Crossroads

One nice thing about not having much money; It makes me eat carefully instead of for fun. Gives me some focus.
Logistics vs worry.

One nice thing about not having much money; It makes me eat carefully instead of for fun. Gives me some focus.
Logistics vs worry.

Its a learning curve gauntlet. First six months was the hardest. But now I be styleeen!

If she doesn't want you to travel alone ,not even for 2 weeks than you should think about if you two are really a good fit - and who knows if she wants to travel in 2 years - she will have worked her ways up the ranks a bit, her girl friends get married, buy fancy houses ...carrying a big backpack and sleeping in cheap hotesl might not be so exciting for her.

Follow your dream and head out on your own - you can always come back if you miss her too much

One advice for the hostals:

I backpacked 9 months through Latin America and I got veeeery sick of hostels, just could not stand them anymore - another dingy room , always the same conversations ( where have you beben , where are you from..) , the pain to find a bed at midnnight after being 12 hrs on the bus.

A friend of mine had the same probelm - he just started renting a place in La Paz and explored Bolivia, always coming back to his own bed after a couple days or weeks on the road - if I would be you - I would pick one or two countries I like a year - get me a decent place and use it as a base for trips - you get way more out of it than by just drifting from one town to the other

Yes keim, and with yhe home base feel, you can build a relationship with a coupla people then too. It helps a lot!

OP, when did this relationship turn from love match to pain in the ain? Why maybe a sunner in
Philly, if you're driving her up the wall with your indecision?
And why should we help you, if you're just going to be an albatross around her neck for... how long? Set her free.

Get off the dime and go to Europe, where you'll be happier.
www;kayak.com
cheap airline fare hunt.

Hi OP,

I hope you're still checking this thread. I'm in SUCH a similar situation. I'm 34 and have traveled on and off for several years but then had an opportunity to buckle down and really earn some money. So, I've basically put my life on hold for the last few years to work because I REALLY don't like the idea of ending up old and broke. Now, I've just about got the money together and am ready to leave (finally!) in the spring but I also have a life here which includes a boyfriend. He both can't and doesn't want to go on very long trip (he's up for maybe a couple of months max) and he only wants to go to certain areas...developed, wealthy etc. We've had many, MANY talks about this and he knows I'm going. We plan to try and make it work. I'll meet him places, come home for short stints if need be etc, but, at the end of the day, it might not work. We'll try though. The good news is, he wouldn't ever try to stop me from going because he knows he'd be killing my dream which would end up breaking us up after all anyway. The bad news is, all the time apart definitely doesn't make a relationship easy.

My take on your girlfriend is this - anyone who doesn't support you in something that you've obviously thought long and hard about and worked long and hard for is not the right person for you. Sure, she can be sad or concerned about your relationship but she should be trying to figure out creative ways to make things work, not trying and stop you from living your dream.

Katherine

QAply for social security at 62. If you don't, you'll miss out on a LoT of money you've paid in, over many years.
Have everything direct deposited.

Happy trails.

I've got the same problem as Mexican nationals, in Texas.
Can't open a bank account here. Long story.

You know it's amazing how some people can write with such seeming authority about something they know nothing about and others can make assumptions that are so obviously ridiculous.

The OP is planning a lifestyle change, not a trip. Unless you have experience with that lifestyle you have no idea what it will involve. Comments about early retirees becoming bored etc. make me laugh. I stopped having to work for a living 18 years ago. I've never been bored in those 18 years. I left home and hit the road, I never spent 9 months living in hostels. Reality doesn't work that way.

Some of you are taking individual points and projecting them as absolutes over the OPs suggested 10 year span. That won't happen. The OP will travel and then find himself sitting still for a while. That's what happens when you have more or less unlimited time and funds. Opportunites arise, circumstances change and you make a decision at that time. Nothing is static or pre-planned. There is no itinerary to follow.

Comments about finances and how much income you can 'safely' take are ludicrious. Retirement planning programs assume a static life. Real life is never static. You can stick to the 4% rule and things can still go wrong. All you can really do is plan based on today and hope for the best. Nor is there anything to say you can't increase your capital while retired. Again, things happen in real life. Opportunities to supplement income or increase capital happen as often when you are retired as they do when you are working for a living.

There are a few posters here on the TT who are retired and have been for long enough to comment from experience on this post. There are a lot of posters here on the TT who have not and therefore are not really in a position to comment from experience. Opinions without experience aren't worth much.

BP,
You didn't go get yourself banned again, did you?

Just go for it - you'll meet tonnes of women on the road anyway.

Yes that sounds like BP

Earn money and travel - working nomad