The Best Retirement Life Includes Travel for Boomers

Travel remains the number one goal for retirement life. With such a vast world, limited financial resources, we're all trying to maximize our travel dollars. Check out travel expert Donna Hull's blog, 'My Itchy Travel Feet.' Geared specifically to baby boomers, Donna shares information about the experience of travel, as well as destinations.

No longer content to travel "If It's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium" style, baby boomers want to experience a locations' culture, people and geography.

Follow Donna as she explores locales both near and far. She provides great tips for your own travel plans, but also a way to journey vicariously.

Where in the World Have You Been?

Even in tough economic times, travel remains the number one dream activity for retirees.

While many are curbing their travel plans, staying closer to home, for example, the desire to see the world still exists. The newly retired and not so newly retired are discovering creative ways to travel without having it break the bank.

I stumbled across this site through Twitter and love the idea of tracking and sharing where I've been. My only complaint is I wish they broke the US into individual states. Here's where I've been http://tinyurl.com/knu7bp. Create your own map at http://www.29travels.com/

A Time for Stairs

I’ve previously commented on what menopause does to muscle tone. The phrase “use it or lose it,” personifies certainly my body’s experience over the last ten years. I was aware of the need to take care of myself in a more concerted effort and embarked on a journey to find an exercise regime that I enjoyed. Growing up I was the kid who was always last…

After a number of gym memberships, classes at the rec center, I found a yoga instructor on t.v. that I liked and committed to thirty minutes a day. In addition, my husband and I walk two times a day for about mile each. Not strenuous, but it gets outside the heart pumps for a few minutes.

About six months ago, I did something to my shoulders. It has been diagnosed as bursitis, but so far has not improved. I can’t raise either arm above my shoulder and if I move in a certain way, there is a searing pain that runs through my shoulders. As a result, I stopped doing my yoga. While yoga didn’t build muscle, I felt like I wasn’t losing ground. Since then, it’s been a race against time to see if I’m going to heal before I turn into a mass of cellular mush.

My husband and I are currently staying at a time-share in Northern Carolina. I will share our week as we explore the area as a tourist and as a potential place to retire.

Our condominium is two stories. At first, I was hesitant about the stairs. After the red eye from LA to Atlanta yesterday, the last thing I wanted to do was bounce up and down stairs. As I sat upstairs in the living room so my husband could take a nap downstairs in the bedroom, it occurred to me that stairs is exactly what I need in my life right now.

Because, there were so many exercises I couldn’t do in yoga, I stopped even though there isn’t anything wrong with my legs. The walking every day is okay, but doesn’t push muscle development.

For the next seven days, those stairs are my friend. Up and down I go. It may be a strange place to start a vacation journey, but it’s what you get on Saturday morning.

Morro Bay

My husband and I returned from a few days at Morro Bay on the central California Coast. It was perfect. The weather was mild. We spend most of our time looking at birds; pelicans, heron, egrets and of course, sea gulls. Sea lions entertained tourists and annoyed the locals. At least six otters guarded the entry to the bay. We took hundreds of photos. I love digital cameras!!!!

We didn’t watch the news once, but did peak at the newspaper that was delivered everyday to our doorstep. There is something so amazing about being in nature. Whether it’s walking in a forest or sitting by the beach, it’s so much harder to be anxious, angry or fearful. Nature is like taking a tranquilizer. Whether it helps put everything in perspective, or the sounds and sights calm the nervous system, it’s easier to be in the moment and not fret about what’s going on.

We know one thing for sure. The current financial situation isn’t going to be over this week or next. If you find yourself feeling more stressed than normal, find the time to take a walk in nature.

Permanent Passenger

Book Review

Reading much like the cruise ship version of the British drama Upstairs, Downstairs, Micha Berman takes the reader behind the scenes of his life as an assistant cruise director in Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship.

While finishing his last year of college, Micha began a quest to find a career that was "nontraditional in a creative atmosphere, providing opportunities to speak to crowds, be with young people and included travel". He remembered watching Love Boat as a child and decided the job Julie McCoy had was the one for him. He set off on a one-man campaign to get a position as an assistant cruise director. His description of how he organized and conducted his job search would make any career counselor beam.

Securing his dream job with Carnival Cruise Line, Micha embarked on an eleven-month ride on the M.S. Ecstasy. This behind the scenes tale provides information to anyone interested in a career at sea. Micha describes the different occupations of the 800-member crew on the ship. He also describes the hierarchy, behind the scene intrigue, loves and fights that occur unbeknownst to the thousands of passengers.

It is also fascinating reading for the cruise ship enthusiast who would like to learn more about what happens below deck. Most of the crew is invisible to the guests. They come from a wide array of countries and live almost in a caste system based on their country of origin and occupation. You will learn the most dreaded position on the ship. It may surprise you. While the crew may be virtually invisible to the passengers they serve, they are people who share in the joys and challenges of living in close quarters at sea.

Blended Families

I went to pick my grandchildren up for a month long visit. They will be staying with their other grandparents and us this summer. What's unusual about our situation (or is it?) is my son and daughter in-law are divorced. I stay in the home of my former daughter in-law and her new husband when I stay overnight. My former daughter in-law is remarried to a wonderful man. They are all welcome in our home and we in theirs. I realize we're lucky and not everyone has this type of arrangement.

For the generation who created the Brady Bunch and the blended family, it only stands to reason, unique family situations would continue to exist for our children and grandchildren. I know one woman who drives 400 miles one way every month to see her twin grandchildren. When her son got a woman pregnant, he declared a lack of desire to be in their lives. Not so the grandmother. She is actively involved in their lives and plans to continue to be. The advice I have to offer is be very careful about getting involved in your children’s disputes. It's easy to want to pick sides. I realize every family is different, but think of the long term about you, your children and grandchildren.

Playing Hooky

This blog is about retirement. As a career counselor and transition coach, I’ve worked with other people’s retirement. Now, I get to experience my own. Not exactly my own, but my husband put in the paperwork to retire June 30 after working for the same company for the last twenty-six years. I’m not retired. This blog is about our experience, what I know or am learning about retirement to help others, my husband and myself live a phenomenal life post ‘earning a living’.

Today, we played hooky. Well not exactly. My husband works graveyard (from 10:00 pm until 7:00 am). I picked him up from work at 6:30 (so, I was playing hooky) and we drove up to the high desert north of Los Angeles to look at the poppies.

We’ve lived in the area for over twenty-five years and have never seen the poppies. It’s on my list of things to do before leaving California. There was just the right amount of rain this year, not too hot or too cold in temperature resulting in one of the most beautiful springs I’ve ever seen. Everyone I know who has allergies is suffering. Besides that, the hills are green, and the wildflowers are going crazy. There is one area in Antelope Valley that has golden poppies that pop for only a couple of weeks during year and now is the time to see them.

There is poppy preserve state park, but we were told of another area north, so that’s where we started. You can see what we found with the top photo. We were disappointed the poppies weren’t opened. We arrived early, about 8:15 as the sun was still rising. As we talked to others we discovered poppies are particular about opening. It’s quite windy in the high desert and that affects whether or not they open, as well as the time of day and the temperature.

We then drove to the preserve and walked the pathways with all the other retirees and their cameras. EVERYONE had a camera. It was nice. I liked it. I thought to myself, “I could get used to this.” Of course, once we got back, I had emails, phone and a list of things to do.