Trip Planning

A huge part of our dreams in retirement was to travel. I have always loved travel and that’s why I became a flight attendant, so that I could see the world, and it was a wonderful career that allowed me many experiences I otherwise would not have had.
And now that we are retired we feel like no trip is too small or too big as long as we are living a new experience, seeing new places and experiencing different cultures, tastes and smells. It’s all part of the experience. So in saying that we have a trip planned this Fall, a wonderful ten day Caribbean cruise through the Eastern Caribbean. But it’s never too early to start planning our next trip. So looking at our calendar ahead Lord willing, we are planning a cruise next year as well as adding in land portions to Europe. The cruise we are looking at begins in Spain and ends in Athens Greece. It touches most of our dream stops so this is the cruise we most likely will settle on. However we have decided beings we are going all that way, there are a couple of our bucket list places that are close but not included in this cruise so we are researching our options to possibly fly into Venice adding that on the front end of the trip and adding Santorini on the back end of the trip. So I do what I do, research and plan.
We also have to really watch our calendar as we have guests already scheduled for visits here in February, March and June plus we have trips planned to visit our kids and grandkids during the year as well.

Retirement is a wonderful experience, I try to emphasize to my children and grandchildren to plan, save and invest. I wish we had done more. You can never save enough, and always live within your means. When we were young we learned those lessons the hard way. But they are young and my prayer is they are wise with what the good Lord gives them. We all could do better. Life is after all a series of lessons that are learned and lessons to be shared.

I will often go on YouTube and watch videos of the places I would like to visit. This often determines how much time we will need.
Cruises are wonderful, you see a lot but you generally have one eight to ten hour day to experience each port so if spending time in one particular place is what you dream of then maybe cruising is not for you.
I actually like the idea of cruising with add on portions on beginning and end of each cruise so that is how we are planning for this next cruise.
There is no right or wrong way to travel, as long as you get out and enjoy where you are and appreciate each moment you have, then you have already become a victorious traveler.
We like to take small hikes, take a few guided tours and have some personal time to explore. There is never a one size fits all when it comes to trip planning. This is what works for us.

So for tonight as I write this I’m eager to get back on that computer and keep working on checking off that next box on my bucket list.
After all, isn’t planning part of the fun of the experience? I do think so.