One of the most common goals for retirees is to travel more. You’ve spent your whole adult life working, and now you want to spend your time off relaxing, adventuring, and seeing the world. Unfortunately, paying for all the travel you want to do now that you’re retired can be tricky. After all, traveling is expensive, and you’re no longer earning the same income that you once did.
However, this doesn’t need to stop you from traveling. With a few simple tips, you can make funding your retirement travel easier and start visiting all those places you want to go without stressing about money.
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Create a Budget
The first thing you’ll want to do is create a budget for yourself. You should take the time to examine your current financial situation, including all your income sources and expenses. Then, once you have this done, you should be able to see how much you can afford to travel. By creating your budget first, you can keep yourself from spending more than you can afford and getting into debt. Once everything is written, it’s also easier to see what adjustments you can make to fund your travel goals.
Take on Some Part-Time Work
If you don’t have as much money as you’d like during your retirement, one way to fix this is by taking on some part-time work. Working a few hours per week would increase your income, which you can add to your travel fund.
What you do for part-time work depends on where your interests and skills lie. For example, if you recently retired from teaching, you could find part-time work as a substitute or tutor. There are also likely some stores nearby that need workers during the day, or you can find work-from-home jobs that suit your skills. Consider your financial needs and how much you want to work during retirement to help you pick the right opportunity.
Explore a Reverse Mortgage
Another way to increase your income during retirement, if you’re a homeowner, is with a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage allows you to defer your current mortgage payments. You can then use that money for other things, such as traveling. Of course, a reverse mortgage isn’t right in every situation, so you should consider all the angles before deciding what to do. To help, use a free reverse mortgage calculator (like this one: https://reverse.mortgage/calculator-no-personal-information) to see how much you can save each month.

Manage Your Investments and Savings
You likely saved up some money for your retirement throughout your working life. You could put money from your paycheck into a retirement fund or have some money invested in stocks or bonds. You might also have paid into Social Security, meaning you can now collect on it once you reach a certain age. When it comes time to start spending your savings and investments, you must do so correctly. You want to ensure you have enough money in the future while still being able to do the things you want to do now.
To do this, you should explore the different strategies available to you. For example, it may make sense for you to delay withdrawing from social security so that you can receive larger payments in the future. Or you might need to move money from one investment into another. We highly recommend talking with a financial advisor who can discuss all the options available to you and help you make the right choice based on your goals.
Shop Around for Deals
In addition to managing your money correctly, you can fund your travel goals by finding more affordable travel options. One of the best ways to do this is by taking advantage of travel deals. Many resources are available online that can help you find discounted hotel rooms, flights, attractions, and so much more. Before you head anywhere, see if any deals are available online, as you can save a considerable amount of money.
Start planning your next trip today with Kayak.
Have a Flexible Itinerary
Finally, one of our most common travel tips is having a flexible itinerary. Sometimes, the most affordable travel destinations are the ones you might have yet to hear of. This doesn’t make them any less exciting or enjoyable, just cheaper. At the same time, you can often secure significant discounts if you’re flexible about when you go. Going during the destination’s off-season or on short notice is often significantly more affordable.
Ready to Start Planning Your Trip? Use These Helpful Links to Book Your Trip!
- AIRFARE
- Find low fares with airfarewatchdog, Skyscanner, and WayAway.com.
- Get airfare deal alerts up to 90% off from Dollar Flight Club (free & paid membership options)
- Book your Airport Parking Reservations and save money.
- ROAD TRIP/CAR RENTAL
- Take the scenic route and rent an RV from RVShare
- Get packed for an epic road trip and don’t forget the Road Trip Games to Play in the Car Need more space? Get a rental car thru Discovercars.com.
- LODGING
- From hotels to private homes, find the perfect accommodation with Hotels.com or booking.com.
- For camping and RV campgrounds, find the ideal location with Campspot.
- PACKING
- Travel in style with a suitcase, carry-on, backpack, or handbag from Away and Eagle Creek.
- For packing cubes, we love these from Eagle Creek and these reusable silicon bags for a 3-1-1 bag from Stasher.
- TRAVEL PLANNING
- Looking to start travel hacking and want a place to keep track of it all? There’s the free TravelFreely site.
- For budgeting help, get our road trip budgeting tips here.
- ATTRACTIONS/ACTIVITIES
- Save on tickets to attractions, sightseeing tours, and more with
- Tiqets for cultural events, museums, Broadway shows, etc.
- CityPASS for multi-day attraction passes at up to 55% off in select cities
- Get Your Guide and Viator for guided tours/excursions, day trips, and activitties
- Groupon for discounted local attractions and event tickets
- Undercover Tourister for discounted theme park tickets
- Find guided outdoor activities led by local guides at 57Hours.
- Find information on local trails with the AllTrails App.
- Save on tickets to attractions, sightseeing tours, and more with
- LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
- We use and recommend Rosetta Stone to learn a new language. We bought the $179 lifetime option with unlimited access to ALL 25 of their languages.
- Need something else to plan your perfect trip? Visit my travel resources page for more trusted partners.


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