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I’m curious when this shift happened for you if it has.
A lot of us picture retirement travel as freedom—until at some point it starts feeling like logistics: packing, airports, long walks, tight schedules, rental cars, luggage, sleep disruption, and “do we really want to do this again?” Sometimes it’s health. Sometimes it’s energy. Sometimes it’s just interest.
So—at what age did travel start feeling like work for you, and what changed your plan?
What was the turning point—health, stamina, spouse preference, grandkids, caregiving, crowds, cost, anxiety, or just “been there, done that”?
Did you shift from big trips to shorter/easier travel (driving trips, off-season, cruises, one-home-base trips)?
Did your spending change—more comfort spending (nonstop flights, better hotels, upgraded seats) or less travel overall?
If you cut back, what did you do with the “travel money” (home upgrades, hobbies, helping family, larger cash reserve, more local experiences)?
For those still traveling hard later in life—what’s your secret sauce?
I’m trying to learn what people actually experienced—not the brochure version—and how you adjusted both lifestyle and money plan when travel stopped being automatic.
My husband are I are supposedly in our slow go years, but you’d never know that from the amount of traveling we do. We’ve done a lot of foreign travel—most of Europe, China, Taiwan, Australia, Costa Rica, Canada —so there is no bucket list of places we’d like to visit. But we do travel for interesting experiences— in the past year, the wild horses on the Outer Banks, the Beluga Whale Experience in Chicago, and the Gilded Age mansions in Newport. During that time, we also did several trips — driving and plane—from our home in Wi to our lake house in NY and a rented apartment we keep near our granddaughter in NC.
i should add we have a small terrier. He hates to travel, but does accompany us on most trips.
Traveled a fair amount while working, and haven’t been under the same roof for longer than five weeks at a time since 2021. Not tired of travel yet.
We have travelled around and across the US by motorcycle from FL and have visited many of our national parks and canyons. Those trips filled us with wonder and awe and are hands down my favorite travel experiences. The longest of those trips was 10 weeks/10,000 miles. I doubt that we will ever do that again due to aging (65/73) and the addition of a sweet Havanese to our family. We’ve had other more traditional international travel via cruises and flights. Lately, we have shifted to renting Airbnbs for 31 days — in NM for the last two years and the Scottsdale, AZ area in early 2026. We also have plans for a 10 day trip in Costa Rica in March and a Royal Caribbean cruise next week in the Eastern Caribbean just to experience their largest ship. (Though recent US actions against Venezuela might impact that trip)
I definitely see us doing more evaluating of the type of travel we choose based on our energy levels and capacity for complexity. Sometimes we want easy and sometimes we’re open to more difficulty if the destination is worth it to us. Japan in 2027 is one of those destinations that we’re deciding if it’s worth the physical cost to us. As far as the financial side goes, that’s where our budget tracker helps us decide if we are open to a more expensive year. Our goal is still to hold off withdrawing from our investments beyond the required RMDs that start this year for my husband. We’ve been doing Roth conversions on his IRA so his RMDs will only be a few thousand but will still help lessen the impact of 2026 being a high travel year.
Aside from the lengthy flight – definitely business class – Japan is easy travel. Superb public transport system, excellent food, good accommodation at multiple price points. Lots to see and experience.
Thank you, Kathy. I rarely can sleep on a plane so that flight does concern me. We haven’t started our research yet but I’m hoping there might be a way to break the trip up somehow.
I live in NC, so I broke trips to Asia in Vancouver. Turns out it takes nearly as long from Hawaii and longer from San Francisco. I can’t sleep unless I’m horizontal, which is why the lie flat seats in business class work for me.
I thought I would lose my love of travel after traveling on business for 30+ years but I haven’t. My wife still comes along on some of my part-time consulting trips and we tack on personal travel. We are still on our quest to visit all the National Parks in her retirement-we are up to 48. We still visit family a few times a year. I will allow that we do fly in the front of the plane when we take a plane trip-I justify this with the consulting income and how hard we have worked and saved-and this does make a difference in the experience. I do a lot of planning on trips and am very selective about the logistics, accommodations and activities so the planning is a part of the fun. If and when we encounter issues, sure sometimes its a hassle but I look at it as part of the adventure. I have a high level plan to slow down the type of travel as we age perhaps to more river cruising and train travel but we’ll see.
48 National Parks. Now that’s a real accomplishment Rob. In June of 2024, I managed to make it to Capulon Volcano NM, Great Sand Dunes, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Great Basin NPs on a drive from Mobile, AL to Cody, WY, and then on to Oakland, CA. I think Great Basin NP is an underrated gem. The drive across U. S. Hwy 50 (The Loneliest Road in America), through Nevada, is spectacular.
In my case it has been a combination, plus inertia. I was initially grounded in 2017 when my rheumatoid arthritis came out of remission (this was after fifteen years of extensive travel). Even after starting effective medication, a test trip in 2018 was only partially successful. Then there was Covid, and since the medication compromised my immune system I mostly stayed home alone. More recently, I moved to a CCRC where I am staying busy. Even though my RA is back in remission I have no real enthusiasm for traveling again. I am out of practice, and many of the places I might like to revisit seem to be overrun with other tourists these days. I am – slowly – planning a trip to England to visit family later this year, I’ll see how that goes.
I sincerely hope the trip to England becomes a reality for you in 2026. Further, I hope you’re able to take advantage of every luxury you desire to make your total experience the best in all the ways that are important to you.
Thank you. I have the ticket to get there, now I need to finish planning.
We’re 59 and 65, I just left a public service position to work more independently. We’re still in the upswing on our travel project. Four international trips in 2025 (one of our kids lives in Europe, so she’s our excuse to visit and extend travel). And yes, we’ve upscaled our travel. Premium economy or, at least, extended leg room seats on international flights are now the new normal. We also look to rent larger AirBnbs for multi-night stays. We prefer to have a kitchen and bedroom with a door – let’s us spread out and let each other sleep in.
Great post – We are 72/63 and done some domestic trips along with Iceland Portugal Greece Can’t say I enjoy the jet lag and sleep disruption. Lovely wife can sleep on any plane. Not happening for me. Probably will go back to more domestic trips for the two of us. As a bit of a compromise my daughter and wife have started ladies trips and will be heading to Italy this year. While I stay home and dog sit. Help me out Kristine Hayes – this dog doesn’t do well with disruptions! 🙂
Excellent thought provoking post Jeff!
We are 67/68 and have done a fair amount of long distance trips (Hawaii from the east coast, and Greece) and several trips to Orange County where my daughter lives, as well as several driving trips to North Carolina, and Acadia. Our plan had been to do one international and one domestic trip per year, my and my wife’s preference s respectively. That has not worked out for various reasons, especially in most of ‘24 and part of ‘25 due to my mother in law living with us for her final year of life.
This year we hope for two international trips (one to warm spot this winter which we have never done) as it has been three years since our last. When we travel long distances we always plan on two weeks so the hustle and bustle of flying is spread out. As an example this year one trip with a week in London, and another in Scotland. Then we will most likely return to our original plan.
When my mother was dealing with the early years of dementia, my parents who traveled extensively, started taking river cruises. That way it was unpack once, and if my mother was having a bad day then stay on the boat. They finally stopped at about 75 yo.
We have budgeted for travel until 80, but not a guarantee will be able to travel that long. If not may migrate to Florida for the winter for our trips.
I just turned 65 a few months ago. After years of traveling to Europe or other countries several times a year for pleasure, we definitely now more acutely feel the hassles, logistics and the burdens of travel. It is all too much for us to give up travel? No, not yet. However it;s funny. Every new years day we pop a bottle of champagne in the morning and talk about the coming year and our goals. Travel being a large part of the discussion. Yesterday we talked about several locations and the talk drifted into weighting the fun of being there vs the hassles of getting there. So no, we’re not giving up travel, but we are going to be more intentional about destinations going forward.
Also 65 and also having those conversations. We took some great trips last year. We also slowed down for the fall and winter except for a couple of weekends away and are really enjoying being home.
We have not been able to travel yet because of our family obligations I have written about. I can relate to being tired: I am so tired of all the trips back and forth we have had to make in the last 15-18 mos for Spouse’s family. I know it is a blessing we are able to be retired and go when needed. Spouse’s mom is in assisted living now and hoping things will settle down after her house is sold. I am interested to read what others will have to say about travel. Chris
I’m 66 and didn’t travel too much while working as being away from the office for too long was difficult. About 10 years ago I started overseas traveling teaching English in Poland and seeing Europe. Then I went on tours in Asia, Egypt and the Amazon. I met my future wife in Budapest who is from Thailand so I plan on traveling for quite a while because I want to visit Thailand more and see a lot more countries. My knees are sore from pickleball but with rehab I will try to coax more years from them. I think the walking might be my limiting factor. I think a lot of the hassle of traveling can be smoothed over by spending more money. I haven’t even started the cruises or Viking Tours yet.
I’m 58 now and still travel, but not for its own sake anymore—destination travel isn’t my thing. These days I need a reason, a purpose that makes the trip worthwhile. Last year I went to mainland Spain to meet up with a friend, flew to an island off the northwest coast of Africa for a 60th birthday celebration, and made a trip to London to see family. So far this year I’ve booked a trip to Valencia to witness a total solar eclipse and I’m currently sorting a long haul to Australia to spend time with my cousins. Without that kind of reason, I honestly can’t be bothered.
That “can’t be bothered” feeling has developed over the last few years. I spent a lot of time travelling for business throughout Europe and Southeast Asia, plus plenty of leisure travel over the years—maybe I’m just a bit jaded by the whole experience now.
As for the budget, I’ve got money set aside for travel. If I spend it, great. If I don’t, I’m not scrambling to find something to blow it on—I’ll just allocate less the following year.