Freedom
Date: 12/29/2007Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007
We retirees can go anywhere and do anything. But we don't.
Some people strive for that “long, safe, uneventful life.” But these days, we humans enjoy reasonable security almost anywhere. No saber-toothed tigers will attack us, not even in South America or Asia. We really have accomplished something over the past few hundred years--we've made our world a much more accessible place.
You just have to retire and move to take advantage of it. All it takes is a little planning, sense of adventure, and will.
Vicki and I retired in 1984, and decided to become perpetual travelers in 1992. I'll never forget the day we left our apartment in Buenos Aires. We'd sold the place some months before, under an arrangement that let us stay until we were ready to leave.
We knew we were ready to leave when Pan Am went bankrupt. We had used mileage tickets on Pan Am to fly from New York to Buenos Aires and back. Now we couldn't get back. Stranded. What to do? I called United, which had taken over Pan Am's routes. The United woman was very kind. “Paul,” she said. “You're on a mileage ticket. You've been using mileage tickets for years. We're trying to do what we can for Pan Am customers, but I'll tell you frankly that you'll likely be WAY down our priority list.”
It seemed like the right moment to try what I had always wanted to do--travel back up to the U.S. over land. Vicki liked the idea, too.
We got rid of nearly all our stuff, including a piano, which we'd bought when we were first married. But you can't carry a piano in a carry-on backpack. We also got rid of furniture, pots and pans, mementos, and more. We kept only a few boxes, in a friend's garage, mainly with important tax and other papers.
On that last day, we dropped off our keys with the new owner in a cafe downstairs and walked to the Buenos Aires bus station. Friends there to see us off still remember our excitement. Vicki was excited about having no apartment, no responsibility, no deadlines, bills, or infrastructure--“I'm free as a bird,” she said.
Well, actually, freer than a bird. Birds can fly, but they spend all their time searching for food. Most species stay pretty close to the nest, rather than take out across the land. Vicki and I can fly, too, thanks to Boeing and Airbus. We can pretty much forget about watching the nest, looking for food, and protecting ourselves from predators. Others do those things for us, all in return for a little cash. Wonderful.
Paul Terhorst
Roving “Retire Early” Editor, for International Living
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