Your island retirement plan...

[Stella]

Can I have YOUR job???

Stellava, I work in academia in a professional school which tends to have the best working conditions in the ivory tower. . . it was living hell to get the job but its a very nice life once you are in and tenured (hopefully I am not jinxing myself here!). I should add that all that time isn't completely off, I am working on writing and research projects a good part of the time, its just very portable.

[Stella]

Ahhh, so my eventual goal to go back to school for my PhD and be a professor IS worthwhile... good to know.

[mommax3]

We haven't REALLY talked about it, but in passing, there seems to be a recurrent theme of travel. That's all I know at this point. Our parents (3 of the 4) haven't even retired yet, so it seems very distant to us.

Sally

[ellie]

DH's big dream is to spend his retirement sailing from port to port, but I need roots and a patch of land somewhere...maybe we'll compromise with... a houseboat??

But we haven't really talked about it too much -- it just seems so far away.

[planet]

Hmmm, Dandilion, our spouses have similar dreams, except mine likes to sail fast. We plan on doing some port to port sailing in the future, not necessarily related to retiring. Hopefully this career will allow some flexibility to sail 6 months, work in NZ (for example) for a couple of years, then pick up sail to a new place. I like cruising really. I also hope to have a farm with lots of land and animals. Who knows how we'll do both. We will probably be lucky to just do one before we both die.

[ellie]

Hmmm, Dandilion, our spouses have similar dreams, except mine likes to sail fast. We plan on doing some port to port sailing in the future, not necessarily related to retiring. Hopefully this career will allow some flexibility to sail 6 months, work in NZ (for example) for a couple of years, then pick up sail to a new place.

Sounds like a wonderful dream, Janet. Maybe it's not to late to persuade DH to change to EM.

Now when you say that your hubby likes to sail fast, does that make him a stinkpotter? Or is he a ragman who enjoys really windy days?

[planet]

Hmm. I have never heard those terms before, but they don't sound all that nice.

[ellie]

Sorry, Janet...they're not meant to be mean! They're sort of tongue-in-cheek ways of referring to power boaters (stinkpotters) and sailors (ragman). I was wondering if your hubby liked cruising in power boats or sailboats. My DH is a definite ragman...he likes to tell me that it's not about the destination -- it's all about the journey (now if only the same could be said about medical training).

[planet]

Ah, ok. Sailing. I'd put him into the destination camp though. He likes to go fast. I like the deck to be horizontal. I'll be happy when we can argue about something like that though. There just isn't any way to speed up training is there.

[Sheherezade]

DH and I are currently vacationing in Springdale UT at Zion National Park. Let me tell you....weve had our little fantasy retirement talk a few times this week. It's GORGEOUS here. We've hoped to start some small business (non medical) like a cafe, bookstore or toy shop in a resort area. We'd live upstairs. (Seriously!!) We don't have a strong need for creature comforts, so our retirement income would basically support our "hobby" business through the tough times. *sigh*

So far, we've liked Mackinaw Island, Barbados and this town in Zion. Who knows where we will actually end up rocking on the front porch?