We’ve been on the road for over a month now, and have met many people at all the campsites we’ve stayed. There is always the common chit-chat - “Where you from? How long you staying?” - etc.
#3 most common question we’re asked is about our trailer - what is it? Or, “I like your Casita” - another fibreglass model.
#2 is querying Coco’s breed. “JRT...am I right?”
But by far the most common question we get, usually prefaced by “I know it’s not of my business BUT...” is how we can afford to do this at our age.
First off, we like to flatter ourselves that people think we are younger than we really are. Often it seems the people who think we shouldn’t be retired yet are the same age as Andrew.
Then, we wonder if we should come up with a more dramatic, imaginative story to explain our lifestyle...lottery win, early Apple investor, or rogue trust fund baby.
Everyone reading this knows the reality. What I just find a bit sad is...we are so uncommon. We shouldn’t be. There are tons of blogs I research written by middle-aged travellers, couples or singles who have chosen to disregard the common path. Our friends Amy and Matt enacted the SEaFO (sell everything and F off) plan much younger than us, coasting around the Caribbean this spring in a catamaran and now in a motorhome.
I know it’s not feasible for everyone...yet it is probably more attainable, at least for a period of time, than many think with some simple changes to lifestyle and expectations. We are big proponents of “do it while you’re young and have your health” because we’ve all heard too many tales of people who waited for retirement only to die of a heart attack two years later.
(Oops, then again maybe I should shut up because we need all you hard-working middle-agers to stoke our national pension fund!!!)
I credit my dad Alex for instilling this spirit in me, and Andrew for having the property and financial management hutzpah to pull it off. So we’ll roll on as long as we can and want to.
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