Episode Transcript
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SA
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Aloha and welcome to Inspired Money. Thank you for joining
me today. If this is your first time here, welcome. If you're a
returning viewer or listener, welcome back. It's so great to
be with you. We're here talking about retirement
travel today and I think that retirement travel can take many
forms. Maybe you've dreamed about luxury cruises, guided
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tours, or family vacations that bring loved ones together and
create lifelong memories. Or perhaps you're
intrigued by a more unconventional path. Selling your
home, downsizing your belongings, in embracing full
time nomadic living. What if retirement wasn't about staying
put but about expanding your world? Some retirees are
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redefining this stage of life by living abroad for a fraction of the
cost, spending months in new destinations and experiencing
luxury in ways they never imagined. But how affordable is
this and is it the right choice for you? Whether you're looking
to enhance traditional travel or considering a more
radical approach, today's episode is going to be packed with expert
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insights, inspiring stories and practical advice on how to
design a retirement that fits your dreams,
whatever they may be. So stay tuned as we explore
the mental, social and personal benefits of travel in
retirement. Luxury travel on any budget, whether
it's first class flights or finding hidden gems and good
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deals, alternative travel styles, slow travel,
home swapping and long term stays. And then how
technology is making travel easier and more accessible than
ever. Whether you're looking for traditional getaways or thinking about shaking
things up, this episode I hope will open your eyes to what's
possible. Whether you're watching from YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook,
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Instagram, I hope that you'll join the conversation, ask
questions and get inspired to create your ideal retirement
adventure before we jump in. This episode is brought to you by my
financial advisory firm Running ME Capital Management. I want to
invite you to take advantage of our three minute financial plan. Head
over to InspiredMoney FM GetPlan. It just
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takes three minutes and you'll get a personalized snapshot
to tell you where you are today and where you're trying
to go. Just like with travel, especially international
travel, a little planning can go a long way and your
finances are no different. So start creating a financial roadmap
today. Give it a try and I'm happy to set up a call with you
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to discuss afterwards. Let's meet our guest
panelists. We've got Tim Leffel. He's an award winning travel
writer, author and editor specializing in budget conscious
travel and expat living. As author of the World's
Cheapest Destinations and A Better Life for Half the price.
He helps travelers and retirees maximize their experiences
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while minimizing costs, drawing from decades of global
exploration and expert insights. Tim, I
love it. Enjoying life at half the price. You're speaking my
language. Yeah, thanks for having me on and always
trying to help people get the most for their money and get out there
more. I look forward to getting
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any kind of advice and nuggets from you
that will help my dollar go a little bit further in the future.
We have Doug Nordman. He's a retired US Navy
submariner who achieved financial independence at age
41 and now helps military families navigate early
retirement. He's the author of the Military Guide to Financial
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Independence and Retirement and he shares practical strategies
for building wealth, smart investing, and designing a fulfilling
post military life. Doug,
so good to finally have you on inspired money.
Thanks Andy. It's good to talk about travel. This is a lifestyle I think everybody
can decide is going to work for them one way or the other.
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Yeah, I mentioned before we went live that I'm going to be
living vicariously through all of you because I'm sitting here
in the cold looking out my window at snow and ice
and you guys can wear a T shirt, short sleeve
shorts and enjoy sunscreen. Much
milder weather and sunscreen. Yes, please be safe and wear your
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sunscreen. Rounding out our panel today we have Phil and Jeannie
Titus. They're retired educators turned full time
travelers embracing a nomadic lifestyle. Since
2023, with three of their four children living abroad,
they have explored destinations across Europe, Asia, Australia and
the Americas, all while living comfortably on their two
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teacher pensions. So they are making their dollars
stretch. Phil and Jeanne, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Good to
be here. Well, I'm so excited because we've got
a travel writer, an early retiree, and then
nomadic practitioners. So
many stories that I look forward to gleaning from all of you.
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Let's go straight into segment one. Retirement presents
the perfect opportunity to embrace new experiences and travel
plays a crucial role in keeping the mind sharp, fostering
social connections and encouraging personal development.
Engaging in unfamiliar environments stimulates cognitive
function requiring navigating new locations, learning about
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diverse cultures, and adapting to different situations.
Studies suggest that these mental challenges can promote
neuroplasticity, potentially delaying cognitive
decline. Beyond brain health, travel serves as a bridge to
social engagement. Whether joining group excursions, meeting
locals, or reconnecting with distant friends and family, these
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interactions help reduce isolation and enhance emotional well
being. Personal growth also flourishes through travel.
Stepping outside familiar routines builds resilience,
adaptability and a broader outlook on life.
Retirement isn't about slowing down. It's about expanding
possibilities. By seeking new destinations and
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experiences, retirees can cultivate a deeper sense of
fulfillment and a renewed zest for life.
Jeannie and Phil, you sold your home and most of your belongings to
embark on full time travel. Did you know that
you wanted to do this for a long time?
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Not really during. It kind of all started during
COVID when we were camping in Wisconsin, and I was
in this little bookstore and I saw this book written by a
couple. And I seriously forget the name of the book, but
it was about this couple that had sold everything and decided to
travel. And I was already retired, but my husband had
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a few more years left to work. And I said, hey, what do you think
about this? And he just was sort of stunned. We'd always loved to
travel, but we hadn't really ever talked about selling
everything and getting on the road, and we had never heard of anybody that did
it. But this book sort of sparked an idea, and we
never could really let go of it. Yeah, I have to admit that when
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she proposed this idea from the book, I was a little bit taken back. I
was. I. I didn't really have a very good grasp of what this lifestyle
would look like, but somehow we
just managed to come to an agreement that this was a good idea, we
should take off. And so we have, and we kind of loved it. It's been
great. What was it, what was it like emotionally to sell your home and
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a lot of your belongings? Well, we had a big home
out in the country in Ohio, and we had five acres of land, and we
had raised our children there, and we had built the home, and we had
planted every blade of grass and every bush, and we pretty much did all the
work ourselves. And I was just kind of done with it. You know, our
kids had all moved out. We had no helpers anymore. It was. It was
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a lot of work, and I was kind of ready to go, but Phil had
a little different reaction to it. Yeah, I wasn't really ready to sell the
house. It was very difficult because we've been there 33
years. Well, 27 years in the house, 33 in Ohio.
And so I had to kind of mourn the house for about a month. Honestly.
We. We were in Airbnb about a month before I retired,
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and so I had a month, and it
took me a while to let go of that house. I have to admit, there
were so many memories there. But, you know, once you get on the road
and you. You kind of close that chapter of your life, and then you kind
of move on. You're like, you know what? That was the right thing to do
for us, as it turned out. And you're enjoying the adventure.
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Oh, every day. Every day. Every day's new.
Great. We feel very blessed that we can, that we can do this.
Yeah, it's a big change. Tim, your books focus on making travel
more accessible from your experience. What
does travel like? What. How does travel
enhance people's lives and retirees
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lives, even on a budget? Well, I'm glad you brought up those points
in the video to intro this, because I, I think we kind of know this
inherently, but science has proven it too, that, you know, your brain
synapses fire differently and you can even like, put off
some of the mental effects of aging if your brain's being
stimulated regularly. And yeah, you can do crossword puzzles and,
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you know, play games with your friends and that will help. But if you're
out traveling around the world in different cultures especially, then you're
being super stimulated. And I really think it helps your brain
work in, in completely different ways. And it just
makes you better at problem solving and being creative.
And, you know, problems crop up on the road that you have to deal with.
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But that's a good thing. You know, you. You find your way around them and
that makes your brain work a little harder and you get out of a routine.
But I think it's educationally good for you as well.
I mean, heard so many people say this, it's almost a cliche that they
learned more when they started traveling than they did in college, especially when it comes
to geography or politics or economics or any of those
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things that are so boring when you're reading them in a book. But, you know,
the history comes alive when you're there. So, you know, I think it's.
It's a net plus for most people and, and I know it's hard
to break out of your community and your routine and what you're used to, but
I think for most people, it's a net positive that they can
just get some stimulation and a change of scenery now and
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then. Well, you can do a crossword
puzzle in a foreign language. That's like exponential
growth. I know that you taught English
in Korea and other places when you were younger. So have
you just embraced this idea of travel from a very early
age? Well, the first trip was backpacking around the world
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with my then girlfriend, now wife, and that for that we
were just, you know, taking off and exploring. But eventually we knew the
Money was going to run out. So we got this job teaching English in
Istanbul in Turkey, and that was the first time we did it. And
then on another trip, we taught for a year in Korea. And when we did
that, I really, I think both of us really appreciated that idea
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of being in a culture and seeing how people
live and, and talking to them on a deeper level,
as opposed to just coming through as a one week tourist and seeing it as
a surface level. So as we got older, we wanted to do that with our
daughter somehow, some way. And that's when we first started coming down to Mexico
for a while, the first time just for a year. And then we ended up
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coming back on longer stints. And then I, we moved
here for good, my wife and I, in 2018. And it
just is a whole different experience when you live somewhere and
it's not always easy to make the adjustments, but I think
it, it's a whole lot different than just going to
Cancun for a week, for instance. I bet.
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I, I'm sure you guys know the best places to eat
and like the secret places to go. Doug, as someone
who retired very early, how did travel shape into your
post retirement plan? Well, we, we joke about join
the Navy and see the world, and unfortunately I chose to do that through a
periscope. And now in retirement, we can go back and do all those
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things that we saw during Liberty Ports, only this time we have unlimited
liberty and a lot more money than we would did the first time we went.
And when we retired from active duty, we still
enjoy going and seeing new places and doing new things. And so to us, it's
doing it at our own pace. I always resented having to go
somewhere and live life that I wanted to live in one or two
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weeks at a time and try to race everywhere and see everything. And
now, you know, in that segment that you started this part of
the podcast with, I saw an awful lot of gray hair. And we joke about
travel while you still can, but we also travel at
our pace. So going on slow travel for a month at a
minimum, six, eight weeks, preferably maybe even 90 days, you
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get a much better look at where you're living. You learn to live local.
You learn to find out what the neighborhoods are like and where the best places
are. Our biggest challenge these days is revisiting places we've
been before, to see them again and explore them some more or go find a
new place. And we still haven't solved that problem.
Do you see parallels between adapting to military
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life and adapting to New cultures while traveling? Oh,
sure, absolutely. In the military, you got quite accustomed to changing your location every
two to three years. And in some specialties in the military, you're doing it every
year or two. And so when we would leave home, we
knew that we were going to be traveling for quite a while. And we
can live very lean if necessary. You know, I know how to travel with a
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40 liter backpack for an unlimited amount of time.
And doing that in the military, you felt like you were living
a pretty frugal life, but now that you're doing it as a retiree, it's. It's
an adventure, it's exploration, and it's a lot more interesting.
Phil and Jeanne, can you share a moment when you feel the
travel really changed your perspective on life?
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Yeah, I would say this one of the things that's really
changed me, and I think it's because we have more
time. We travel, we have. We usually stay place a month at a
time. I was always the sort of individual that was kind of hesitant to
say yes. You know, somebody would ask me to do something, I
would be like, you know, I don't know if I really got the time to
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do this. In this new sort of travel
life. Yes is the operative word. If you bump
into somebody and they say, hey, I kind of. We're kind of hitting
it off. You're coming to Australia. Why don't you come stay with us for a
couple days? Total stranger. You met them, you've talked to them for like, you
know, two hours maybe, and your next thing you know, you're at their
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house visiting them. Right? And yes is the
operative word. And it's really changed me. I will say yes. I'm on this
show saying yes to this show. I've never been on a show like this. So
here's somebody just. You want to go on here? I'm like, yeah, sure, let's do
it. Right on. I love the. I love that
approach to life. Or a newfound
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experimentation in life. How about you, Tim?
It's funny, I still look back on one encounter I had
from that very first backpacking trip, because I think as Americans, we
tend to see the world on through our own lens and think the rest of
the world's like that. And of course it's not. And I was talking to
this young man in Indonesia, and he worked on this island where we
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were at for six months at a time. I said, oh, what do you
do the rest of the time? And he goes, oh, I go back home to
where my family lives in the countryside. I said, well, what do you do for
a job there? He goes, no, I don't work when I'm there. Like, I only
work when I'm here for these six months. I was like,
well, why don't you work when you're there too? He's like, I don't know why,
you know, like, I'm making enough money to get by and help my family out,
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and we're eating okay and that's enough.
And I thought, like, that is such a foreign concept to any
American that you would just on purpose only work for six months of the
year. But he was happy and, you know, he was having a good time,
and why should I question that, you know? And
it's. And I sort of ran into different versions of
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that many other times as I traveled around the world. And I
gradually came to the realization that maybe we're a little too
workaholic in the US and it's not treating us well.
That's an excellent point. How about you, Doug?
I enjoy the slower pace. Being able to spend, you know, a month in a
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neighborhood and go and find everything there is to do in that neighborhood.
We've traveled with other people who have read that book, 1000
places to see before you die. And they ended up racing around the
entire region, finding all those places in the book and catching
the place, making a picture, taking a selfie, and then running to the next place.
And they'd be gone all day driving around the countryside, trying to see these
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places. Meanwhile, my spouse and I would spend the day
sitting in a town square for an hour, enjoying a cappuccino or
walking around, seeing the local museum, the local cathedral, sites
like that. And we find that we can do that for a couple of weeks
just in one neighborhood, let alone when we're in a major city like
Tokyo or Rota or Sevilla.
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And from there on, it's easy to just go around there and go out to
the neighboring areas for a short day trip. Something that gets you out in the
morning and back mid afternoon, definitely before dinner and
nightfall. And that slower pace of life I find just as
fulfilling and just as fun as what we used to do when we were
working for a living. I totally agree, Doug. And
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I find it so much more enjoyable than I than running around
doing all the different things. And there's. There's times on during
our travels where we meet up with friends and we do all of that, but
Phil and I just love to just wander the neighborhoods like you said, and we
love to have our little bakery person that we go to every day or the
fruit market, man. And you know, we'll be wandering around and
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when we go to a place, we, we research places that we want to go
and we know that there's things that kind of fit with our lifestyle, but we
never make any plans for what we're going to do once we get there. We
just wander and we'll be wandering along and we'll
see a line queuing up and we'll look at each other and go, huh, I
wonder what that is? And we'll go up to the people online and we'll say,
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what are you in line for? And I'll say, oh, we're here for this concert
and this person's really great. And we'll go, oh, who is it? And we'll look
up on our phones and we'll play a little clip and we'll get in the
line. We'll say, this sounds great. We'll join the line too. There you
go. I love it. Yeah, I think that it
really opens up our worlds when we're willing to
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just talk to a stranger when you're
traveling. And it reminds me of back in
2000, I was in Asia to attend
a classmate's wedding and took a side trip to
Cambodia. All these. The only reason we ended up in
Cambodia is because at the wedding in Taiwan, so
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many people, multiple people told us, you have to go to Cambodia right
now because it's just opening up and it's not
overrun by tourists yet. Now's the time and you're, you're here already.
It's like, just make a side trip. So we went to Cambodia
and would visit all the different sites and
then came across a Buddhist monk who. I'm under the
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impression that these are young people who are not Buddhist monks
for their entire lives. I feel like, I think that
it's just a phase of their life. But this Buddhist monk,
he's wearing the robes and he's asking us all these really personal questions.
He's like, how much money do you make? How much did you spend
to come here? And my friend turned to him and said,
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you ask a lot of questions for a monk.
But great conversations and got all kinds of
tips on what other sites we should see. Made a
connection with like a local tour guide who used to be a nurse,
but it actually ended up doing much better as a tour guide.
But yeah, so much fun traveling. You guys are bringing back all
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these memories. Let's go into segment two.
Luxury travel is no longer confined to high end resorts. And first
class cruises. Many retirees are opting for alternative
styles that provide flexibility, cultural engagement and
meaningful experiences. Slow travel allows for extended stays
in a single location, giving travelers the opportunity to build
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connections with local communities and adopt a more relaxed
pace. Renting accommodations for weeks or months fosters
a deeper understanding of the surroundings while supporting sustainable
tourism. Home swapping offers an affordable and immersive
way to experience a destination from a resident's perspective.
Platforms dedicated to home exchanges provide a secure framework
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for retirees to stay in comfortable settings while reducing
travel expenses. Immersive experiences take travel a
step further, incorporating activities like volunteering,
cultural workshops and hands on learning. These
experiences create lasting connections and opportunities for personal
growth. By embracing these alternative approaches,
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retirees can enjoy travel on their own terms, creating
experiences that go beyond conventional luxury.
Tim, I've heard you talk about currency as
like a motivating factor or an important thing to pay attention
to. Our dollar is pretty strong.
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Give us some advice like where are places that we can go to make our
dollar stretch? Or how do we think differently
from a more traditional. I'm going to a resort
vacation. Yeah, I always tell people,
you know, if you want to spend less on your vacation,
find out where the deals are and then decide where you're going to go instead
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of trying to do it the other way around. Like, if your heart set on
Italy in July, you're going to spend a lot of money no matter what.
But if you could pay attention to where the deals are and where those
currencies, you know, have gotten out of whack or just are
better than they have been historically, you can, you know, just get a
lot more for your money. And a few great examples this
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year. One is Japan. It used to be crazy expensive to go
there. Now it's about 50% less than it used to be. So if that
was high on your list, this is the time to go. Don't keep waiting because
it's not going to last forever. Another one is Brazil. There have been times
not that long ago when it was the most expensive country in the Americas.
Like it was like going to New York City to go to Rio. But now,
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you know, because of, just because of their currency declining, it's
quite the bargain right now. And so there are things
like that and where we are in Mexico to, you know, two of these
boxes, we're in Mexico right now, it's 20 to the dollar and just a year
ago, 17 to the dollar. And so you get a lot more for
your money. When you're getting 20 pesos instead of 17. So
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if you pay attention to those kind of things, it can make a big difference
in your travels. And right now, Europe is quite reasonable. It's almost at
par. It's, I think, $0.97 to the dollar
or something like that. So, you know, it's not always the case. If
you'd gone there five years ago, you might have spent a whole lot more to
go to a cheap country like Bulgaria or an expensive one
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like Italy. So, you know,
I'm not saying you got to be pouring over the financial news constantly to watch
what's going on. You'll generally hear about these things over time.
But currency fluctuations do make a massive difference. And the
dollar is not always strong. So when it is, take advantage of it.
Oh, boy. I think my next trip is for Italy. Planning for
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Italy. I don't, just don't go in the summer, that's
all. I'm not
retired yet. I'm still attached to a school
schedule. I will likely be there in June.
Sorry, I have to go visit a friend. That's my. That'll
be my secret. Crash at a friend's place.
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Bill and Jeanne, what advice would you give
to people considering a nomadic
or slow travel lifestyle?
Hmm, Go for it.
That's what I would say. I mean, you can sit around and think and think
and think and plan and plan and plan, but
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we're not getting any younger and we just kind of decided now's the
time. So we, we do things as cheaply
as. Well we have set a budget for ourselves
and we stay within our budget. The longer we stay someplace, the more
inexpensive it is. What would you
add to that? I would add that if you are
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willing to part with your house, you'd be
shocked at how much money you. Are.
Between fertilizer, between
plants decorating your house. The minute you get
rid of your house, all of a sudden you have. I
don't. We have. I keep a car in the States, but we don't rent cars.
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Typically we, we stay in places where we're walking, you know,
five, six miles. A day because we want to, or taking public
transportation. Yeah, it's, it's, you'd be, it's
so many, there's so many hidden costs to a house. Yeah. I tell
people all the time, if you add what you spent on your mortgage, your property
taxes and your car, that's enough to live on almost anywhere in the
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world. And we had a paid for house for many years
and we're still living. Our monthly budget is still
less. Traveling the world than living In Bowling Green,
Ohio, in a paid for house. It's crazy. Yeah.
Phil, you said that you were a little torn selling the house, but then when
you actually sold the house, was it liberating?
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Well, not at first. You know, there's a funny part of this story is
that I didn't, I was refusing to leave the house. You know,
this is a funny thing. So I stayed there to the last second before the
people moved in. All the stuff was gone. The only thing was left in the
bedroom was a mattress. And I stayed there. That's how hard it was for me
to leave. Right. So I moved. You stayed there for a week before the people
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moved in? I'm still there. But then the
crazy thing was it's. It was, you know, as I said, it took me about
a month. And then once we get on the road, see, it's this. Life
is so exciting, right. Everything is new every day.
We don't know who we're going to meet. We don't know what new ideas are
going to be confronted by. We just know that every day is
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new. And in my old life, as much as I enjoyed
it, things got a bit routine.
Doug, a lot of people, I think, tend to stick to
familiar destinations. What would you say to encourage
people to step beyond a typical, typical
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luxury vacation experience? Well, it's a, it's the phenomenon.
We call it living like a two week millionaire. You're in a resort, you're paying
a tremendous amount of money that you would not be able to sustainably spend
anywhere else in the world for six months, let alone for two weeks.
You're eating the resorts food, it's marked up, you're doing resorts activities,
you've got all the money and everything designed around you to keep you at the
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resort. That works out great if you're going to a water park with three
or four kids in your family. But when you're able to do this as empty
nesters or with older kids, you want to get out and explore. And that's
the best part of being able to do this for longer terms in a more
sustainable manner. For us, the two biggest expenses of slow
travel are the airfare. So the less you
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fly, get there an airplane once, stay there for six weeks or
a couple of months and travel around locally. And lodging, if
you're staying somewhere for a month instead of for a week, as
everybody's already mentioned, the cost per day really drops off
after the first month. The second month, if you can negotiate a rent for
three or four months in one place, you're going to spend a lot less, maybe
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even less total than you would to spend for a resort
trip for two weeks. So we again find that going
somewhere, negotiating longer stays, getting to know the area better,
works very well. As to where you want to go, the
information is out there on the Internet. And I would say go look
at a website like the Earth Awaits. It's tied into a bunch of databases
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of places where you can explore all the facets of
living in that area. Not, not that you're going to go relocate there for five
years, but just to figure out what's important to you. Do you want to travel
in a foreign language? Do you want to travel somewhere in the United States and
see all the national parks? Where do you want to go, what do you want
to do? And doing that research to figure out where you want to go will
help you figure out if you want to go there and what you want to
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do. So the best resource you have right now is
having bandwidth at home on the Internet to do the research. And little by little
you'll find yourself taking those steps and getting out there again. Military
families, you know, they've been all over America and many of them have been all
over the world. They've also been accustomed to living a very frugal
lifestyle, maybe even slopping over into deprivation when you're
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deployed or when you've had difficulties. Once you
are out of the military, whether you're retired or veteran, you've got that
lifestyle. You used to know where you knew what your baseline was.
And after that everything is just exploring the world at your pace,
on your schedule and with more money. Tim,
you maintain several different websites. Can you share some of yours
(30:57):
as resources? Yeah, it's funny, one of them
I use the pen name for because it's a luxury site and I don't normally
write about luxury that much on my other sites, but that
was luxury Latin America and it's all about high end travel in the
Americas. And then I'm at the other end, you
know, for cheap travel. And, and I have one that's all narrative stories
(31:18):
about from book authors. But what I think is interesting what,
what he, what Doug just talked about is, you know, a luxury
experience is very different than a luxury resort. And I think
some people, yeah, they only got five days, they want to go away for a
long weekend and they want to get pampered and they're not going to leave the
resort and then they're going to come back home and they just are kind of
(31:41):
doing that to unwind but if you're traveling for somewhere for four
weeks or eight weeks or 12, then, you know, you can
still live a rather luxurious lifestyle. You can stay in a
really nice Airbnb, or you can do a home exchange or, you know,
something like that. You can cash in hotel points now and then if you want.
There's, you know, ways to live it up now and then if you want to.
(32:03):
But I think just having that freedom in your life is also a
luxury. And it's kind of funny that now when you look
at luxury resort sites, they're
talking a lot about immersive experiences. They're trying to set up these
things where you go to a village and you see the people making the
handicrafts, or you go into a hidden gem
(32:25):
town that, you know, there's not a lot of tourists and all these
are all the kind of things that us independent travelers do anyway, you know, when
we're out there. But now they're realizing that just having a
bath, butler and room service is maybe not enough.
Yeah, immersive experience or eco tourism.
(32:46):
Although I guess depending on whether you do it yourself or through the luxury
resort, there could be a big price difference. Yes, for
sure. When you guys do travel, to what
extent are you searching for
free activities and events and trying to
balance that with, you know, activities that you're willing
(33:08):
to pay for?
There's so much history out there, and so much of it is so
affordable to learn more about. You know, if you go to a town in Europe,
there's going to be a cathedral, there's going to be a museum, there's going to
be a public park, and there's going to be a walking tour that talks about
all the sites right there. If you could spend
maybe $50 a couple, that's a tremendous amount of money to get that
(33:32):
several days of going around and learning about things other than the
culture you grew up with. Going out and doing a
guided tour is wonderful if you're in a strange place and you have a limited
amount of time and maybe. Maybe you're not really ready to explore on your own
yet. Doing one of those can help you get your feet on the ground and
get oriented and decide what you want to do next. I see a lot of
(33:54):
people who take bargain cruises to go somewhere in the
Mediterranean or somewhere in Latin America and visit a
port every day or two to figure out where you really
want to spend your time later on.
Anybody else want to weigh in? Yeah, I would
say that we are very active, Jeanne and
(34:16):
I, and so we like to bike and we like to
hike, and there's a lot of amazing parks that
really cost you nothing, right? If you, if you're the kind of person that loves
to be active and just want to be outside and doesn't even almost
matter where you are, you're at the beach, wherever you are, it doesn't
cost that much to be at the beach. Right. Once you're there.
(34:38):
And so when you're there long term, and I agree with these guys, they're saying,
you know, once you're there long term, and you sort of get past that first
week of I'm a tourist, I'm a tourist, I'm a tourist, and you start to
settle in, next thing you know, you're playing pickleball, you're joining the gym
at a reduced fee, and you're just having kind of a regular life. And it's,
it's really amazing. And we try to find places where there's like a mixture
(35:00):
too. Like there's there some of the active things we like to do, some of
the cultural things, some things that we know we're going to pay for, some things
that we know will be free and is an interesting place to even wander, because
that's really one of our favorite things to do is just to wander.
Yeah, I agree with all that, and I agree that it's
great to take a walking tour when you get to a place to just kind
(35:21):
of get your bearings and figure out, you know, what, what the neighborhoods are
like and what the history is. But yeah, wandering on your
own is fun, but it is worth paying for some things. I mean, I spent
two months in Europe at the end of last year, and it's going to cost
you some money to go to, you know, the greatest hits of travel in
those places. And there's kind of, there's kind of no way around it, you know,
(35:42):
but if you're here in Mexico, in central Mexico, most of the
museums are 30 pesos, which is A$50, you know, and if you go
to the anthropology museum in Mexico City, I think it's five bucks
or so. So it's one of the greatest museums in the world and it's such
a bargain. So you kind of be crazy not to, you know, if you're in
a place where it's that inexpensive. So I think you kind of have
(36:04):
to budget a little harder if you're in a really popular place. But if it's
a lesser known place, you can probably see it all if you want, and you're
there long Enough. That's the perfect segue.
We're going to go to segment three. We're going to talk about budgeting and financial
planning. Luxury travel and retirement
requires careful financial planning to balance indulgence with long
(36:25):
term security. A well structured approach to savings, tax
strategies and cost effective travel planning can make high end
experiences attainable without financial strain. Allocating
funds specifically for travel through strategic savings ensures
a dedicated budget maximizing retirement accounts and
investments. Growth can further supplement travel funds. Understanding
(36:47):
tax implications for extended stays abroad helps avoid
unexpected liabilities. Travel rewards programs provide
valuable benefits, reducing costs on flights, accommodations
and exclusive perks. Selecting credit cards with strong travel
incentives and leveraging airline and hotel loyalty programs can
unlock premium experiences at lower costs. Off peak
(37:09):
travel, travel, last minute deals and alternative luxury
accommodations can maximize budgets. Factoring in
hidden costs and medical expenses abroad ensures financial
preparedness. Thoughtful planning allows retirees to enjoy world
class travel without compromising financial stability.
(37:36):
Doug, you're the financial independence guy. Any
financial habits that people should develop to ensure that they can
travel sustainably through retirement. If
you've been frugal, if you've maintained a high savings rate, if you're in the
military, you're going to be forced to be frugal and maybe even live a lifestyle
of deprivation. So you know how to spend very little money. But once you
(37:58):
reach financial independence, you're going to spend where you get the value, what your
priorities are. So put the money in your budget for travel
and if you can't afford to go to Italy in July, which I completely
agree nobody should do, then look around the world where else you could
travel and what interests you and what the exchange rate is and
what the costs are. Again, that stuff is all over the Internet. It's
(38:20):
relatively easy to get from social media or from other travelers who are there ahead
of you. You can build a budget from that. You can set a goal on
how much money you want to spend per day. And you can decide if you
really want to splurge on lodging or if you want to splurge
on food, restaurant experiences, or if you just want
to do the equivalent of walking around public
(38:41):
transportation, generally entertaining yourself on your own budget
without breaking the bank. So it's, it's really a personal choice
and you can choose if you slow travel slowly, if you
travel off peak, if you're staying in one area for a month or two,
you can figure out many ways to cut the expenses as opposed to going on
a resort. I think when we're working we
(39:03):
form an opinion of how much it costs to go on vacation. Of
course, once you can do it on your terms and on your own schedule,
then you have a much different budget and much lower expenses than you would
expect. So it's very difficult during your working years to plan for all
this travel that you're going on once you stop working again.
Gotta do your research before you cut that tie to work, before
(39:25):
you are free to travel and do whatever you want. I'd say that for most
people, learning how to do slow travel on training wheels
would be just roaming around the mainland, roaming around America, learning more about your
hometown or a region of the country where you live.
Once you figure out what's important to you, then you can take that overseas
or to other continents. So you can
(39:48):
start close to home and then expand. You'd be
surprised what's in your backyard that you haven't paid attention to for the last 20
years because you're too busy working. Right. Your kids have had field trips to more
local activities probably in school than you have as a
grownup. Yeah, it's normal for us never to
hit any of the tourist sites unless
(40:09):
guests come to town. Exactly. Jeanne, you
talked a little bit about budgeting. Since
you and Phil are traveling full time on teachers pensions,
can you talk about what budgeting looks like for you guys?
Sure. We have. We just kind of set a random. A random
(40:30):
number that we decided that we were going to try to live within
and we balance it out by the places that we go. Like
last July, we spent the month in London and we had a
beautiful little Airbnb, about a 10 minute train right outside of London.
We spent more during the month of July because we were in London. And
then we went to Montenegro. We chose another destination
(40:53):
that was near our daughter who lives in Albania,
and we spent way less in Montenegro and
then slid down to Albania to visit her. So we just kind of
balance the balance. We balance
the places that we decide to go out. But we also
are very dedicated to writing down every
(41:15):
penny that we spend. We've done it on different apps,
but we've kind of found that what works best for us is good old fashioned
paper and pencil. And we have a notebook and we write down all the expenses
of the day and I write down a little ditty of what we did, and
then Phil transfers it over into a spreadsheet and we just kind
of keep track that way and have frequent discussions about, you know,
(41:36):
are we, how are we doing this month? Are we. Are we kind of on
track and. Yeah, I would just say that
this was a Big change for us, I think, when we were both
working and budgets weren't as tight as they are after you get
retired, all of a sudden now you really have to track that
money, because before you know it, as you're traveling in this kind of lifestyle that
(41:59):
we're in, the next thing you know, you're way over budget, and you
have to. So you got to watch it, but it's not that
hard. As long as you sort of monitor it. It's not that
big a deal. We've been able to. To. To maintain our budget,
and so we have sort of a budgetary number that's for
all our. Includes travel and accommodations
(42:20):
and our monthly living expenses. But then we have a
little pot that we have. It's called fun money, and
that's for these opportunities that surface to have a little
bit of fun that aren't in the budget.
Do you look at your investments and income
to give you a sense of how much you can spend
(42:42):
annually? We have a fixed retirement, state
teachers retirement. Got it. Yeah. And so we
basically. We have other things that are coming in, in investments that are. That we
just try not to touch, but we pretty much just live on what we
have coming in every month as our state, from our state teachers retirement.
And I retired quite early, and so I took quite a hit on my teacher
(43:04):
retirement. So, you know,
we're. It's doable. Yeah, we're doing. We're doing amazing. And people from
back home look at us and think, where did they get all the money? Did
they get a big, you know, inheritance or something? And
it's hard to help people understand how
inexpensively you can live when you choose the right
(43:24):
places and you just have. Our life is so
rich that we're not feeling like we need to go out and buy
something beautiful to wear or something for our house because we're bored
or. Yeah, I think that
Tim speaks to that frequently. Right, Tim?
Yeah. And I. I think Americans and Canadians kind of
(43:47):
have the sense that all the world is. Is as expensive as where they live,
but it's definitely not. And one. One thing I always encourage people to
do is go pull up the monthly prices on Airbnb for different
cities in Europe or in Asia, and look at how reasonable that is
and compare it to what rents go for where you're living now. And
I mean, unless you pull up something like Oslo or Geneva, you can find an
(44:09):
apartment for less than a thousand bucks for a month almost anywhere.
And if you want to splurge and spend, you know, 1500, then you're going to
get something really nice. And of course in cheaper countries you're going to spend
less than really expensive ones. But I would say most
couples can get by, you know, averaged out to like
$3,000 a month for everything, you know, for
(44:31):
lodging, for food, for transportation and all that. And so it doesn't
cost you a fortune even if you want to stay permanently on the road as
a nomad. And then if you add any other things into that, like
staying with friends or doing a home exchange or you know, traveling
less by plane, then it's going to come down even more. And so, I mean,
destination matters. There are countries, you know, like
(44:53):
Montenegro and Albania that are quite a bit less than other
parts in Europe. But even in the
so called expensive countries, it's still quite reasonable
to rent a place for a month or two and eat for a reasonable
price. And you know, groceries in the US are no bargain, so
you can often find better deals abroad.
(45:15):
Great advice. Doug, you wanted to say something? All
I will say, and you know this from your financial advisor's career, is that
retirees, people who have enough money to live the lifestyle they want,
are chronically underspending out of a sense
of, of limits, of, of insecurity
perhaps, but feeling that there's a scarcity mentality that keeps them from
(45:38):
spending what they actually have available to them and the potential that
they could spend. And if you've got retirement in your 40s or
50s, maybe you're going to be a little more conservative. But if you're in your
late 50s, early 60s, and you've pretty much figured out
your spending and your finances, travel while you still can.
If you don't treat yourself to travel in these experiences and
(46:00):
live a little bit a life, a luxury, well, your kids are going to take
your inheritance and do that for you. So you might as well do it with
the money that you have now while you can. Yes, I'll qualify
your statement by saying all the rational people,
rational, it's hard. There is an emotional aspect to this and
if you have a scarcity mentality that will overrule all the math and logic in
(46:21):
the world. The challenge, once you do some traveling like this
is that you realize how abundant life is and
you make that mindset shift to abundance and
you don't stress over the money you're spending or you spend on your priorities and
realize that everything else is falling into place. And I wanted to,
you know, I brought up that three thousand dollar figure. Say it's 3,
(46:43):
500. That's pretty much equivalent to two Social Security
checks. You know, it's not a lot of money. A lot of people are already
getting that when they retire if they were both working full time.
So they're not even having to touch their retirement
savings. That's great advice.
So I mean the traveling can actually work out better because you can go to
(47:05):
places where the dollar goes further and you're still
enjoying great food, wine,
sights, and you're banking the difference
because you, you're likely to have spent a lot more at home.
Right? Exactly. It's so true. So true. It's so true. I kept
taking pictures of the, the wine shelf in the supermarket in
(47:26):
Spain because it was literally like two or three euros for
most of the show. Good wine. That's
a good tip. I mean in many places in Europe you just order a house
wine. Right. And it's cheaper than getting like a bottle
of water. Yeah. Or a Coca Cola even.
Right. Probably safer too in some areas. Right.
(47:49):
Let's go to segment four. We're going to talk about safety, wellness and
sustainability. Retirement travel offers exciting new
experiences but requires careful attention to health,
safety and ethical considerations. Thoughtful planning ensures
a secure, enjoyable and responsible trip. Health
preparedness begins with a medical consultation to assess risks and
(48:11):
vaccinations. Carrying necessary medications, staying
hydrated and moving during long journeys help prevent travel
related issues. Access to medical concierge services can provide
healthcare support when abroad. Safety measures include researching
destinations, securing safe accommodations with senior friendly
features and safeguarding personal belongings. Keeping digital
(48:33):
and physical copies of key documents helps in emergencies.
Informing trusted contacts of travel plans and add security.
Travel insurance. Covering medical emergencies and trip
disruptions is essential. Choosing eco conscious
accommodations and supporting local businesses enhance
sustainability. Ethical tourism ensures luxury
(48:54):
experiences align with responsible travel.
Phil and Jeannie, have you, did you have to think about
and prepare for potential health concerns while living a
full time travel lifestyle? Well, that's a really
(49:14):
interesting question for us because 10 years ago I
had a major heart attack and
I've had a lot of stents put in different times and
I travel with, I'm on a lot of medications
and so that was kind of a, a big deal for us,
but we kind of decided that we just weren't going to let it stop
(49:37):
us, that we wanted to
live our lives and experience everything we could experience. And
so I travel with a backpack full of medicine. I
pretty much get all my meds a year, a year in advance
through Goodrx at home and I bring my medicines
with me and just trust that if we
(49:59):
have some kind of a If there's some kind of a problem, there's good
medical care pretty much all over the world.
It is kind of surprising how good the medical care is in different
parts of the world. We've been in Thailand and
had some care there. And
(50:20):
where were we when you had your Albania? Albania. I
bumped my head and got a head injury. We went to a hospital in Albania.
I had to get some new eye drops in Mexico, actually. And I mean,
we've. It just, it just works. And it's so affordable. And it's so
affordable. Yeah, well, that's the crazy thing, right? Because
I have a friend who was doing business travel in Japan and I think he
(50:43):
had a stomach issue where he had severe stomach pains and
had to go to the doctor and he went to the hospital. They,
they took care of him. I think he stayed there overnight. And then the next
day they told him, you have to go talk to the billing people.
And they were so apologetic. They're like, please sit down,
we have to review this with you. And he's getting really nervous. He's
(51:05):
like, how much is this gonna be? And when they finally told him a number,
he was like, that's it. He's like, it's a
fraction what it would have cost to me at home. If I get sick, I'm
gonna get sick in Japan next time. I had a, I had a
CAT scan, an ekg, blood work,
met with a neurologist in Albania and it cost
(51:27):
$198. Wow. And they
were also apologetic, like that just seemed like so much.
Medical tourism is a real thing. It is, it
is. Doug, when you
like, do you use travel insurance? Do you choose travel insurance
as a long term traveler? We started early
(51:50):
on, and by early on, I mean 20 years ago we would insure
like with plane fare or ensure medical
evacuation. Our wealth has grown over the last couple of decades and today
we self insure for that. But again, it's a very personal choice. And
travel insurance, evacuation insurance, you know, the medical part, if you have
to be, you know, flown home with a broken leg, that kind of stuff is
(52:11):
relatively cheap because we worry about it,
but it's actually fairly rare. And even if you do get injured
overseas in another country, it's shocking how
affordable healthcare is even as a private pay cash
patient to get that kind of treatment right on the spot. We
actually have a medical tourism plan. When we go overseas, for
(52:33):
example, Bangkok, Boomerangrad Hospital, we're there for the
full physical exam and it takes all day. And it's only
a few Hundred dollars, depending on how much into detail you want to go.
And everywhere we go in the world, one of our favorite activities
is to. This is going to sound kind of weird, but go to the dentist.
And it's very interesting to learn how dental care works
(52:56):
overseas. Europe, Asia, wherever you are, and
how inexpensive it is, of course, but also learning about different options,
and they'll look at your teeth or your dental health and make recommendations
that you might not have even thought about in America. And so it's very interesting
to learn a little bit about the culture just from going to the dentist's office.
And in Japan, I found out that I needed a new set of reading
(53:18):
glasses. Thank goodness for an iPhone with Google Translate on
it. But I was able to go to an optical shop in
Tokyo in my stupid American English
and explain what I wanted. And using Google Translate,
both sides of us did just fine with all the arcane optical
vocabulary to figure out my prescription, get me new set of reading glasses,
(53:40):
and get out of there. And it was about an hour and a half of
total effort. And a pair of reading glasses that would have cost
150, $200 at Costco and anywhere in
America came for just over a hundred dollars in Tokyo.
I will say, too, that it's a lot cheaper in the long run to not
get hurt in the first place. And that's one of our. That's one of our
(54:02):
mantras when we're traveling. Well, think about which way you look when you're crossing the
street right now. What is it? What country are you in? Which
side of the road do they drive on? Where's the bus? Where's the horse? Where's
the motorcycle rider who has absolutely no fear? These are things that make
it very easy for you to get hurt very quickly if you're, I don't know,
not paying attention, let alone not sober.
(54:23):
So our mantra in these situations, whenever we're a
little hot, a little tired, a little sweaty, a little stressed, our mantra becomes, don't
get hurt. Don't get hurt. Take a break, have
something to drink, take a while to cool down, maybe eat a meal or a
snack, and then think about what you want to do. Because if you find yourself
running down the street to catch that bus and suddenly you're jaywalking into an area
(54:45):
next to a motorcycle driver, the rest of your day is going to go very
badly. Well said, Tim. Any
advice on preparedness and when it comes to health before
travel? Well, first, I want to. Second, what a few others have
said that health care is usually Less expensive and better quality
when you're in another country. So don't stress that if you need
(55:07):
something routine, you're not going to be able to pay for it. I actually interviewed
this guy one time living in Nicaragua, and he said, oh, this is my health
care plan. And he held up his credit card. That was all
he was doing. But we have an expat plan that
covers us wherever we are in the world. But the important part of it is
it covers us in the United States when we go back to visit family. Because
(55:29):
that's the thing I worry about going back to the United States and
something happening. You know, you get hit by a motorcycle or whatever, it's a whole
different story there than if you get hit by one in Vietnam. So
we have that. And then we also have an annual health insurance, I mean, travel
insurance policy that's quite cheap. And I have one
from Allianz. I'm not, you know, trying to give them a giant plug, but it's
(55:50):
pretty reasonable. And they have this good app for your phone that has, like,
local doctors that speak English and as a translation for
medical terms and things like that. So I would just encourage people, you
know, get. Get apps like that on your phone. Store all your documents
in Dropbox or Google Drive or something so you can get to them.
You know, just anticipate what could go wrong and what you should
(56:12):
have in place if something does go wrong.
Good tips. Tim, you've written a lot about responsible
tourism. How can we make sure that our travels have
a positive impact on local communities? Well, I
think if there's one theme that's gone through this whole broadcast,
it's that slow travel is better for your wallet, but it's
(56:35):
also a whole lot better for your enjoyment and your
discovery in a place as well. And I think slow travelers by
nature inject a lot more money into the local economy than people that
are just staying in a huge resort owned by some foreign
company. And yes, those resorts have workers, and that
money is trickling down a bit. But if you buy direct
(56:56):
from the people who make the handicrafts and you eat it, locally
owned mom and pop restaurants, family restaurants, then
that inevitably is going to do a lot more for the local economy.
And so I think people tend to focus on, you know,
carbon footprints and, and how many solar
panels are in place and things like that, and those things all matter. But what
(57:18):
you do with your money matters a whole lot, too. And, and if you can
kind of be conscious of where that's going, you can
have a Big impact. I love it. Let's
bring it home and go to segment five. Technology is
reshaping retirement travel by streamlining, planning,
enhancing experiences and improving accessibility.
(57:40):
Digital tools give travelers greater flexibility and
convenience, reducing the complexities of trip or organization.
Itinerary planning apps such as TripIt and Road Trippers
consolidate travel details into one place, providing real
time updates on flights, accommodations and activities.
These apps help travelers stay organized and minimize disruptions on the
(58:02):
go. Virtual reality previews let travelers experience
destinations before booking. Hotels, resorts and tour
companies now provide immersive virtual tours, helping retirees
make informed decisions about accommodations and activities. This
ensures expectations align with reality. Smart travel tools
use AI to provide personalized recommendations and real
(58:24):
time updates on flights, weather and local events. Tools
like Google Translate and currency converters enhance international
travel. By integrating these technologies, retirees can
enjoy a smoother, more customer customized travel experience, making
each journey more seamless and rewarding.
(58:48):
Tim, do you have any. Must have tech tools that really
make travel easier and more efficient. I was thinking when I
watched that video, like, what's the app that I would really miss if I didn't
have it? And tripit's one of them for sure. That helps me keep
all my plans together in one place. And that was really important when
we were in Europe and we were taking a lot of train rides and had
(59:10):
different, you know, museum
appointments you have to make in advance and things like that. So I was glad
to have that. And I do use Google Maps constantly
and Google Translate's great. There's another one called Deeple D,
E E P L that I've used a lot. Sometimes that's a little more
accurate. But Google Translate, man, like,
(59:31):
it's magic. If, if you went back 20 years and told somebody you could, like
hold your phone up to a menu and read it and Czech or
Bulgarian or Russian, they would have thought you were out of your mind. So it's
a beautiful thing. It's amazing
what a phone can do. Yeah, you have a full
computer there. Plus, this has replaced so many things that we
(59:53):
carried around in our travels in the old days, like a calculator
and, you know, maps, physical maps, all that
stuff. Flashlight.
Has it all. Everything's in there.
You know, it's kind of interesting. I kind of think this is like the
golden age of travel. Right. This technology's allowed us to
(01:00:15):
live the lifestyle that we live. We can gps, which has
probably saved our marriage. Right. Because we have to navigate every day.
Right. It's kind of true, Right. And then
the Google Translate, I'm with you, Tim, that is the greatest tool. And then
it has the camera feature where you can just put the camera on the packaging
and it tells you everything. It's all in the labels. Right. In all these different
(01:00:36):
languages. We can pay our bills from here. Right. We still got to pay
the credit card bills, and we have banking that we do in the U.S.
it's just amazing. Then GENIE is connected to
really this and senior Nomad
website, which is really bolstered our social
(01:00:57):
lives. We can go anywhere in the world and meet people. Right? It's really
amazing. Yeah. I was going to ask you that because since
you're nomads and traveling, it seems like
the sacrifice is having the friends that you'd
have in your town in Ohio.
But you're saying the
(01:01:20):
technology helps you to connect with new people wherever you go. It does.
But even just like walking in and out of restaurants,
we've met people that will be lifelong friends because we literally
bumped into them as they were walking out of a restaurant and we were walking
in, and then we just struck up a conversation and decided, oh, let's go
have drinks and dinner. And now we're in touch all the time, and we're
(01:01:41):
friends. So it really is
completely amazing how fulfilling it is to just meet so many
people of different walks of life and different ages. We've kind
of found San Miguel is an older kind of community, but we thought that
before we came here, most of the people that we met and connected with were
like in their 40s, which was kind of funny.
(01:02:04):
It's been really great, and technology has helped us with that. But also just being
willing to say. Yes, and I would tell you this, life
is way more social than I would have ever guessed.
I was fearful that we would be isolated. But
when you think about how many travelers are out on the road
all around the world, and they see you and they're like, hey, where
(01:02:27):
are you from? Like, and next thing you know, you're having lunch or dinner with
them or having a drink, and it's. It's. The
relationships also evolved so much more rapidly. Like, you
go from hi, what's your name? To telling them everything about.
You're sharing stuff about your life story. Right. And it's just great.
It really is. Yeah. I have to say that that's in
(01:02:48):
contrast to working your 9 to 5
or probably longer hours, where everyone just goes to work, then
they come home and you never even see your neighbor because everybody's tired and
exhausted. Right? Yeah. When you're. When you're on the Road.
You know, people have lots of time on their hands and they can say yes.
Like, if somebody says, hey, you want to go grab a coffee? I mean,
(01:03:10):
you usually have no reason to say no. Whereas in your working life, you
always had somewhere to be, somewhere to go, something to do, right? It's
so true. It's so true. Doug, how about technology in
your travels? Well, I would say that if you can make one friend
in your hometown in a small town, then you can go travel the world on
your own schedule and make friends everywhere you go. It's the same process,
(01:03:33):
the same sharing, the same communication. And in fact, when
we're traveling, we actually hesitate to talk about where we're going next.
Because if I say, well, we're going to be in Kyoto next week
for these dates, suddenly I'll have six people wanting to get together for a
cup of coffee or so you got to manage. You've got to
manage your publicity. You might want to date a
(01:03:55):
down day when you might want to just have the time to yourself for a
retreat or just to be more private.
So that's one big change. And of course, we've already talked about Google
Translate. I would not be able to survive in many of these places
overseas with my 10 words of Japanese, my 10 words of Spanish,
and my expressive American vocabulary.
(01:04:17):
However, Google Translate lets you figure these things out on your own with the
camera or just reading and listening to the discussions around
you. And in fact, it even works while you're in a movie theater
or in an area where there's a broadcast. You're listening to
audio and a narration, and you just have your phone out and your phone
will translate for you on the fly. Our marriage has also
(01:04:39):
been saved multiple times with Google
Maps. I would say that if you are in
Shibuya in Tokyo, or if you are in a major
metropolitan transit station anywhere in Japan,
you cannot survive on the signage there alone. And
you have to have a phone with you that will read kanji or that we'll
(01:05:01):
just give you an itinerary. And I. I could go on and on and on
and on about how we fearlessly went into the
Tokyo subway, metro, train and bus
systems, because we were able to plan our itinerary just sitting there on our
phones. And we knew, oh, the number 94 bus is going to be at this
location in three and a half minutes. And. And by gosh, sometimes it was there
(01:05:21):
in two and a half minutes, and they had to wait a minute until they
got back on schedule. So the technology is so much
better, especially In a place that I've been many times before, like
Japan, where back in 1993, 30 years
ago, you had a printed sheet of instructions with little pictures of what the
kanji would look like and graphics that you had to hunt down and figure out
(01:05:41):
your way to get to the train station.
Tim, any special story of a friendship that
you struck on your travels?
Well, no, but I. I just wanted to emphasize
how useful Facebook is, because we used to meet
people when we were backpacking around the world, and we would
(01:06:04):
have to make very specific plans. And we did meet this Dutch couple
in Malaysia. We spent a week on an island with them, and we did end
up going to stay with them in Amsterdam, and it was
fantastic. You know, we got to see a lot
of places with them because they had a car. They took us out to a
few different areas, and it was a grand time. But it took
(01:06:26):
letters, like physical letters back and forth to work all that out. And
ours had to be delivered to Post restaurant or an Amex office
or something like that. But now it's so easy to keep in touch with people
you've met through Facebook or, you know, LinkedIn or whatever you
want to use. But there's tools out there, so you don't forget who
people are, and you can still keep in touch with them very easily. And
(01:06:48):
obviously it can work by email or WhatsApp or whatever. But
I think it's now you can form these friendships that don't just go
up in a puff of smoke two weeks later, which is kind of nice. That
is nice. And you brought us back to the technology, so thank you for bringing
that back.
Phil and Jeanne, any favorite travel story, just as a wrap up?
(01:07:11):
Sure. God, which one? Well, I
think when Vinnie and Jane was a fun story.
One of. One of our favorite things. Our. Our favorite travel stories pretty much
always include people. And Phil had mentioned that
couple that we met on the beach in Vietnam, and they were from Australia,
and they insisted that we come to their home. And we ended
(01:07:33):
up going to Australia, and they were in touch with us and invited
us down to stay with them. And they took us snorkeling to see the sea,
the leafy sea, dragons underneath a pier, and took us for hikes and took us
to a win. And I think it's just the people
that we have just been so thankful for that
we've had the opportunity to just meet so many different kinds of people and
(01:07:55):
form such deep connections and deep
relationships while we've been on the
road. I think that's been probably. I Think that's our favorite thing.
I think it's, I would add this one encouraging word and that is
that I think one of the things that really happens when you travel
is it reinstills faith in humanity.
(01:08:17):
There are so many good hearted people. So many good
hearted people, right? And governments and politics are completely messed up right
now. All around the world people are good,
people are good. And we have to keep reminding ourselves that it's. There's. So
we got, you know, as a bumbler, a traveler. You're a bumbler, right? You can
try to pretend you're not a bumbler, but you just are a bumbler. You don't
(01:08:38):
know your way around. You don't know anything. You don't know where to find groceries.
People are so helpful and they
offered to give us rides when it was pouring down rain. I mean, it's just
amazing how kind hearted so many people
are. How about you, Doug? Favorite
travel memory? All our travel memories involved
(01:09:01):
going somewhere and meeting people or having experiences that we wouldn't have
had anywhere else. Every place I go, I try to find somewhere
to do something on the water. And if you're a
place like Rota, Spain on the coast, you can go down to Katia and find
a surf break there. If you're in Santa Barbara, California, you can't swing a dead
cat there without finding a surfer. But even in a place where you wouldn't
(01:09:23):
expect to find surf, like Bangkok, you can find a
Flow Rider franchise where you can go there and find out that you're hanging
out with surfers. And we don't speak Thai, they
don't speak English, but it doesn't matter. There's this whole dude surfer
vocabulary that you can do with gestures and, and show each
other what you're doing on the Flow Rider franchise. And that to me has been
(01:09:45):
an experience I can take around the world with me. Wherever there's a surf break,
I can find something to paddle out on. And it's also shown me
that I have to appreciate Hawaii No Koi. I have not found any surf spot
in the, in the globe yet. I'll keep searching where
I have as much fun on the surf as I do in Hawaii. Hawaii? No,
Ka'oi. Hawaii is the. Absolutely, yes.
(01:10:07):
Well, I want to thank everybody for joining us for this
discussion. Thank you. Inspired money makers. I think this is, this
has been a great time. One of the big takeaways for
me, I mean we talked about in retirement
how important it is to be expanding one's mind,
to be trying new things to be going to new places, to experience
(01:10:29):
different cultures. And I love hearing one
of the themes that ran throughout is the social
aspect, connecting with new people, meeting new people.
And when you read about Blue Zone and
longevity, that social aspect is so important.
It's good for us to have social interaction with people.
(01:10:52):
And it reminds me. All this travel talk takes me
back to many years ago. My family and
I went to the Dominican Republic. My mom was there, my brother was
there, my wife was there. This was before my wife and I had
kids. My brother is a big baseball fan, a Mets
fan, unfortunately for him, because it's been a tough,
(01:11:14):
tough, tough, tough go since
1986. But my brother says to us,
we, we have to go to a baseball game in the Dominican Republic.
Like you just see like kids playing baseball with like
a, you know, piece of paper wrapped up in duct tape and they've got
a baseball game going. So we, we found that, we found a local baseball
(01:11:35):
game to go to and it was great. We talked
about food being inexpensive at other
places. I'm here in New Jersey, I either go to see
the New York Yankees or New York Mets and a hamburger is 20
bucks. In the Dominican Republic, at this like minor
league game, you get enchiladas for like a dollar
(01:11:56):
or I think multiple enchiladas for a dollar. And we
don't even know the teams. I just remember one of the teams was the
Gigantes. So we're rooting for the Gigantes. We just picked the
side and we're cheering. You look around, there were
no other Chinese in this stadium. All the
people are looking at us like, who are these guys? Where did they come from?
(01:12:19):
But by the time the game was over, we had made friends with all the
people around us because we're rooting for the home team.
And a young guy even caught a foul ball and
brought it over and gave it to my wife. So we still have that as
a souvenir. And those are the connections that you make right in your
travels. So one step for the
(01:12:40):
inspired money maker to do this week. Just take one small step toward your
dream retirement travel experience. Maybe that means pricing
out a trip that you've been putting off. Maybe it's researching travel reward
programs, exploring a long term stay
somewhere in a country that you've always wanted to visit. And
because of our nomads on the panel today, it could start with
(01:13:02):
decluttering and rethinking. What stuff do you really need to
be happy? So start today. Retirement is not about waiting. It's about
designing a life you love. And a big thank you to
our amazing panelists. Be sure to follow them. You can find out more
from Tim Leffel, his books the World's Cheapest Destinations
and A Better Life for Half the Price. You can find
(01:13:23):
him at timleffel.com. He has many
websites, Tim. Any other ones you want to share? That's fine. That one
links up to everything. All right. That's good.
Tim.Leffel.com We've got Doug Nordman, author
of the Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement.
I think he goes by Nords. You can find him at
(01:13:44):
militaryfinancialindependence.com. Doug,
anywhere else you want to send people? No, that's all it takes. I'm all over
the Internet. Just Google those terms. And Phil and Jeanne
Titus, retired educators turn full time travelers.
Is there an app where the people. Can find you
(01:14:04):
Senior Nomads? Right. I'm on Facebook, but that's about all.
Senior nomads you can find on the road.
Yeah. Look for them on the road. And a shout out to Debbie and Michael
Campbell at SeniorNomads.com for connecting us. Much
appreciated. So thank you to the panelists, thank you to the
viewers and our listeners. The next inspired Money episode
next week is "The Art of Negotiation (01:14:26):
Strategies for
Success in Personal and Financial Matters." That will be
February 26th at 1pm Eastern. I think we're going to get
lots of skills for becoming better negotiators and hopefully
it's a thing that we embrace and not shy away from. So I hope
that you'll join us. Until next time, do something that scares you
(01:14:48):
because that's where the magic happens. Thanks, everyone.