Is There Travel Life After Retirement?

Does the sun come up every day? Of course there will be travel in our future. I am always pleased with the number of people who tell me that they enjoy my articles and I have promised Sally, your newsletter editor that I would continue to send them on to her even though I will have retired just seven days after you receive this month’s newsletter. As a truly addicted traveler I really can’t wait to get started knowing that I have a nearly empty calendar. This past November Mary Ann and I were coming back from Portugal and I mentioned that I was pretty bummed out that we had nothing planned until late January. I am sure she thinks I have gone off the deep end! When I was developing a retirement income and expense budget (another strange experience as I have never followed or had a budget in my life) I figured out all the real life expenses like food and mortgages, and then everything left over went into the travel budget. You really have to set your priorities in life.

To start the retirement travel I have an American Bar Association meeting in Miami in early February, so to get ready for that, it surely is necessary to spend a week in Key West resting up for the intellectual rigors of the meeting. We have selected and reserved a Bed & Breakfast in what has to be one of the most fascinating communities in the country. We were in Key West a few years ago and have always wanted to return and spend more time. Check out the guest house we have selected at www.lhabitation.com. After exhausting ourselves at Margaritaville and the Hogsbreath in Key West, we decided to wind down in Naples, Florida with the rich (old) and famous. We will spend a few days at the Bellasera Resort Hotel before crossing Florida to the meeting in Miami at the Hyatt Regency. Sounds like a tough schedule but we will try to survive.

Now of course all of the above was business, and we should get on to some real retirement travel. Our plan has always been to spend the late spring, summer and early fall months at our home in Chelan. Each winter, for two or three months, we have planned to live somewhere different in the world. For our first effort we have selected San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where we have rented a furnished apartment for 10 weeks starting March 1.

If you haven’t heard of San Miguel de Allende, it is one of the secret great places in the world located in the state of Guanajuato. It is actually a top destination of world travelers. The city, about the size of Wenatchee, is located in the colonial district of Mexico, north of Mexico City and east of Guadalajara. It is similar to central Washington with dry terrain, but has a high altitude of about 5,000 feet. It is world famous for being a cultural center of art, writing and music. The climate is much the same the whole year with temperatures in the high 70’s and low 80’s. There is a considerable expatriate community of Americans and Canadians, so if my meager Spanish fails me we should be able to find enough people to talk to.

In selecting a place to live we had some real tough criteria. Mary Ann said we had to have a maid, high speed internet access, within close walking distance to the historic city center, a washer and dryer, and cable TV. Fortunately, there are a lot of choices that fit these criteria. If we wanted a cook, that is also available at a modest fee, but when you are married to a person who you have sent to a Mexican cooking school, who needs it? For more information about the history and sites of San Miguel de Allende take a look at:

www.internetsanmiguel.com. We are really looking forward to this adventure, and hope it will work out so we will continue planning for future years. New Zealand would probably be the destination for 2008. The following are a couple of photos of our San Miguel apartment.

I will certainly keep you updated on how we are doing on our travels. Thanks for all the great years and your many kindnesses to me during my tenure as a Chelan County employee.