Reader Visitor Submit – Journey Earlier than Dementia

At this time, I convey you a visitor publish from a few nomadic retirees, Tom Swan and Georganna Hawley. They’ve been residing a nomadic life-style for about two and a half years and don’t have any plans for stopping.

Should you’ve thought of this life-style in retirement, and even if you happen to haven’t, you’ll discover their story fascinating and study priceless classes from their experiences. Subjects lined embrace their expertise with downsizing, how they’ve handled well being points whereas on the street, selecting areas the place they wish to spend time in retirement and dealing with logistics, and different classes discovered alongside the best way.

We now have no monetary relationship. Take it away Tom and Georganna….

It is a Way of life, Not a Trip

“We’re NOT on trip” is probably the most typical reply to our pals’ and household’s misunderstanding of our Nomad life-style. Usually, People go on a 2-3 week trip, frantically seeing every thing doable in a “whirlwind tour.” Then they return house and require one other 2-3 weeks to get better from the holiday. 

Sure, we now have seen some fantastic, iconic, even unique locations. Nonetheless, we additionally purchase our veggies on the open market, journey the native trains or buses and take free strolling excursions as a substitute of organized “touristy” excursions. Typically we even keep in and simply do laundry like everybody else.

We’re Tom Swan and Georganna Hawley, semi-retired People. We live our greatest life with this new, and sometimes misunderstood life-style. In September of 2021, we “embraced the change” that a lot of our fellow boomers aren’t but able to face.

Embracing Change

Covid-19 restrictions allowed Tom to shut his workplace and work on-line. Our grandsons turned adults, and we out of the blue didn’t want a giant home. A minimalist aesthetic was making us suppose our stuff owned us as a substitute of the opposite manner round.

We have been intrigued and impressed by a radio interview on Rick Steves with Michael and Debbie Campbell, The Senior Nomads. All this was occurring getting ready to looming retirement and had us asking what we wish from this new section of our lives.

Downsizing

We started the monumental activity of shedding all our possessions in 2020. I offered 4 stitching machines. Tom offered his treasured drill press and all his instruments. We additionally offered or gave away these particular china dinner settings our daughter didn’t need (NOTE: your youngsters don’t want your stuff). We scanned all of the contents of picture albums (now saved on the cloud), had seven yard gross sales, and numerous journeys to Goodwill. 

Lastly, we acquired all of it right down to solely two rolling carry ons, and two backpacks. We retained two 14 gallon storage bins (half stuffed with treasures) to retailer at our daughter’s home. We offered our home and one in all our two automobiles. Final, we drove our truck to our daughter’s home at hand over the storage bins, and we introduced the keys and pink slip of the truck to our oldest grandson.  

Associated: Downsizing In Retirement – Any Regrets?

Hitting the Highway

After that, we pretty danced all the best way to the airport jet method to fly off to our first nomad vacation spot, Vienna, Austria, on September 23, 2021.

Some nomads select to maintain their home and lease it out, preserve a storage unit of their house city, and/or keep a mother-in-law cottage with their youngsters. We selected to dive off the deep finish with none “what if we alter our minds” contingencies. We discover it retains us centered ahead, studying tips on how to make this nomad life-style work, with no “escape clause”.

I’m now 72, a retired archaeologist and textile artist. Tom is 65 and continues to work remotely as a retirement planner and monetary advisor. He works servicing purchasers’ wants from wherever we’re. 

Good WIFI is essential, and obtainable all around the world! His cellphone is on a VOIP (Voice Over Web Protocol), and is definitely his outdated workplace quantity. So purchasers acknowledge it’s him, however everybody he calls asks, “The place is Tom right this moment?”

What About Healthcare?

Tom wanted each arthritic knees changed, however his insurance coverage firm claimed he was too “younger” and wanted to attend for Medicare to pay for it. And most US surgeons will solely do one by one. 

Whereas visiting Istanbul, Turkiÿe he obtained a free session with a workforce of two orthopedic surgeons who quoted a worth that was lower than 1/3 of the insurance coverage copays in California. So, we scheduled surgical procedure. Tom had his knees changed in Istanbul; each on the identical day. 

His care was exceptional. Bodily remedy was painful however tolerable, and 5 weeks after surgical procedure we have been strolling alongside Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. 

We do carry worldwide well being care insurance coverage for emergencies and an evacuation coverage for me. However, to be trustworthy, if one thing occurred to me, I’d fairly go to Türkiye.

The USA has medical insurance, the remainder of the world has well being care. Large distinction.

Getting Round

Our transportation mode of selection is through practice in Europe, however buses are additionally a superb choice if we wish to go a bit slower. Public transportation in Europe is often clear, low-cost, and intensive. We now have discovered {that a} good various may be to rent a non-public driver, particularly if we’re crossing a number of borders in non-EU nations. 

Journey in South America presents fewer alternate options. There are few trains, and buses can vary from nice to downright terrible. We often go for flying between South American nations. 

Repositioning cruises are additionally a good selection for nomads for trans-oceanic journey. A cruise ship supplies us with our transportation, lodging, meals and leisure multi function bundle. With cruises, we don’t need to pack/unpack for weeks at a time, and no jet-lag! We select to fly solely as a final resort usually.

Assembly Logistical Challenges

Journey preparations are after all as much as us, and it has turn into an element time job. We work collectively, doing analysis on locations, what we wish to do, and one of the best time of yr to remain specifically areas.

We additionally contemplate suggestions from different nomads. It typically is smart to journey in a specific route; north and east for spring and summer time months, after which start heading south for the winter, at all times chasing 72 levels. 

Many nomads select to see the Arctic or Antarctic and have fantastic tales and pictures. We select to remain in hotter climates and preserve our change-of-seasons packing to a minimal. If we by no means see snow once more, that shall be simply superb with us.

The web is (principally) our pal for planning and making reservations. It takes fairly a little bit of group, however we handle redundancy with a paper calendar, excel spreadsheets, and each of us having all confirmations and reservations on our computer systems and telephones.

I copy a map on-line and label the following few months the place we shall be, then publish it so household can comply with our progress.  Despite the fact that we work collectively to plan our travels, we now have nonetheless managed to make aircraft reservations for the mistaken day, forgotten how the Worldwide Date Line works, and gotten our timezones confused.  

As Nomads, we now have discovered to pivot, remedy issues and discover alternate options rapidly.

Selecting Lodging

We like to remain in residences with a kitchen and washer with quick access to the native metro or bus. Often discovering Airbnb’s in a metropolis middle neighborhood fits us. Quick, dependable WIFI and an elevator are a should. 

We additionally take pleasure in volunteering at English Immersion retreat periods and we now have completed this 4 occasions now. It’s an effective way to satisfy and get to know the native individuals and the free lodging assist to stretch the funds. 

This yr we added a home/pet sitting into the combo. We get to spend high quality time with canines and cats, and keep in an actual house, generally within the English countryside, different occasions in a southern California suburb. Selection retains our nomad life-style enjoyable and attention-grabbing.

Tremendous Tuning Our Planning

We’re nonetheless trying to find the candy spot of how lengthy to remain in anyone place. Usually per week is sufficient to maintain our curiosity, and a month could also be too lengthy. 

If climate or timing preserve us from doing all we have been planning for, we all know we will at all times come again subsequent yr, or the following. Typically we purposely don’t search out all that we predict can be attention-grabbing, figuring out a city or area will certainly be on our “return for longer” listing.

The Schengen Zone is a problem for us and different Nomads, and is a vital a part of our planning. The Schengen Zone includes 27 European Union nations + 4 different nations. 

As People we will solely keep within the Schengen for 90 days out of 180. The nations outdoors the zone means our  “Schengen Shuffle”  is consistently on the radar (there are apps for that). 

Final yr Croatia entered the zone, and in 2024 Romania and Bulgaria are scheduled to enter. This implies we might want to discover various nations to discover whereas we watch for our Schengen clock to reset. 

Türkiye, Albania, Macedonia, Georgia, and 5 of the “Stans” are good nomad decisions. Even the tiny mountain nation of Andorra between Spain and France is outdoors the Schengen. And what about North Africa? The limitless potentialities are a giant cause we preserve touring.

Isn’t This Costly?

In fact we now have a funds, we aren’t spending wildly on trip, in any case! The cash saved not having to pay utilities, taxes, automobiles, gasoline, tires, repairs, and a number of insurances means we spend lower than if we nonetheless lived in California. Even our month-to-month lodging prices are lower than our mortgage.

Transportation prices are additionally a lot lower than the price of proudly owning a number of automobiles. We don’t typically purchase clothes as a result of the area is restricted in our suitcase. Many nomads purchase garments at thrift shops and re-donate once they depart a location. We select to go together with what we now have and if it will get chilly, we simply head south! 

We every personal one pair of sturdy strolling footwear. I did purchase an exquisite classic denim jacket in Hamburg, Germany final yr. It’s too cumbersome to pack, so I needed to make the acutely aware determination that I have to put on it on each journey day. When that will get to be too cumbersome, I can depart it in a donation bin for another person to like.

Leveraging Journey Rewards

One other funds stretcher is utilizing bank card reward factors to our benefit. Final yr Tom manipulated our factors into 22 free resort nights and 16 free enterprise class aircraft tickets. The “factors sport” is rising in reputation amongst nomads, and effectively price Tom’s time spent finding out the repeatedly altering choices.

Associated: Journey Extra & Spend Much less With Credit score Card Journey Rewards

Are we nonetheless proud of our option to do away with every thing and journey the world as modern-day senior nomads? Sure! When will we plan to cease (the second most requested query)? We don’t.

If well being or unknown circumstances make us rethink our life-style, we will pivot. We now have completed it earlier than, we will do it once more when that point comes.

Chris’ $.02

Because of Tom and Georganna for sharing your story. Their solely need for sharing their story is to ispire and join with others who share their pursuits. You may join with them by means of their “Two Vacationers” Fb web page.

Should you loved their story, try one other visitor publish from nomadic retirees Margot and Nick.

Reader visitor posts are at all times widespread on the weblog. Should you’d wish to share your story ship me an e-mail at chris@caniretireyet.com.

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[Chris Mamula used principles of traditional retirement planning, combined with creative lifestyle design, to retire from a career as a physical therapist at age 41. After poor experiences with the financial industry early in his professional life, he educated himself on investing and tax planning. After achieving financial independence, Chris began writing about wealth building, DIY investing, financial planning, early retirement, and lifestyle design at Can I Retire Yet? He is also the primary author of the book Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence. Chris also does financial planning with individuals and couples at Abundo Wealth, a low-cost, advice-only financial planning firm with the mission of making quality financial advice available to populations for whom it was previously inaccessible. Chris has been featured on MarketWatch, Morningstar, U.S. News & World Report, and Business Insider. He has spoken at events including the Bogleheads and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants annual conferences. Blog inquiries can be sent to chris@caniretireyet.com. Financial planning inquiries can be sent to chris@abundowealth.com]

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