A friend of mine told me about an article posted in the Washington Post about a retired couple Lynne and Tim Martin who decided to sell their home in California and travel the world. Apparently this article was so popular, there were several follow-ups and now, two years later, Lynne published a book about their experiences including tips on how to do it all.
There was a time when I thought that sort of thing might appeal to my husband and I, but having just returned from a month in France, I’m pretty confident it wouldn’t be right for us. No strangers to extensive travel in exotic locations, Keith and I will definitely be on the road a lot during retirement, but I’m feeling more and more like there is nothing like the comforts of home after the ups and downs of a month away.
By day 24, having returned to Paris after 21 days in Provence it really hit me. I was chomping at the bit to see my granddaughter. And I have to say my coffee, my chair, my bed, and the scenery at my farm were most welcome upon our return.
Although it’s quite possible we will downsize from the farm to a smaller piece of land with a slightly smaller house, I still want an anchor. A place to call my own. We will have to keep the place running while we are away, even if only minimally and so we will still have some basic expenses. Additionally, we’ll have autos, insurance, lawn mowers, and snow shovels – all of which require re$ource$.
I think there are more people like me than like the Martins. People who want to travel – even travel a lot to far off places – but who want their home to come back to. With that in mind, I’m sharing the financial breakdown of our trip to France, along with a reflection about what we did right and where we might have been able to save money. This is the amount you’d need to budget for in addition to the monthly expenses of homeownership.
Bottom line, not including our flight (We used reward points for one and paid for the other, booking less than one month before traveling. The flight cost about $1000 for one of us. Lousy price, with planning a much better price should be available.) Total cost of trip: $7205.48. Ooops. Wait. I forgot to factor in the cost of animal care: $360 (and that’s pretty cheap).
Here’s the break down.
The apartment we rented in Provence for 13 nights: $1450.00 ($111.53 per night)
Various hotels in Provence and Paris for 14 nights: $2012.00 ($143.74 per night)
Total Lodging: $3462.00
Nightly average: $128.00
Dining out $1996.36
Grocery shopping (while in apartment) $209.66
Total Food/wine $2206.02
Daily average $81.70
Train travel in France $363.25
Car rental in Provence $208.65
Gasoline $100.00
Total getting around $671.90
Culture $165.56
Subtotal $6505.48
Cash outlays for food, gifts, tips, unaccountable stuff: $700.00
Grand total $7205.48
If I had stayed home I would have spent the following on average during those 27 days:
Food/Wine $1300.00
Gas (cars) $ 240.00
Electric $60.00
Oil $50.00
Misc stuff I can never remember $100.00
Total $1750.00
Net travel $5455.00
How we could have saved money without feeling like we compromised much:
Instead of staying in hotels while traveling around Provence, we could have rented the apartment longer and went on day trips.
Instead of staying in Paris in the beginning and the end, we could have stayed in the apartment longer.
What that looks like in $ terms:
23 nights in apartment at $111. 53 = $2565.19
4 nights in Paris at about $160.00 = $640.00
Total lodging = $3205.19
Savings: $256.81
Food and Wine
Our average dinner out for 2 persons with either a bottle or 50 cl wine = 90.00
Our average lunch/small dinner out for 2 persons no wine = 32.00
We rarely ate breakfast or lunch out which accounts for most of the grocery money. (Breakfast included in our hotel in Paris.) Wine also purchased at grocery.
Approximately 17 dinners were in the $90.00 category. We occasionally ate a hamburger and fries for dinner. I could have cooked more at the apartment and we wouldn’t really have missed out on the best meals. My grocery bill would have gone up but my dining out bill would have gone down. I’d say, we would have eliminated 7 meals @ $90.00 = $630.00 and groceries would have been about 7 meals (with wine from grocery) @ $15.00 = $105.00 Net savings: $525.00
Overall savings: $781.81
This puts the overall trip at less than 5 grand.
Many people at this point in their lives don’t have a month to go away and therefore don’t care how much they spend while on vacation. I’m providing this information for people who are starting to think about retirement travel and are wondering how much such a trip would cost.
It’s important to note a few things. First, I imagine the average cost of lodging might look inexpensive to those who have traveled to France and in particular Paris. Indeed, we have discovered a little gem of a 3-star hotel conveniently located in a sweet residential area of Paris, close to a metro. It wouldn’t be for everyone, but we love it. The rates for this place vary – as they all do – depending on availability and time of year. September and October were slightly off-season and we were able to get those great rates. This would apply to the apartment price as well.
On the other hand, our food bill might seem high – but that’s our preference. We’d rather spend money on food and wine than a higher priced hotel. Perhaps it would be the opposite for you.
Our culture bill was particularly low this time around since we have been to Paris on a few other occasions and visited the museums on the other trips. This time we opted for symphony tickets. They cost $117.00 but we didn’t eat a large dinner afterwards. Also, we did visit the d’Orsey museum but it was free on the first Sunday of the month.
Is $5000 an accurate estimate for other areas of the world?
I can’t say for sure – for everyone, but for our standards it is fairly close. Again, not counting flights. For example last December and January we went to Costa Rica. Our flights were about $500.00 each. We go to Costa Rica quite a lot, but last year was the first time we rented a house in Montezuma Costa Rica for 2 weeks. The cost to rent the house was only $80 per night, but we needed a car the entire time. Believe it or not, renting autos in Costa Rica is more expensive than in Europe because you are required to pay for their insurance. Dining out is somewhat less expensive, but not by much – particularly with wine, and the grocery bills were very similar, so the average cost per day works out to be similar.
We hope to travel for about 3-4 months of the year when we retire. If we are still living in the northeast, 3 of those months will likely be an escape from the cold and one for a cultural experience. Therefore, we will need to include $15,000-20,000 in our annual budget for travel expenses. The trick, of course, will be working out a budget that allows for this line item, or figuring out some other ways to cut expenses while we travel.