5 Tips for Affordable Travel in Retirement

[jeffrey]

One of the biggest advantages of reaching retirement is finally having the time and freedom to travel. But with the economy still struggling, many seniors are not able to travel as much as they had hoped. Here are some tips for keeping costs down in your retirement travels.

Travel like an old pro: slow. As a retiree, you will likely have plenty of time to plan your travel. Take your time planning your trips and book well in advance. Travel when the crowds (and prices) are low and take advantage of off-season discounts. If you are flexible about the dates of your trip you can pick out days that are cheaper to fly on. And when you do arrive, take your time. Transportation and lodging are going to be your biggest expenses. The less traveling you do on-site, the less you’ll spend. For example, instead of two months in all of Europe, hoping from country to country, consider two months in South France. This way, you’ll avoid the high costs of inter-continental transportation. You will also save on lodging costs because you can book long-term stays or perhaps rent an apartment instead of a hotel. Consider doing a mini-retirement and spending 6 months to a few years at one location. Read any of Kathleen Peddicord’s blogs for inspiration.

Shop around for discounts and deals. It’s common sense to look for a deal. But as a senior, you have plenty of extras to take advantage of. Be sure to ask about any discounts that may be available, but not publicized. And then make sure you check those discounts against other publicized deals to ensure they are really the lowest. To stay in tune with the latest travel deals from your preferred airlines and hotels, get connected with their online social networking profiles. For example, if you fly American Airlines, follow their tweets for notice of special deals that might be available. To help reduce the cost of airfare, explore options to help you earn free airline miles, like using your airline miles credit card for daily purchases. The key is to leverage the free time that you have to find the best deals.

Consider taking a full-time job with travel options. Another way to save is to stay employed. Hook up with an employer in your field that may need your services (either on a full-time or consulting basis) around the U.S. or internationally. Travel on the company dime and explore new places on nights and weekends.

Take a work vacation. If full-time work isn’t your thing anymore, consider a temporary job using a service like helpx.net. Here you can exchange your work at an international farm, ranch, or bed and breakfast for free food and a place to stay. Typical stays with this service are about 4 days. Using this service in combination with a leisurely stay could make for quite an adventurous trip.

[Lex87]

This is clearly a cut and paste from an outside source – could you please give reference?

:confused:

Thanks for the information though. Are you retired Jeffrey? Do you travel a lot?

[todaytourism.com]

Those tips is a good pointers for those retired people who love to travel just like my parents. I will share them those tips that you shared us. My parents need an affordable travel for them to enjoy life which they can afford.

[peat]

Thanks Jeff for the tips for affordable traveling for retired people. Most of the people get stagnant after an elderly age, whereas the life is much beautiful after retirement. You can easily find some awesome travel deals and discounts as suggested.

[Dave]

Yea, I gotta be more vigilant about these “wiki like” posts – I’m looking for personal comments, not generic info copied from the net.

[peterbtlr]

Ok, Operator and name of the taxi driver in case you forgot something inside the car. try to ask a local about a pla ce where you are going and how much it will cost you to give you an idea.

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