How to Take a Permanent Vacation

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Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007

Learn more about retiring abroad in International Living Postcards

Go to Club Med and you’ll spend $100-200 a day per person, all in. That's a lot of money, but when you're working hard, the special relaxation time might be worth it. Club Med takes care of everything--you just kick back.

In retirement, vacations can be leisurely, inexpensive and, often, with a special agenda.

Vicki and I retired young, some 22 years ago. These days we're perpetual travelers, moving between Buenos Aires, and Chiang Mai, Thailand--our current favorite places. In between, we often stop in the U.S. or Europe to visit family and friends. So the question arises, with all the moving around we do, do we ever take a vacation? Does the concept of vacation even make sense? Sure it does. We take slow, leisurely vacations, so much so that our vacations begin to look very much like life itself.

Suppose you pay $1,000 to travel to your vacation spot. If you stay 10 days, that's $100 a day for airfare. But stay 100 days, and your average drops to only 10 bucks. Similarly, if you're staying just a day or two, finding the best price/quality ratio in a hotel seems like too big a hassle. You just want to drop off your bags and get to it. But if you're planning to stick around, finding the perfect hotel or short-term rental makes perfect sense.

Vicki and I recently flew from Thailand to Buenos Aires. Our very long flight on Malaysia Air took us through South Africa. To break up the trip we decided to spend a week in Cape Town. We stayed in a youth hostel recommended by other perpetual travelers. Our room was in a separate cottage, around the corner and down the street from the more boisterous hostel itself. We took the time to learn about Cape Town's buses and trains. We used taxis when all else failed, rather than every time we wanted to go somewhere. Our special agenda was to find out if we might like to spend more time in South Africa, maybe stopping there every year on our journeys.

We believe we got to know Cape Town very well indeed. We figure we learned more from bus drivers and fellow travelers than from tourist agents and brochures.

The trip cost us next to nothing. Airfare was part of the Bangkok to Buenos Aires ticket; we only had to pay the Cape Town landing fees. The youth hostel recommendation from other perpetual travelers also saved us a lot.

Retirement vacations: easy-going, inexpensive, and often more fun than the real thing.

Paul Terhorst
Roving “Retire Early” Editor, International Living

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IL’s Guide to Visas, Citizenship, and Residency

Worried about your social security check finding you? Or how the IRS is going to take your departure? Or whether you are legally eligible to purchase that island getaway you have your heart set on? Have your questions answered here.