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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.