BootsnAll Travel Community

man.

i just scooped up a minivan full of donations for goodwill from my 2 friends (aged 60) who are sellin' it all and moving to panama. i can't wait til i get to do that.

or am i dreaming.

ever thought of doing it?

oh jeez....I hope this thread catches some legs.

So, yes.

I'm planning on it. Not sure where, when or how, but no WAY am I going to live out my golden years here.

Absolutely I want to do it! I want 8 months per year in Brazil, and 4 in the USA, not counting other trips...

Every second of every day.

In June I got rid of 90% of what I owned before I left for a trip. Now I'm back at home to finish school so I can get rid of the other 10% (ok, maybe just 5%, mom may have to watch a few boxes for me), and find myself a job on the other side of the world. The less stuff I have, the better I feel these days.

We unloaded about half our stuff before we sold our house. The rest of the stuff is now being stored at my parents' house and my sister's garage. It's still too much stuff.

Cracker - how'd you do it? Not to hijack the thread, but how'd you manage to get rid of everything?

"i can't wait til i get to do that."

Zopa,

Are you sure you want to wait? You're a teacher; you can work just about anywhere... right now.

I loaded up my car with clothes/laptop/stereo/CDs in April & headed for Italy. I realised I had very little of real importance so left everything else for my ex to keep or bin.

I'm now very conscious now of collecting crap here cos I know it will have to be shipped to Oz or binned when I move there in a year or so.

I'm just in the process of moving (not to Oz -- yet, but to England, ggrrr) and am staring at over 30 boxes of CRAP. Oh how I wish I could just throw it all out! But my hubby and I are sentimentally attached to all our books and papers. So when we get to Oz we'll just ship them over, I guess.

And yes, living abroad is a dream we are keeping alive. The prospect of doing that is the only thing to get me through a British winter and my hubby basically agrees (although he lives mostly in his head and hence doesn't really care). As soon as he has served his time as a trainee software developper, we're off! I'm counting the days...

My girlfriend and I are off to live in Cyprus whenever I get financially stable enough.


I'd certainly like to get there before I'm 50 (five years to go). I can't stand the thought of getting old in this country.

For me, libreation was selling most of my worldly possession (those possessions that possessed me!) and heading to Mexico, one-way ticket. Over 4 years later, I haven't looked back.

Now I have a wife and a job here, and (gasp) some new possessions. But the world is big and endlessly new.

quote:

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To gather possessions is to deliver pieces of yourself to dead things.

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Does anyone know where this quote is from?

I recently got rid of 90% of my stuff and while it was difficult in the aftermath of the purge I feel incredibly free and focused. Sure, there's a box or two of books I simply can't part with (yet?) and some CD's and records but other than that I have gotten rid of most items.

Not for everyone but it makes my plan to move overseas by May much more tenable.

quote:

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Originally posted by FemaleNomad:
Cracker - how'd you do it? Not to hijack the thread, but how'd you manage to get rid of everything?

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Quite easily once I decided to really. I gave most of it away and had a huge garage sale I advertized for and sold everything for next to nothing. Once you decide you don't need it, it's not that difficult. I had a good hard swallow watching some things go, but I'm so beyond over it now. I moved into a place 3 weeks ago (after 6 months in flux) and still haven't bothered to move anything in. I hate where I live and am going to move again soon, but I also think I have a big fear of unpacking the little I own. I'm so used to having nothing that I feel like seeing what I have will tie me down. But, I did keep the things that either really mattered to me or that I didn't want to replace. The list...
I got rid of no books or music, journals or pictures. They're all documentation of where I've been. I also kept most of my clothes and shoes. I kept my virgin marys, snow globes and things I've collected travelling. And every letter anyone's ever sent me. I kept the expensive kitchen shit (I love to cook) and my yoga mat. Everything else went and I'm in no hurry to see anything but my clothes and cd's in the near future. Oh, and maybe a pillow. It amounts to about 20 boxes of stuff which I really feel is too much, but still doesn't take up much space. If I had absolutely nowhere to store it I'd have no problem ditching most of that too. I had my entire backpack stolen this summer in Peru and it was a great lesson in not needing stuff. Hope it sticks.

Thus spake Guru Samirananda:
"Most people love things and use people. But if you want to live (travel?), use things and love people."

All fall down.

It's THE ONLY THING I think about! I can honestly tell you that moving abroad is on my mind 24/7 (yes, I have dreams quite frequently that I've already done it!). I agree w/ many of the other posters here: WHY WAIT?! To me NOW are my Golden years (and I'm just 36). I don't want to wait another 30 years to do this...

i have 5 years before retirement and ill be taking off and heading to France to live out what everyone calls the "Golden Years"- Its more silve in my opinion.
Any good suggestions as to locations or ways to buy real estate? I think a gite or small home with rooms to let would be great.

'Dream, live, love and discover"

I have never had a traditional job so have never accrued the traditional goodies for this glorified excruciation in terms of property, wife, kids, cars, household goods, luxury items. I am not knocking this lifestyle, by the way, it is just is not my particular cup of tea, my dear.
However, whilst the Buddhist tenets of getting rid of one's possessions and ego seem fine in practice, I have noticed that I have a fanatical Kleptomania of souvenirs and locale odds and sods. Various relatives and friends' attics are crammed with my stuff...yeah, I'm popular!
My dream, one day when I am very old is I want to live by the sea living in my own Aladdin's cave; which, fundamentally, is not so different from the average office worker's aspirations. Hmmm...I'm not so different after all and I wanted to be special...sulk!

quote:

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Originally posted by MplsTall:
i have 5 years before retirement and ill be taking off and heading to France to live out what everyone calls the "Golden Years"- Its more silve in my opinion.
Any good suggestions as to locations or ways to buy real estate? I think a gite or small home with rooms to let would be great.

'Dream, live, love and discover"

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I'd like to suggest the cote d'azur...I have a friend who I suppose is retired (at 55) she has a beautiful old house in a village called grimaud, its in the hills half an hour outside st tropez...but far enough away not to be ridiculously expensive. The house is split into two & she rents out one half to families from May to Sept & share the pool, bbq etc which brings in enough for her to live the rest of the year.

I went down for the weekend a few times last summer for some of my most relaxing times ever for some good cheap wine, sunshine & fine conversation in a beautiful setting....

God willing, my wife and I will be moving to SouthEast Asia.
I turn 50 in 1 1/2 years. Then, we'll put our house on the market. As soon as it sells, we're gone.
By the way, I still love the U.S,I just don't want to work my whole life away-just to struggle financially once I do retire.

545 days left!!!!!!!!