how do i decide where to go? – RETIRE AND GO PLACES

I've made the decision - but where do I go?

I head a wise man once say, “Retirement means doing what you want, whenever you want, however you want!” He was right! But with freedom, comes many decisions. That is especially true when it comes to deciding where you want to travel. Once you’ve made the decision to see other places, the next part is to ask yourself “where do I want to go?” A friend of mine asked me recently how we decide where to travel, and whether we get tips from other traveler or expats in order to help with our decisions.

Since we started traveling, we’ve based our decisions on where to travel by answering the following questions:

What is the cost of living there?
What kind of weather do I like?
What is the visa process for the country I’m considering?
Is it safe?
Is this a place I would like to spend time?

When we started out, we wanted to see some places in the USA that we hadn’t seen before. Knowing that this would probably be the most expensive part of our journey, we began planning ahead (about a year out from retirement). We researched the places we wanted to see, and searched on http://www.airbnb.com to see prices for places where we wanted to stay. Because we were both working when we started this process, we began reserving (and paying) for Airbnb’s that we selected, so that by the time we started our travels, we knew that the cost of our accommodations for at least the next 8 months were already paid for. That alleviated a lot of stress!

We also decided to schedule our journey around America to hit the best weather for the time of year we planned on traveling. We started by traveling south to Florida, then slowly made our way back up to Tennessee, then on to Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Washington, California, and Arizona. By that time it was the end of October so we booked it back to Florida where we spent Christmas and New Years before getting on a flight on January 4th to move to Ecuador.

We decided on Ecuador because it met all of our criteria. It has a very low cost of living. It’s on the equator so the weather is stable year round. The retirement visa application process was relatively simple (we had actually started that process while we were still in the U.S). It was very safe at that time, and it seemed like a place that we would really enjoy.

And that is basically how we decide where we want to go!

Regarding my friend’s question on whether we have gotten tips from other travelers or expats. The answer is yes. My friend understands that my wife and I are introverts, so she wants to know how we get our tips from that unique perspective. Thankfully for those of us who are, shall we say “not the most outgoing types”, there is hope! There are a wealth of Youtube videos from travel vloggers who post regularly that provide a wealth of information on just about anywhere in the world you might want to go. In one of my upcoming blogs, I’ll share our favorite YouTube vloggers and give you the reasons why we like them!

Also, expats are everywhere! And in just about every location, there are Facebook groups that are fantastic places to find out information on just about any subject in the city you are visiting. You can find these groups just by going to Facebook and typing in “Expats in ______”. (just type in the city and it will lead you to all the Facebook groups in that area). These are most helpful to start out and get your bearings in your new location.

I hope this blog helped to answer my friend’s questions. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let me know by leaving a comment below, or reaching out to us on our “About’ page. Thank you and have a great day everyone!

I've made the decision - but where do I go?

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