Retiring to travel the world!

Badger_Lady

Thanks Loobs - looks like you had a blast!

Blog started: http://emilysearlyretirement.blogspot.com/

loobs40

Blimey, you don't hang around !!

mgdavid

you may wish you had a driver/mechanic/navigator for the longer trips.

(I'd love to offer but I'm spoken for)

you can spend a month doing NZ with an RV, maybe 6 to 8 weeks in Oz (start in Adelaide, all round the coast up to Cairns, and finish back in Brisbane).

Go up to Nordkapp in summer, return by way of the Baltic states.

Trains are fun - the Indian Pacific or the Gan in Oz, ordinary 1st class Capetown to Pretoria (not the overpriced tourist one unless you're minted), how about St Petersburg, Moscow then the Trans-Siberian then on to Japan on the ferry?

USA? where to start !
with an RV, couple of weeks round Florida and down the keys to Key West.
Highway 1 Seattle down to New Mexico.
Route 66?

the world IS your oyster!
enjoy, you deserve it.

budgetflyer

Im so jealous.
I would love to spend at least 6 months in India. Goa, Karnataka down to the Kerala backwaters and then over to Andaman and Nicobar Islands which just look incredible.

claire16c

I came back from 8 months of travelling this year and Im so glad we did it.

As youve got 10 weeks to go you should book an appointment with your gp to get your vaccinations done asap as some of them are courses of say 3 jabs and they take a few weeks to get done. Im 28 and so I guess youll be the same as me, in that all the ones you had at school will have run out, so I had to get them done again plus all the others!

The other stressful thing was making sure we had visas for the appropriate places. Luckily I was working in London so was easy to get one for vietnam as I could just about manage to get to the embassy and back in my hour lunch break.

So Id try and get those type of boring things out the way so you can enjoy planning the fun stuff!

flutterbyuk25

Badger_Lady wrote: »

That's fantastic, I want to go to all those places! How did you do it all in a month? :eek:

To be honest I fit it all in quite easily however I have been to NZ before (North island) and I was there for a wedding so that was my main priority, not sightseeing. That said I did get to climb a volcano, go to the beach, go to the vineyards and go shopping there.

I did 3.5days in HK, 6 days in Sydney, 3.5days in Melbourne, 12 days in NZ and 2 days in Singapore. I can say I saw pretty much all the major sights in the places in that time! It didn't feel like a tight squeeze but I was tired some days!

x

whatyadoinsucka

badger_lady

you seem to have done the hardest part (the decision) once thats made the travelling part is easier.
don't back out now, keep good ties with your company you never know when you'll need a job.

how long do you plan to travel for, whats your budget, are you happy to backpack/ youth hostel it etc, as travelling can be pretty lonely at times (although i prefer travelling on my own, less hassle, meet more people, not limited to what your partners want etc. can get up and do what you want)
i see you have a campervan, maybe worth getting companions along the way to share fuel bills

I travelled asia 3 months, nz 2 months, australia 5 months, south africa 6weeks, usa 3weeks
back in 2003 and spent £18k, also travelled argentina and spent a few k.
budget wisely, asia/india/eastern europe/south america your money goes so much further

Badger_Lady

Thanks dude!

Yeah - I've only been with this last company for 6 months (I got made redundant from the job I'd expected to do until retirement). Already I'm their star performer and I've taken on the biggest clients for them. So although they'll be disappointed when I give my notice, I don't think they'd pause at the opportunity if I offered some freelance work - they have plenty of influx of new graduates but really struggle to find experience consultants.

I initially have £20,000 'ready cash', however not having a time limit I need to avoid spending this for as long as possible, and to make extra cash when the opportunities come along.

I'll take the campervan to start with because it's a gentle start, taking my home around with me. I have invited my sister part of the way, although she doesn't have any savings (quite the opposite) so it would only be companionship, not financial assistance. And absolutely backpacking and youth hostels are the way forward... in fact from experience I know that youth hostels are the best way to meet people in similar situations

I'm not really interested in the US. I've been working there one week out of every four for a while now, both East coast and West coast, and I haven't been exactly enamored with it. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what their culture's all about - I'm more interested in discovering new ones.

I guess the ultimate goal is to find somewhere to settle down and live. I've never had a sense of 'home' in the UK. It might come as a result of the travelling, or I might find somewhere else that holds that spark for me. After all the rest of my family have emigrated!

Ponkle22

Wow - impressed. Will try to remember to follow your blog, with interest.

Are you aware of Couchsurfing? This is a fantastic way to get around the world without paying for a bed and often its not just on couches but proper beds/rooms. You will meet similar people to yourself this way (For when you don't want to use the van all the time). Just ensure you only select those with photos and references etc and avoid the ones without such stuff. Also, there is WWoofing (I think I spelt that wrong) where you work for your bed and food on places like farms and smallholdings etc around the world.

Make sure you have access to emergency stashes of money. Just in case.

Enjoy!!

Ponkle22

Just remembered, this was one of the most useful things I took with me, when travelling - use it indoors and outdoors (you probably already have one with the van, so this would be for when you weren't with the van).

Two were more useful than one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifeventure-Clothes-Line-Pegless/dp/B000R2FMJ0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1322306300&sr=1-1-fkmr0