It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

bigfer

Cheap(ish) foreign travel was our top priority when we retired in 2018/19. Unfortunately Covid (& Brexit to an extent) restricted our plans, but we managed a cracking 2022, bobbing about Europe using Ryanair (I know, I know) and Airbnb. If you can avoid peak seasons / public holidays and are prepared to put yourself out a bit on flight times and airports, there are some great places to explore and enjoy for bobbins. Our budget is £70-£80 per night, this must include UK travel arrangements to/from airport, flights (incl luggage), accommodation and car hire (if necessary). How we choose our accommodation is pretty straight forward. Average temperature must be greater than 20deg C. Price of wine less than the UK. One bedroom (not a study), with sunny balcony/terrace/ patio (preferably south /west facing), washing machine, full cancellation and within a 20min walk of a large supermarket (my definition of large is that it has shopping trolleys). Once we get a short list of four we employ the Brian Clough method of final selection, we talk about it then we decide I was right. I say "we" in this process, but the wife is a very silent partner in all of this and only really makes snide comments about the quality of the bed linen in the Airbnb photographs (as if she can tell). Bottom line of this rant is, if you are prepared to do a bit of digging about, there are some very interesting non-touristy places to enjoy. Highlights from 2022 were Ugijar (small village outside of Granada), Ollhao (working town east of Faro), Wroclaw (very under rated ) and Jerez (cracking place for sherry tasting). Fingers crossed for 2023. Bon Voyage everyone.

NedS

We definitely need some MSE retirement holiday tips. The plan for retirement was 2-3 trips per year, 2 to Caribbean (Jan and May/Jun) and one to Europe/Canaries (Oct), but the prices have rocketed for the all inclusive resorts we prefer. With an annual holiday budget of around £10k or less for 3 trips (pre-CoL crisis), I think we definitely need some help to get better value for money and broaden our horizons.

zagfles

bigfer said:

Cheap(ish) foreign travel was our top priority when we retired in 2018/19. Unfortunately Covid (& Brexit to an extent) restricted our plans, but we managed a cracking 2022, bobbing about Europe using Ryanair (I know, I know) and Airbnb. If you can avoid peak seasons / public holidays and are prepared to put yourself out a bit on flight times and airports, there are some great places to explore and enjoy for bobbins. Our budget is £70-£80 per night, this must include UK travel arrangements to/from airport, flights (incl luggage), accommodation and car hire (if necessary). How we choose our accommodation is pretty straight forward. Average temperature must be greater than 20deg C. Price of wine less than the UK. One bedroom (not a study), with sunny balcony/terrace/ patio (preferably south /west facing), washing machine, full cancellation and within a 20min walk of a large supermarket (my definition of large is that it has shopping trolleys). Once we get a short list of four we employ the Brian Clough method of final selection, we talk about it then we decide I was right. I say "we" in this process, but the wife is a very silent partner in all of this and only really makes snide comments about the quality of the bed linen in the Airbnb photographs (as if she can tell). Bottom line of this rant is, if you are prepared to do a bit of digging about, there are some very interesting non-touristy places to enjoy. Highlights from 2022 were Ugijar (small village outside of Granada), Ollhao (working town east of Faro), Wroclaw (very under rated ) and Jerez (cracking place for sherry tasting). Fingers crossed for 2023. Bon Voyage everyone.

£70-80 a night is impressive if that's for 2 of you, we're closer to £200 per day on average for everything and I thought I was doing it cheaply Though we do tend to eat out most days, that can rack the cost up.

Sea_Shell

NedS said:

We definitely need some MSE retirement holiday tips. The plan for retirement was 2-3 trips per year, 2 to Caribbean (Jan and May/Jun) and one to Europe/Canaries (Oct), but the prices have rocketed for the all inclusive resorts we prefer. With an annual holiday budget of around £10k or less for 3 trips (pre-CoL crisis), I think we definitely need some help to get better value for money and broaden our horizons.

Maybe best on its own thread.

zagfles

NedS said:

We definitely need some MSE retirement holiday tips. The plan for retirement was 2-3 trips per year, 2 to Caribbean (Jan and May/Jun) and one to Europe/Canaries (Oct), but the prices have rocketed for the all inclusive resorts we prefer. With an annual holiday budget of around £10k or less for 3 trips (pre-CoL crisis), I think we definitely need some help to get better value for money and broaden our horizons.

Few tips from me:

1. Don't do long haul packages, they're usually overpriced. Generally "exotic" destinations are very cheap once there, so the extra you pay in flight cost can be recouped in lower accomodation/eating out/touristy costs etc. Also try to go for at least 2-3 weeks (or 3-4 if very long haul eg Aus/NZ) to get the best value for the high flight cost and time to get over jetlag.
   
2. If going to Aus/NZ, consider the transit hotel in Singapore with a 8-10 hour layover rather than paying a silly price for business class. I've mentioned this on the travel board loads of times
3. There are often cracking late deals (around 2 weeks before travel) for short haul packages to popular holiday destinations if you're flexible. Same for cruises, these can be half price or less booked late.
   
4. Consider eastern Europe, whether you want a beach or cultural/sightseeing holiday it's great for both, and can get very cheap flights and accomodation
5. Don't believe people when they tell you "xxx is expensive". The number of times I've been told that and went and found it was actually good value if you've got enough nouse to avoid the rip-offs. Places like NZ, Venice, Singapore, which I found cheaper than the UK for most stuff. OTOH believe them for places like Norway, Iceland
6. Apply an adjustment factor to reviews. Generally a big hotel that gets 7/10 will be better than an Airbnb that get 9/10. When staying in a B&B or Airbnb run by a nice couple who you get to meet, or even if just talk online, people tend to review much more favourably and perhaps not point out the flaws, whereas they will with a big impersonal hotel
7. Make sure you do all the MSE stuff like get fee free credit/debit cards (at least 2, in case one gets blocked), and check mobile roaming rates/packages etc.
   
8. Travel light, on budget flights it's so much cheaper (and less hassle) not to have checked baggage. Obviously also easier to cart around. Don't take stuff "just in case", virtually everywhere will have shops you can buy stuff from eg if you get a hole in your shoe
9. Don't insist on flying from your local airport, especially for long haul it can be far cheaper to fly from London. Airport hotels are often surprisingly good value if you have an early flight.
   

NedS

Sea_Shell said:

NedS said:

We definitely need some MSE retirement holiday tips. The plan for retirement was 2-3 trips per year, 2 to Caribbean (Jan and May/Jun) and one to Europe/Canaries (Oct), but the prices have rocketed for the all inclusive resorts we prefer. With an annual holiday budget of around £10k or less for 3 trips (pre-CoL crisis), I think we definitely need some help to get better value for money and broaden our horizons.

Maybe best on its own thread.

I was thinking that, when the time comes. I definitely do not want to clutter your thread unnecessarily

Sea_Shell

Well, so the Budget could have been worse, for us, but on the face of it not too bad in our circumstances.

Energy and council tax will go up.    By about £45 and £10 pm, so an extra ~£660 a year.
Fiscal drag on income tax, if we need (choose) to draw more than PA.
Triple lock increase "baked in" to our forecast SP. *Covered in another thread.
ISAs left alone... phew.   We don't have any investments subject to CGT.

General inflation will continue cause some "how much!!!" expletives, but nothing to cause sleepless nights...yet!

Looking ahead to our 2023 "budget", we'll probably have spends (allowing for 10% inflation in general) of about £16,500.   Excluding any large capital expenditure, of which we have none planned.

This still represents less than 3% of our current pot.  Market downturns not withstanding.


Saying all that, I do appreciate the position we're in. 

Kim1965

Can you remind me of your ages? Cannot remember if you have any db pensions to pick up before sp age? 

quirkydeptless

Sea_Shell said:

Saying all that, I do appreciate the position we're in. 

..........

zagfles

Sea_Shell said:

Well, so the Budget could have been worse, for us, but on the face of it not too bad in our circumstances.

Energy and council tax will go up.    By about £45 and £10 pm, so an extra ~£660 a year.
Fiscal drag on income tax, if we need (choose) to draw more than PA.
Triple lock increase "baked in" to our forecast SP. *Covered in another thread.
ISAs left alone... phew.   We don't have any investments subject to CGT.

General inflation will continue cause some "how much!!!" expletives, but nothing to cause sleepless nights...yet!

Looking ahead to our 2023 "budget", we'll probably have spends (allowing for 10% inflation in general) of about £16,500.   Excluding any large capital expenditure, of which we have none planned.

This still represents less than 3% of our current pot.  Market downturns not withstanding.


Saying all that, I do appreciate the position we're in. 

One thing I noticed is the NI class 3 rate (voluntary contributions) is going up with CPI ie 10.1% so if you're going to pay class 3 to buy extra state pension years it may be better to do it before the end of the tax year