Early-retirement wannabe

cfw1994

‘Hold’, not ‘trunk’, eh.  Curious!
Sounds like a great start. No harm in giving up Pepsi Max, I’d say: crack on 😎👍

I would suggest you might want to start your own thread…this will clearly become an awesome retirement adventure, deserving it’s own home here….like squirrelling nuts on steroids 😉

Lifematters

@hugheskevi I am in awe of the luggage you are carrying for a two year trip, we take more on a two week holiday! I clearly need lessons on how to pack minimally. 

michaels

hugheskevi said:

We have now arrived in Alaska, and are into Day 3 of our travels. Work is a receding memory, and it is quite hard to keep track of the days, taking into account time zone differences and jet lag. We are now up near Fairbanks, which is the most northerly point of our trip - it will be predominantly south from here!

Alaska varies between incredibly expensive, and insanely expensive. The cheapest accommodation is about £60-£70 per night, cheapest car hire is about £65 per day (including insurance) and food in supermarkets is about 3 times the cost it is in the UK - although this varies a lot, with some products being much the same yet others costing 5 times the price. A big frustration is the 'members price' - with many supermarkets offering free membership...as long as you have a US cell phone. The member's price can be several dollars difference per item, and also includes 2 for price of 1 offers, so not being a member can easily double the price. I'm using it all as motivation to cut out various vices (Pepsi Max...), eat healthily (cook all our own food) and get back down to running weight, which I ballooned up from during COVID lockdown (need to lose 4-5kg). As well as running frequently, I've started to do 20 minutes of strength and stretching when I get up, watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory each day (with ear buds to avoid annoying everyone around). From previous experience, fitness can be lost very quickly when travelling, so it is going to be a key consideration in the coming months.

The travel budget is something like £65,000 p/a to stay on course for retirement plans. I can't imagine spending that so should 'save' whilst traveling (ie spend under budget, thus increasing resources for later). However, market performance will be much for significant in determining the financial position whenever we come back. The budget for annual UK spending up to age 55 is £41,170 p/a as we set off, so it will be interesting to see how this changes whilst we travel (after age 55 we have £45K of fully index-linked DB post tax pension, as well as £243K of DC, a tiny bit more DB at age 57 and two full State Pensions to come, so it is only up to age 55 that matters).

I'm thankful that a lot of our USA expenses have already been paid for, with car hire all sorted, an 8-day cruise paid for except tips, and AirBnbs booked and paid for the first 2 weeks. That, combined with still getting paid in UK (leave ends mid-October) and rent payments on our house means that despite the high US prices we will still be better off at the end of 2 months in USA than we were at the start of it. Then once in Mexico expenses should fall massively.

The main embarrassment so far has been looking puzzled at the car key, and asking what the button marked 'Hold' does? In my mind, I was thinking is this some sort of hand-brake? The answer was 'It opens the hold' (boot) - the guy probably thought I was a right foreign idiot! That, along with not being able to start the car (it needs to be in Park and you have to press the brake to be able to start it)...

Although it is very early days, I really can't envisage going back to work in London. It would feel too much like going back to a previous chapter of life. I think if that happens, it would only be part of short-term plan to sell our house and move, not anything long-term. I know others have found the switch from work to retirement difficult, but I don't think I'll have any such yearnings. My wife is much more open to returning to work though, albeit with a different employer doing different things, she wouldn't want to go back to what she did before we left.

The picture below shows everything we have with us for the next couple of years - it is very liberating to pare everything down to about 35-40kg of things between the two of us, and to be able to carry it all comfortably on your back!

Ha ha - my DW takes more than that for a trip to the shops whereas you are well on your way to being Jack Reacher

DreamingofGreece

Hanging my head in shame at the amount I've brought with me on my current one week trip to Greece, can't go anywhere without my hair straighteners 🤭 

NedS

Best wishes for the trip @hugheskevi - and thank you for all the help you have given over the years. Enjoy your well earned time away

westv

A year of carrying 20kgs around on your back? I wouldn't call that comfortable! 

hugheskevi

westv said:

A year of carrying 20kgs around on your back? I wouldn't call that comfortable! 

Hehe, it is pretty easy in USA - an Uber from the airport to our AirBnb, then picked up a hire car and that does all the work. I just move things from a car boot into a house every few days  

Although, that does in part show why so many people are out of shape in the west - everything is so easy. Once we start using buses more (in Mexico and beyond) there will be more moving around with packs on. I think I'll draw the line at about 1 mile - more than that and we'll get transport, less than that we walk. I think it should be very good for core strength in particular, which in turn helps with running and good posture - so I actually see it as a positive rather than a negative.

Having said that, there are definite limits - you need to be easily able to deal with the weight, or else moving around regularly will be a real chore, so there is a careful balance between size, weight and your own individual ability to move it around without discomfort.

My wife really struggled with packing, as she has not travelled before and made the standard mistake of wanting to bring far too much. It took her about a month of packing and repacking before she got it to all fit. Then I took a bag or two from her into my larger bag so that it fit comfortably

jimi_man

I concur with the luggage aspect. We used to take a large case everywhere for a holiday, but now would never dream of it and use hand luggage only for every trip - even two or three week holidays and still bring back clothes we haven't worn. Doing a two week flydrive to the US in a couple of weeks and will just have a wheelie carry on and a small rucksack which should be plenty.

Sounds like a great trip, do start a thread and I'd read it. 

westv

jimi_man said:

I concur with the luggage aspect. We used to take a large case everywhere for a holiday, but now would never dream of it and use hand luggage only for every trip - even two or three week holidays and still bring back clothes we haven't worn. Doing a two week flydrive to the US in a couple of weeks and will just have a wheelie carry on and a small rucksack which should be plenty.

Sounds like a great trip, do start a thread and I'd read it. 

How on earth do you get away with clothes for a three week holiday using just hand luggage? Martin's famous multi pocketed jacket?

jimi_man

westv said:

jimi_man said:

I concur with the luggage aspect. We used to take a large case everywhere for a holiday, but now would never dream of it and use hand luggage only for every trip - even two or three week holidays and still bring back clothes we haven't worn. Doing a two week flydrive to the US in a couple of weeks and will just have a wheelie carry on and a small rucksack which should be plenty.

Sounds like a great trip, do start a thread and I'd read it. 

How on earth do you get away with clothes for a three week holiday using just hand luggage? Martin's famous multi pocketed jacket?

Careful packing and don't take too much stuff. When we used to take large cases it was always a temptation to take 'extra' clothes just in case', but the truth is we just don't need them and used to bring them back unworn because we tended to wear the same stuff most of the time. Most people know that rolling clothes is far more efficient than flat packing and means you can get a lot more in. 

My wife flies for a living and is used to being restricted to a carry on. 

I think it's a 21st century issue that we've all got far too much stuff.