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Old 03-26-2017, 12:09 PM   #1
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travel costs in retirement?

For those of you whose camping time increased in retirement, can you share how much you spend on RV travel, not including food? I'm a couple years out from retirement and, while I have no interest in full-timing, I do hope our time spent camping will increase significantly. Along those lines, I'm trying to forecast those increased travel expenses so I know when we have "enough" to retire.

Not being tied to a job means we can spend several months at a time taking longer trips. Three to five months on the road per year seems like a reasonable estimate. When we do that, other costs of living won't change. We're not ditching the condo so costs of ownership won't change, except maybe for utilities. We still have to eat and mostly cook for ourselves but do eat at restaurants. The restaurant part probably would go up while in transit but not dramatically. I have been warned to consider the cost of healthcare outside our PPO provider networks, should we need that.

FWIW, we're more of the state park type of camper rather than RV resorts. I foresee us staying in locations like that for the limit allowed (a couple of weeks?) lounging around some days and taking day trips on others. When spending time out west, dry-camping on BLM land is definitely an option, but it won't be a goal to do that for the purpose of a cheap residential life. Instead, that will be an economical way to visit places we want to see. Also, we're not averse to a few stints as hosts in public parts but I'm a bit skeptical about the economic benefits of doing that.

If anyone has some wisdom to share, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
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Old 03-26-2017, 12:29 PM   #2
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Good luck and happy retirement.

I'm still about 12-14 years away myself. 3-5 months out of the year on the road sounds like a good life.

Dont forget price of gas. Campers and fuel efficiency dont go together well. Traveling across country large numbers of miles can get expensive quick. staying in areas for extending time and slowly migrating around would lessen fuel cost.
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Old 03-26-2017, 12:43 PM   #3
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As soon as you turn 62 get an America the Beautiful Seniors Pass from the federal government. It will get you half price camping at most (not all) national parks and Corps of Engineer campgrounds and free entrance into national parks. The pass is good for life and I believe the new cost is $80. Ha, $80 bucks for a lifetime pass that gives you 50% off camping fees and free entrance to national parks…what a deal.
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Old 03-26-2017, 06:54 PM   #4
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It depends on how many days we camp and where at. We have to eat no matter where we are at. Fuel costs and where you stay at. Fuel is about the same, I can save a little on diesel. Where you stay at is our big cost, we tend to stay at as many $40 bucks a night or less as we can. If you stay at Fort Wilderness where the cost is $70 bucks to $120 bucks a night then you will spend more than if you stay at Walmart and National Parks. But hey it's your retirement enjoy it, you aren't going to take anything with you when you die, I have yet to see a Brinks truck behind a hearse.
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Old 03-26-2017, 07:06 PM   #5
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I retired three years ago with a heavy emphasis on travel. The first couple of years I found myself spending a small fortune on hotel rooms. Money wasted, in my eyes, and the experience was inconsistent (rooms that wouldn't cool enough, beds too hard or too soft, the pounding of foot steps from the room above us, etc).

So last year I bought a small travel trailer. At less than $12K it had everything we needed.

Like you are thinking, we only stay at state or COE campsites and have discovered several favorites along the coast that we now frequent. For instance, a couple of weeks ago we went down to Mustang Island on the Gulf of Mexico for spring break. Nice state park with a protected beach area. Five nights cost me $90. Guess how much a hotel room on the beach would have cost during the same time.......

Having said that, I still lookup hotel reservation costs for a hotel close to where we are staying (typically a Holiday Inn Express) and benchmark a simple two queen bed hotel room for the same dates. So far after 75 nights of camping I've spent $1871 on reservations at state and COE parks. My hotel reservation costs would have been $13,344 for a savings of $11,473.

The travel trailer has paid for itself in the first year.

Not to mention the savings on meals that I haven't measured - we would have eaten out had we been staying at any of those hotels, but now with a small kitchen and outdoor grill we simply do our normal grocery shopping but take the groceries with us.
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Old 03-26-2017, 07:08 PM   #6
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I dunno. Scared to add it up. FHU sites almost always.........probably average $500 a month plus cost of the camper. Depends on if you camp 20 miles from home or go on 5,000 mile trips.

I don't spend enough! If I had more, I'd spend more.......
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Old 03-26-2017, 07:11 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oakman View Post
As soon as you turn 62 get an America the Beautiful Seniors Pass from the federal government. It will get you half price camping at most (not all) national parks and Corps of Engineer campgrounds and free entrance into national parks. The pass is good for life and I believe the new cost is $80. Ha, $80 bucks for a lifetime pass that gives you 50% off camping fees and free entrance to national parks…what a deal.
The website still shows the Senior Pass at $10, but that's not to say it isn't going up any day. If you're 62, you should probably jump on that right away. We each bought a pass and did it online, so it was $20 each, as they add a handling fee of $10 each. Still a GREAT deal and as you said, $80 is still a deal!!
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Old 03-26-2017, 07:13 PM   #8
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Senior Access Pass is $10 once for 62+ age, if bought at a Federal Park Facility. If you order by mail, they add another $10 handling fee. If you are younger, it is available for $80 a year.
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Old 03-26-2017, 07:23 PM   #9
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OK my bad. I thought the rate had already been increased to $80 so it behooves anyone who is 62 to buy the pass now before it goes up. The National Park Service sent me an email this past December that the plan was to increase the senior pass to $80 in 2017. I take it for granted this planned increase is still on the table.
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Old 03-26-2017, 08:29 PM   #10
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I could stay at hotels and save money. By the time I count a $50,000.00 truck and a $60,000.00 camper, insurance on camper and truck, taxes on truck and camper. I could stay at a lot of hotels. I like to camp, I like to sleep in my own bed at night, I just like DW and me to spend time together. I like the smaller place to live. If you are really trying to save money you have the wrong hobby. I like to camp and meet new people and see places I have dreamed about. If I had more money I would spend more
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Old 03-26-2017, 08:38 PM   #11
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... it behooves anyone who is 62 to buy the pass now before it goes up. ...
I'm not 62 yet, so I can't, but even at $80 I won't feel as though it's a bad deal.
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Old 03-26-2017, 08:39 PM   #12
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OK my bad. I thought the rate had already been increased to $80 so it behooves anyone who is 62 to buy the pass now before it goes up. The National Park Service sent me an email this past December that the plan was to increase the senior pass to $80 in 2017. I take it for granted this planned increase is still on the table.
Well........hmmm. Bob, they must have some change in mind, note the very beginning sentence, in big red letters.......

https://store.usgs.gov/pass/senior.html
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Old 03-27-2017, 08:12 AM   #13
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As my wife is a Polio survivor, she has a Golden Eagle pass. It was free when she got it in 1991 and maybe still be. It is a lifetime free pass to all national parks and covers everyone in the vehicle.
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Old 03-27-2017, 08:36 AM   #14
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To the OP,
If you are a "few years out" from retirement, then just do the math for your trips during the next two years or so. When you take a trip of any duration or distance keep track of the total cost. This will give you a ball park of what different trips will cost. With a "picture" of real cost you can accurately budget your travel expenses. This will give you the ability to plan with real cost that include current economic factors.
Good luck,
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Old 03-27-2017, 10:06 AM   #15
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For us, the main cost difference from staying home is fuel and CG rent. Food and eating out costs are the same. We like to go somewhere and stay awhile, so we usually do the weekly or monthly rates at parks where we get a discount. And staying put awhile reduces fuel costs. Then we just do day trips to the surrounding attractions. We usually splurge at least once a trip and stay in a fancy resort for a week or more.

Costs of CGs and activities vary wildly, so we stay where the monthly budget allows, so we do not have to dip into savings. We have found you can RV as cheap or as expensive as you want, so planning is very important. We have spent as much as $2500 and as little as $400 a month on CGs and fuel.

I wouldn't worry about RVing costs too much now, when you retire everything changes We found keeping a spreadsheet of net income before and after retirement helped us to decide when to retire. The closer the two numbers are, the more comfortable you will be.

We have discovered after retirement that we can always find a way to do the things we really want to do.
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Old 03-27-2017, 12:46 PM   #16
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Costs Vs What Is Peace Of Mind Worth

My wife is 2 years away from retiring. I work at home and in the field but she says I'm "semi-retired" because I LOVE what I do.
We bought a used travel trailer from a friend, who had purchased it new. I paid him $1500 plus a camera lens worth around $1000.
I have spend the last year upgrading things that I felt needed improving:
1. 10" foam mattress
2. Multiple batteries
3. Larger propane tanks
4. New awning
5. New S/S deep sink
6. Rear hitch that attaches to the steel frame
7. Re-sealed the roof
8. New & higher end toilet
9. Improved shower head to keep water usage down & pressure up
Things like that that weren't bad but were more "comfort creatures" for me.
I have a total of around $6000 in it and I've been told it's worth around $8000.
I teach photo workshops, mostly in the south western part of the country, and I travel about 10 - 12 times with it a year with it.
I can tell you that it was worth EVERY DIME I spent on it.
Much of my traveling is into BLM type of country where I pay no fee for camping.
If I do pay a fee, I have the Federal Pass (I'm over 62 and it cost me $10) and can get a 50% discount on camping fee.
I do most of my own cooking in the trailer so my food costs are minor.
When my wife retires, we plan on using this trailer to travel for several years and see if we like it. If we do, we will probably upgrade to a used 5th wheel that someone purchased a few years prior but did not use it very often enough to keep it.
This is just my 2¢ worth.
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Old 03-27-2017, 12:59 PM   #17
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Fuel costs I believe are the biggest variable... big difference in travel costs when fuel is $4/gal instead of $2/gal, especially when you get 6-12 MPG in most RV setups. I wonder what fuel will cost in 2-4 years from now? Probably higher no matter where our fuel comes from.

Most state parks are $25 to $35 a night with Federal parks ( often with no electric ) are $5 to $15/night with that pass that has been talked about.

Sometimes the wife and I buy local foods and cook at camp and save lots by not eating out. Sometimes it is nice to eat out at places that look like holes in the walls, but locals rave about them. I use Trip Adviser app often for eating out ideas when traveling. Not all good restaurants are chain spots or cost a lot.

I see you live in FL. We save heat money by leaving the house get to 52 degrees in the winter and drive south to FL. I probably save $250/month at least not heating the house. That amount almost pays the campground fees so living expenses are almost a wash for us northerners.
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Old 03-27-2017, 01:09 PM   #18
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Travel was top of the bucket list when I retired. Use camper as a hotel c signature, I hate hotels, love having all my stuff without all the packing and unpacking. Two items to mention, Landry on the road is a few extra bucks. Depending how you travel, we look to get a cg between two areas of interest and do day trips. The reason being, some cg will give you a 7th night free if you pay for six. Have to weigh fuel cost of day trips against cost of cg nightly fee. While I have not use them, some use Passport of America, which tends to be localized in areas I do not frequent.
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Old 03-27-2017, 01:21 PM   #19
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Depends on what you want I guess. Us? We dont full time either, but we are out 2 to three months at a time. To offset park fees we camp host. That gives us a decent full hookup site for 20 hours a week work. Work is really a loose term in our state parks. Were asked to give 4 hours a day, but some days we give more and many days less of actual work. We usually do far more than asked because we love to give back, and dont actually consider it work.
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Old 03-27-2017, 01:30 PM   #20
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As most have stated, fuel costs and "nightly accommodations" will be your biggest expenses.
Fuel is hard to mitigate except for getting good information on where the lowest prices are in the area you are in. Gas Buddy app works great in this area and is nationwide information supplied by the public. We have found it to be very helpful in our travels. App is free.

National Forests are also a good way to save $$$ here and many are near other attractions as well. BLM land out west is great too.

We also belong to Elks and many Elks Lodges throughout the country have RV accommodations, many with hookups, most with electric and water and some with dump stations as well. Some are nicer than others but a great way to save $$$ on your adventures.

Good luck on your travels and have fun!

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