# Easing into Retirement with a Travel Sabbatical



## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

Although our early retirement journey started some years prior, we've been planning for an upcoming year of travel over the last six years or so. 

I'm at the end of my fourth year of a 20% pay reduction that I'll receive in the fifth year as a deferred salary for a paid year off (at 80%). Initially we scheduled the start of the sabbatical for 1 January 2017 but that was an arbitrary date without much consideration for the kids school year. Since the two kids in high school are in a semester system our original date doesn't work at all so now my big day, that I've been waiting for with great anticipation, is 1 July 2017. !! 

But oh, the Canadian dollar!

We're a family of five (47,46,15,14,9). Though not a huge family, trekking five people on a RTW trip is not cheap. Over the last six years I've watched my travel salary take a 30% haircut.

I've been following a number of slow travel blogs and have a pretty good idea of how much we'll need to tour various countries. And I've scaled down our travel plans to fit the Canadian dollar:
- more time in South and Central America
- more time in South East Asia
- less (or no) time in Europe, Australia and New Zealand
- dumping the Antarctic boat tour
- even slower travel in fewer countries
- keeping the African safari plans for now

In addition, I've set aside some cash for the trip rather than investing it all. Just in case.

I'm still committed to travelling on my deferred salary (and the cash we've recently set aside as a buffer). We are not going to touch any of our additional savings. 

I never planned for an extravagant RTW, but I'm not really interested in backpacking either. And the intent was never to circumnavigate or to see and do everything. There are still the must sees and dos that can't be missed, but the big purpose of the trip is to travel with the kids and make some amazing memories.

I've seen predictions for a 67 cent dollar. Sigh. Add in the forex spread and we're down 35%. We've booked a few things so far... So much is pegged to the USD. 

Anyway, somehow my excitement at the start of this post has moved to a lament.

We're excited.

Seven months.... woohoo!


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## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

Our travel itinerary is pretty flexible but I have the first half roughly laid out. The only thing we've booked so far is a repositioning cruise from Europe to South America and a hotel in Chiang Mai Thailand for the lantern festival

July - east coast Canada (four weeks is not long enough)
August to October - Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia (maybe Myanmar)
4 November - Chiang Mai for Lantern Festival
November - fly to Rome, travel parts of Italy
25 November - Savona, Italy for cruise
26 November to 14 December - Transatlantic Cruise (Barcelona, Casablanca, Tenerife, four ports in Brazil, disembark Buenos Aires)

That's as far as I've gotten so far. I have itineraries for slow travel in South East Asia to ensure we hit all the highlights.

South America: Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and an Amazon River trek
Central America: Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala
Mexico

April 2018 (or end March) - repositioning cruise back to Europe for Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, Romania with a hop over to South Africa 

South Pacific is still on the list but is looking less likely. We will jump on opportunities as they come up and expect to go with the flow. 

At times, I feel like we should have more ambitious plans but I don't want to be exhausted and have someone just want to go home.

The repositioning cruises are quite lengthy but I figured we'd need a serious break at those points.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

Be aware for Brazil you need to get a visa in advance of your trip. I haven't been to some of your other destinations so make sure to check visa requirements for everywhere you're going!

It sounds like an amazing trip. Hopefully our currency will hold up well enough for you to be able to do everything you're hoping for! Are you going to rent out your Canada place while you're gone? Are you homeschooling the kids for the year or just taking them out of school for a year? Gosh. I'm so excited for you!


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We travelled for seven months after we retired. Europe. Africa, Some US, and Costa Rics. It was wonderful. 

We spent the next three winters in SE Asia, anywhere from 8-14 weeks each winter. Our dollar went a long way here and we very much like Thailand and Australia. We are in Mexico now, picked up a last minute special. This winter we will spend in South and Central America.

We have bucket lists but we pay attention to currencies. Delaying South Africa by a year gave us a 12 percent increase in the value of our CAD. At the moment we have zero interest in travelling to the US or purchasing any travel products that are priced in USD.

We have saved a fair amount of money by using/booking on in country web sites. A few years ago our domestic Turkish air, three flights, was priced at $600 on kayak, etc. Got a tip on tripadvisor and booked on a Turkish site. Same flights etc for $220. We have booked with UK travel firms a few times. For Africa we dealt directly with a group in South Africa. Their quotes seemed to us to be less expensive than the quotes we got at home. Last year we picked up a last minute Australia/NZ cruise while we were travelling. We saved 30 percent by booking with the australian cruise office vs our usual on line North American TA. We toured Greece and did several Med cruises when many tourists were avoiding the area. Everything was heavily discounted. Just last week we called Aerolineas call centre in Buenos Aires instead of booking on line. It gave us access to special in country promo air fares. We saved $100 on each ticket. The call cost us 50 cents on our long distance card. So think out of the box and shop the in country web sites.

The other tip is to get yourself a Chase Visa credit card. Unlike other cards they do not tack on a hidden 2.5 percent charge on each foreign transaction. You can also use them on foreign ATMs however you need to maintain a credit balance soas to not attract cash advance interest charges. Check each country's banking rules as this may guide you as to how much foreign currency to bring in. In Vietman last winter most ATMs will only disgorge $200, a very few $300. ATM fees can easily take a few points off the top. Same in Argentina.

Safe travels.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

A good example of why the currency is important; it really defines your wealth in the world.

The Bank of Canada, like other central banks, is perfectly happy to depress the value of their currency and tries to spin the low CAD as a benefit. But every time the CAD drops, you become poorer. When you get back home, mail them a letter and say that you don't appreciate how they actively strive to make you poorer in the global sphere.

With respect to Australia... AUD/CAD is virtually unchanged from 5 years ago so I'm not sure what is deterring you from visiting Australia.


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## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

Hi Spudd!

Sigh, Visa fees...

Oddly enough this is one of those line items that surprised me. I am intimately familiar with how ten here and just twenty there can add up to a thousand. Multiply it by five and it can do some serious damage.

We're at (just) $510 USD for the trip up to Argentina. Vietnam and Brazil Visas are both required prior to arrival but still relatively affordable. Laos and Cambodia are on arrival. Thailand and Argentina are Visa free so far. 

Looking ahead though, Colombia has a whopping $73 CDN reciprocity fee per person. Ouch!

Initially, I thought we should travel only to countries to which we don't require entry fees, but soon realized it's just not feasible. Then I thought I'd eliminate the ones where we had to prearrange Visas... but I really wanted to go to Vietnam. Then that stupid rationale came up... well, we made an exception for Vietnam, why not other countries? 

When I saw the cruise itinerary with four ports in Brazil, I wondered why Brazil was not on my list of countries to visit, then remembered the stupid prearranged Visa requirement. It was so easy to make another exception. 

I get a bit overwhelmed at times. It's a huge endeavour. Rather, I've made it into one. 

School... 
We're embracing unschooling with a bit of online learning. Both teen kids took a summer class and will have no spares upon our return. Overall, we'll need to make up about four credits for each of them to keep up with the high school diploma requirements. But some of those credits can be satisfied with them keeping a journal (blog) or something like that. We don't have to worry about the little guy because equivalences are easy to meet at his grade level.

He's frustrating at times but I've decided to keep him... DH does not want to rent the house. Or sell it. I'm marginally okay with a colleague living here at cost. There's no mortgage but I don't care to pay for someone else's heat, hydro and water etc. Throw in the property tax and I'll be happy with that. I'm secretly relieved that I do not have to be a real landlord. But I do see it as a significant loss of an income stream. 

Thanks much for your interest. I'm excited too.


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## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

ian said:


> We travelled for seven months after we retired. Europe. Africa, Some US, and Costa Rics. It was wonderful.
> 
> We spent the next three winters in SE Asia, anywhere from 8-14 weeks each winter. Our dollar went a long way here and we very much like Thailand and Australia. We are in Mexico now, picked up a last minute special. This winter we will spend in South and Central America.
> 
> ...


I love my Chase Marriott Visa and we have two for that very reason.

Thanks for those great tips. I've read about those strategies but haven't really seen them in action personally. 

I dont really get the currency thing though. I get that not every country pegs it's currency to USD but I've never experienced a spread that goes differently. Euro goes down, CDN goes down. I don't pay less for Euros because USD is up and almost at par with the Euro. Same with MXN peso. Hopefully I'll 'get it' at some point. 

Thanks for your input. Very much appreciated.


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## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

james4beach said:


> A good example of why the currency is important; it really defines your wealth in the world.
> 
> The Bank of Canada, like other central banks, is perfectly happy to depress the value of their currency and tries to spin the low CAD as a benefit. But every time the CAD drops, you become poorer. When you get back home, mail them a letter and say that you don't appreciate how they actively strive to make you poorer in the global sphere.
> 
> With respect to Australia... AUD/CAD is virtually unchanged from 5 years ago so I'm not sure what is deterring you from visiting Australia.


Yeah, I dislike that economic rationale they dish out. Great for export and job creation yaddah yaddah but a low CDN certainly hurts my pocket book.

Australia is on our potential drop list simply because it is not a bargain country. I'd love to go someday for sure, and it's still maybe on the table, but it's a huge country. And I don't think we could do it the justice it deserves. Italy, France and Greece are special requests from the kids. Most other countries I chose myself mostly because it stretches our travel dollars further.

I can certainly be convinced, and very easily, otherwise. 

A year is not very long at all. I admire those RTW travellers who packed in a good chunk of the world into 12 months but I get a bit exhausted just thinking about it. I've tried hard to be more ambitious but this seems to be the best I can do.

Thanks for the input. I'm loathe to drop Australia and New Zealand.


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## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

james4beach said:


> A good example of why the currency is important; it really defines your wealth in the world.


So true.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We found Australia very expensive but enjoyed it. Currency is not the issue. They have different wage scales than us. Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia were inexpensive so it that helped to even out the costs.We worked our way down the coast of Thailand and Malaysia, then got a very inexpensive flight from KL to Gold Coast. Flights in that part of the world are about $50/60 per hour. 

We only travel with carry on bags. This has made our travel a great deal easier and more enjoyable.


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## NotJustDreaming (Oct 20, 2013)

ian said:


> We found Australia very expensive but enjoyed it. Currency is not the issue. They have different wage scales than us. Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia were inexpensive so it that helped to even out the costs.We worked our way down the coast of Thailand and Malaysia, then got a very inexpensive flight from KL to Gold Coast. Flights in that part of the world are about $50/60 per hour.
> 
> We only travel with carry on bags. This has made our travel a great deal easier and more enjoyable.


We're doing the carry on back pack thing too.

When did you go? Edit to add: disregard, I just reread your post... last three winters.

I've collected a lot of airline miles and hotel points over the last two years so those will help supplement our transportation and accommodations a bit.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Us too. We have been careful about how we used our hotel points. We used them in Europe and in Sydney where the Marriott at the wharf was $300. In Bangkok we paid because we had a great four star Novatel then the five star Vie for 100 and 125 night prepaid that included fabulous breakfasts. We do Priceline bidding some European cities. Once in a while Hotwire. Same with airline points. We typically select hotels by value. Sometimes B&B.s, small hotels, and three stars.


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