Full time travel is an incredible journey, and if it’s something you want to do, I highly recommend joining the band of travelers who sell everything they own to travel the world.
Travel is a personal journey and an individual experience, so it really doesn’t matter where your travel style falls in the whole tourist vs traveler debate. There is no right or wrong way to travel, as long as you’re happy with the way you’re experiencing the world, it doesn’t matter if you travel full time, or come home to a permanent base.
That said, we recently committed to a permanent base. In May, we moved to Florida, drained our savings account; and bought a house!
For all the advantages of full time travel, after multiple years on the road there are certain comforts of home you begin to crave. Small things like having neighbors come over for a bbq, or to watch the sunset. Living in something bigger than a hotel room or a 350 sq foot trailer. Ironically enough, you begin to crave the mundane things you were trying to escape: a schedule, possessions (like a comfortable couch), extra bedrooms, enough to invite people to your house.
Time to get excited about a trip, and time to reflect and appreciate the experience upon return. Half the fun of travel is the build up and anticipation, but when you’re experiencing one destination after the next, there’s not a lot of time for that. Nor is there time to sit and reminisce or organize your photos when you’re already taking new shots of the next.
When you’re traveling in rapid succession, it can be difficult to not compare everything you’ve seen to something you saw the week before, and when you’re so exhausted from jet-lag and transit it’s difficult to stay enthused. There’s no right or wrong way to travel, and what’s right for one person will always be completely different from the next.
The period of our life dedicated nomadic travel was a remarkable one, and allowed us to see so much more of the world than we would have otherwise. Full time travel was a blast, but everything in life is but a chapter.
The new digs are located in “The Villages” – about an hour Northwest of Orlando – is the largest retirement community for ages 55 and up in the nation. At any given time, multiple groups are gathered throughout the community’s more than 50 recreation centers participating in anything from arts and crafts to zumba and pickleball.
Our new digs are located in a lock and leave community. We wanted something other than a maintenance-heavy home. Amenities, like pools and recreation courts are ours to enjoy (without their upkeep), are an advantage of the lock and leave lifestyle. I guess we were ready to simplify our life while still maintaining the ability to catch a flight from a major airport (Orlando) and to enjoy the RV for trips long and short. There is an RV club here, perhaps we can join other groups. When we are HOME (oh) it is a short jaunt to great restaurants, shops, cultural outlets, and nightlife.
The community, geographically larger than Manhattan, features more than 40 golf courses, a polo arena and special events throughout the year. Most of the more than 123,000 residents travel via golf cart on the more than 90 miles of shared golf cart/bicycle trails. At night, villagers crowd into the community’s three town squares – one of which has a likeness to Disney – and listen to live bands, and With endless opportunities to remain active, many of the residents repeat one of The Villages’ unofficial mottos: “If you’re bored, it’s your own fault.” This growing old thing, looks far different than it did 10 years ago.
Family visited checking out the new digs one month after moving in. We had a great time, including going on a family cruise. Jonathan, our son, loves Siesta Key Beach and Siesta Key’s lobster pot restaurant’s lobster bisque.
All this talk about creating a permanent base has inspired us to take another RV trip. (We will never be bored!). Camp casa came over to meet his permanent brother, as it was loaded and away we go toward Maine and the Atlantic Maritime.
