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WE WERE DINING WITH close friends when the conversation turned to foreign travel. Stories were recounted of ventures to exotic and faraway lands filled with inspiring people, unique cultures and historic sites.
My wife and I were humbled by the sheer number of trips our friends had taken. We were shy to admit that our international travel bucket was relatively empty, and we had embarrassingly few stories to share.
This wasn’t a matter of keeping up with the Joneses. We simply had neither the time nor the opportunity for international adventures while we raised our twins. At the time, that type of vacation wasn’t a priority for our family.
On a whim, during our drive home, I promised my wife we’d take an international trip. We had a huge list of destinations we dreamed of visiting. Besides, we include a travel line in our annual retirement budget. If now isn’t the time to venture forth, then when?
The following evening, while sharing a cheeseboard and Moscato on our patio, Lori reminded me of my promise. I knew where this conversation was heading. I told myself that now might be a good time to refill my glass of vino.
Years of training caused my well-oiled frugal senses to once again begin to tingle. But a promise is a promise, or so my wife tells me. And now that we were both retired, there was no reason not to tackle one of our bucket list items.
As if I needed more convincing, Lori suggested we do this to celebrate the one-year anniversary of my successful brain surgery. Alas, I couldn’t refute that logic. No additional arm twisting was required.
My wife suggested Costa Rica as a destination. I’ve been a card-carrying molecular biologist for three decades, and have always admired the treasure trove of biodiversity found in equatorial countries. So it was decided.
I must confess to an irrational fear of vacationing, especially trips outside the U.S. Part of this stems from studying endemic micro-organisms for decades. Leishmania, leprosy, malaria, tuberculosis and schistosomiasis are part of my everyday vocabulary. I know too much about the mechanisms underlying rare diseases in underdeveloped countries.
Yet, truth be told, I also feel overwhelmed and anxious when making travel plans. The 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan described a scenario where a donkey placed equidistant between two equal bales of hay will starve due to indecision. I must be an ass, as I too have difficulty making a decision when there are too many choices available.
Therefore, I acquiesced to our travels, with the understood caveat that Lori would have to do the heavy-lifting and assemble a working itinerary. I don’t mind making suggestions now and again. But I’d rather be surprised upon arriving at our destination. Honestly, all I needed was a hike in a rainforest, plus breakfast with a steaming cup of Joe made from freshly harvested and roasted coffee beans.
Over the course of a week, I painfully watched my wife struggle with the excursion planning, picking from among the dizzying array of places to stay, coffee plantations to see, rivers to cross and mountains to climb. Finally, it was too much for me to bear. I felt her herculean efforts were far outweighing the trip’s potential fun. So, completely out of character, I insisted we utilize the services of a travel agent.
I rationalized that our once-in-a-lifetime trip should not be weighed down by my frugal tendencies. Although it was mentally excruciating, I opened up our checkbook and gave the travel agent a working wish list and hopeful budget. It took five or six iterations of the desired activities, and three upward adjustments to the final cost, but we finally arrived at an itinerary we loved.
We never looked back. I paid for the trip, plus insurance, in advance. What helped most was an assumed mental outlook where I considered funds as already spent prior to beginning the trip. I realized that we have the freedom to travel, and should not feel guilty for dipping into funds for an expense already included as a line item in our annual budget.
I’m not writing this piece to detail our travels. Yes, it rained on our hike in the rainforest. Yes, the clouds limited an awe-inspiring view of the cloud forest. Yes, taking a night walk in a forest filled with nocturnal pumas, sloths, snakes and rodents of unusual size is quite exhilarating.
Rather, the purpose of this tale is to convey that I’m starting to understand the invigorating power of experiences and their worthiness as a use for money saved over a frugal lifetime. While frugality has its place, sometimes we need to let go of our funds and enjoy what life has to offer. After all, money is simply a tool and not an end in itself.
We were also able to target another high-priority item on our bucket list: random acts of kindness. Tips were included for almost every aspect of our travels. Still, it felt good to hand out additional and unexpected $5 or $10 bills to people who made our experience more enjoyable. While it didn’t make a significant dent in our lives, it made a world of difference to the recipients.
Finally, we noticed that the locals were content, with a markedly slower pace of life. Sundar Mohan Rao wrote a HumbleDollar article about an acquaintance who, when asked how he was faring, commented that any day above ground was a good day. The Costa Rican locals embrace that viewpoint.
We heard two expressions multiple times. First was buena vida, which means good living. The second expression was pura vida, which connotes an easy and pure outlook on life. The locals took these expressions to heart, incorporating these ideals into everyday activities—a goal to which we can all aspire.
Jeffrey K. Actor, PhD, was a professor at a major medical school in Houston for more than 25 years, serving as an academic researcher with interests in how immune responses function to fight pathogenic diseases. Jeff’s retirement goals are to write short science fiction stories, volunteer in the community and spend time in his garden. Check out his earlier articles.
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Unfortunately this article was a major disappointment for me, I’ll tell you why, while I did enjoy your honesty about your fears & trepidations about overseas travel, which by the way are the same for many of us, I felt it was missing the ‘meat’ of the story which was the actual vacation in CR. CR is on many readers’ travel bucket lists & we would have liked to hear more about CR, such as where you visited, how you got around & more. We wanted to get a flavor of your trip & a flavor of the country so we too can feel that we can visit these places easily, knowing something of what to expect. Writing an article can be compared to a research project, there’s an introductory/preparatory part, then we get to the actual ‘meat’ of the research, then we have the conclusion where we list findings which include positive & negative findings/experiences if we’re honest. For example I follow another blog, they profile their preparation for a trip, then they tell us all about the trip, they tell us everything, the good, bad & the ugly; pitfalls so we too won’t make those same mistakes. They are early retirees in their 40’s on a budget so it makes it all the more interesting. They also include a few pictures to give us a flavor of the country. I felt like you had set a piece of cake in front of me, then swiped it away last minute leaving me with just a few crumbs. I had said to myself at the beginning of the article, great, this guy visited CR, he’s going to tell us all about his trip there but we didn’t get much info. for example you visited a rainforest, was it in arenal or there’s another great one you visited. A picture would have been nice. I don’t want to hear you are writing from a coffee shop in Italy, then we don’t hear anything about what you’re seeing & doing. Kindly keep this in mind for other travel articles you might submit in the future. Thanks
Count me as another reader that was very glad it didn’t turn into a travel article. Not half as interesting to me as Jeff’s framework: the PRE part of the trip and wrestling with all the doubts, fears and concerns that often have stopped me from actually booking and going.
Thank you Jeff!
Margaret, I appreciate your willingness to comment, and am sorry that my column was a disappointment to you. My goal was to keep within the framework of the HumbleDollar site’s objective. In this case, it was to share my financial decision to begin to embrace the power of experiences as a use for money saved over a frugal lifetime. I hope I was able to convey that message.
yes, the message was conveyed very well, was an enjoyable read and as Johnathan said “a great take on this topic” while also adhering to the HD objective. Thanks for sharing your experience.
There are many blogs and YouTube videos on Costa Rica. Definitely no shortage of shared experiences!
As Jonathan says, there are other sites that cover travel. For instance, there are 258 trip reports on Costa Rica here. I have posted reports to that site, as thursdaysd, but it wouldn’t occur to me to post one of them here.
Thanks, will check it out.
I appreciate the comment, but — as editor of the site — I’m going to push back a little, because I worry that contributors might get the wrong message. HumbleDollar isn’t a travel site. It’s a personal finance site with an emphasis on retirement. Jeff’s article is about the struggles of going from saver to spender when one leaves the workforce, and I think it’s a great take on that topic. I really don’t want HD to become a travel website. Other sites can cover that topic much better than we can.
Understood, thanks, the article is a great take on that topic.
Thanks for sharing. I like your outlook about enjoying life in retirment, with a budget line item for international travel.
I hope you get to travel more after your first international experience.
Great article! I knew it was going to be good when you said “now might be a good time to refill my glass of vino”!
I enjoyed your comment about how content the locals are and their slower pace of life. I think I’ll put the ‘to do’ list away and go for a hike with my hubby!
“…the purpose of this tale is to convey that I’m starting to understand the invigorating power of experiences and their worthiness as a use for money saved over a frugal lifetime…”\
Thanks for this tale! Just what this reader needed to hear.
Jeff, glad you found your way out of the country and enjoyed it. My wife and are were both fortunate to do a fair amount of international travel in our careers, but we still really enjoy it in retirement.
I second the advice to take a shot at DIY, and would advise don’t try to cram too much in. I really enjoy just getting to a lovely/interesting foreign place and hanging out there a while, with a short (or no) list of things to see when I get around to them.
Michael, Indeed, we “planned” an afternoon with “nothing”. We went for a local hike, followed by an early dinner. It turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the trip!
Great article, thank you!
How did you go about finding tour travel agent?
There are many tour companies for international travel.
That part was lucky. A trusted friend’s daughter was in the business.
I think you started with a “difficult” country. My husband and I have always been DlYers when it comes to travel. We basically buy a guide book and go. But that didn’t work for us with Costa Rica. From the book, we knew what we wanted to see, but couldn’t plan an itinerary. I accidentally encountered the Anywhere website— it was a huge help. Initially, it had us with a rental car, but then we watched a few videos and decided against that! Again— not our usual method of operating.
All if this is to say, you and your wife can probably plan trips on your own to a lot of places, even if you found CR difficult. The tours can be convenient, but they’re likely to be a lot more expensive than doing it yourself. Also I’d argue they are too scheduled. It’s very nice to linger where you want and perhaps skip something that everybody else thinks is a “must see.”
Marilyn, Thanks for the vote of confidence that we should be able to plan trips on our own. We will likely do this for future excursions. Yet it was good to know that there are people out there to help, and alleviate the stress when we need it. Especially when it was such a short time period for planning.
Enjoyed the article. We also hesitate to travel overseas and focus only on domestic travel. Watching YouTube videos of exotic places on earth is not a substitute for real experience. Will rethink our approach.
Sundar Mohan Rao
Buena vida!
Well done, Jeff, and congratulations on conquering your hesitations towards traveling. I’m glad you had such a great time, and I hope you continue as long as you can. If you now have a taste for the additional adventure of crossing the Atlantic, may I suggest Italy for your next destination?
My own life view has been shaped dramatically by my extensive travels in China (ended now for political reasons) and the urgent trips my wife and I crammed in some years ago when my time was believed to be short because of cancer. Since I unexpectedly beat the cancer and the urgency disappeared for her, I have taken my own trips to England, Scotland and Italy.
Our travels have been halted by the ecstatic success of our three-year effort to get Mom out of China. She can’t travel anymore, so as long as she’s with us, we’re homebodies. That may change again in the future, but for now I’m content with all the glorious memories. May you collect more of those, Jeff.
Thanks for the comments. Indeed, I have always had a dream of sitting in a cafe in a small Italian town, drinking espresso while writing. Maybe next year!
Glad you had a good trip! I did a lot of travel for 15 years after I took early retirement, planning most of it myself. I did take a few tours, and I did have an agency buy my train tickets and arrange my home stays for Russia and Mongolia, but otherwise I actually enjoyed DIY.
Might I suggest you’ll probably be safer in Europe than the US? You can drink the water and the food is likely to have fewer additives. I usually recommend novice travelers start with “Europe Through the Back Door“, although some of the techniques are good anywhere.
Entirely agree with DrLefty about insurance. Make sure it includes medical and evacuation/repatriation. (See my previous article.)
Great suggestion!
We go back and forth between planning our own trips (or to be precise, I plan them) and having the cruise or tour company driving the (literal) bus. I think trip planning is fun and consider it something of a hobby, but I have to admit it can also be nice to have someone else in charge and I just need to decide what to pack.
If you’re really going to travel more, you might consider an annual travel insurance policy (we used Allianz) that will cover all domestic and international trips.
We buy the annual Allianz insurance, and it’s been worth. A signal failure at London Kons Cross train station forced an overnight stay. Easy to file a claim, uploaded photos of the receipts, and got dinner, hotel and breakfast paid for.
Had a delayed flight back home mean we missed our connection. Had to fly to another nearby airport. Hotel, breakfast, one-way rental car and gas all covered.
Currently here in Spain and right about renting a car. Allianz has complete rental car coverage, which saved $60 per day.
And to top it off, great medical coverage
We’ve used Allianz as well.
Great suggestion for the annual travel insurance! We didn’t consider the extra cost when we originally planned the trip, and it took us by surprise.
Jeff, I enjoy the wit and honesty in your writing, and my wife will also enjoy the reference to an RUS. Please keep sharing.
I also enjoyed the RUS – one of my favorite movies.
I was hoping that the ROUS (rodents of unusual size) would tickle memories of a classic adventure. My wife chuckled at that reference as well. It is a pointer to a classic scene from the film The Pricess Bride (1987).
Jeff – I hope you enjoy many more travels “As you wish”
Congratulations Jeff. Costa Rica is beautiful. We saw some of the Pacific coast, but I’d like to see more of the interior. We have always planned our own vacations until our trip to Alaska last year with Road Scholar. It was nice to have someone take care of the details, and we had a great time. As you say you pay for the service, but we have no regrets. We met a couple last night who had been on several Road Scholar trips and were happy with them. One view we shared was how good they were when something went wrong – in our case a failed engine on the ship. It forced a change in the itinerary but it turned out to be one of the best days of the trip, and they gave us $500 each toward a future trip. We still do domestic trips on ur own, and I think road trips through Europe we can manage. Enjoy
Rick, I was completely unaware of the Road Scholars travel program until I met some older ladies who were on a Scholars trip. I found myself seated next to them at a “Star Party” at the McDonald Observatory outside of Ft. Davis, TX. They told me how much they enjoyed the trips and do at least one a year. They said the food, accommodations, transportation were all expertly handled.
Thanks for mentioning the Rhodes Scholar trips. I understand they are really well organized and fun. We considered their trip first, but they were booked solid for the times we wanted to travel.
Welcome to the club.
The best part of retirement is travel in my opinion. We have been to 45 countries and all 50 states, made friends in Europe and learned so much about our world and the people in it.
Not a day goes by I don’t think about one of our adventures like kissing the Blarney Stone or walking through the Kremlin or a concentration camp or cooking dinner on a farm in Sicily, eating French fries atop the Eiffel Tower or touring Israel with a Palestinian.
Start packing Jeffrey
Indeed, there is so much to learn from other cultures and perspectives, both around the world and here at home in the States. We look forward to increased travels in the years ahead!