There are a lot of things that I look forward to in life post-job. Near the top of the list is slow travel. During the year, I’m grounded because the girls are in school. However, the kids get out of school next week and we’re not wasting any time.
We leave the day after they get out. I’m going to tell you about my big travel plans. First, we must get to the question from a couple weeks ago: What would you still not do, even if money was no object?
Reader Wendy said:
I would still clean my own place, wash my own clothes, buy & cook most of my own food, etc. I can’t fathom outsourcing basic care of myself and my possessions unless I physically lose the ability to do it.
Ms. Montana from Montana Money Adventures would still shun “luxury” items:
Most any luxury clothing items or jewelry. Spending $800 on sunglasses or for $1500 uncomfortable shoes would make me feel like an idiot and a sucker.
Reader Nancy S. shared:
If money were no object I still wouldn’t do my regular grocery shopping at Whole Foods or other fancy grocery stores. I just can’t see paying a premium for basics like paper towels and canned beans.
Not paying for luxury items seems to be a theme. (Not really a surprise there, though.) Reader Spiffi says:
I wouldn’t buy much in the way of luxury items – fancy cars with big price tags don’t do it for me (I like my Mazda). My friend’s neighbour sells high end mattresses – I wouldn’t spend $10k on a mattress.
(Mrs. 1500 note: The mattress in our guest room was purchased for $200 during one of those ubiquitous mattress sales to celebrate one of those not-really-a-holiday holidays. It was put in the ad to get you in the door, then try to upsell you on a better, far more costly mattress. We stuck with the $200 job, and holy cow, it’s one of the most comfortable mattresses we’ve ever slept on. $10k on a mattress?!? That’s the cost of a car!)
Done by Forty won’t pay a lot to drink:
I would still not pay crazy amounts for “rare” craft beer. It is my newest pet peeve: that prissy little snobs are doing to beer what they did to wine, and turning it into a yuppie elitism, paying $150 or $300 for some small batch, rare bottle. Like, one twelve ounce or bomber of beer.
No effing way, man. Not even if I had $10 million.
Beer is for the people. It should cost between like, one and three dollars, max, for a bottle.
(Mrs. 1500 note: I don’t know how Mr. 1500 feels about this, but I would probably be in the same category as Done by Forty. However, as I type this, my sister just offered us a bottle of Dark Lord 2017 that a friend gave to her. I can’t bring myself to pay that much for tickets to the festival – which sells out every year in a split second – but I also can’t wait to taste it!)
Friendly Russian‘s wife:
Asked Mrs. FR and she told me that she still wouldn’t pay $$$ for dyeing her own hair.
Mr. Crazy Kicks would still skip:
Fine dining would be something we’d still avoid. The food always seems to disappoint us. The reason is probably because we expect more when we pay more.
(Mrs. 1500 note: Back before we found FI, I changed jobs and we went out to Morton’s Steakhouse to celebrate. $35 steaks that did not include a side dish… This was probably 15 years ago, I’m sure they cost more now. We spent $100 on one meal, and didn’t feel like it was exceptional. I’m sure I don’t have the palate required for these fancy meals, but since I don’t, no need to pay those prices.)
Finally, I like what Owen at PlanEasy had to say. Time is the most precious asset and anything that consumes it is the enemy:
I wouldn’t buy a bigger house, even if money was no object. It’s not just the money but also the time and upkeep. So much time would need to be spent cleaning, organizing, fixing (but I guess I could just hire someone for that). Having a small house seems to keep things simple. Less furniture/stuff to take care of and maintain.
OK, back over to Mr. 1500 and our plans for the next couple of weeks.
Summer Slow Travel
On the 25th, we jump in the car and start driving to Minneapolis where I’ll visit family and friends:
After Memorial Day, we’re going to pay a visit to the doctor. Not just any doctor, the Physician on Fire. After that, we head to Duluth and then across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP):
We’ll spend a week in the northern Michigan before heading to Madison Wisconsin for a night. We’ll hit the Dane County Farmers’ Market before heading back to Colorado.
I can’t hardly wait! We’ll be gone for over two weeks which wouldn’t have been possible with a job.
And the trip will be cheap. We’re staying with friends most of the time. And thanks to travel hacking, all of our hotel stays are free!
How about you? Any good plans for summer? Where are you going? What are you doing?
And if you see a grey Mazda with fighting kids in the back and a yelling dad upfront, give me a wave!
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Right now my wife and I just got back from a vacation down at the NC beaches. The weather was in the high 70s low 80s which was perfect for us. While the water was a bit cold, there was a hot tub which was fantastic, although she couldn’t partake since she’s preggo. So we’re trying to squeeze in the trips before the baby is coming in October 🙂 So hopefully we can squeeze in another beach trip in early September when prices drop again. There’s no point in paying peak pricing when the weather is just as nice in early September and the kiddos are back in school 🙂
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Whoah, congratulations on the new Mustard Seed! And nice work doing the trip off-peak. Enjoy it before your kids are in school! We did a dirt-cheap trip to Hawaii when our kids were young. If we did the same trip now when the kids are on break, it would cost a fortune.
Have a good time! The UP is a really neat place, some real remote places up there, tons of natural beauty, waterfalls etc. Oh, and beware of the black flies, they can make life really miserable, I swear those things have fangs!! You should be safe this time of year though, I think they typically hatch mid June????
Thank MiM! Yeah, hopefully it’s still too cold for those flies! Uggh!
Aw man, I think you’re *just* going to miss me…. I doubt you’ll want to stop and have a meal with the whole family in tow. Also it’s during the week and I’m not able to drive due to stupid work. I can only hope you’ll swing by on the way back through. Enjoy the trip! Say hi to PoF for me!
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Bummer! I think we’re staying in Des Moines too. Next time…
Nice road trip! Have fun you guys. My only question, why only about two weeks 😉
Not going on any holiday this summer ourselves (just came back from a Belgium holiday), still planning for a trip in September though. Not sure where, too many choices!
Plans for next year include a 9 week European road trip or an around the world trip with visits to at least Dubai, Australia and New Zealand. But only 9 weeks for an around the world trips is a bit short. Still to make the decision, first world problems.
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“My only question, why only about two weeks?”
Someday, I’ll persuade Mrs. 1500 to leave her job…
9 week road trip! Whoah, that sounds awesome!
Sorry, tend to forget that we have 5-6 weeks of paid time off per year here in most of Europe. Not the 2-3 weeks which is normal for North America. It’s much more common for many of us to have a 3 or even 4 week vacation each year.
Note to Mrs 1500: ditch the job and go have fun with your hubby and kids 😉
Team CF recently posted…April 2017 Options Trading Update
“Not the 2-3 weeks which is normal for North America.”
And a lot of folks are lucky if they even get 2 weeks off when they start. It is ridiculous what people will tolerate here.
In Russia every employe has 28 calendar days for vacation every year. But, if you take a vacation it has to be 14 days minimum. You can’t take 3 or 5 or 4 days.
But here, with my employer, I have more than 28 days of vacation every year. In addition to my 15 vacation days and 15 sick days we have 2 paid off shutdowns, one in November and one in December.
Seems like a good trade for me 😉
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Those sounds like some fun travel plans! Ours are mostly going to be spent in Flathead Valley and Couer d’Alene area for a couple of weeks. 🙂 Prior to me joinging them up there, Mrs. SSC, the kids, and her parents are roadtripping up there from Texas. I’m a little jealous and a little relieved I’m not in the car.
Except for another beach vacation, and family wedding, our biggest exciting thing is getting everything ready to break ground on the Canyon Lake house. Plans changed, so we’re accelerating the build timeline hoping it will be ready for us to enjoy next summer. 🙂 Exciting!
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We may be on the way! If Mrs. SSC needs a place to spend the night with the kids, we have space.
Whoah, lake house, nice! We’re trying to build a cabin in the mountains. Maybe we can swap?
Outstanding buddy. I frequently annoy Ms IS with my “Have time will travel” mantra. Let me know when you’ll be passing back through Madison, we may be in Fitchburg by then. This summer we are doing some surfing/camping on Florida’s Atlantic coast. A week in the North Carolina mountains. A three week roadtrip through the plains. Last but not least, a reunion of sorts in northern Georgia. When I write it all out like that, seems like we’re going to cover some pretty good ground. Safe travel 1500s!
-Bryan
We’re in Madison 6/9 and 6/10. Will you be there then?
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Boo. Won’t be around Madison then. I’ll be catching up with you guys in the fall anyway. I hope you have a great week.
Dark Lord is pretty good. I have a friend who goes to Dark Lord day every year. Its not my favorite of the 3 Floyds offerings (that would be the much easier, but still hard to get Gumballhead or the next to impossible to find Zombie Dust).
As for my summer plans, I’ll just be staying close to home and taking my kids to the neighborhood pool. We don’t have any vacation plans until the fall.
Zombie Dust is pretty good, but I’m really curious about the Dark Lord. I can’t believe what people pay for tickets to that thing! I like beer, but not that much.
That sounds like a great idea for a trip! Plan on doing more slow travel around the country in the future. But for now the summer time is an awesome time to make some extra cash while the weather is great. So for me it’s normal work on weekdays, and side hustling on weekends. Might go to the local beach(es), but that doesn’t really count as travel does it? 😉 In any case, looking forward to meeting everyone when the 1500’s take Manhattan!
1500s take Manhattan? I think Manhattan will probably take us!
Sounds like you have a busy summer planned. As for us. Today I’m in Cancun with my wife and no kids. The for no kids travel in five years. Still to come, my family and in-laws without me are going to Iowa in June for a week. My family in late summer goes to Maine. And a business trip to SF in the middle. I hope you have plenty of kid appropriate entertainment for your drive.
“I hope you have plenty of kid appropriate entertainment for your drive.”
The way my children fight, our family may not arrive intact. I may end up institutionalized or incarcerated. Wish me luck!
Sounds like a fun trip. I could be persuaded to come out to Madison, there’s a couple early retirement bloggers in that area.
Rare beers usually aren’t that expensive, it’s the black market of reselling that can send beers to the stratosphere. One of my friends is starting to just resell beer from festivals because people are willing to pay big cash. One aged dark lord variant he has he’s selling for $600. I’ve heard others even rarer are going for $1000+. Some people have more money than sense. Standard dark lord Is going for $40. I’m more in the $12 to $15 for a bomber to enjoy with friends every once in a while.
$600? $1000?? Let me tell you, if I can get that much for my bottle, it’s gone.
Woohoo! Sounds like it’ll be a badass road trip, Mr. 1500! I’m sure your girls will make memories that will last a lifetime, and that’s what summer is all about. 🙂
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Ooh did a similar road trip last summer and loved it. Not too far from Surly Brewing in Minneapolis is moto-i, the only sake brewery in the US. The DeYoung Family Zoo is a great stop in the UP, they let you hold all sorts of baby animals.
If you make it south of Mackinaw the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes are a great time. Plus Short’s Brewing and the breweries of Traverse City are on the way.
I wasn’t a fan of Mackinaw City, it’s like the main street in Estes Park but worse.
Thanks for the tips Gator!
And I’ve heard good things about the breweries. Someone also mentioned Right Brain. A trip is in order…
Beer? I hear they do some beer brewing in Grand Rapids, MI
Can I keep an eye on the NSX for you? I’ll wash it. 🙂
Save travels! Sounds like a blast. My wife and I drove cross-country years ago, and really wish we had more time to enjoy the trip. We’re heading West this summer for some family time in the Central coast of Calfornia.
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“Can I keep an eye on the NSX for you?” Sure, wait! I’m picturing Ferris Bueller…
Are you going to Pismo again? Love that place!
Yes, we are!
Don’t I envy the retired amongst us. Well we are certainly working through almost all of the summer which is mostly hot and humid days with heavy rains. Around August we are taking a very budget trip to Japan which both of us are really looking forward to.
All weekends (the whole 1.5 days of it) are dedicated to cooking sleeping and fighting the heat.
Japan is on my list! Someday.
I don’t envy your heat…
The Upper Peninsula is one of the most beautiful areas in the US! Some places you should check out that that aren’t too far off your path: Black River Scenic Byway (waterfalls galore), Lake of the Clouds, Pictured Rocks, and Lake Kitch-iti-kipi (only need about an hour here),
Damn, so many things to see, so little time! Thanks for the recommendations! I just added them to my Google Map!
Only problem with Kitch-iti-kipi is learning how to pronounce the darned place.
This is one of the things I am looking forward to – but not my wife. I don’t think she has the traveling bug as much as I do.
I keep threatening to get an RV when we retire. She says “go have fun!”
For you and your family, I agree – Go and have fun!
I keep threatening to get an RV when we retire. She says “go have fun!”
Oh man, what are you going to do? I friggin’ love traveling, but yeah, it’s not for everyone…
While not yet retired, we love long road trips. 2 weeks is a minimum for a good long drive. This year, we will do a family trip with the DH’s parents, visiting places of family history (and American history), as well as a fair share of sight-seeing and photography, eating and beer-drinking.
Agreed on the two weeks. If you spread it out, you don’t have to have a marathon 800 mile day in a car. Been there, done that. And done with it1
I love long road trips! And I’m so happy you’re going to Duluth! It really is beautiful there. There’s a ton of craft breweries in the Twin Cities and Duluth so you won’t be lacking on choices, but I’m sure the PoF will be sharing his favorites!
I can’t wait for Duluth! Looks so beautiful in the pictures!
Sounds like a fantastic trip. When in Duluth Fitgers Brewhouse is a great place for a beer and a Bite!
As for our summer plans, up to our northern Minnesota family cabins, camping up the north shore…nothing crazy. There really is no reason to leave Minnesota in the summer once you suffer through the winters. We can’t wait for slow travel and long road trips when we are FIRE’d.
Fitgers is saved to my map!
Those not=so-crazy plans are usually the best. Nothing is better than dialing it back a bit to spend quality time with family.
sounds like a great road trip, hope you guys have a blast! We have decided to do a ski trip to Colorado this winter, so we are doing a staycation in the summer. Both should be a blast!
“We have decided to do a ski trip to Colorado this winter…”
Where are you going? Let me know if you need any advice and thanks for supporting our economy!
That’s a heck of a road trip, reminds me of my summers when my dad drove us from Chicago to Lake Tahoe. Twice, every summer… Luckily my dad was one of the financial freedom pioneers back in the day even though I don’t think he realized he was. He also was in the position to do so because of his employment. I did my own travel hacking last year to Hawaii, but that was mostly due to a ton of travel for work and a lot of hotel, airline, and rental car reward points. Have fun!
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Wow, two trips to Tahoe every summer! Sounds incredible.
And how cool was it to have a wonderful role model in your dad?
Have a great trip!
For summer, I’ll be heading off to Cancun with a friend. Thankfully, the trip didn’t cost anything as we were able to use points to get the flights and hotel for free. Also, because the hotel is all-inclusive, we won’t be spending money on food, but we will probably tip fairly heavily to the hotel staff to thank them for their service.
Other than that, I’m planning to take a week long vacation to just relax at home and do some decluttering.
Not much traveling planned this summer, maybe there will be more towards the end of the year.
Cancun! It’s hard not to have a good time in Mexico! Enjoy!
Road trip! Nothing like hitting the open road, especially if you have some free spots to stay 🙂
We travel hacked a 2.5 week trip to Spain which is coming up in a few days. We’ll be flying into Barcelona, and plan on doing some road tripping around Catalonia staying in various Airbnbs. After that we’ll be doing a road trip through PA and Ohio to see friends. Then, before the summer is over, we want to do another road trip up north to tool around Vermont, New Hampshire, and or Maine…. The plans are stacking up quick 🙂
I haven’t traveled extensively overseas, but I’ve been to Barcelona. Loved it! Don’t miss all of that Gaudi architecture!
Haha, enjoy the family road trip 1500days family!
We’ll be road tripping next week too…the same as about half the families in the States. Traffic is going to be terrible!
Enjoy the trip and try to stay sane! Say “Hi” to PoF for me too!
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Ha ha, did school get out early this year or what?
Traveling to MN! Awesome I still miss my home state. We are traveling to England for a conference. So technically it is work but my university pays for it. My own version of travel hacking.
Nice. Always better to go when someone else is paying!
Nice travel plan. We’re not doing much this summer. This is the best time of the year to stay in the Pacific NW. The weather is great and there are a ton of things to do. We’ll take a vacation in November when the weather is bad.
Oh, we’re going to see the eclipse at the coast this August. Camping out for 3 days and relaxing at the beach. Should be lots of fun.
Eclipse! Can’t hardly wait for that!
And Summer 2018, we’re coming out by you! Watch out!
Nice summer plans! We’re doing the last-hurrah before kids trip to northern Europe for a few weeks: Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, the ring road in Iceland (in a little camper van! I might accidentally drive it off a glacier!) and then Scotland, where we’re trying to meet up with the MadFientist.
You still coming to AZ in the winter?
This may be the year we finally get to meet up, as we’ll be here over the holidays. 🙂
But don’t expect any $300 beers. It’ll be more like a $1.50 Hop Knot, but we’ll throw in a game of Viticulture to boot.
Done by Forty recently posted…Spending is Arbitrary
Dunno if we’re coming to AZ, but we’re going to visit the Mad Fientist too. When will you be in Scotland?
Late July (21st to 25th, I think). Maybe the stars will align.
Or maybe this is just another sign that we should not meet in person. It’s like one of those butterfly effect things.
You’ve got nice plans Mr.1500
This summer my mother is visiting us and we are planning to visit Tahoe and Yosemite. In addition to that I was planning my 5 days motorcycle trip to San Diego and Mexico, but since Big Sur Bridge is still closed I am thinking about going north instead of going south. Don’t want to miss 60-70 miles of Hw-1
Friendly Russian recently posted…Value of $100
I can attest to the comfort of the $200 guest room mattress. If it weren’t for those dinosaurs throwing shade my way, I would have gotten a perfect night’s sleep!
We got our guest room mattress when the police station had a garage sale to clear out the evidence locker. I think someone spilled some Cherry Hi-C on ours, but otherwise it’s in tip-top shape!
I’m looking forward to your trip, as well, and jealous of all the plans of the commenters above. We’ll spend quite a bit of time at the lake this summer, and we’re looking into the possibility of a medical mission trip this fall. Peru, perhaps.
Cheers!
-PoF
The worrier in me instantly wants to know what you’re doing with those roadtrips. You’re not driving 12 hours in one hit right? That looks like a wonderful time for short walks, picnics and not staring down a highway till your brain oozes out your ears.
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Very nice, I am looking at travelling soon. Only problem is, it is coming into winter here in Australia. While it definitely isn’t as cold as there in the states it’s still cold to me. Unsure where to go, perhaps somewhere more north, warmer.
We are headed off to Ireland and the UK in about three weeks. Our younger son is graduating high school and turning 18. So his first beer (I think it’s his first beer says the naïve father) will be at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
I’m pretty happy with the airfare ($500 per ticket, roundtrip from DC to Dublin) and this trip will be our first experience with Airbnb.
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Road trip! Best kind of vacation, as long as Chevy Chase doesn’t crash the party…
I’ve driven cross country about four times – it’s amazing to see the geography unroll in front of you… we have such a beautiful country. I made it to all 50 states before I was 40 and each one has some lovely places and things to see and do… and despite what you may hear on the news, there are nice people everywhere.
This year I’m going to be doing some long weekend trips to checkout potential FI landing spots (my current SF Bay location is not where I’ll stay) and then Ecuador for the Chautauqua in October.
Hope you all have a great time – don’t let the dinos drink too much beer.
Currently on vacation. Left St. Louis on Saturday for Portland with my 4 yr old son, my best friend and her 6 yr old son, and our mutual friend. We drove the Oregon Coast one day and stopped at a variety of beaches (including Canon Beach which is featured in The Goonies.) We hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls today. Tomorrow, we take the Amtrak train to Tacoma where we will stay three nights before heading to Seattle for 2. We are going to take the Ferry to Victoria, BC one of the days…depending on weather. This is trip 1.
In September, my husband and our 4 year old wil roadtrip to the badlands of South Dakota for a week. Trip 2.
Mixed in there might be a 4-5 day trip to FL with a friend so she can do her open water certification check out dives.
Not FI yet, but can travel hack and I get 6 weeks of PTO per year at my job…so I try to make the most of it.
I’m taking the entire month of August off of work (I get so giddy just thinking about it!). I’ll be spending a lot of August back home with my sister, going to a cousin’s wedding, and celebrating my dad’s 50th birthday. This is the first vacation I’ve taken since graduating from university in December 2013 and starting my career in January 2014. I’m trying to start training myself to actually use my vacation time since it’s been very difficult, psychologically, to convince myself that the world will not end if I take some time off work. Since I want to retire early, I figure I should start re-wiring my brain now instead of later!
Wow, a whole month! I never had more than a week off until I left. That wasn’t smart…
Thanks for the mention!
Your slow travel plans look awesome. Nothing like a summer road trip, especially when you get to stay with family and friends along the way.
We’d like to drive to the east coast of Canada one summer, but right now our girls are too small for such a long road trip. We’ll have to settle for some camping by the lake this summer.
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Fair warning – the Starbucks in Mackinaw City charges more than the ones in Ann Arbor for pretty much everything. Of course, you probably don’t need this information 😉
Good to know! I don’t like coffee, but Mrs. 1500 goes nuts if she doesn’t have it; like the evil Gremlin!