Go-Go or Slow-Go?

THESE DAYS, IT SEEMS every other article on retirement talks about a neat division between the go-go, slow-go and no-go years, with retirees moving seamlessly from one to the next.

I don't remember seeing anything about these stages back in the late 1990s when I was contemplating early retirement. Instead, when I quit full-time work in 2000 at age 53, I just wanted to travel before I got too decrepit.

I did travel—extensively—right up until 2017, when my rheumatoid arthritis came out of remission. Lying on the couch before I started on an effective medication, I was profoundly thankful for those years of travel. Between arthritis and COVID-19, I went directly from go-go to no-go. Since I was immuno-compromised, I spent the COVID years home alone with lots of library books and my computers.

Now my arthritis has gone into remission, and I’ve successfully arranged my move to a continuing care retirement community (CCRC). Between exercise, classes, committee meetings and time with new friends, I’m staying busy. So, for now, it’s no more no-go. But should I shift fully back to go-go? I'm healthy, my finances are in good shape and the world is still out there. What happened to the travel bug?

By the time I was forced to stop traveling, I had the whole process well organized. But times have changed. Flying was always a pain, even in business class, but now it sounds like it's even worse.

To make long flights worthwhile, I’d spend months at my destinations. At age 77, I don't think I'm up for a three-month trip, much less six. On the other hand, public transport has significantly improved, with more high-speed trains and the return of night trains with better sleeping accommodation.

I’d always enjoyed staying in bed and breakfasts (old-style B&Bs, not Airbnbs), pensions and small local hotels. But along with friendly fellow travelers, such places came with lots of stairs. My knees have been troublesome, quite aside from the arthritis, and I suspect I now need hotels with elevators.

Another concern: I heard that instead of cash or even credit cards, some countries have moved to apps for payments. I prefer to keep my finances separate from my phone.

And where would I go? By 2017, I’d been round the world four times and visited more than 70 countries. Some places I haven’t gone, like Iran, remain on my no-go list for reasons that haven't changed. I don’t want to return to countries like China, Russia and Ukraine for obvious reasons.

I’ve also been reading about crowds at popular destinations. I've already seen places, which I loved on my first visit, change by the time I returned. When I arrived by bus in 2002, Luang Prabang, in Laos, was a magical, misty town lost in the jungle. When I flew back 10 years later, it still offered beautifully decorated temples and gently fading French colonial architecture, but it was well and truly on the tourist circuit.

The first time I visited Dubrovnik, in 2004, I walked the city walls alone. The last time, in 2011, I had to queue up to get into the old town. Even sadder, a friend visiting Portugal, one of my favorite countries, described encountering huge crowds even in what used to be shoulder season, the period beween peak season and offseason.

I did almost all my travel solo, arranging transport and accommodation myself. I might take an occasional tour when public transport looked iffy, or to break up a long trip, but I preferred setting my own pace. I was even less interested in cruises, although I did enjoy a Hurtigruten trip up the Norwegian coast, and a bare-bones voyage on a cargo boat along the Chilean coast.

Perhaps now is the time to give more thought to tours. I'm not sure I'm in good enough shape for the Rick Steves or Intrepid tours that I used to take. But there is an interesting rail tour of Japan with a new-to-me outfit called Vacations By Rail. Or I could start with a second train trip across the U.S., taking a different route this time. And there are two long rail journeys in Australia I didn't get to yet.

Do I take advantage of my unexpected return to good health and revert to the go-go years? Or settle into the slow-go life at my CCRC?

Kathy Wilhelm, who comments on HumbleDollar as mytimetotravel, is a former software engineer. She took early retirement so she could travel extensively. Some of Kathy's trips are chronicled on her blog. Born and educated in England, she has lived in North Carolina since 1975. Check out Kathy's previous articles.

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