Senior Travel

 

   I saw a scary ad  put out by the government when I was a kid. The ad was pushing US Savings Bonds. The ad showed an old man watching a ship pull away from the pier. He wanted to be on the ship traveling to Europe or South America, but he hadn't saved enough during his working years.

  I opened a savings account after that, but it was hard for me to keep money in it. When I got a job, the government started saving money for me. I resented that at the time because I was an idiot, but now I'm glad to have it. However Social Security would provide only enough money to get to the pier. Not enough to get on the ship. When I got a better job my employer offered me money if I would match their contribution in a retirement plan. That provided enough money to get on the ship.

   I bought a few Savings Bonds over the years but the government discontinued the program so I cashed them in. Nowadays the only passenger ships are those that cruise around the ocean in big circles so we can drink without having to drive.

   When I was young I wanted to travel everywhere. I read lots of travel books, but there's nothing like being there to really get the feel of a place, to smell strong coffee and meat roasting on charcoal braziers, or to smell the smoke from farm fields being burned off after the harvest. Of course I can do all that at home but I wanted the exotic as well.

  When I finished school, the government flew me to an exotic Asian country for a year. They housed and fed me and gave me a uniform. I had a job which paid a small stipend and some of my wages went into my Social Security treasure chest. That year of living exotically satisfied my wanderlust for the time. Back home I got married which put the kibosh on foreign travel. But living in Minnesota allowed us to see the Midwest on trips back to Massachusetts.

   Our kids inspired our travels to Europe. When each of the boys finished high school he got a job, saved a chunk of money, then traveled around Europe for a few months on a rail pass. One of the boys suggested we all meet him in Ireland. The big lesson from that trip was to always have a place to stay for at least the first night at your destination. When you arrive say in Galway during mussel festival, it's going to be hard find accommodations for six in the same place.

   On the other hand, if you overplan, you may end up staying too long in a place you don't like. So we always have a place lined up for the first day, and have a rough itinerary of places to visit during our stay, This plan provides flexibility and some adventures that are funny in retrospect, then play it by ear. I’ve been forced to moderate my tightwad tendencies. Travel is constantly cutting slits in my purse, but there's little I can do about it. Towards the end of the trip I worry we'll miss our flight home. We go to the train station a day early and book our tickets to the airport city. We arrive back in the airport city a day early. We get to the airport extra early. I only relax when I'm sitting in the airport cafe. I should get a prescription for little pills, but I’ll probably forget,

  But will there be a next time? Do we need to see Berlin? Teresa says the fjords of Norway are still on her bucket list. This may be okay. The cruise ship to the fjords also brings supplies to the towns and cities along the coast, so our trip would feel purposeful. My problem with travel to Europe is the distance. And the jet lag. I realize this is whiney, but I cannot sleep during the six hour flight through the night. My solution for the fjord trip would be to fly to Iceland, relax in the Blue Lagoon hot spring for a day, then take the short flight to Oslo. Piece of kvæfjordkake.

Uncle Sam's Saving Plan