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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