harr449, we absolutely don't have the money to travel the world the way others do it. We can't afford to keep up a house and car in the U.S. and do this. It's why we completely sold out down all the way to two suitcases--I'm serious here except we did leave two fly rods and two sets of golf clubs with a lady we know just in case. But that's it.
We found it is just as cheap to rent furnished places for a a few months in any city you want as it is to live in the U.S.
Public transport way cheaper than gas, insurance, taxes and repairs on your own vehicle. Food is about the same everywhere and rent might be a speck more since you have cable, internet and utilities included.
We don't have a phone, but have Skype for $2.95 per month we can call anybody in the U.S. and talk as long as we want--video call if they also have skype, but otherwise nobody gets charged for our call from our laptop to a U.S. land line or mobile.
For another $30 per year we got a local skype number that allows anybody in the U.S. to reach us over the computer. Sound and picture quality is great and no need for a mobile as skype lets you leave a voice message too.
In short we can do a month in Istanbul or London for $2500 including $1500 for the apartment and another $1000 for living expenses, which are just food and entertainment. Istanbul slightly cheaper as was Berlin. Sweden wasn't any more expensive than London and Playa del Carmen, (Cancun) was less than $2000 per month total.
It's been a great discovery and am glad we did it early instead of waiting until too late to get around.
Congratulations on your wife's recent retirement--we've never looked back and wished we had worked more days.
It's been a wonderful dis
