The Early Retiree Travel Thread

zagfles

lisyloo wrote: »

Well I guess it depends on how much money you have and what you want to do with it e.g. leave it for your kids.

The cost of getting airlifted, repatriated or diverting a cruise ship to within helicopter range (I’ve been on a Cunard ship that did that) could be into 6 figures.

People always go about repatriation, but unless you're in a country with poor medical facilities (or on a cruise at sea) it's not usually necessary.

I can see why people do it (travel uninsured) but also understand why they wouldn’t.
If you are incapacitated you won’t necessarily be able to leave instructions e.g. do not airlift (DNA?)

If a foreigner has a serious accident/medical condition I doubt they'd automatically get airlifted back to their home country, they'd be taken to a local hospital.

There is a halfway house of travelling around the UK and having the NHS on hand.

I’m 51 and I’m planning on not leaving it too late especially as my current hobby (scuba) is quite physical.
I might take a gap before retirement.
Why leave it until you’re ill or less able?

Indeed but that advice seems a bit late in the case we're discussing...

zagfles

p00hsticks wrote: »

There was a program on th BBC recently (I can't recall the name of it) where Mike Berners Lee (Tim's brother and carbon footprint expert) went into a household and asked the family to sort their weekly shopping into order of carbon footprint.

Wine from Australia actually has a comparitively low carbon footprint - it's shipped by tanker from Oz and bottled in this country - as do bananas, which also travel by boat.

Chinese and far eastern appliances and clothing will also arrive by boat and so their carbon footprint is also likely to be ar lower than you would initially think ,although as you point out there are other ethical concerns with regard to the sweatshop economy.

The highest carbon footprint items were those imported by air freight (e.g. asparagus) and red meat, even if produced in this country.

Interesting. Of course it's not just the transport cost of consumer goods that causes a carbon footprint, it's the manufacturing process, the energy use of an appliance while in use, the disposal etc.

This site is quite interesting, although it doesn't show the carbon footprint of having a pet etc https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
Few interesting bits it shows:

• Living alone (vs sharing with 1 other person) with average energy use has a carbon footprint more than 2 return flights to New York
• Living 10 miles from work and driving there rather than train/bus has a carbon footprint about the same as a return flight to New York
• Using the same scale, eating meat is about a return flight to NY
• Every £2500 on clothes/shoes is about the same as the NY return flight
• Every £1000 spent on your car (ex fuel) is about a NY return (I presume this is depreciation, maintenance etc)

Bit sceptical about some of the stuff, eg spending money on insurance and financial products apparently has a significant carbon footprint!

Lois_and_CK

I'd like to retire at 55, sell my house and the bulk of my belongings, and put what's left in storage. Then I want to travel for a few years. I fancy going round Europe on trains, renting airbnb places for a month or so at a time. And I'd like a long trip round Canada and America.

After that, I'd like to come back home, travel round the UK for a bit doing the same thing with airbnbs, decide where to live & buy a little place, have animals, read, pursue hobbies, and so on. From then on I imagine most of my holidays will be in the UK.

bugslett

zagfles wrote: »

Interesting. Of course it's not just the transport cost of consumer goods that causes a carbon footprint, it's the manufacturing process, the energy use of an appliance while in use, the disposal etc.

This site is quite interesting, although it doesn't show the carbon footprint of having a pet etc https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
Few interesting bits it shows:

• Living alone (vs sharing with 1 other person) with average energy use has a carbon footprint more than 2 return flights to New York
• Living 10 miles from work and driving there rather than train/bus has a carbon footprint about the same as a return flight to New York
• Using the same scale, eating meat is about a return flight to NY
• Every £2500 on clothes/shoes is about the same as the NY return flight
• Every £1000 spent on your car (ex fuel) is about a NY return (I presume this is depreciation, maintenance etc)

Bit sceptical about some of the stuff, eg spending money on insurance and financial products apparently has a significant carbon footprint!

I looked at either that site or a similar one and couldn't understand where the footprint came in from financial products either.

I know those are averages, but when Mr Bugs was alive, the heating came on around 15 degrees, for me it's about 8 degrees and he never knowingly switched off a room light, whereas if I'm reading the kindle, I often don't have any lights on!

Lois_and_CK wrote: »

I'd like to retire at 55, sell my house and the bulk of my belongings, and put what's left in storage. Then I want to travel for a few years. I fancy going round Europe on trains, renting airbnb places for a month or so at a time. And I'd like a long trip round Canada and America.

After that, I'd like to come back home, travel round the UK for a bit doing the same thing with airbnbs, decide where to live & buy a little place, have animals, read, pursue hobbies, and so on. From then on I imagine most of my holidays will be in the UK.

I know a few people that live aboard their boats (very tempting!), but there is always the question of what happens if they find a boat too difficult to handle through age or infirmity, and they then have to get back onto the housing ladder.

You are perhaps comfortable enough financially, but it's worth thinking about once you finish your travelling. I did meet a lady who lived aboard her boat for 12 years, but had kept her house and rented it out since. May be worth considering?

p00hsticks

zagfles wrote: »

Interesting. Of course it's not just the transport cost of consumer goods that causes a carbon footprint, it's the manufacturing process, the energy use of an appliance while in use, the disposal etc.

The whole program was very interesting - unfortunately I can't remember the name of it (and I'm not even sure it was on BBC) or when in the last few weeks it was on. The piece about the carbon footprint of a weekly shop was just a small bit of it - they had set up an 'honest' shop where all the food had 'honest' labelling (for example, if you buy cheese slices they only contain around 11% cheese, the percentage pesticide residue you'll likely get on various types of fresh fruit etc).


Edit - just found it - it was an episode of Horizon. Well worth a watch although you'll never eat 'fresh' fish again after watching it. !


https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006p3j

shinytop

• Living 10 miles from work and driving there rather than train/bus has a carbon footprint about the same as a return flight to New York

So when I retire next month I'll be going from 62 miles each way 4x per week to zero. Now where was that Skyscanner bookmark...

crv1963

shinytop wrote: »

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So when I retire next month I'll be going from 62 miles each way 4x per week to zero. Now where was that Skyscanner bookmark...

Interesting the commute, mine is 90 miles each way- although this is offset by my taking lodgings when there but that was more to save the time spent travelling 3 or 4 days per week as much as to save the cost of diesel.

Sometimes a long commute is needed for any number of reasons. I'm not a climate change denier but am a skeptic about all the claims made and changes demanded of the general population to prevent it worsening.

I do like seasonal food eating but if you want to pay the money most foodstuff is available on a daily basis, where is the carbon thinking behind that?

Voyager2002

BLB53 wrote: »

I have taken the message of Greta Thunberg and her generation on board. Therefore during my retirement I will be doing minimal travelling, certainly no long haul flights or cruises. I sincerely hope everyone will start to think about personal lifestyle choices and their carbon footprint. We all share a responsibility for the future of our children and grandchildren.

I applaud your objectives and your willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of the climate. However:
1. Short-haul flights produce almost as much CO2 as do long-haul ones (take-off and landing are the worst parts of any flight), and while surface travel is often a feasible alternative to short-haul flights, there is no practical alternative way to get to far-away places;
2. The food system causes about ten times as much damage to the climate as does the aviation sector. So if you were to make 'sacrifices' in your choice of food, that would outweigh the damage done by a limited amount of flying. I say 'sacrifices' since for many of us local food produced in broadly organic ways is a pleasure rather than something to endure.

BLB53

I applaud your objectives and your willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of the climate. However:
1. Short-haul flights produce almost as much CO2 as do long-haul ones (take-off and landing are the worst parts of any flight), and while surface travel is often a feasible alternative to short-haul flights, there is no practical alternative way to get to far-away places;
2. The food system causes about ten times as much damage to the climate as does the aviation sector. So if you were to make 'sacrifices' in your choice of food, that would outweigh the damage done by a limited amount of flying. I say 'sacrifices' since for many of us local food produced in broadly organic ways is a pleasure rather than something to endure.

Thanks.

On a personal level:
1. I don't fly at all. Train for any longer UK journeys and public transport for local trips.

2. I agree that food plays a big part in the fight against climate emergency. I have been veggie for the past 40 years and in business have set up organic veg delivery schemes - but now retired!

We have an emergency and I think we are the only generation that can make a difference so, for the sake of my grandchildren, I and my children do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint. Air travel is a priviledge enjoyed by less than 10% of the world's population but the emissions affect everyone.

We all have a responsibility, if we accept the warnings from the IPCC, to live a more climate friendly lifestyle - diet, travel/leisure, energy use, work etc. There is no planet B!

westv

470 miles a week train commuting here (380 miles of that js from 2 journeys).
So a big reduction when I retire.