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You'll always get snide remarks from people when you announce any travel plans.
I retort with something along the lines of, "You chose to have kids, I didn't", "Nice new car, mine is ten years old", "Your home is twice the size of mine" etc.
People who don't spend their money on travel usually have kids, bigger homes, nicer cars, etc.
to be honest we don't get enough vacation to really take advantage of traveling. If you get 3 weeks, I would want to keep 1 week for casual vacation to keep up with doctors appointment or emergency sick days. I don't want to work work work for that 2 week long trip over sea and suffer rest of the year. I rather take every other Friday off and sleep in.
It's possible to take short overseas trips in order to conserve limited vacation time. When my wife and I were still working, we would occasionally take short, 3-4 day trips to someplace overseas. I once took her to London for Valentines Day weekend. We left after work on Thursday afternoon, arrived Friday morning, then spent Fri - Mon in the city before flying back home Monday night and going back to work on Tuesday morning. This only used one vacation day because Monday was a holiday. Similarly, we've flown to Paris for the same period of time using a 3-day holiday weekend to conserve vacation time. We've even done it for quick trips to Iceland, which was only a 5-hr flight from BWI.
However, as fond as those memories are, now that we're retired, it's nice to be able to take much longer trips without regard to office work schedules and/or accumulated vacation time. As I've mentioned in other posts, my wife and I are currently in Australia as part of a two-month trip to here, New Zealand & Fiji. I'm actually writing this post while sitting in an airport lounge in Sydney awaiting our flight to Adelaide, where we will subsequently board a train for a two-day ride through the Outback to Alice Springs.
Retirement life is good.
(And no need to worry about envious coworkers because there aren't any coworkers anymore! )
Have you experienced this from coworkers, those that can't travel or will not travel? Mostly this originates from those with families/kids who are not able to travel and those that give various other reasons why they can't travel.
There is a single guy at work who earns 6 figures and says he cannot afford to travel to Europe because it's "so expensive", I am like excuse me? what do you do with all your money? So he says that it's not enough vacation time since he gets sick a lot and needs sick time. But we get 3 weeks a year off in this place...surely it's enough to go somewhere Excuses.
I usually take 2 major vacations a year, a 2-week vacation around Nov and a smaller 1-week vacation around May. This in a company where virtually nobody takes time off. So, there is a tremendous amount of envy for the fact that I am "always traveling" and "it must be nice to have so much money, so much time, so much vacation" etc. etc. The truth is that now I am a full time employee and don't travel as much in this company. Prior to this I was a consultant and traveled at least 6 weeks out of the year since I got much more time off.
It just seems that many Americans hardly travel at all. If they take some time off it's a couple days here and there to stay home and chill. Which is fine, to each his own, but I don't understand envy. Each person has choices and they have to live with them. And if you don't/can't travel then don't hate on others for doing so.
There are many times I'm surprised there is even a travel industry in the United States. It seems like so few people travel. Where I work it seems like the only acceptable reason to travel is to go home and see family. Any time I mention traveling the few who do travel seem so shocked that I'm not going to see family or that I'm even traveling at all. Where to the travelers in the United States actually live?
I've been to 40 states and a dozen countries (more if you count just airport layovers, but I don't count those), but I don't find it surprising there are millions of Americans who've never left their home state, or tens of millions more who may have left their home state but have never been outside bordering ones.
Half these I've been to more than once. Canada? Sheesh, maybe 10? Of course if I lived farther north it'd probably be easier. I find travel to be one of the better uses of my spending/entertainment money. But then there are people who prefer to have $400 car payments, buy new shoes every month, and have $200 cable/sattelite bills (I don't even own a TV) even though they only watch a couple channels.
We all make our choices. Congratz to the OP for stepping outside the "norm" and using her vacation time for it's intended purpose.
There are many times I'm surprised there is even a travel industry in the United States. It seems like so few people travel. Where I work it seems like the only acceptable reason to travel is to go home and see family. Any time I mention traveling the few who do travel seem so shocked that I'm not going to see family or that I'm even traveling at all. Where to the travelers in the United States actually live?
The travel industry, in some states, is the largest industry in the state.
Being from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and currently living in South Florida, I see it to the tune of tens of millions of people every year. In South Florida, we also get millions of Europeans and South Americans.
People from the most populous area of the United States, the northeast, are frequent travelers.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia as well as people from the Southeast and Midwest.
Almost 100 million people traveled to Florida alone last year.
The travel industry, in some states, is the largest industry in the state.
Being from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and currently living in South Florida, I see it to the tune of tens of millions of people every year. In South Florida, we also get millions of Europeans and South Americans.
People from the most populous area of the United States, the northeast, are frequent travelers.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia as well as people from the Southeast and Midwest.
Almost 100 million people traveled to Florida alone last year.
Wyoming has a pretty good travel industry as well. Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks anyone? And we have Devil's Tower and can claim part of the Black Hills. That being said, it just seems like so few people I know travel unless it's to go see family members.
Travel is as expensive as you make it. We started our family travels when the kids were pre-teens. As a result of a company merger I suddenly was eligible for a total of 3 weeks vacation. We bought a tent, put the kids in the car and went to see a lot of Quebec and Ontario, camping in mostly state/provincial parks along the way. We all still enjoy the memories of those trips and the "kids" are now in their 50s.
The next year we bought a 2 year old popup trailer that went with us to Cape Hatteras, the FL Keys, the Great Smokey Mountains and up to Ottawa. We started out camping because it was cheap and found out that it was fun as well as enlightening.
As retirees we have gone down the Baja, up to British Columbia and many, many places in between.
This thread reminded me of this book, which I read long ago. The author travels without reservations or even an itinerary. He packs everything on his back, stays in Asian hotels, takes public transportation, etc.
At one point in the book he mentions people who speak of envying him and all his traveling, and they often do so while sitting on a $4,000 sofa.
It's all about choices and compromises.
We tried a little of his style when we went to Bermuda. Stayed at a B & B, but it was all buses and public transportation for us. Backpack traveling is the BEST way for me! It takes a little learning how, but, oh, the freedom!
Travel is nothing much. You spend a lot of money to see what you can see for free on TV. And I have traveled down to Mexico. And yes I had a lot of fun.
There are good reasons to travel, but none of them include "seeing how other cultures live." - you get that from reading books or watching the boob tube.
If you don't have a good reason to travel then don't. I don't think your coworker should be envious. He's not missing out on anything.
We used to travel all the time when I had a good house sitter. I'm looking for one now and I'm very particular about who I leave my babies with. I miss traveling but I've become an even bigger workaholic since John retired. I think I have issues. That and flying scares the crap out of me these days.
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So he says that it's not enough vacation time since he gets sick a lot and needs sick time. But we get 3 weeks a year off in this place...surely it's enough to go somewhere 
Excuses.
