We are traveling in Scotland this morning, so just a quick post on the personal finance of traveling. Like most people, we charge almost everything we can when we travel. We keep a small amount of cash for small expenses, but otherwise charge away. One of the questions you inevitably get when you are paying for things with a card is “do you want to … Continue reading When In Rome, PAY As The Romans Do
Rome is my favorite city in the world. It is truly the Eternal City in the sense that ancient, Renaissance, and Christian history are very alive in the city – at the same time that people go about their work-a-day needs in a very modern, metropolitan area. We have been to Rome twice and on each visit I have found the interwoven layers of history … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Eternal Rome
This is the second post in our summer travel series and I thought I would feature one of my favorite cities in the whole world, Barcelona. If a city every stood by the name ‘colorful’ – it would be Barcelona. On a hot summer day & night, there is something truly magical about the Catalonian capital that give it a funky, laid-back, and romantic vibe. … Continue reading FIRE Travel – Barcelona, Spain
For many people, travel is one of the KEY reasons they pursue early retirement. This article from CNBC shows it as the top thing people look forward to in retirement. I’ve been talking a lot to people about their post-FIRE travel plans and all of the interesting places they have gone and hope to go to. One friend has a terrific trip to Europe planned … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Travel Experiences
We are just back from our wonderful trip to Japan, where we spent the last two weeks. We got home last Thursday afternoon and are finally adjusting to the difference in time zones (14 hours). You can see from the pictures some of the sites we saw in Tokyo & Kyoto. We were very busy, but it was an amazing cultural immersion! The jet lag … Continue reading Relaxed Return From First Early Retirement Trip
We are overseas as this post publishes on Monday morning in the USA. We left yesterday for our summer vacation to Japan. We are going to spend 11 days in Tokyo & Kyoto. It is our first trip to Asia as a family and our first since early retiring in April. Many people leave for a dramatic trip immediately after retiring. My friend John left for … Continue reading Relaxed Travel Departure
We are on the last day of spring break and enjoying beautiful 80-degree days in sunny Florida, while our home in Minnesota got hit hard with almost a foot of snow (Minne-snow-da). One of my brothers posted a picture of his long driveway freshly plowed after 11” of snow! It’s more than escaping the cold for warm weather that makes us love travel. It’s a … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Frivolous Travel
Since it’s still January, it’s not too late to reflect on 2015, is it? Maggie Banks at NorthernExpenditure.com recently posted a provacative post on “bucket lists” and her twist on the idea that she calls her “Fill Your Bucket List”. The concept is “Instead of making a list of things you would like to see happen in your life, a fill-the-bucket list focuses on the … Continue reading Fill Your Bucket List – Memorable Travels
I like to always have a big, interesting trip booked about a year in advance, but we have nothing yet planned for 2016. I’ve written about our love of travel before, my goal to get to all fifty states (two left!) and trips we’ve taken overseas. The challenge we face (for the first time ever) is too many opportunities to decide between next year. With early retirement arriving next April Fool’s Day, we’ll have the whole rest of the year to go wherever we wish. Continue reading “Our Early Retirement Travel Planning Framework & Free Download”
This Labor Day weekend, we are taking an unusual road trip. We are planning to drive more than a half day out to Omaha, Nebraska, simply because it is one of the remaining three states I need to have reached all fifty. I wrote about my overall quest a few months ago in my “Visit All Fifty States Quest”.
No one in our family would put Omaha on the top of list of exciting vacation destinations (sorry, folks from Nebraska). But, like a trip we took to North Dakota a few years ago, I’m sure this trip will have lot of unexpected fun and memorable learning about a state we know very little about. Continue reading “One More State Visit – Closing In On Fifty”
