HELP....I am addicted to travelling and cannot settle down again in a house

HELP.
I am addicted to travelling around Europe in my large motorhome, and I dont know how to get into the frame of mind needed to settle down again in a house.
I divorced, retired early, sold up in London, bought a big 7 metres long motorhome, hit the road eight years ago, and since then I have become an obsesive older traveller..
I like to spend winters touring in warm sunny southern Spain or southern Italy, and travel all over Europe the rest of the year. I love waking up in a new place, and go sightseeing in cities of cultural interest, or sunbathe on a beach, or go for cycle rides in the countryside, and stay at that place for a few days before moving on again..... but I cant go on travelling for ever.......so I need advice from someone who might show me the way to get into the frame of mind needed to find and buy a house, and settle down again. If you think that you can help me ..... please read my profile and get in touch.
And if its your wish to just make a comment below..... please make it a witty one...... with a touch of kindness. My condition is serious...... and I do need HELP.

just keep on going mate, you will spot a place, and let's hope it's a little cottage in s/w france because the uk has to many stressed out folks, and it's far to small to accomerdate this crazy influx of people. good luck MARK

That's a good question. Basically, there are 2 kinds of people: those that travel and those that don't. After all that traveling do you really want to settle down to a quiet life. However, I find that after a long trip I always need a home base. I don't know how much cash you have but don't spent it all on buying a huge place. At your age you should be interested in downsizing which my wife and I are doing right now. Getting yourself a small place because you might want to "hit the road" again. As you get older you discover that there are still places to go and you'll never see it all but you'll always want to. Both my wife and I have plenty of family who never travel and most of them are rather boring. We are headed for a winter down in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and feel very excited about this. Our ages are 65 and 71 and still have the travel itch. I don't think it ever goes away. I look around at the people who never travel and I do not wish to join their "camp". Best of luck. Whatever you wish, it will probably come true.

"Equity" is a sales gimmick.

Ain't no luggage racks on a herse.

What do you gain by home ownership?

Water heater replacement. And you do the hassling.
Erent for as long as you want. Move/change when you want.

Accumulated crap, multiplies to fill the space vulnerable to it.

When this Texan expat made his/my 2nd reconoiter to Spain, I asked every expat I met, if they had any regrets para. In Portugal they simply said, "Yeah. This place is cheap, mate. But ya don't wanna live here. Its a pain in the ass."

In Spain, to a man, they all claimed two regrets. "I regret not making the move twenty years sooner. And I regret, having all that crap in storage back home. I'll never look at it again."

I thought about, when victems of house fires or tornadoes are interviewed. They always say,"Well...we managed to save the family pictures. I guess thats all thats really important."

Its just stuff.

I passed on, all the hierlooms. And saved 30 of my hundred collected records. I called a Salvation Army truck and said its all yours. I coulda shipped a cool chair that belonged to my mother, to my brother or sister. Wuolda cost over two hundred George Washington fun tickets. But it wouldn't fit the above's needs. They have their own. I shipped $280 worth of clothes, those records etc. to Spain. Mail Box Etc. Used UPS. ohhh.

80% import duty, in Spain. I never used 99% of it. I still haven't listened to any of those records, 8 years later. Was given three turntables, but none worked.

THERE AIN'T NO LUGGAGE RACKS
ON A HURSE.

Don't worry. Its just guilt over having so much fun.

Get a maid to help with that self propelled bachelor's pad.

Until then try cold compresses. Iiit'll pass.

DO NOT buy any property, it only ties you down.

This Canadian expat bought a place in El Salvador, moved mother down from an overpriced nursing home in Ontario, bought as there was no suitable rental. All was fine until mother passed on, took a trip to SE Asia & would have been happy stating there for an indefinite period but the dang property was costly to keep up + not immediately sell-able, so returned & not a happy camper.

Should just put it on the market & return to Asia, single & while Latina's are nice, have a bad case of yellow fever LOL.

While I agree with most of the other poster's advice, I think what I would do is rent (or just borrow) a bit of land in or near a town I like and try it out, living in my motor home. If you give it a few weeks, months, years you will eventually know if this is a place you want to grow older in. If not, start 'er up and move along.

Why settle down and buy a house, anyway? What is the point? Do you want to grow a garden, find a spouse, spend all your money, or just die with your boots off? Okay, but life being life it probably won't work out quite that way. If you like where you are, stay. If not, move. That's my philosophy, anyway.

As to equity, that's the last thing for an old guy to worry about accumulating in this economy. IMHO, of course.

the frame of mind needed to settle down again in a house

You assume the 'stay at home' frame of mind is about valuing what is familiar, the 'travel' frame of mind is valuing what is unfamiliar

But there's always something new you can find in familiar surroundings - change of seasons, discovering more depth in people you thought you knew, or just seeing things you never noticed before.

"I have travelled a great deal in Concord" - Thoreau meant he was always interested in his little town and it's surroundings, curious, and paying attention.

I have no idea why you think you need to change your frame of mind.

Are you worried that with no foot in the real estate market you'll be priced out if the day comes when your health says it is time to go home? Then buy an apartment and rent it out, letting an estate agent handle it. Keep travelling.

Friends of mine have a big RV and they "settle" in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico every year from November to May, traveling out from there to see other places in Central America. In May they head north and "settle" in a lovely small town in Ontario with a strong music/arts culture that they actively involve themselves in. Their kids/grandkids are an hour away so they catch up on their grandparenting then too. If they could afford international travel as well they would. But they've made peace with what they have and max out their lifestyle accordingly.

In my case, we have a large home which we rent out at least 1/2 of all year to help fund traveling 6-7 mos of the year. Sometimes internationally via bus/train/plane, sometimes throughout North America with our small camperized van. This works for us right now. When it does not we will do something different.

I always like to have a nest to return to ...but that is just me. My husband LIKES home reno stuff so we've kept our money invested in this large house and he is happy to come home and do things to it. It's his hobby. If I were alone I would sell it as it is too expensive to have to make house repairs via contractors. As to stuff ....every time someone makes the mistake of admiring something in my house they end up taking it home with them! I am very happy to get rid of stuff and adamantaly refuse to bring anything more home from our travels unless it has a practical use and we actually NEED it.

I know people who talk about moving to another country in their retired years. Does not appeal to me on a permanent basis as I LIKE my friends/family/activities at home. I also think about health care and social services. Yes, health care is cheap in developing countries but when you ask around you inevitably discover that anyone who can afford to flies out for care the minute they have anything serious wrong with them. So when I think about my older age I think I will want to be in Canada where healthcare is available to all and if I cannot afford a nursing home we have some good ones that are paid for by the taxes I paid all those years. And where my kids will hopefully keep an eye on me.

So ...we all have to find the road that works for us. But no one should feel obliged to "settle down". Reminds me of how everyone put pressure on us to "get married" all those years ago. Until we were ready to start a family we did not see any reason to. So we didn't.

i enjoyed reading your opinion living, your obviously very outgoing, and you have a base, which i'm sure gives you confidence, i also think campervanman must read it, i think a small base somewhere would help his confidence, after all i have one

Thanks for an interesting thread. Are you sure you want to settle somewhere? - if so it will be the local people who will make the place worth staying, not the scenery or the sunsets (that's what you go travelling for). Language will be important so you can communicate and let others get to know you. I like #7's idea of finding somewhere to hang out for a bit, but I would add finding a way of meeting the locals, getting into conversation and see what sort of response you get and then you'll find out whether the place is worth stopping a bit longer.

I completely disagree with post #9 in that from my personal experience, should I have a major medical problem, Canada is one of the last places I would choose for quality medical care. Might be mainly free but one gets what they pay for!

I suggest you take a hard look at the nursing homes "I paid for all those years" & ask if they give you even $1/day spending money out of your social security check they seize once you sign in. The majority I wouldn't put my dog in.

Don't know if I will stay in CA or return to Asia but one thing is certain, I will NOT be in Canada when/if I need care!

Edited by: busman7

Well Busman, I am very pleased with the healthcare I've gotten in Canada. I had an ankle fusion 6 years ago that is brilliant. My knee replacement a year ago is equally great. Canadians grouch about wait lists but I've never heard them grouch about the quality of our medical professionals. I cannot imagine where you are gong to find better ...and don't say the US. My husband's side of the family are Americans and I don't see them getting any better care than we Canadians - and at a huge cost. My cousins are paying $800 per month for their medical insurance and that only covers basic hospital/doctor care and has a deductible. And its easy to see why - the system totally rips everyone off. When my cousin broke her arm they kept her in hospital for 3 days. No surgery, nothing specifically wrong ....just to run up the tab. They kept her in a private hospital room in bed in a gown ...I could not believe it.

As to nursing homes - they vary in quality as they do everywhere in the world. The government subsidized homes are less posh than those you pay $7000 a month for, certainly. But they are considerably nicer than where you would end up in a 3rd world country - in the gutter. So yes, I am planning to fund my own old age care but if the world economy takes another dive in the next ten years and wipes me out ...well, I'll be glad to be in Canada. I've had two elderly parents in government care and I was satisfied with the care they received - clean and attractive private accomodations, nourishing food, social activities and staff who were fond of them. Yes, the government took 90% of their base level government pension ($900 per month) and they paid for the extras out of savings. It's not the way I hope to go out and you are right, there are lousy places ...that's where its important to have family around to advocate for you when you are too old/ill to do it for yourself.

Well I went to my family doctor when lost most of the feeling in a couple fingers in my right hand, he tested me for corporal tunnel (the in thing at the time) messed around accomplishing nothing for about 3 months. Then one night my right leg gave out, called an ambulance to go to emerg, doc on call said nothing wrong, go home, when I refused he called another one who came to the conclusion that I had suffered a major stroke & admitted me, won't go into the abysmal treatment I received for 5 days before checking myself out.

When mother's dementia started getting bad the good nursing home she was in sent her to the hospital where she was illegally (never asked permission from person with POA) resulting in an infection that lasted over 3 months & was only cleared up here in El Salvador.

Yeah right fantastic system with quack doctors that must of gotten their licenses out of a Cracker Jack box!!!

Lots of countries in the world have a major medical tourism industry staffed with doctors that at least would know the symptoms of a stroke. The moron I was seeing had a really intelligent answer when I confronted him about being incompetent "well you had never been sick before. How was I supposed to know what was wrong with you?:" DUH only in Crapanada EH!!!

FYI , I will overlook your statement about the gutter as it was made due to ignorance, (BTW 3rd world country isn't a politically correct term) I can get 24/7 quality care here & still pay the house upkeep with my social security check, with more left over than I would in Crapanada + have the services of a doctor who actually attended class in medical school!

Actually a "--a 3rd world country - in the gutter." would be preferable to a lot of nursing homes I've run across in Crapanada!!!

Different strokes for different folks, you can sit up in that cold country freezing, no skin off my back. I prefer the palm trees & the company of others that have seen the light & come to paradise!

And speaking for Canadians far and wide ....we are so happy that you've chosen to live where you do.

OP why can't you keep travelling forever? I recommend that you pour yourself a nice glass of wine and sit quietly, sipping said wine, until this unfortunate mood passes. Trust me, it will.

If you're tired of the places you have been frequenting, you could try selling your van in Europe and coming to the Antipodes to buy another one - then you could join the happy band of (very respectable) Grey Nomads.

campervanman try travel companions it's on the tt, ive seen a few people try a travel companion, and i'm told with good results, good luck

Interesting thread!

Try an online dating site!