Senior Citizen Travel: The cost is up to you!

Casa Mia Suites Hotel
San Miguel de Allende, Mex.

The first question anyone wants to ask when they find out your are traveling is "How much does it cost?" Can you blame them? Really, why even dream about going to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico or Malaga, Spain if you know you will never be able to go because it costs too much. But, if you want to get a real number, you need to do your homework. Besides, it is kinda rude to ask a person a question like that.

When Bob Lowry over at Satisfying Retirement was traveling this summer, I noticed that someone visiting his blog asked anonymously how much it cost to travel in an RV. Bob is a blogger for retirees and seniors. I know Bob personally and I know that he and his wife bought their RV from a private party, travel with a dog and live in the Southwest. But, as for the amount he was spending on that trip, I would never, never have had the nerve to ask even though I did wonder because my husband and I used to own a motor home and it ate our socks and our underwear too. It is very expensive! Bob is a very savvy business minded man so I imagine he did not spend more than he wanted.

So, here is the deal. There are a lot of ways to travel. You can spend a little or you can spend a lot. But let me say here that you can also waste your money if you don't do your homework.

Here are some key things we do that keeps us traveling whenever possible:

1. We do everything we can to save for our trips. But sometimes it is not the money in the bank. The cost for us is related to how much we save using credit card miles or points. For example, if you use a credit card for almost everything every month and you pay it off, you can accumulate enough points or pay for airline tickets, reducing the cost of your trip considerably. You have to pay it off though or the interest will eat up all your travel money.
2. My husband trolls for hotel and travel deals all the time. Sometimes we score and sometimes we do not. The key here is to always check the review for anywhere you go. For example, a cheap hotel in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico is NOT a good deal. I can attest to that personally!
3. If you own a timeshare, always check to see what that service has for you in the area you want to travel but always do a double check with TripAdvisor or some other online website. You will not regret it.
4. Travel on the shoulder of the season...always. We do. We get the best deals right before the beginning of high season. Be aware of weather concerns in low season...hurricanes and tropical storms are not any fun.
5. We have found that three star hotels are usually pretty nice. Check the reviews to see what people say. We stayed in one in Victoria, B.C. It was not on the waterfront but it was nice. We like a short walk anyway.

You can travel very cheap if you want to do that. We used to say that we only sleep in our room so who cares. We have also flown on the very cheap airlines where you pay to store your luggage in the overhead compartment. We will not do that again. But, at the time the choice was to stay at home and didn't want to do that!

We are a little more picky now because we can be. But, unless I am demanding something very special, my husband finds wonderful affordable accommodations. He reads all the reviews and makes judgement calls about where we stay. 

We do not travel without some pretty solid plans anymore. But we are flexible enough that we can do what we want. We will travel to Mexico in a week. We have hotel reservations near the airport in one city, a shuttle to another and repeat the plan when we return home. We have talked to people that have been there so we kind of know what we are going to do. We travel with copies of passports, tickets and credit cards. We do not carry cash nor do we keep all our credit cards in our wallet. I do not wear jewelry. Oh, and we get flu shots if we need to do that. These are all just smart things to do.

Finally, in Mexico we never stop to talk to anyone inside the airport unless we have made arrangements to meet a hotel shuttle service there. The con-men are everywhere inside it seems and they look very official. We just keep walking until we are outside. It works better that way.

That is all for now folks. I know, I didn't tell you how much it would cost...sorry. You need to figure out how you want to travel and that will determine how much you will need to spend. Good luck.

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Related articles

• Retirement: Travel Now (with Bob Lowry) and Then (with me)
• Travel: Planning a Trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Foreign Travel Myth? "I get a better exchange rate if I bring cash with me!"

"I am taking a trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos going through Vietnam. My friend told me to bring cash and I would get a better exchange rate. "

I was sitting in the chair with the back rub device running. I had slipped into the coma I always experience when I am getting a pedicure when the woman next to me began talking to her pedicure girl.  Everyone in the salon is from Vietnam so when the lady announced that she was flying into "Saigon" the next day, the girls were very excited.  I sat up and took notice. Of course I wanted to know what her plans were because my husband and I had been in Vietnam a couple of years ago. That was when she told me that she planned on taking cash so she could get a better exchange rate.

My radar went up immediately. She had already had the conversation about not taking expensive jewelry and the girls in the shop warned her about con-men but I don't think she was really focusing in on what she was proposing to do. It sounded very iffy and even dangerous to me.

Here is what we have always done:

1. We take two or three credit cards but only carry one and we put the other two in the hotel safe (along with our passport). We make sure they are international credit cards that charge no foreign exchange rate. Photo copy the cards and keep that in a safe place. Then, if you have it stolen, you will know who to call
2. We go to a reputable bank and get enough cash to last a day or two.
3. We bring very little cash into a country...just enough to get us through airport, etc.  Usually taxi drivers don't even want our US dollars. Our first stop is usually a bank machine. You need cash for taxis, etc.
4. We haven't carried travelers checks for years.

Shanghai, China 2007 by b+ (Flickr)

See the thing is, I had my wallet stolen by gypsies in Spain. I only had a few Euros but the one credit card I was carrying was gone. It was a big hassle! Thankfully we were prepared for that to happen.

Check your travel guide and online to see what customs about money are in the country you are visiting. Don't plan on saving big money by playing the "exchange rate" game. MSN says that even the big players in that area only save a few dollars. But most importantly, do not carry a big amount of cash. Even the savviest travels can be tricked.

I have one last tip that will save you a lot of time and maybe even money...when you arrive and are walking through the airport, never, never stop until you are standing at the taxi stand. Scam artists are allowed to set up shop in many countries. The scam artists look very official...don't be fooled!

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10 Things About Buying a New Car...we saved some money!

     We just bought a new car today.  Phew!  Trust me there is a reason why we only do this every nine years!  But there were a few things that were different this time around.  We actually enjoyed the experience.

1. Interest rates for those of us with good credit are REALLY LOW!
2. The gadgets on cars are absolutely amazing.  Because the interest is low we can afford better stuff.  Blue Tooth, Alarm Systems, Tire Pressure Warnings, Sound System that searches for the kind of music you want, 4 wheel drive, etc.
3. More power!  We purchases a Subaru Outback Limited. We found the size and configuration to be perfect and the 2.5i  4 cylinder had a lot more power that the old Forester.
4. Our American Express Credit Card paved the way for Fleet pricing on the car saving us several thousand dollars.
5. We discovered that we we could do most of our research and decision making before we even left home.  By going to American Express Auto Purchase Program, we could compare prices, amenities and view the interior of all those cars we felt might be in the running.  That site is available to you even if you don't have a card.  This is good information to have even if you don't have the card.  More information makes you a better bargainer. 
6. The warranty we got this time was 6 years.  We both like that a lot.
7. We are a lot smarter...we did not get the service package when we found out it would only save us $70 over the length of it's use.  Ask how much it will save you.  The service package was only good at the dealership we bought it at.
8. Sales practices by car salesmen may have changed in the last nine years...for the better.  At any rate it worked that way for us.
9. We discovered that you can get a good price even if you don't trade your car in and it is a whole lot easier.  We liked that a lot.
10. Dealers will take your credit card for $2000 on the down payment.  Airline miles are a good thing.

    I don't know about you but I hate to feel like I have been taken.  This is the first time in many years I have walked away from the purchase of a motorized vehicle that I have had a good taste in my mouth.  That, my friends, is a very good thing.
     Incidentally, Brian at Royal Moore Subaru in Hillsboro, Oregon is a very good person to deal with.

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