Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Travel Once You’re Past It
World travel isn’t just for gap year kids, and it’s getting easier than ever to get around, so dig out your passport, face up to the fact that you now need senior travel insurance, and remind yourself why travel during retirement might be the best choice you ever made:
1. You have genuinely earned it. To those of us who had no choice but to step straight into a full-time job after school, kids whose families could afford to pack them off round the world before they’ve even done a full day’s work can be rather – well, annoying. If you’ve spent your life with your nose to the grindstone, you have now definitely earned the right to go a-wandering. Even if you spent your life bunking off, your lifetime of audacious cheekiness deserves some kind of recognition.
2. You finally have time to do it properly. Squeezing a country into a fortnight of annual leave will rarely do it justice. You might just have time to relax before heading back to work, and you may even venture beyond the tourist hotspots, but chances are you won’t have had time to get under that country’s skin. Once you’re retired, you can spend as much – or as little, if it’s horrible – time exploring a country as you can afford. And the longer you’re out there, the better value your flights become.
3. It shows you which of your kids are jonesing for their inheritance. Nothing brings inheritance-coveting out of the woodwork like your intention to blow on world travel what you might otherwise bequeath to your family. Sons who’ve been sweetly encouraging you to finally relax now you’ve stopped working start “jesting” about there being “no money left”… normally unworldly daughters make strained comments about the expense. Although you should only travel if you can afford it – which means leaving some cash in the bank for emergencies and pension top-ups – why should you save your life’s earnings for grasping offspring when the world is finally at your fingertips?
4. It’ll raise some eyebrows. Nothing like pootling off to Cambodia when you can no longer stand your stuffy neighbours and their constant, oddly patronising insistence that you join Tuesday afternoon film club/bake-off/canasta party/quilting sessions.
5. It’ll challenge your preconceptions. If most of your ideas about the world are based on what you read in the news or see on TV, it’s definitely time to take a look for yourself – and leave your preconceptions at home, or at least permit them give way once you’re on the road.
6. It’s fun. Boredom and that sort of background noise of stress and borderline depression are all too easy to brush under the carpet when you’ve spent a few decades dealing with Everyday Life. You might’ve carried it with you into retirement without really noticing. Travel should shake it off and reinvigorate your sense of wonder. Or at least give you a deeper appreciation of home.
7. It might be your last chance. Might as well face it. The older you get, the less time you have to squeeze in that stuff you’ll regret if you don’t. Travel is easier before you get bunions and a hip replacement.
This post was written by Tristan, who is the face of the World First travel blog. He writes about global goings-on and helps keep travel-lovers up to date with breaking news and travel tips. If you’d like to know more about World First, head to the website!