Jan Cullinane - The New Retirement

Create. Indulge your inner chef, if you're so inclined, or take up painting or sculpting or photography. Perhaps consider community or local theater. Helene G. performed in the musicals The King and I and South Pacific at Leisure World, an active adult community in Silver Spring Maryland, as well as in a performance of Our Town. (If you have stage fright, you can always work behind the scenes.) Or, sing at your place of worship; St. Augustine said, “To sing is to pray twice.”

Family. A study by Age Wave/Merrill Lynch found that retirees ranked staying healthy, improving health, and relaxing at the top of their “Everyday Leisure Priorities” list, followed by family connections. Certainly “family connections” can fill lots of hours. But what does that phrase mean to you? Living a short distance from children/sibs/aging parents? Staying in touch via technology? Frequent in-person visits? Following your adult kids if they move? Having a second home near adult children/parents? Acting as a full-time sitter for your grandchildren while their parents work? Moving closer to your kids when you're elderly and need help? This is an important area to consider and discuss, particularly if you're part of a couple – are you both on the same page? To find out, take the survey, “Retire Close to Family … Or Not Too Close!” from TopRetirements.comat the end of Chapter 4, What and Where Is Home?

Travel. Travel is usually close to the top of the list of “wants” in retirement. No surprise – there's a big and exciting world out there to explore, and retirement provides the time (and hopefully the money – more on that in Chapters 8, 9, and 10). One of Rosemary and Ed G.'s retirement goals (Rosemary was a high school counselor and Ed is a retired CPA) was to visit every continent. It took 12 years to accomplish, but they did.

Of course, there are many types of travel. Recall the Greyhound bus commercial, with the tag line “Leave the driving to us.” Do all the planning, do some of it, or be like the Greyhound ad, and purchase a complete travel itinerary with most, or all decisions preplanned. All you need to do is show up with your luggage and travel documents and the tour company will take it from there. What kind of traveler are you? Do you want a knowledgeable guide to lead you, or are you more likely to strike out on your own, meet the local people, and create your own itinerary? Or perhaps you're a hybrid of the two approaches, or you want to experience travel in a variety of ways. You could be like Carol and Phil White, who bought a small RV and lived in it for a year as they traversed the United States.

Here are Carol's thoughts and suggestions:

Of all the many ways to travel, RVing may be the most flexible. You can stay in a cozy RV park in the city, in a friend's driveway in the suburbs, in a beautiful national park, a full-amenity recreation complex – or something as unglamorous as a parking lot anywhere along your way.

Phil and I did all of those things in our year-long trip around the United States. We also “cheated” and stayed in a beautiful National Park Lodge or even a cabin by a lake when we were tired of doing the camping life. The beauty of it is that the choice is yours and you are always ready for whatever may come your way. We traveled in a small Class B RV, so we had total flexibility to park downtown or under a tree and call that home for the night.

We recommend having some goals for your trip – see all the state capitols, all the National Parks, something quirky in each state, hiking a famous trail in each area – whatever strikes your interest. Those goals will help shape the planning for your trip.

My sister called it traveling with “our shell on our back,” which is an apt expression because you have everything you need with you. That was a major appeal to us versus taking a car on our long trip. On more than one occasion, being able to pull over at a rest stop or a park and heat up last night's leftovers for lunch proved to be one of the unexpected things we enjoyed – we were always prepared for an impromptu meal. Another plus was that you were always prepared for a “pit stop” – no more looking for the rest area or dying until you got somewhere. This was especially handy when we were stopped in summer construction – sometimes for an hour or more.

Choosing the type of RV that you want to travel in is one of the most challenging aspects of your planning. You have to think carefully about your own driving abilities and desires, about your mechanical adaptability, and what kind of a trip you are planning. If you are planning a mostly urban experience, a 45-foot Class A “bus” would probably not be your first best choice in New York City or Chicago. On the other hand, if one of you is adept at driving a big rig, knows the ins and outs of mechanics and you are planning a week at a time in a beautiful RV park or National Park, then a big rig may be perfect for you. The smaller sized RVs are great for maneuverability, fitting in tight spaces (city parking), and stopping at an auto repair place when something doesn't sound right (most are built on some type of truck chassis). The other option is, of course, a towable – either a trailer or a fifth-wheel that attaches in the bed of a truck. The advantage of this arrangement is you can disconnect and take your vehicle with you and not your entire “house.” Depending on your trip plans, that can be very handy. Towing a car behind a larger RV is also an option that might serve your needs.

If you are planning a long trip, we recommend that you don't overplan it. If you've made reservations ahead and something happens, which it will, then you have all those plans to undo. Have an itinerary of roughly where you want to be when, just to keep you on track, but please don't try to plan it all ahead – most of the fun is the whimsy of each day. Some days we traveled 5 miles, some days a hundred, but our longest day was 380 miles to meet up with some traveling friends. Just let your trip unfold in front of you. Because you have an RV of some type, you can always sleep in a parking lot and if you have a small rig, many “full” RV parks can tuck you in someplace. We had some of the best RV spots that way. They once put us on a tennis court near Zion National Park on a busy holiday weekend with an extension cord for electricity. Fun!

RVing is a great way to meet people, see our country (or another!) and have the time of your life. We were never at a loss for something to talk about from every state (we are part of only 2% of our population who has been to every state) and travel enriches and informs your life forever. Don't wait. Do it now while you have your health. If you need more direction to begin planning your dream trip, grab a copy of our award-winning book, Live Your Road Trip Dream .

Some other options:

Cruises. Someone else cooks, serves, cleans, makes your bed each day, provides entertainment and enrichment programs, and transports you from destination to destination. What's not to like? Obviously, the pandemic affected the 2020–2021 travel season, but in 2019, there were 30 million cruise passengers with more than half coming from North America. Ships range from the mega (almost 7,000 passengers) to the intimate. Having cruised quite a bit, I've noticed over the years that some people never disembark at the ports because they have been on so many cruises (and they tend to win all the Trivia games since they've heard all the questions before!). Recent welcome additions to many cruise ships include dedicated solo staterooms, so a single doesn't have to pay the dreaded “single supplement.”

Escorted Tours. Ann and John B. love escorted tours through OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel). My spouse and I took an OAT tour to Israel/Palestine and absolutely loved it. It included visiting residents' homes, and having an open political dialogue with both Israelis and Palestinians. Hotels, transportation, transfers to the airport/hotel, most meals and some sightseeing are usually included in escorted tours. (OAT also offers exclusive women's tours.) Brian P., who is single, loves Smart Tours, which are all-inclusive and pride themselves on being affordable. Brian is a worldwide traveler and we value his advice, and indeed my spouse and I took a Smart Tour to India and loved it. Steve and Debbie L. did a bike tour in Europe through Backroads Rhine River Cruise Bike Tour, riding bikes through four countries in eight days while also enjoying the food and luxury of a small AMA Waterways ship along the Rhine. Those on the trip decided how many miles they wanted to ride during the day, and were transported back to the ship when ready.