A New Adventure

k6chris

So dear forum reader, today I handed in my resignation and by the end of March I will have added the RE letters to my existing FI accreditation. A decision not fostered by stress or hatred of my job, but by the way that time was being taken from me for scant return. So what next, what great adventures to come? I have no idea. Armed with a blank sheet of paper and a dusty compass I will be setting off for lands unexplored.

Well that's the romantic view, but as a work colleague said to me this morning "why the hell have your done that and what the f**k are you going to do every day??". :rotfl:

So, somewhere between the sun dappled uplands of my RE dreams and a soggy chip cob watching The Kyle Show, lies my future.

Any advice??

P933alilli

Wildlife and landscape photography is a great hobby.

Bravepants

First of all, what are your interests outside work now?


You could:

1. Buy a camper van and go travelling
2. Learn to play a musical instrument
3. Learn a foreign language
4. Brush up on your IT skills
5. Do some volunteer work
6. Spend you days wandering the British countryside writing poetry
7. Collyflower has already mentioned countryside photography
8. Take a cookery course, then do some volunteer work cooking for the homeless or aged, or start a part time catering business
9. Catch up on your DIY
10. Declutter and do some car boot sales
11. Study for a degree
12. Part time tuition or teaching
13. Fishing
14. Life modelling
15. Work at a Citizen's Advice Bureau
16. Take up sailing
17. Do an advanced driving course
18. Reading
19. Writing
20. Start a blog about good pub beer gardens (I'd read it!)
21. Learn about the local history of your town and offer tours

ermine

k6chris wrote: »

Any advice??

Nice time of year to do it, the weather is getting better The main piece of advice would be aware that retirement changes you. So make no lasting changes to your lifestyle for the first six months - by all means think about them and research them, but maybe hold on moving to a different area or even buying the round the world cruise until you get to know your retired self.


Know the value of commanding your own time changes the value proposition of services. Take travel as a case in point. Obviously avoid travelling in school holidays, you can consider flying midweek if that is better price-wise. Travel slower if possible, stay longer at your destination (or choose multiple centres to get better value from your longer outbound and inbound journeys).


Decompression lifts the jaded eyes of the wage slave but slowly. For most people it has been forty to fifty years since you last controlled your time (before education/work) and it takes time to ease yourself into the driving seat and make it yours.


That's not an advocacy of watching telly all day. After all, you now have time to exercise - go for walking rather than the gym etc, it helps to think too for some strange reason.

crv1963

Learn to enjoy life!

bugslett

Congratulations, you are a couple of months ahead of me.

I wrote an A4 sheet of paper of things I could do, split into three:

1. Things I do now but would like to do more of - dog walking, gardening, reading, crochet

2. Things I used to do but ran out of time - volunteer dog rehoming transport, dress making, dancing

3. Then all the things I had thought of over the years but never had the remotest chance of doing.

Included in 3 is around 5 places that I would like to travel to, learn to play the harp, gliding, joining the local canal preservation society, gardening qualification . I can't remember everything I wrote down but I got to over one side of paper. I don't expect to do some, but it was nice to have a some thoughts written down.

My main aim though is to do very little for a couple of months and enjoy the summer sunshine and then see how I feel;)

shinytop

Congratulations, your are about 6 months ahead of me. I haven't made many plans but will have no problem filling time. I'll be going as winter approaches but travelling somewhere warm is part of our plans such as they are..

MEM62

k6chris wrote: »

Any advice??

Buy a motorcycle.

k6chris

MEM62 wrote: »

Buy a motorcycle.

I used to have one, firstly a very nice Japan import 400cc Bandit, then sold it after a couple of years for a CBR600. I then sold that to buy a glider. I still go gliding, thanks to no longer riding motorcycles.... Some people don't have the skill or temperament for riding bikes!!

hugheskevi

Personally one of the first things I am most looking forward to after retiring is going and spending quite some time in a great location, not necessarily doing a great deal but relaxing, hikiing, running, etc.

I plan to spend time at a place like this house on Airbnb in Guatemala for maybe a couple of months.

Lake Pokhara in Nepal is also very high on my list of places to spend a couple of months.

waveydavey48

I'm following this with interest.

Adopt a retired racing greyhound (or two) and use him/her as a therapy dog and visit hospitals/hospices etc and allow the patients/residents to get some much needed affection from a gentle creature.