Reluctant travelers

We must not be the only ones who don’t have a big desire to travel in retirement, but sometimes it feels that way.

Dale and I traveled a lot when we were younger. Lived overseas and moved more than 20 times, so much of the excitement is lost on us. Our wanderlust peaked in the early 2000s.

It felt like finding a member of my tribe when I read this article about the actor Eugene Levy of Schitt’s Creek – he hates to leave the comforts of home but was convinced to do a show called The Reluctant Traveler.

Has anyone seen it? It’s on Apple TV+, which we don’t get. There’s a free episode, but you have to sign in. I hate that.

As it happens, some of us like to make a nest and hang out in it. I’m not saying I wouldn’t ever visit an exotic destination, but in a lot of ways, our home already feels like a resort. It’s about mastering the art of simple pleasures.

Dale and I don’t have a McMansion or anything, but we have a nice home and live well but within our means. We cook and eat great food, sleep on an amazing bed with deliciously comfy sheets and have a nice little stash of quality wine and weed. There’s space for me to work on my art, and Dale has a small garden. We love our pool in the summer and the spa in the winter.

The other issue is I always thought of vacations as time to recover from work. Now, every day is a vacation, so I don’t need to go anywhere to get away from it all. I can lay around and read all day at home if I want to!

All that said, I do agree it’s important to change your surroundings from time to time and experience new things. I’m the travel planner in the family, and it’s not a job I relish. I finally decided this week to accept my fate in life and embrace the role. No whining allowed.

I bought two books about traveling in California and am starting to get serious about road trips. We like one or two-nighters. I can’t imagine being gone for weeks at a time, but I know many retirees enjoy that lifestyle. I thought, well, if we have some money to spend, why not go to Napa? It’s less than two hours away, and they are happy to take your offerings.

So, I’ve booked us just one night in Napa with one winery visit and a few other stops along the way. Not sure where we’ll eat, but there’s no shortage of choices.

In the meantime, we are continuing to enjoy our little resort. We were going to watch (again) the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the DVD kept skipping. The player must be at least 20 years old. Same for the DVDs. We figured it was time to buy new, but then Dale remembered for some obscure reason we had two sets of the DVDs.

The other one works without a hitch! That’s on the agenda for this evening. We’re going to split a pan-fried steak accompanied by baked potatoes, salad and some of that tasty wine.

We were jazzed that we don’t have to buy a new player. They’re relatively inexpensive, so it’s odd we’re willing to blow some bucks in Napa but can’t bear to replace the ancient DVD player. I mean, not if we don’t have to, right? The whole idea of wandering through Best Buy trying to figure it all out is pretty exhausting.

In other entertainment news, we like bad Sci-Fi movies from the 50s and have been renting them on Amazon. Below is my watchlist.

  • Cat Women of the Moon
  • Attack of the 50-foot Woman
  • Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
  • The Blob
  • Bride of the Monster
  • Earth vs the Flying Saucers
  • The Man from Planet X
  • 20 Million Miles to Earth
  • The Atomic Man
  • The Incredible Shrinking Man
  • Queen of Outer Space
  • Conquest of Space
  • Rocketship X-M
  • The Werewolf
  • From Hell it Came
  • The Brain from Planet Arous
  • The Cyclops
  • Revenge of the Creature
  • Friend Without a Face
  • Tarantula!
  • Them!
  • The Giant Behemoth
  • I Married a Monster from Outer Space
  • The Thing
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still
  • The Space Children
  • The Flying Saucer
  • The Devil Girl from Mars
  • Curse of the Demon
  • Robot Monster

Does anyone else out there enjoy this genre? Please feel free to share your favorites! While all of the above are from the 50s, we like all the campy classics. I just added Surf Nazis Must Die from 1987.

Bottom line is there are lots of ways to have fun in retirement. Everyone finds their own path, and that’s the joy of it. For those of you who aren’t so much into travel, I hope it’s comforting to know you’re not alone.  

23 thoughts on “Reluctant travelers”

  1. When you mentioned The Reluctant Traveler my first thought was : oh, a remake of The Accidental Tourist? This is a book by Anne Tyler about a man who writes travel books for people who hate travel (and much more to the book, but that is where the title comes from). If you haven’t read it, you might like it. It was also made into a movie.
    I do like travel, but like you: short trips please. I recently went away for 3 weeks and it was the upper limit of time away for me. I love day trips and overnight trips of shorter duration best of all.

    Deb

    1. A few people in the comments section of the article about Eugene Levy mentioned that book. I remember it but never read it. I’ll add it to the list!

      Three weeks is a long time, but Barbados, wasn’t it? Not too shabby.

  2. Earth Girls are Easy
    And one of my favs, not really science fiction, Brother from Another Planet

    1. I love Earth Girls are Easy, but it has been a long time. I added it to my watchlist, and guess what? It’s free on Amazon Prime right now. I forgot Julie Brown was in it. Do you remember the songs The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun? or I Like ‘Em Big and Stupid. We have it on vinyl. Hilarious. I also added Brother from Another Planet. Thanks so much!!

    1. That is one of the classic worst movies of all time, and worthy of seeing it again! And guess what? Free on Amazon Prime as we speak.

  4. Hi Donna,
    I’m a reluctant traveler since the pandemic. We have done many trips using air travel in the past, but I don’t like planes now with all the crazy people, close quarters, terrible food, and TSA pat downs. I have always preferred trips limited to 2 weeks. I guess I’m a homebody and prefer my home comforts. I agree with you, why leave a good “resort” home. However, we all need a getaway with new scenery from time to time. We are scheduling a few days in San Luis Obispo in a couple of months. Have a good time in Napa, and let us know where you dined at.

    1. We’ve also become way more reluctant since the pandemic. Travel isn’t what it used to be. I’ve actually never been to SLO. It’s on the list.

  5. I love old black and white movies, and reading your list for some reason made me think of one of my all time favorites – Night of the Hunter. Not sci-fi by any means, but a bit spine tingling and with an amazing performance by one of the original movie stars, Lilian Gish.

    I’m with Karen H above, a reluctant traveler since COVID. It seems as if the airline industry is intentionally trying to put us off – how else to explain such blatant incompetence?!? But I am toying around with taking a flight to see my brother in Florida, vs my annual car trip. We’ll see.
    Nina

    1. Wow, that looks like a good movie … and free on Amazon Prime! I think my mother was named after Lillian Gish.

      I have a friend in Florida I’d like to visit, but I keep putting it off.

  6. I was sharing vacation plans with my son after I had retired. He said “What do you need a vacation for? You’re retired.” Ten years into retirement and I still feel like I’m on vacation. Like you and Dale, I like my home and my own bed and bathroom. I’ve been on a few great out-of-the-country vacations since retirement, the last being 6 yrs ago. Post-pandemic travel stories make me glad to stay home but I’m starting to hanker for ocean air so I may venture to Vancouver Island this fall. “It’s about mastering the art of simple pleasures.” Ditto.

  7. Hi, Donna –
    Your post reminded me of Syd, from ‘Retirement: A Full Time Job”, who when traveling frequently writes: “Wish you were here and I wasn’t.” 😀
    I totally agree with your bottom line – there are so many wonderful ways to enjoy retirment at home, while traveling or a mixture of both. The choices are endless!

    1. That’s a great line! Perhaps the secret is moderation in all things (with a few well-chosen excesses).

  8. I get the itch to travel and then once I do, I’m ready to be home for awhile. Seinfield has a bit about “going out” and it hits home to so many people. He jokes about everyone wanting to go out and then once they are out they start talking about getting back home.

    1. Seinfeld was so good at capturing the humor in such simple things. I need to go on a Seinfeld binge.

  9. Oh yes, travel. We traveled our bucket list for years but the process of getting there has absolutely paled. We, too, are concentrating on day trips. We have lived in So Cal most of our lives so we have pretty much been everywhere ten times. We are having to be creative.

    Love our home, filled with everything we love and good couches for napping. We love film noir and mysteries on tv.

    And the cats must be taken care of. Always the cats. We are now up to three. None planned. They just arrive at our door with their little suitcases and ask for admittance. We never say no.

    1. OK, the cats. I forgot to mention that. We only have one, but he is quite the pampered kitty. We hate to leave him. More than one night, and we get a cat sitter.

      I love your line about arriving at the door with their little suitcases. So funny.

  10. I have mixed feelings about travel. I love our home and enjoy our comfortable routine but I also like seeing new places. We are planning a European trip soon. Since we live on the West Coast, the flight will be long. Because of that – and because it may be our last overseas trip – we are planning to be away for a while. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me nervous. I’m discovering that I enjoy shorter trips that don’t involve planes.

    I’ve seen one episode of The Reluctant Traveler. Although it was set in an interesting place (this one was in Finland), I thought Eugene Levy’s whiney schtick got a little old.

    1. I wondered if Eugene’s schtick would get a little old in that format. Thanks for the heads up. I completely understand about wanting to go but wanting to stay home at the same time. Long flights suck.

  11. Totally agree Donna, when you’ve done lots of travelling earlier in life, the comforts of home are just so appealing. Beds are a constant factor in my mithering. With back trouble, a good bed is key, and too many holiday places have soft mattresses, or cheap beds, meaning I have to high-tail it to my chiropractor upon my return. It makes me less keen to bother with going away.

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