I spent the last three weeks in the Carolinas. It was great. The picture of me is from Hilton Head, South Carolina where we stayed for a few days. We also spent a week in an Air B & B on Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in North Carolina. And there was family time with my son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. It was a great vacation.
Was it good stewardship to spend this money? It wasn’t cheap. Is it justified for those of us that want to live purposeful lives to indulge ourselves by spending resources we’ve been given on travel? It’s a question I’ve changed my mind on over the years.
The Life Well Lived
Imagine 70-year-old twins, Samuel and Joseph, sharing a cup of coffee talking about their different paths in life. Samuel spent his life traveling the world. When he wasn’t working for the Peace Corps, he was vacationing to a new country. Joseph barely left the county he was born in, focusing instead on growing his business.
Today Samuel doesn’t have much of a net worth on his financial statement, but relishes his life of travel adventures. He can entertain others for hours with his travel stories, although he isn’t sure if his money will last into old age. However, he wouldn’t change a thing about his life.
Joseph is a prominent member of his community and is worth several million dollars. He is proud of the mark he’s made locally and enjoys his financial security. He wouldn’t change a thing about his life because of the legacy he has built and the opportunity he has to continue to contribute even in old age. He can’t understand how Samuel could end up 70 years old without financial security.
Who lived “the good life?” It’s a good debate. I’ve known a lot of Josephs. Rich financially, but impoverished in a narrow understanding of the world. And I’ve known some Samuels, enjoyed their great storytelling of other lands, but worried about their lack of preparation for old age.
The Middle Road
Most of us will take a middle road. Budget as generously as possible for travel, but not compromise on saving 10% to 15% of our income for retirement. It’s a good plan, but when money was tight, I was always wired to save, so travel was always an easy budget cut.
Years ago I read through most of Mark Twain’s books and he changed my thinking. Here’s one of his insights on the value of travel:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
For example, a trip I took to South Africa changed me. To experience life in an orphanage full of kids whose parents had died of Aids gave me a new compassion I could never have gained in America. Or moving to Montana at age 50 opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about conservation of our resources. You just won’t get that perspective in the cornfields of Illinois. Even spending six months in an active retirement community in Tucson provided keen insight into the needs of older folks. Twain was right. Travel changes us.
And I would add that travel can create gratitude. There is nothing that makes me appreciate my life in Montana than leaving it for several weeks. For example, while I loved the East coast experience, I hated driving down I-95 trying to survive the crazy traffic and road rage drivers that were in one big hurry to get somewhere. Give me Montana where we have more cows than people.
More seriously, how many times have you heard travelers abroad come back and say they enjoyed the travel, but it made them appreciate living in America with our freedoms and prosperity. I know one of the first things I noticed in South Africa was the tremendous resources spent on personal security. Gates, alarms, and walls erected around homes all gave me a new appreciate for the community we enjoy that lets us trust our neighbors.
If we didn’t have to plan to live without a paycheck someday, we could travel a lot more. It strikes me as foolishness to spend a life like a grasshopper never planning for the day we can’t work. I’ve seen too much pain from those who lived their lives in the moment assuming it would all work out in the end, but it didn’t. I offer three suggestions on thinking about travel in the different seasons of life.
Three Suggestions for Integrating Travel into Life
First, with apologies to F. Scott Fitzgerald, remember the young are different than you and me. They can travel on a shoestring. My daughter educated me on “couch surfing.” Basically, download an app and have access to cheap housing everywhere. And, of course, youth hostels are another form of cheap living while traveling.
In addition, I think as parents we can plan to help our kids travel for a gap year sometime around their college age years. I didn’t figure it out until my last child was that age. But it was probably the best year of her life.
Europeans have known this for a long time and encourage high school graduates to take a travel gap year to serve in a non-profit. It’s a brilliant idea to travel before getting tied down with work or family responsibilities. Experience other cultures before life gets complicated.
Second, in addition to taking your paid time off for travel while your career is in full swing, consider the options for a job which includes travel. I recently talked to a retired banker who worked for an international bank. He counts that part of his career as the most rewarding partly because it included travel to South America and Europe. It’s great work if you can find it.
If you’re on a limited budget and don’t see travel ever being a part of your job, you might also consider going abroad with a religious or nonprofit group. Many take these trips by raising money because of the charitable work involved. They can be short term and fit in with paid time off. In many cases, they are more rewarding than staying in a five star resort because of the chance to interact with the locals from a different culture.
Third, as we enter the golden age of retirement take advantage of the opportunity to travel before health issues prevent it. Thankfully Covid restrictions are lifting and we are once again getting our freedom to travel.
As always, a budget is essential based on your resources and other needs. But the need to travel probably grows the older we get. Rather than getting set in our ways, it can help keep us open to new ideas about the world we live in. Let’s do it.
Joe Kesler
The moderate course is probably best but there is a bit of a struggle for many of us. In addition to the gap years, Europeans seem, on average, to have more time away from work. Different experiences can broaden our perspectives. I didn’t realize that you actually moved to Montana after a career elsewhere. Have you written about your time in the active adult community? I would be interested on your take on that. Jack
Good comments Jack. Travel expense is challenging. One thought on that is the research done on happiness shows we gain a lot more out of experiences than things. I drive old cars because cars are expensive and I don’t get a thrill out of them. If we can find ways to cut back on things like cars and redeploy to travel we will probably find more satisfaction. But I know it’s tough for many to find a lot of wiggle room in the budget for traveling.
Also, I haven’t written an article just on active retirement communities, but it’d be worth spending some time on. I did write a post called Retirement Secret Sauce where I commented some about that experience. It is still on my blog if you want to read it.
Thanks for the comments.
Solid insights as usual!
Another positive aspect of travel is that waiting “until next year” doesn’t always work.
“Life is what happens while you are making other plans”. We have made and cancelled more trips in the last year than ever before. What matters for us, though, is we have made enough of those trips and experiences to share life’s ups and downs with our families and our (grown) children. Even in the heat in North Carolina!
Travelling (back) to Montana is a always a joy. For my wife, to return to family, and for me, that and the decompression and relaxation I always feel there.
I hope that we get more international opportunities in the years ahead!
Kirk, I think that’s why happiness researchers say experiences are so superior to “stuff.” Nobody can take all those great trips and experiences away from you and you’ll enjoy thinking about them the rest of your life.
I totally get your feelings about coming to Montana to enjoy the decompression and relaxation found here. Very glad to hear that’s part of your travel plans.
Thanks for commenting.
Starting with our 25th wedding anniversary, Anita and I have gone on a B&B trip to get away and rethink our mission statement. It has been a wonderful addition to our relationship and also allowed us to experience a wide variety of communities and hosts. We’ve been from New England to the Carolina’s to Arizona and Alaska and many points in between. A cruise to Norway got wedged in their, too. We had been saving ever since our teen years and have been able to reap the dividends, literally.
That is a fantastic tradition Kirk! I think getting into a new environment before reviewing your mission statement probably opened some new ways of thinking about your life goals than if you had just done it in your living room. Thanks for sharing.
When I finished High School I had an opportunity to Nanny in Sweden . Then my Dad seeing my love for travel, offered me a deal to go to our State University instead of the expensive private schools I was looking at. The deal was he would fund a trip to Europe and a Euro- Rail Pass after graduation. Pretty smart on his part and a great opportunity for me. Then when I married, my husband joined the Airforce and we were able to live and travel throughout Europe and Asia. I actually gave birth to children in 3 different continents! When he left the Airforce we moved back to Maine and started a private Periodontal Practice. We still found time for many missions trips to South America and Africa.
I will warn you though, that now our kids love to travel and I miss them. I currently have a son finishing a tour in Okinawa. My daughter had tours in the Uk, Germany and India. As you can imagine our traveling family is glad COVID restrictions are lessening. We love your blog and happy travels.
Great story Doreen! Sounds like you had a wise father. I appreciate your warning too that kids who are taught to love travel may not settle down in mom and dad’s hometown. Thanks for the thoughtful comments!
Thanks for a thoughtful travel discussion Joe. Travel has rarely been a waste of time or resources in our life. I found my first year of college away from home to be a major travel experience in itself. New city parks, museums, zoos, hiking & biking trails, scuba classes, campus activities, wow it was a great adventurous time in my life. I still return to many of the places and events from that time in my life with fond memories and new ones being made each trip! My wife and I did our goal planning/dreaming similar to Kirk B. and his wife on an annual basis while on a trip. We planned and dreamed for the next year and for the long term. We also spent time adjusting our budget and set goals for major events in our lives. We found doing this in a focused time away from distractions at home to be helpful in getting it done and having fun doing a task that can be mundane. Happy trails to you, thanks for a great blog!
Thanks Brian. I hadn’t thought about my first year away at college, but you’ve got a good point there. It was definitely my first major travel experience too. There are a lot of dimensions to this topic.
Interesting how you and Kirk have practiced setting goals combined with travel. A great time for reflection away from the normal cares of life. Good post!
Money well spent, good memories made. I do not regret money spent on travel. The memory of those trips is weekly dinner conversation with our children and their families.
Thanks Jeff. It’s the same with my family.