Great Lifestyles Perfect for Those Who Love Traveling

 

It’s almost the beginning of another year, the time we think about priorities and how we want to move on. You may be preparing for retirement or want to make a change in how you work from home, especially since there are many portable careers available now. It’s time to make another pause.

My husband and I have used such pauses well over the years. In 2007 we met and married more than a year later. We retired embracing one retirement lifestyle; in 2013, made a change; and in 2017, went through another. Now it’s time to do it all over again. Here are the lifestyles we tried and what we dream of doing next.

Full-time RVing

About six months after we married, we decided to live in an RV full-time. We rented out our homes, sold some of our belongings, gave away others to family, and stored the rest in the garage of my daughter’s house and the shed of my condo in Seattle. We set out to conquer North America.

For the first three months, we simply tried it out and bought a small used 24-ft. Class B motorhome. When we were convinced it was the lifestyle we wanted, we bought a membership at a national campground network and upgraded our “home” to a 37.5-ft Class A. The network enabled us to stay at a campground (one of almost 200) for three weeks at a time (daily camping cost turned out to be less than ten dollars).

Fulltime RVing is perfect for the avid travelers that we are. We cris-crossed the continent six times in five years, staying in all 49 American states, ten Canadian provinces, and six Mexican states. We visited 35 national parks, 34 national monuments, and hundreds of other national, regional, and state landmarks. It was even more perfect for me: I had just retired and migrated to the US. I felt I truly deserved the citizenship I was granted.

We also found out that it was a very economical way to live as long as you invested in a good brand second-hand RV from a national chain, joined a reputable campground network spread out over the continent, mostly dined in with the majestic backdrops you found, and loved the outdoors and its bounty.

Snowbirding and World Travel

In 2013, when we discovered some health issues, we had to tweak our retirement lifestyle. We shifted to snowbirding, staying put for a few months, and having annual check-ups with a team of doctors. Starting that Christmas season, we parked our RV at the Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort and wintered in the Phoenix area. The rest of the year, we stored the RV and visited family, held family reunions, and took off to explore the rest of the world.

To do this, we invested in two timeshare memberships: one that gave us many resort options around the world and another that had extensive properties all over the US. As a result, traveled Europe extensively, spending a week in different towns, making them bases for wandering around and touring nearby countries.

The other allowed us to host week-long family reunions for each of our families in many scenic states. And, since our children’s homes are spread out over three countries and four states, we have gotten to know those locations and their adjoining areas well.  

Resort Living

We loved this snowbirding phase so much that we decided to stay permanently in Viewpoint and sold our RV. In Christmas 2017, we gifted each other a brand new three-bedroom unit. Three months later, we moved into our new home, getting “lost” in the 1,200 sq. ft of space, having lived in a cozy 350-sq. ft. RV for eight years.

Viewpoint has everything you need for an active 55+ lifestyle. I choose from two fitness centers every day; after which I go to the pool, hot tub (there are four available), and sauna. We tried our hands at the tennis courts (there are ten) and when we did not do well, contemplated a shift to pickleball (also ten courts).  Bill settled on golf and I, writing. We take walks around the park in the evening. There are movies, bingo, concerts, dinners, games, parties, and about 50 clubs to choose from. I chose the Photography, Writing, Painting, Texas Hold’Em, and the Computer Clubs.

With a big kitchen, I have enjoyed cooking more; tending to my plants has been a new pastime; and I have enjoyed time with valued friends. Staying home has allowed me to get renewed for the demanding and exciting world travel and family visits ahead.

Making Another Country a Second Home

In 2017, one timeshare reminded us that we still had three weeks that we would lose if we didn’t use the points by the end of the year. We quickly decided to spend that Christmas season in Cozumel. On that Caribbean island, we got a chance to change our retirement lifestyle yet again.

The truth is Bill would love to retire full-time in Mexico. It was where he had enjoyed months with his family before his first wife passed on. As a compromise, we gifted ourselves with an all-inclusive three-month leased timeshare we could use in any of the seven resorts in Mazatlan, Puerto Morelos, or Cozumel. This has turned out to be more practical than maintaining a house in a foreign land.

In 2018 and 2019 (impossible in 2020), and 2021 we went to Mazatlan where we never had to cook or clean, with ten restaurants available, a country club, and a short drive to downtown Mazatlan.  In 2022 we shifted to a resort on the Riviera Maya in Puerto Morelos with nine restaurants and many new landmarks to explore. We are returning there this December.

Long-Term Cruising for Life-Long Learning

In 1926 its first ship sailed from New Jersey for a voyage of seven and a half months to 90 ports. It was called the University of Seven Seas; later it came to be called the World Campus Afloat. Then the Institute of Shipboard Education shifted to its successor program, Semester at Sea. We had a taste of this when we sailed the Baltic countries, Iceland, and the UK in 2015.

The program was made available for non-students, as Enrichment Voyages first and then the Lifelong Learning Program. For a minimum of 30 days, visits to ports are complemented by seminars or workshops: political, economic, historical, geographical, and art and architectural discussions of the ports/regions, while at sea. The same professors with PhDs in their fields who teach the students are the seminar leaders. Some workshops include arts and crafts, writing and book clubs, dance, yoga, tai chi sessions, etc.

The ship’s facilities may not be as luxurious as regular cruise ships but adequate for the 700: 10 classrooms, 1 large seminar/showroom, another large seminar/ballroom, a piano bar, two dining rooms (buffet and waiter service), a pool and poolside bar, three viewing decks, a gym, spa, sauna, and massage wellness center, a library, a computer lab, a cruise ship store, and a medical clinic. Wifi facilities were formerly very limited but now that problem has been solved.

Other cruise lines have followed suit and offer living options on cruise ships. This new lifestyle has attracted some.

Making Another Country A First Home

This is what we have not yet tried. There are places where the cost of living is such that you can pretty much live at the same cost as home but be at the backdoor of other dream destinations. You can stay at a Spanish “castle,” a French chateau, an Italian vineyard, a South American pueblo, or “own” an island in the Philippines! But, at 75 and 80, Bill and I may have run out of time for this last lifestyle. What we can do is still dream!

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