Vacations Not For Us This Year, Or Maybe It Is?

My Definition of a Retirement Vacation

Vacations in retirement mean:

Doing what we want,

When we want,

How we want, and

Go where we want.

The Glory of Retirement

Some retirees are comfortable to stay at home. Other retirees need to get away for a vacation to revamp and revitalize their souls.

When our children were growing up, we took terrific holidays every other year, and as the children got older, we took vacations every year.

My husband and I were skilled professionals, and we were still working full-time. We could afford to take the children to unusual and fantastic places every year. We continued our vacation venues throughout the time the kids were at home and we were working.

We are now retired, and our economy is not as good as it was in the 1970s through the 1990s. Although our economy is greatly improving, I doubt if the rising economy touches seniors like it does the working class.

Like many seniors, we rely on Social Security checks instead of paychecks. This decrease in income cut into our desire to take extravagant vacations. We are now finding out what it is like living on Social Security.

You might say that finances play a large part of what we do, where we go, and how far we go to get away. All of this depends upon our current budget. We do not believe in living off a credit card to buy a vacation. If we cannot afford to pay cash, we do not go anywhere on vacation. Like many other retirees, our mini-vacation getaways may be to our local Walmart Store.

We are happy to stay at home in the garden.

Remaining at home can be an exciting adventure.

Most years we are going to keep busy at home. Actually, for once in our life we can be as active as we want. There are many things required to keep our house up.

Planting flowers and landscaping work calls our name every spring, so this is on our summer agenda for 2018. We spend the winter months updating the inside of our home when money permits.

Overpaying for Gas, Food, Attractions, and Accommodations in the Name of a Vacation?

Another reason we chose to stay at home is the ever-fluctuating gasoline prices. In our city, we see gas prices go up and down by as much as $.20 per gallon in one day. We will never understand the reasoning behind gas prices, other than possible greed with the big oil companies. We would instead put these gas prices in our home.

I find vacations to be relaxing if you plan right and allow yourself to relax. However, I cannot rest well when I see we are overpaying for everything from food, to gasoline, to attractions. Neither my husband nor I can justify the need to spend money like this.

Mini Vacations during the summertime are fun and affordable.

I am sure that my husband and I will want to take some small mini trips over the course of a day or two during the summer. There are plenty of things to do and see in and around our city and outlying areas. All we have to do is drive an hour and a half to see a wealth of attractions we have not seen, or revisit enjoyable venues.

Sometimes we enjoy an afternoon at the casino. We have a new casino 45-minutes away. We spend little to no money and enjoy a light lunch and walk around people watching. This type of getaway may not appeal to another person, but for us it is fine for one afternoon and just enough to get us away. To each their own.

Travel The Country by Amtrak

The Amtrak allows passengers to get up and move about, sleep in a family room overnight, access private showers, and get wonderful free meals when spending the night on the train. Observation decks allow passengers to sit and watch passing scenery, work on the internet, drink unlimited free coffee, and visit with other passengers. All of this sounds very inviting to us, if the price is right.

This fall we are planning to try out the Amtrak for a weekend in Chicago, visiting museums and attractions. This is a big enough get-a-way for us at this point. We may graduate to a longer train trip somewhere; we will see and decide later.

See More of the Country By Car

When we travel by car we can drive according to our plans or we can drive off course on sudden impulses. We can take our time and see all we want to see. We can take as long as we want.

We are planning on visiting the Ark and the Creation Museum in Kentucky this year and maybe revisit in the years to come. This trip by car may take a bit of money, as we are planning on taking two grandchildren with us on our first visit.

We reserve air travel for emergencies only.

Air travel has become so very expensive, we have no desire to spend excess money to fly. Fighting large crowds at any airport is not for us anymore. We feel that flying is for people who are in a hurry. Most retirees are no longer in a hurry. We, retirees, love to take it slow and easy and enjoy the sights.

We do not enjoy air travel due to all the problems in the news regarding air travel. If an emergency arises and we need to fly, we will fly. Even though the United States has their share of problems, our family feels safer on American soil.

Train or car travel is what we enjoy.

We love to travel and have no interest in visiting internationally because there are plenty of sights within the United States we want to see, and the world we live in today is a dangerous world. Why tempt fate?

When you are retired, you usually do not have to adhere to a schedule which is the great thing about retirement. Leave when you want to. Be gone as long as your money lasts, or not, and come home when you become tired or the kids get tired of you.

Retirement is fantastic in this aspect. Seniors do not have to take a vacation when summer comes. No more children in school to dictate when we must plan our get-a-way. No more work to schedule around.

If we want to take the grandchildren, we do, and my daughter and son-in-law are grateful for a few kidless days.

This year we are content to stay where we are and do what we feel like doing at home. Maybe we will go somewhere, who knows?

This is the glory of being retired.

References:

By personal experience only