Hypothetical question regarding retirement

buckytom said:
Only the folks from the Eastern half of the US go to Florida. As you mentioned, Westerners go to Arizona.

As far as a Snowbird goes, I'd be the opposite. I need my seasons. Summer in the tropics of Florida or farther South - swimming and fishing; Fall in the Northeast - leaf peeping, pumpkin and apple picking, and hunting; Winter in the snowy mountains, fur skifahren.

Spring is optional.
Click to expand...
Actually snowbirds also come to the Texas Gulf Coast.
I haven't heard of many people going to Phoenix in the summer. Now Sedona is another story because it is in the mountains and cooler.
 
I am sort-of retired. I mean in the sense that I took early retirement from the tedium of commute-office grind. I still do something that might vaguely be described as work. Being a writer is a lot like being a student - the hours are good, but the pay is rubbish.

As for places to loll around in: Sri Lanka is tempting; the food is wonderful, it's friendly and laid back, there is cricket to watch. All very pleasing. I'd have to say that their beer is a bit rubbish, though.

A left-field suggestion: Slovenia. Not that I have extensive knowledge, but I thoroughly enjoyed Ljubljana. I'd say that and Riga are the two prettiest capital cities in Europe. The cuisine is quite Italian and there is some excellent beer there, too. Ljubljana has no less than three rivers running through it and that has to appeal to any self-respecting duck.
 
An occurrence today reminded me that life isn't all rosy.

At 17:00 the temperature was 38 degC and the humidity just lower than 85%. Then there was a power cut. There wasn't a whiff of a breeze and obviously fans were not operating. Within 5 minutes my shirt was soaking. The shower is electrically operated and anyway the sun had been on the water tank all day so the water would be warm. I did think of going to sit in the truck with the engine running and the aircon on but that's not a long term solution. Luckily, the seals on the fridge door are efficient in the short term so the beer stayed cold.

Anyway, I stuck it out and luckily the power was back on 10 minutes ago.
 
Yorky said:
An occurrence today reminded me that life isn't all rosy.

At 17:00 the temperature was 38 degC and the humidity just lower than 85%. Then there was a power cut. There wasn't a whiff of a breeze and obviously fans were not operating. Within 5 minutes my shirt was soaking. The shower is electrically operated and anyway the sun had been on the water tank all day so the water would be warm. I did think of going to sit in the truck with the engine running and the aircon on but that's not a long term solution. Luckily, the seals on the fridge door are efficient in the short term so the beer stayed cold.

Anyway, I stuck it out and luckily the power was back on 10 minutes ago.
Click to expand...
We once had pretty much a neighborhood meeting at about midnight due to hot and a power outage.
The power was restored 10 hours later. The funny thing was the only neighbor that complained didn't lose her power until 8AM. I told her she really didn't want to say anything to the neighbors living south of her since we had all spent the night without power.
 
I have still a lot of years before retirement...I love Italy, of course, but in these last years many things in our lives have been changed. Both my husband and I are trying to move abroad mostly for new job experiences and for new life..maybe forever or maybe only for few years, who knows..but we have a wish list: UK/Ireland/Portugal. I don't care so much about the weather, at least not now.I only listen something in my head that says to me "it's time to change". On last September an Italian restaurant in London contacted me because they were looking for an italian manager..On the same time I also had the real possibility to move to Lisbon for a work in a broadcasting channel...a dream. But after few time we had a sad personal situation about my mother in law...so, I didn't feel to leave and move in that moment. If I would imagine my retirement, I imagine it in Sardegna..sun, sea, wild nature, amazing people, and silence. In the meanwhile, to be continued....
 
Last edited:
Yorky said:
An occurrence today reminded me that life isn't all rosy.

At 17:00 the temperature was 38 degC and the humidity just lower than 85%. Then there was a power cut. There wasn't a whiff of a breeze and obviously fans were not operating. Within 5 minutes my shirt was soaking. The shower is electrically operated and anyway the sun had been on the water tank all day so the water would be warm. I did think of going to sit in the truck with the engine running and the aircon on but that's not a long term solution. Luckily, the seals on the fridge door are efficient in the short term so the beer stayed cold.

Anyway, I stuck it out and luckily the power was back on 10 minutes ago.
Click to expand...
Don't be too upset - we live within a few miles of a city centre and quite often have power cuts. The last 'inexplicable' one being for only an hour [!] but we usually have the opposite problem ie no heat, [even gas boilers require electric to fire up]. The infrastructure of power supply once you tend to get away from the main cities can be quite poor even here in the UK. As an example of how poor it is here we have a small camping stove on the top of the kitchen cupboard in permanent readiness.
 
Cinisajoy said:
Actually snowbirds also come to the Texas Gulf Coast.
I haven't heard of many people going to Phoenix in the summer. Now Sedona is another story because it is in the mountains and cooler.
Click to expand...

I've hiked in the Sangre de Cristo mountains near Cimarron, New Mexico. What a beautiful place.

And I love the Gulf of Mexico. Best shrimp anywhere in the world.

You know, the whole "retire to Arizona" thing started many years ago for people with allergies, breathing, and other health issues. They said the dry, desert air would be good for them. Then people moved there, bringing with them their lawns, and shrubs, and trees full of all of the stuff that aggravates the lungs.
So much for healthier air.
 
buckytom said:
I've hiked in the Sangre de Cristo mountains near Cimarron, New Mexico. What a beautiful place.

And I love the Gulf of Mexico. Best shrimp anywhere in the world.

You know, the whole "retire to Arizona" thing started many years ago for people with allergies, breathing, and other health issues. They said the dry, desert air would be good for them. Then people moved there, bringing with them their lawns, and shrubs, and trees full of all of the stuff that aggravates the lungs.
So much for healthier air.
Click to expand...

I've always thought that the most famous US retirement place would be Florida..like for a lot of Italians which go for retirement in Liguria..infact is usual to listen this espressione "Liguria is the Italian Florida"
Anyway is correct that about Florida?
 
Yes, the old joke is that Florida used to be attached to NY, but the retirees made it break off, float down, and they reattached it to Georgia.

Actually, I think about 1 out of 3 Floridians are retirees from other states.
 
Its many years yet before I can retire :-( but whilst I love travelling and I've lived abroad before, I also love where I live in the UK and I don't think I want to move abroad permanently. So we'd keep our house, but take off for a few months at a time in the motorhome to explore continental Europe - get the best of both worlds :-D We got as far as Croatia before having to turn around and start making our way home on our latest holiday, I can't help imagining what it'd be like to be able to keep on going.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
I can't help imagining what it'd be like to be able to keep on going.
Click to expand...
We've done it (OK on bicycles not a motorhome) but I can tell you, its wonderful. The ability to say the weather is lousy or the campsite fantastic, the area amazing, and just stay an extra day or so is wonderful. We loved it and hate that it had to end the way it did. I know I am amazingly fortunate to have had another opportunity (OK not to travel but to see another continent at someone else's expense) to travel this time to the other side of the world, somewhere that had been on our agenda in our first tour.
 
House prices where I live have shot up over 50% in the last two years, which in theory should give me a good start. Near to my daughter would be the most obvious place to move to, but she isn't always there in the school holidays (she's a teacher) and is busy the rest of the time, so I still probably wouldn't see her that often. To make the decision that much harder, I have relatives scattered around all over the place. Funnily enough, the ones who live nearest to me I honestly wouldn't recognise if I fell over them, but I also have close relatives in France, whom I haven't seen for about 20 years, and close family in Greece. I also have near relatives in the States (Minneapolis), and others in Spain (Jerez - from Ethiopia via Saudi Arabia), Thailand (although they may no longer live there and can't speak English as far as I recall), and Peru, plus all points in between. And, to crown it all, the thought of moving anywhere at my age absolutely petrifies me.
 
Elawin said:
House prices where I live have shot up over 50% in the last two years, which in theory should give me a good start. Near to my daughter would be the most obvious place to move to, but she isn't always there in the school holidays (she's a teacher) and is busy the rest of the time, so I still probably wouldn't see her that often. To make the decision that much harder, I have relatives scattered around all over the place. Funnily enough, the ones who live nearest to me I honestly wouldn't recognise if I fell over them, but I also have close relatives in France, whom I haven't seen for about 20 years, and close family in Greece. I also have near relatives in the States (Minneapolis), and others in Spain (Jerez - from Ethiopia via Saudi Arabia), Thailand (although they may no longer live there and can't speak English as far as I recall), and Peru, plus all points in between. And, to crown it all, the thought of moving anywhere at my age absolutely petrifies me.
Click to expand...
I have at least 6 cousins, all their kids and their grandkids in town. We might accidentally run into each other once every few years. This isn't counting the dozen or so second cousins that I never see and wouldn't know most of them if I saw them on the street.
There used to be more. Heck another cousin and I lived in the same town for nearly a decade. We saw each other once and that was a planned visit. I needed a preacher, her husband was a preacher. Worked out nicely.
 
Cinisajoy said:
I have at least 6 cousins, all their kids and their grandkids in town. We might accidentally run into each other once every few years. This isn't counting the dozen or so second cousins that I never see and wouldn't know most of them if I saw them on the street.
There used to be more. Heck another cousin and I lived in the same town for nearly a decade. We saw each other once and that was a planned visit. I needed a preacher, her husband was a preacher. Worked out nicely.
Click to expand...
In the 1970s, I worked up in London and often used to go to a small restaurant for lunch. Because I didn't know anyone there, I plonked myself down at a table where there was a young chap sitting all alone. We had lunch together for some months. One day my Mum, Dad and I visited one of my Mum's cousins and her husband who lived not far from us but we had not seen for some years. She insisted we stay for lunch as her daughter, son-in-law and grandson were on holiday and were coming over, and she thought we might like to meet them. The grandson was of course the young chap I'd been having lunch with nearly every day!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom