Choosing where to go

Where do I go? How do I get there? What will I do?

Good questions! The places we visit can’t just be pulled out of a hat. Vetting is needed. Here are some important things to consider when planning your next long term retired person travel.

It is important to keep one thing in mind, you are going to live in the location. Of course you are only living there for 3 months or however long your passport allows, but have the mindset that you are going to live there.

Why 3 months? Because that is usually the amount of time an American or other passport holder can visit a place without a special visa.

Selection criteria

There are 3 main criteria.

Affordability
Getting around
Interesting

Affordability

What is affordable is relative, however most re:Travelers will probably consider 3 tiers of expense and alternate between them to blend your expenses over the year to meet a target budget.

Monthly rent

Daily costs

Examples

Tier 1

> $2500

>$35

London, Switzerland, Netherlands

Tier 2

~$1500

~$30

Sapporo Japan, Seoul Korea

Tier 3

<$1000

<$15

Penang, Malaysa, Thailand

Of course these amounts can vary are based on 1 person and while Japan can be ~1500 a month it can be much more, depending on the location of your stay and size/luxury of your accommodation.

Use your resources, for example with my family connections in the Netherlands my stay was significantly less expensive.

Getting Around

Being a nomad on a budget means using public transit since renting a car for 3 months is prohibitively expensive and relying on uber likewise will make daily living expensive. The remedy is to find places with good transit systems. Luckily there are many and as a west coast American one must push aside prejudices about public transit and embrace the goodness of buses and metros. Honestly taking transit like the subway is part of the charm of a place.

While expensive locations such as London, Seoul and Tokyo are famous for their transit systems, smaller cities like Sapporo have great public transit. London is very expensive Seoul is easily a Tier 2 expense city making it a top destination and besting London in every category.

Exploring outside your city

Trains are very important to get from city to city and explore the surroundings. Often there are passes available that allow for unlimited or discounted travel making taking the train a great option to say get a coffee in Utrecht or attend a meetup in Rotterdam. The point is, your local city might start to feel cramped and venturing out without a car is best done by train. Don’t for get the bus which in Korea can be a first class affair with reclining seats and a very comfortable ride.

Around town

Walking. It is great for your health and an effective way to get around, provided it is something the locals do. Walkability of an area is extremely important since all the transit goodness in the world is useless if you cant get to it. Malaysia is a bad example for walkability. There are few crosswalks, sidewalks and consideration from drivers.

Walking is also a great way to see things as you stroll around you see things from a very different perspective.

Interesting places

Going somewhere should be interesting. The truth is most places will be with the right mindset. You will have to gauge your own tolerance for the discomfort of not knowing what to do. Are you excited to do new things, observant and a quick learner, willing to pick up a few new phrases? Or. Does this fill you with anxiety. Choose wisely.

Den Haag, the Netherlands

Holland is famous for its amazing public transit and it gets top scores for walkability. Dont forget the bicycle option. You literally can bike anywhere in the Netherlands. But, it is expensive. AirBnB’s will run < $2500 a month on a good day. Eating out is also not cheap, however this can be offset by cooking.

My family lives in the Netherlands and had an apartment available for me to rent. goes to show that having connections makes a big difference.

Sapporo, Japan

Sapporo is our top ranked location and it really shines. Great transit options with busses, 3 subway lines, trains to everywhere in Japan, and even a fun street car that does a loop around the city. Accommodations while small were affordable. Eating out can be expensive but most of the time it was extremely reasonable and could be kept at ~$30 per day. That is $30 per day eating out for every meal.

All my friends and family thought Japan was extremely expensive and each time I had to explain that it was very reasonably priced and way cheaper than living in the US.

Alma, Malaysia

Extremely inexpensive but there is no practical transit options. Walking is dangerous including the occasional monitor lizard sighting that locals say are harmless.

A close friend lives here, making it an amazing adventure, but coming here alone would have been very challenging. It is possible to have used ride share or taxi to get around but walking was a hard no as there are very few sidewalks, street signals or crosswalks. While locals do walk and do cross the street it is definitely not pedestrian safe. Visiting Kuala Lumpur is on the agenda and probably will be a much more suitable location in Malaysia for most people. Dont get me wrong Alma is nice and a better option than Georgetown. If you can drive here then it is a great place to come.