending the night and that lowers it to $151 per day. Also every year we keep the motorhome the per day cost will go down. While DH and I like food, we go on vacation to see the scenery and prefer the non-man made kind.

Yes, We are worlds apart when it comes to vacations.

Utahtea

This is silly, since we've both admitted we have different tastes. But I only think in terms of nights of vacations. I don't call leaving my house for the day and coming home that night "travel" or a "vacation". If we wanted to talk about day trips, I could pack a lunch from my refrigerator and walk to the beach for a picnic and that wouldn't cost a penny. I only consider nights for costs, since lodging is normally the big deal. And I approximated that figure doing the math in my head. I apologize it was a little faulty. Does it really make a difference? Not to me.

Not everyone is as lucky as you to be able to walk to the beach. The reason I mentioned the day trips is because the cost of gas to get to those locations was include in my total gas amount. We enjoy taking off for a day in our motorhome, having our own bathroom, kitchen and place to change into a bathing suit if we want to.

Utahtea

For sure everyone has different tastes regarding retirement travel, for example, camping, RVing, moteling, resorts. So you have to decide what's right for you. Do you want an isolated place for fishing or rather a place for taking in shows or casinos?

What we did over some years ago was plunk down the money (about $10,000 minus trade in) for our 26ft. trailer and a Suburban to pull it. So that was an initial outlay of funds. Now we will likely sell both which have served well simply because of our getting older. But we have also used motels and toured in Europe.

Retirement travel is a whole new adventure requiring planning.
Bill in Missouri