What I consider my everyday life, my friends call vacation.
Oh yes! I can relate so much to words on this thread and think "carpe diem" kare words we should all live by.
I have a young child and mobility challenges ( not as severe as Rome Addict, but I have spent more time that I would have liked in a wheel chair, crutches and with canes. I am also considerably overweight ( the crushed arthitic knee plays into this scenario).
Every step I take hurts and in the morning my arthritis is often so bad I can barely make it to the bathroom a few feet away.
That has not stopped me from eleven months of non stop travel and instead as only inspired me to do more. We actually live on less while traveling and our child gets a better education.
I think life is really meant to be more free than we allow ourselves to be.There really are no limitations except those we put on ourselves.
The hardest part of our trip was deciding to do it and figuring out how to do it. Once you take the leap ( to what ever your dream happens to be) it is clear sailing. ( And if it is not, jump again until it is clear sailing).
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and endless plans.
That the moment one definitely commits oneself then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred.
A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
The road is not the road the road is how you walk it.... Juan Ramon Jimenez
The Road goes ever on and on, Out from your door if you can. Now far ahead the road has gone, and you must follow if you can. Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way. Where many paths and errands meet And whither then I cannot say.
Posts: 3762 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
Originally posted by BC Brenda: However, I am willing to wager that no one says "I wish I had travelled less"
I'm willing to bet when a lot of folks are 80 years old, with no significant savings and no decent insurance, they'll be saying it. Time alone can tell.
Thanks! Bucky "Trying To Slow Down" Edgett
Posts: 749 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 24 April 2006
I'm willing to bet when a lot of folks are 80 years old, with no significant savings and no decent insurance, they'll be saying it. Time alone can tell.
Long term and short term needs should be balanced. This is the kind of comment my husband might make to me to discourge me from drinking a somewhat expenive starbucks latte. Most of us are "working" poor. As long as we are working we can afford cherries from Chile in the winter and Starbucks lattes. If we are not working, then the amount of money that we saved from those cherries won't really make a difference in one's life. I'm not saying don't save for retirement, but balance your retirement saving with with the now of travel before you die or your health fails. A lot of baby boomers might be approaching retirement with inadequate saving because the company they worked for for 20 years ended theri pension plan before they turned 55, but they thought the company would be paying them a pension. Because of how pensions are backloaded, there is no way they can save enough to retire when they thought they might. On top of that then your dept get downsized when you are 60 and then it's hard to make up by working longer because no one want to hire you. And you can be thinking you are going the right thing all along and still be short-changed by the system in the end. Carpe Diem.
Posts: 3762 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
I agree that money spent must be balanced with money saved. The tricky part is determining the amount that will be needed in retirement. I believe in the "pay yourself first" method of saving for retirement. The hard part is knowing whether or not it will be enough. The most important thing to me is to save now so that I will not be a financial burden to my children later. That said, I also believe that it is equally important to spend on things that are really important and that is different for everyone. I think that most people on this site share that philosophy and are responsible enough to know that you can't have it all, it is a matter of priority.
I believe that travel is possible for most people if they really want it. For me personally the first thing I do when planning a trip is to set a budget. I am realistic enough to know that it may not be completely accurate but it gives me a pretty good idea of how much I will need. I decide what is most important and then adjust as needed. For instance, on my trip in Sept. I am using miles for airfare and points for most hotels. I don't plan to do a gondola ride in Venice or dine at expensive restaurants. I do plan to splurge on a few private tours because that is what I want most.
I too lost a father who had just retired. He taught me that there are no guarantees in life and that you should plan for the future but also enjoy the now!
I think that much of this discussion involves living consciously, and bringing as much awareness as possible to every decision which a person makes. It is easy, ashamedly so, to put "it" on automatic pilot and just keep going, making very few conscious decisions at all. But in the end, "it" is life, and life is time, and time is the biggest luxury, actually the only luxury any of us have. It is the great equalizer, it makes the rich man poor and the poor man rich. What one choose to do with one's time will determine how rich one actually is, and if one live fully aware of who one is and what one needs, one will make decisions which make the most of one's very limited time on this earth.
Originally posted by Diana Strinati Baur: But in the end, "it" is life, and life is time, and time is the biggest luxury, actually the only luxury any of us have. It is the great equalizer, it makes the rich man poor and the poor man rich. What one choose to do with one's time will determine how rich one actually is, and if one live fully aware of who one is and what one needs, one will make decisions which make the most of one's very limited time on this earth.
Originally posted by Diana Strinati Baur: I think that much of this discussion involves living consciously, and bringing as much awareness as possible to every decision which a person makes. It is easy, ashamedly so, to put "it" on automatic pilot and just keep going, making very few conscious decisions at all. But in the end, "it" is life, and life is time, and time is the biggest luxury, actually the only luxury any of us have. It is the great equalizer, it makes the rich man poor and the poor man rich. What one choose to do with one's time will determine how rich one actually is, and if one live fully aware of who one is and what one needs, one will make decisions which make the most of one's very limited time on this earth.
If you get to be 80 with no savings, you may indeed regret excessive travel.
If you get cancer at 50, and die within the year, you may regret lack of travel. You might be in perfect financial shape for a life of travel after retiring at 60, but it won't help.
Who knows which scenario is going to play out?
Another scenario that constantly runs through my mind is more of an apocalyptic one. I imagine few people were traveling to Europe during WWII (other than soldiers, of course). So go now while it's still pretty safe, is what I tend to think. Or I envision a complete economic collapse, which will make all my savings worthless. Of course I hope I am wrong with my doomsday worries, but they do factor in.
Thank you to this post and all of the responses--I think I would have felt quite guilty for having just gotten back from a two and a half week trip to Italy already to be planning a trip somewhere for March. But now I am excited and feel completely justified and logical about it all! Why wouldn't I go somewhere else if I can...and I've discovered the lovely thing about travel is that the expenses can be spread out across many months (at least between the time one gets the plane tickets to actually being there) so it is suprisingly "doable." Was thinking about Spain possibly, but just maybe got sent a sign this morning when in my inbox there was what seems to be a very good deal for an open jaw w/hotel for london and paris...oh the possibilities...
I'm willing to bet when a lot of folks are 80 years old, with no significant savings and no decent insurance, they'll be saying it. Time alone can tell.
What makes you think you're going to live to be 80?????
It's all a lottery- save it and you may die young. Squander it and you may live to 100- but think what lovely memories you'll have!
This is really a great thread,with many thought provoking comments.
I have been plagued with arthritis in both knees, and hips, these past 4 years. I am 64 and made my first trip abroad( to Italy) last fall. I tried to prepare for the trip by walking as far as possible every day. Some days the pain would not allow me to travel more than a few blocks.
My sister and I had talked so much of going to Italy and tracing our late fathers footsteps, that he took while serving our country in WWII. (see details in trip report) I was determined to make this happen. It took me 2 years to save the money and enough vacation time ( we went for 4 weeks)but I was so determined to make this trip.
Almost every day on the trip, the pain was there, but with the encouragement from my sister, I pushed my self, just one more step, just one more, I can do it. (I had even had cortisone shots in my hips, thinking this might help) When I would stop walking, the pain would subside, but the minute I would walk any distance, it was back.
Well, I must tell you, I do not regret, for one moment, that I took this wonderful amazing trip. We found places our Father had photographed, and found the apartment he had lived in for a year.
Often times, my sister would walk on ahead, then come back and tell be how much further we had to go, or what the terrain was like. She was amazing, many times I just sat down and said I can not go another step, yet, with her encouragement, I was up and walking to our destination for the day. I did have to miss some things, as I just could not go any further, but I do not regret for a moment,as the pain and discomfort fade from my memory, the joy of finding so many places our father had walked 58 years before, are a vivid lasting memory in my heart and in my mind.
Sandra, I remember reading your trip report when it was posted. Well, we are all here, still here, still dreaming and planning, and that's what really counts!
I was feeling a bit discouraged this morning, wondering if I am being unrealistic about my plans to tramp around Rome and Naples for 3 weeks this October. (I'm another arthritis sufferer, plus I have really bad feet).
Reading your post reminded me that my feet and knees and back ached on my last trip, but did I have a wonderful trip? You bet I did!
Posts: 684 | Location: Toronto | Registered: 18 February 2006
Originally posted by MargM: Sandra, thank you for posting that.
I was feeling a bit discouraged this morning, wondering if I am being unrealistic about my plans to tramp around Rome and Naples for 3 weeks this October. (I'm another arthritis sufferer, plus I have really bad feet).
Reading your post reminded me that my feet and knees and back ached on my last trip, but did I have a wonderful trip? You bet I did!
I really strongly encourage those of you who have mobility issues to look at renting one of the new light weight mobility scooters. They weigh MAYBE 50-60 pounds, if you pull the battery out they weigh even less. In Rome the taxi cab drivers all helped load the scooter. And many times the scooter gave me the option of NOT having to use a cab. Most scooters have a range of 12 miles (which in the real world translates to about 6). Take a second battery for back up and you can beat a 21 year old for distances traveled. I know I did.
I'm willing to bet when a lot of folks are 80 years old, with no significant savings and no decent insurance, they'll be saying it. Time alone can tell.
What makes you think you're going to live to be 80????? It's all a lottery- save it and you may die young. Squander it and you may live to 100- but think what lovely memories you'll have!
Well, when I was twenty I couldn't really imagine being fifty-five. But here I am. And mildly sorry I did squander a lot of time and money.
After a few recent years helping take care of elderly and dying relatives, and watching the trouble my siblings are in, I'd say lovely memories are wonderful for those with the comfort to enjoy them. For those without that luxury, they're worthless.
So, make sure you've got both.
Thanks! Bucky "Trying To Slow Down" Edgett
Posts: 749 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 24 April 2006
After a few recent years helping take care of elderly and dying relatives, and watching the trouble my siblings are in, I'd say lovely memories are wonderful for those with the comfort to enjoy them. For those without that luxury, they're worthless.
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I don't see my "lovely memories" as being available to me solely for use in comfortable social settings, and only when I have a pocket full of cash.
During stressful times, such as you describe, I have often mentally visualized various people, places, and events from my travels to pull me out of a funk...to reduce anxiety, to lower blood pressure, to slow the heart rate, etc. And I have reduced the torture of being in many traffic jams by visualizing my having hovered over a reef full of beautiful fish in the Caribbean.
So I consider my travel adventures as being a necessary and fundamental part of my health care. A mind well-stocked with wonderful travel memories provides a sort of life-long luxury, and comfort comes from discovering it can be used beneficially in all sorts of ways--regardless of the amount of cash in your pocket.
Posts: 43 | Location: Chicago | Registered: 14 December 2006
As much as I love travel, and as much as I view it as good for my mental health, I'd have to say that if I get old and/or infirm and need money for rent, food, and health care, my memories won't pay the bills. And that's how I interpreted Bucky's post: strike a balance that fits your circumstances.
Some people seem to advocate spending it all today and not worrying about tomorrow--good for them, if they can afford it, but not everyone can. Even some educated, middle-class folks don't own homes, have spouses with incomes, have investments, or have any inherited money. For many, if not most average folks, saving for retirement is a necessity, not a narrow-minded act of self-denial. If you've ever lived through layoffs, unemployment, times without health insurance, helping relatives make ends meet, etc., you know the importance of having something to fall back on. And there are people who truly do live close to the edge, or below it, and don't travel not because they're squandering cash on luxury items or because they're too unimaginative to appreciate it, but because they're working as hard as they can just to put food on the table. I just don't think it's very realistic to assume that everybody's financial constraints, or lack of same, are equal, and to disdain those who need to prioritize differently.
That being said, most of my spare cash goes to travel (of course)! But that's what left after the retirement withholding comes out.
Posts: 691 | Location: San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 28 June 2006
After a few recent years helping take care of elderly and dying relatives, and watching the trouble my siblings are in, I'd say lovely memories are wonderful for those with the comfort to enjoy them. For those without that luxury, they're worthless.
Unfortunately, life is a lottery as someone else mentioned. I am 54 but I am not taking care of any dying or sick parents or in-laws because, they are all dead already. My children do not have a single living grandparent and one of them is only 17. My last remaining grandparent died when I was 45.
In my husband's family for whatever reason, his relatives die cheaply and without care fromn other family members, because they die suddenly, often without warning (and not from all the same disease either).
One needs to balance one's own needs for retirement and unemployment income and the needs of one's children. But Life can be short. There is only now and not-now. The future is just about as useful as the past is.
Posts: 3762 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
Why am I a grasshopper? Why do I recommend do it now? Why do I plan so hard and so long for my vacations?
I plan obsessively for a couple of reasons. Some particular to me, some pretty general to most of us.
The particular to me and my circumstances is I plan for safety reasons. I need to know that I am not going to get dead ended into an unaccessible situation where I can't get out either with the wheelchair or my limited walking. So that becomes one of my major concerns.
I plan to be able to determine just exactly what I can see easily and what is going to take some serious physical effort on my part. I do that so that I can space that effort over a couple of days. If I want to see Bernini's passion of St. Teresa I know that I am looking at 16 steps. I can do it but I am going to pay so I better make sure the following day is pretty much "down time".
In general terms I plan because it is my vacation. Proper planning prevents poor performance. If my vacation goes south I am stuck with another 365 days (minimum) in a crappy job I hate and I have had no emotional re-charge. And I have spent money that I could have been better served by. I had a bad vacation (not Italy) one year and by the end of the year I was on Prozac. So to me I can spend $5,000 a year on therapy and pills or I can have a great vacation. So yes, the vacation has occasionally been put on the never, never (AKA Visa) but it gets paid back.
I plan because I have limited means. If I can find a better deal, cheaper but equally nice digs, good food then she who travels farthest, longest, cheapest wins.
I plan because I do have other demands on my money including max contributions to my 401K. Am I living paycheck to paycheck? Most americans are. Buckye is right and we should plan for retirement.
But Dragonpat is being realistic in looking at her family history. Your lifespan is pretty much determined by how long your parents lived. Particularly if they were born in the 30's and 40's. They have had the expertise of "modern medicine" most of their adult lives. If you have short (or long) lived grandparents who died of natural causes (not accidents) and their age at death was within 5 years of your parents time of death you have a glimpse into your own expiration date.
The dice are loaded and the game is rigged. Our lifespan is predominantly determined by our genetics. Our fate is in our stars and not in ourselves. We can significantly shorten lifespan (smoke, obesity, drugs, thrill seeking, etc) but most doctors, if they are being honest, will tell you that you can prolong life span only minimally by good habits. In the end we are all whistling past the graveyard.
I have friends whose grandparents are still alive - one just celebrated her 105th birthday. Their parents are still alive and well in their late 80's. Realistically they can and should plan for a retirement well into their 90's.
But like Dragonpat I've looked at my personal "sell by" date and realistically I will be extremely lucky to make it to my 70's. My hope is that I make it without being seriously compromised physically (says the lady in the wheelchair). The boomers new motto? Live fast, die old and who cares what the corpse looks like!!
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