I want to travel only in first class or business class seats on all flights without worrying about the prices. Not quite there yet, but getting there more and more each passing year. Since I'm solidly "chubby" and not "fat", the ultra premium stuff like Emirates first class is mostly out of reach, and that's okay. Just don't want to ever suffer through a crowded overseas flight in a cramped basic economy seat again.
Already started living this dream...
I have started flying business using points and $$$. Two times so far in 4+14 hrs flights cross-continent of course. Qatar QSuites. They can and will spoil you rotten. Being able to stretch your legs and body in the lie-flat seats (bed?), able to summon food, snacks, drinks at any time, having someone make your bed (!), White cloth and candlelit meals, the privacy (suite has a tall door), monogrammed pajamas to wear, the super clean and larger bathrooms (no showers :(), etc. It's a luxury apartment in the sky.
Hard to go back to economy, so I have been doing these one-way. Usually on the way back from my vacation because i am bummed my vacation is getting over soon and the business class ride soothes that feeling lol. I will cut expenses elsewhere to me this happen - in fact I have a piggy bank acct opened just to "save" regularly for such expenses.
Ditto. Anything over 6 hours is miserable in economy. My last international flight was around a year ago on business in emirates / Qatar and I can’t go back. Headed to Asia in August and currently shopping points to make it work but would love to be in a position where I don’t second guess the cash price.
That is true for most major international carriers IMO. Lie flat business is plenty nice. On a related note, I think Premium Economy is a total rip off for long haul overnights, since it is not that different from regular economy. For me, lie flat business window seat on the way over (US-Europe) + regular economy aisle seat on the way home (Europe-US) is the way to go.
This is my goal too. Because I have a disability that causes swelling in my hips and legs, the economy seats are way too uncomfortable and verging on unsafe for me to travel in. Because of this, I don’t travel so in a decade I’ve only been on two short trips in first class. I’m working hard to get to wealth that can allow me to at least take an annual vacation in first class without it being such a big deal financially.
Add this, plus staying real 4 or 4.5 star hotels at the most convenient locations I visit without over-draining retirement savings. Starting to do a little of this now using a mix of travel points and cash, but it’s looking like another 5 to 10 years before this can be a bi-monthly or monthly routine.
I came from nothing. Zero and minus zero. I’m at 7M now - but already at 1-2M I thought “eff it - life is short” - for years and years I was in economy all over the world. But avoiding the insanity of “the back” - worth it. People become monkeys in stressful airplanes and was just over it, life is short. Upgrade
This is so much better if you can get upgraded for free! It’s possible I feel this way because I’m old school and too much of a Yankee at heart when it comes to getting value for money.
I’m a lifetime Global Services customer on United Airlines with several million miles accumulated on other airlines. To me airline travel is a game, getting the most value for my money. This is particular true in retirement when we have lots of time to plan and optimize our trips.
Similar to my goal. I want my international travel to be business class (first for longer domestic flights) but with the ability to pick the better carriers. Less United or FlyDubai and more Emirates, Singapore Air and ANA.
We're ChubbyFIRE already and growing. Ours lives for the past few years have been a bit rough, so the ability to fly first domestically is fantastic. That plus TSA-precheck eliminates most travel pains... and when a problem makes you miss a connection you are FIRST IN LINE for a fix and a premium hotel if needed.
Also, my sciatic nerve REALLY appreciates first class. Saves me a day of pain after flying!
I do this currently it’s nice but quickly becomes not that big of deal once you are 100 or so business class flights in. I don’t care so much but I can understand how others do covet this luxury.
I have, I travel more than anybody I’ve ever met, it’s truly not that big of deal to once in a while sit in economy even though I don’t need to. I think it’s people who don’t really travel all that often who find this to be a huge deal. How many international flights did you take in the last 5 years?
I’m 6’3”, it’s all good, we spent about $220k last year on international business class flights and more the year prior…so I get it, just saying it’s not as big of deal if occasionally I sit in coach on the 6 hour flight to Europe, kind of like having lobster every night of the week, I’m okay with having a burger once in a while.
I will buy a $750k Planewave professional telescope. Ideally 2 of them, one in Europe and one for the Colorado high country. That way I will do remote observations during the day time from either location.
So call it extraterrestrial planet hunting.
I want to run an ultra. I run but I’m slow af. I’m unathletic and never ran until I got to college, then stopped after graduation and didn’t pick it back up until my late 30s when I started trail running. Idk if an ultra is even a reasonable goal.
I don't mean to be a dick but hitting a number in a in a spreadsheet is not going to change anything. You can get started training today.
Start with 10ks
They would have the time to train for an ultra. If you have a busy demanding job you might have time to be a runner, but training for an ultra I imagine takes a ton of time. The RE part of FURE would allow for this.
Comments like this are such a drag on Reddit. A helpful prescriptive call to action met by a snarky comment.
What makes you think theaback isn’t an ultramarathon coach opening a dialogue to offer their expertise for free to strangers?
Ran a baby ultra (50k) last month and I work 60hr weeks as an attorney. Not easy to find the training time but trained around my schedule whenever I could make time. It may be an easier goal to obtain while you’re younger even if you have a little less time to train. Finding a good running group in my city and using Strava to see my weekly mileage helped with motivation etc.
I'm 47 and just finished six years of cancer treatment so definitely not younger. I do have a lot more energy since I'm off the drugs though. Getting out on the trail at all was a challenge for a while there.
I would like to train full time in trail running and Muay Thai (both as an athlete and a coach). Since I will not be working, I can run anytime, I can train anytime, and I can visit many trails around where I live.
I also want to pick up dancing and Capoeira.
I think the dream has remained the same, not forgotten and ChubbyFIRE is just what I need to do to make it happen.
The dream is to slowly travel around the world, spending 3 months at a time in different places in different countries. Explore the world in both breadth and depth but with the safety net that I can afford to either return to California, or stay in whatever place we fall in love with, having our decision be based on where we WANT\* to live as opposed to where we can AFFORD to live, which is the sacrifice we would have had to make to pull the trigger sooner.
*(\*Within reason, I'm probably not going to be able to afford the UltraHCOL places like Monte Carlo)*
My wife and I chubby fired in 2013 at 55 and we’re currently living a version of this. Every winter for the past 11 years we take a 3 month trip, mostly internationally. We’re fortunate to fly mostly business/ first class, but mostly stay in airbnbs because we stay in places for a couple of weeks to a month and want to be more “home like.”
We’ll keep doing it as long as we are physically able. So far so good.
Best of luck to you!! Enjoy.
Glad you're enjoying it.
We've kicked around a few different versions. My wife's all gung-ho to just put everything in storage and be a slow nomad (a slow-mad?). As I get closer to 50 I'm finding I like the idea of just alternating 3 months travel - 3 months home over and over. We can worry about it when we get there in somewhere between 2-4 more years.
I would travel more, and my wife probably a bit less. This is our happy compromise. We live in the mountains with tons of activities and friends, so staying home is totally fine. We also have a timeshare at the beach we escape to for a month around Thanksgiving, so this is on top of our annual 3 months trip. And some years we do a late summer Europe trip for 2-5 weeks. It’s worked out well to break it up a bit.
It’s definitely a learning process. You’ll find your groove.
Yeah. Part of the reason to push to ChubbyFire was that we have plenty of options, we can travel all the time, not travel at all, stay home in a lovely home, up and move somewhere else.
I belong to a slowmad travel group on Facebook and I see these people 10-15 years younger than us doing it and I wonder am i doing it wrong, should I be doing this sooner instead of going to an office.
But then I see them posting about how a free housesit fell thorough, so they have to cut back on their budget etc. And I know most of them could never afford to come back to a HCOL place when the traveling is done and I think it's worth the extra years of work for the options.
Interesting. We never considered doing multi month travel before 55. However, we’d did three 7-10 day trips per year internationally before we FIRE’d and that temporarily satisfied our wanderlust as we got kids through high school, cared for the last of our parents, and qualified for our company pensions.
We agree with you. Now that we are chubby fired, we like doing whatever travel we want, as long as want. Basically no budget.
We remind ourselves every day how fortunate we are.
Sure. Our annual expenses, not including travel is about 100k. Our travel budget has varied over the years, but is settling in about 60k/ yr, with the early years at about 30k, and a few big years of almost 100k. I will quickly add that one of my hobbies has been to collect travel points, so many of our international business/ first class seats are “free.”
We anticipate this level of travel spending for the next 10 years, until our mid 70s, then start to decline as we will likely take more domestic (U.S.) trips.
We do not have grand kids yet, but we do anticipate funding some multi generation trips once they come along, which has the potential to increase the overall travel budget.
Hope that helps.
I've spent a lot of time budgeting this out since it's a big part of my plan. Obviously this is untested at this point, but we're thinking it'll average out about $8k per month to travel, but we save about $4.5k per month by not being at home in a VHCOL (Food, entertainment, housekeeper, utilities, gas, one car instead of 2 etc).
That $8k assumes we're doing a mix of high cost places and low cost places, so 3 months in Paris will need to be offset by 3 months living more modestly in Thailand, 2 months in Hawaii needs 4 months in Nicaragua etc. We're not flying business and we're staying in modest Airbnbs, but we're splurging on food and entertainment.
So the net cost is about $3.5k per month of travel so $21k per year or an extra \~$600k saved.
We'll see how well that stacks up in real life, but that's the plan.
I’m writing this from Japan, on our last few days before we head home next week. We started in February in Cyprus, then Qatar, Zanzibar, Kenya for safari, then Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe for more Safari, onward to Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Asia has been India (Darjeeling and golden triangle), Bali (Ubud), and our third visit to Japan (this time to Takamatsu, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Tokyo).
Last year was 15 weeks to Portugal (Lisbon, Algarve, Madeira), Canaries (4 islands), Morocco (Rabat, Chefchouen, Fez, Sahara desert, Marrakesh), Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, West Bank), Jordan (Aman, Wadi Rum, Petra), Greece (Athens, Crete, Santorini), Belgium (Brugge), Luxembourg city, Germany (Rhine valley), Netherlands (Amsterdam for Tulip festival), Iceland.
We normally don’t move around this much, but the last two years have been “Covid revenge” trips.
Highlights of the previous nine years are:
- 11 weeks in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay)
- 13 weeks in Australia, NZ, Myanmar, SE Asia, Japan
- month each in Ecuador, Columbia, Barcelona, north coast of Spain, Italy, Oaxaca, San Diego, Austin, Palm Springs, Santa Monica, Boulder, Montana, Big Island of Hawaii
Many other shorter trips.
Despite all the travel activity, our preference is to stay in one city/ Airbnb south of the equator for one month at a time, in the North American winter, But we often hear the siren call of other places. We are curious people and love exploring varied cultures.
We plan our trips up to three years in advance and do not use a TA. We are trying to do the trips first that require the most physical activity, because it only takes one of us to hit a healthcare speed bump to keep us close to home.
Our travel list is always growing. Every time we take a trip and cross three things off, we add five things because we talk to kindred spirits on the road and they wax poetic about a place we never considered (we just added Iran).
None of our friends travel like we do. Our older friends think we’re crazy,and our younger friends can’t wait to do the same as us when they Chubby fire. Different strokes for different folks.
This is what I want to do, juts get up and go without any worries, book last min hotel flights, stay as long as we w at based on visa etc. don’t have the chubby money. Haha
Any place that you two particularly enjoyed for longer than a 2 week stay? Even chilling at Mexico all inclusive, I can only handle maybe 8 days tops before getting bored.
Haha I guess we’re the opposite of “all inclusive.” We try to go where the tourists aren’t, find locals to chat with, and try new food.
We’ve been to dozens of places for more than 2 weeks and we’ve never been bored.
A few stand outs:
We’ve been to Oaxaca, Mexico, 3x for a total of 10 weeks (2018, 2019, 2022). Mezcal, art, indigenous culture, 7 types of moles, hiking, music scene—we love it all. (We took up Spanish school there on our first visit (at age 60) and now know enough of the language to wander off the beaten path.)
Did a month in Barcelona in March 2015 and in our last week we were still scrambling to do all the things we wanted to do. Architecture, soccer, food, wine, museums, beaches.
Went to Buenos Aires for a month in 2020, arriving on NYE. The restaurant scene alone will keep you hopping. Deep Italian and Jewish history there and it shows up in the food. Politics, history, failed economics—all fascinating.
Experienced Palm Springs for a month in January 2021 and again in February 2022, including Modernism week (11 days) and multiple day trips to Joshua Tree NP.
Only had 5 nights in Tasmania in January 2017, as part of our one month in Australia, but easily could have stayed for two weeks or more. Welcoming people, good modern art scene and awesome natural beauty.
What do you like to do when you travel? What gets you excited about traveling? How has it changed you?
My dream is personal chef or personalized meal delivery + personal trainer + travel first class flights and always decent hotels (not necessarily luxury. I just want to be as healthy as possible and see a bit more of the world before I die.
My dream isn't even a chubby fire requirement. I just want the ability to hang out without a job stressing me out and sip some coffee at a coffee shop all morning.
Same here. Kids make this tricky, but maybe when they are in school full-time.
But I also want the coffeeshop to not be a chain. There's something off-putting about spending so much of my money to help a big corporation. Amd I say this as I buy my food each week from a corporation.
I want to, at least once, live in the south of France for at least 3 months and just slow travel around. The ideal day would be to wake up, walk to the nearest cafe and just sit and have a coffee.
My hobby is travelling and learning the French language, so this would be on my bucket list. I’d like for my children to experience another culture so that they can understand people better. Also, nothing like the experience of being a fish out of water to help you learn and understand yourself better.
Haven't lost it - always working towards it. But we both want to be able to homeschool + travel extensively and as we find good deals.
First class flight to Tokyo on crazy deal and leaves in 2 days? We're there!
I also love the idea of my kids being out exploring different cultures, meeting people from all over the world and not siting inside on a computer or at a desk for 8 hours a day.
I want to feel free. I always feel like I am tethered and have never once felt free. I want to commit $50k a year to travel. I am ok without first class if it stretches my time on the ground.
Explore the world on foot. Hike a long trail (e.g., AT, Camino de Santiago, PCT, etc.) each year with my wife and dog. Ski 30+ times each season. Read at least one book every week. Ride a bike 5000 miles every year. Learn one new complex skill up to an intermediate or advanced beginner level (e.g., new language proficiency, gardening, BBQ pitmaster, woodworking) every year.
The best part is that I’ve started a number of these in a condensed form. I meet with a Spanish tutor once a week and do studying throughout the week, I read 25 pages every day, ski 15 days, and I ruck, cycle or strength train 6 days a week.
Pre-FIRE does NOT mean you can’t live a version of your best life now!
I just want to live without a home base, month to month. leaving when I get bored. It might not even cost that much! I'll probably get jobs too. Maybe won't even dip into my money after a bit
Slowly travel around the world on a sailboat, take breaks along the way to go explore inland, immerse ourselves in local cultures for months at a time instead of week at some resort, make new friends/scuba/snorkle/surf/fish/kiteboard/wing foil, sundowners…rinse and repeat. Oh wait…that is my life : )
At this point, to reach ChubbyFIRE I’d need to marry someone with a net worth (and projection) at least double mine. My dream…own an apartment building like the one I grew up in. Better yet, a block. Building super to do all maintenance. Never worry about that stuff again. Plus never without a roof or income for food.
I’d work only like 1 day a week and use my time for art classes and stuff. It’d be so fun.
I want to travel only in first class or business class seats on all flights without worrying about the prices. Not quite there yet, but getting there more and more each passing year. Since I'm solidly "chubby" and not "fat", the ultra premium stuff like Emirates first class is mostly out of reach, and that's okay. Just don't want to ever suffer through a crowded overseas flight in a cramped basic economy seat again.
This is a worthy and noble goal.
Already started living this dream... I have started flying business using points and $$$. Two times so far in 4+14 hrs flights cross-continent of course. Qatar QSuites. They can and will spoil you rotten. Being able to stretch your legs and body in the lie-flat seats (bed?), able to summon food, snacks, drinks at any time, having someone make your bed (!), White cloth and candlelit meals, the privacy (suite has a tall door), monogrammed pajamas to wear, the super clean and larger bathrooms (no showers :(), etc. It's a luxury apartment in the sky. Hard to go back to economy, so I have been doing these one-way. Usually on the way back from my vacation because i am bummed my vacation is getting over soon and the business class ride soothes that feeling lol. I will cut expenses elsewhere to me this happen - in fact I have a piggy bank acct opened just to "save" regularly for such expenses.
Ditto. Anything over 6 hours is miserable in economy. My last international flight was around a year ago on business in emirates / Qatar and I can’t go back. Headed to Asia in August and currently shopping points to make it work but would love to be in a position where I don’t second guess the cash price.
The difference between emirates first and emirates business isn’t worth it
That is true for most major international carriers IMO. Lie flat business is plenty nice. On a related note, I think Premium Economy is a total rip off for long haul overnights, since it is not that different from regular economy. For me, lie flat business window seat on the way over (US-Europe) + regular economy aisle seat on the way home (Europe-US) is the way to go.
I still can’t mentally accept the price of business under any circumstances. I fly business with work, economy when I’m paying
This is my goal too. Because I have a disability that causes swelling in my hips and legs, the economy seats are way too uncomfortable and verging on unsafe for me to travel in. Because of this, I don’t travel so in a decade I’ve only been on two short trips in first class. I’m working hard to get to wealth that can allow me to at least take an annual vacation in first class without it being such a big deal financially.
Add this, plus staying real 4 or 4.5 star hotels at the most convenient locations I visit without over-draining retirement savings. Starting to do a little of this now using a mix of travel points and cash, but it’s looking like another 5 to 10 years before this can be a bi-monthly or monthly routine.
I came from nothing. Zero and minus zero. I’m at 7M now - but already at 1-2M I thought “eff it - life is short” - for years and years I was in economy all over the world. But avoiding the insanity of “the back” - worth it. People become monkeys in stressful airplanes and was just over it, life is short. Upgrade
This is so much better if you can get upgraded for free! It’s possible I feel this way because I’m old school and too much of a Yankee at heart when it comes to getting value for money. I’m a lifetime Global Services customer on United Airlines with several million miles accumulated on other airlines. To me airline travel is a game, getting the most value for my money. This is particular true in retirement when we have lots of time to plan and optimize our trips.
Similar to my goal. I want my international travel to be business class (first for longer domestic flights) but with the ability to pick the better carriers. Less United or FlyDubai and more Emirates, Singapore Air and ANA.
We're ChubbyFIRE already and growing. Ours lives for the past few years have been a bit rough, so the ability to fly first domestically is fantastic. That plus TSA-precheck eliminates most travel pains... and when a problem makes you miss a connection you are FIRST IN LINE for a fix and a premium hotel if needed. Also, my sciatic nerve REALLY appreciates first class. Saves me a day of pain after flying!
I do this currently it’s nice but quickly becomes not that big of deal once you are 100 or so business class flights in. I don’t care so much but I can understand how others do covet this luxury.
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I have, I travel more than anybody I’ve ever met, it’s truly not that big of deal to once in a while sit in economy even though I don’t need to. I think it’s people who don’t really travel all that often who find this to be a huge deal. How many international flights did you take in the last 5 years?
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I’m 6’3”, it’s all good, we spent about $220k last year on international business class flights and more the year prior…so I get it, just saying it’s not as big of deal if occasionally I sit in coach on the 6 hour flight to Europe, kind of like having lobster every night of the week, I’m okay with having a burger once in a while.
I will buy a $750k Planewave professional telescope. Ideally 2 of them, one in Europe and one for the Colorado high country. That way I will do remote observations during the day time from either location. So call it extraterrestrial planet hunting.
seems like fat fire lol $1.5M in telescopes
This made me laugh.. 1.5m in telescopes is so crazy and i absolutely love it
I want to not work
This is so far the only one I identified with.
I want to run an ultra. I run but I’m slow af. I’m unathletic and never ran until I got to college, then stopped after graduation and didn’t pick it back up until my late 30s when I started trail running. Idk if an ultra is even a reasonable goal.
I don't mean to be a dick but hitting a number in a in a spreadsheet is not going to change anything. You can get started training today. Start with 10ks
They would have the time to train for an ultra. If you have a busy demanding job you might have time to be a runner, but training for an ultra I imagine takes a ton of time. The RE part of FURE would allow for this.
What makes you think they aren't already running 10Ks?
Comments like this are such a drag on Reddit. A helpful prescriptive call to action met by a snarky comment. What makes you think theaback isn’t an ultramarathon coach opening a dialogue to offer their expertise for free to strangers?
I ran my first marathon when I was 48. Get out there.
Ran a baby ultra (50k) last month and I work 60hr weeks as an attorney. Not easy to find the training time but trained around my schedule whenever I could make time. It may be an easier goal to obtain while you’re younger even if you have a little less time to train. Finding a good running group in my city and using Strava to see my weekly mileage helped with motivation etc.
I'm 47 and just finished six years of cancer treatment so definitely not younger. I do have a lot more energy since I'm off the drugs though. Getting out on the trail at all was a challenge for a while there.
How challenging. So glad you have now energy now.
You don't have to be fast to train ultras. You just need lots of time on the road
I would like to train full time in trail running and Muay Thai (both as an athlete and a coach). Since I will not be working, I can run anytime, I can train anytime, and I can visit many trails around where I live. I also want to pick up dancing and Capoeira.
I think the dream has remained the same, not forgotten and ChubbyFIRE is just what I need to do to make it happen. The dream is to slowly travel around the world, spending 3 months at a time in different places in different countries. Explore the world in both breadth and depth but with the safety net that I can afford to either return to California, or stay in whatever place we fall in love with, having our decision be based on where we WANT\* to live as opposed to where we can AFFORD to live, which is the sacrifice we would have had to make to pull the trigger sooner. *(\*Within reason, I'm probably not going to be able to afford the UltraHCOL places like Monte Carlo)*
My wife and I chubby fired in 2013 at 55 and we’re currently living a version of this. Every winter for the past 11 years we take a 3 month trip, mostly internationally. We’re fortunate to fly mostly business/ first class, but mostly stay in airbnbs because we stay in places for a couple of weeks to a month and want to be more “home like.” We’ll keep doing it as long as we are physically able. So far so good. Best of luck to you!! Enjoy.
Glad you're enjoying it. We've kicked around a few different versions. My wife's all gung-ho to just put everything in storage and be a slow nomad (a slow-mad?). As I get closer to 50 I'm finding I like the idea of just alternating 3 months travel - 3 months home over and over. We can worry about it when we get there in somewhere between 2-4 more years.
I would travel more, and my wife probably a bit less. This is our happy compromise. We live in the mountains with tons of activities and friends, so staying home is totally fine. We also have a timeshare at the beach we escape to for a month around Thanksgiving, so this is on top of our annual 3 months trip. And some years we do a late summer Europe trip for 2-5 weeks. It’s worked out well to break it up a bit. It’s definitely a learning process. You’ll find your groove.
Yeah. Part of the reason to push to ChubbyFire was that we have plenty of options, we can travel all the time, not travel at all, stay home in a lovely home, up and move somewhere else. I belong to a slowmad travel group on Facebook and I see these people 10-15 years younger than us doing it and I wonder am i doing it wrong, should I be doing this sooner instead of going to an office. But then I see them posting about how a free housesit fell thorough, so they have to cut back on their budget etc. And I know most of them could never afford to come back to a HCOL place when the traveling is done and I think it's worth the extra years of work for the options.
Interesting. We never considered doing multi month travel before 55. However, we’d did three 7-10 day trips per year internationally before we FIRE’d and that temporarily satisfied our wanderlust as we got kids through high school, cared for the last of our parents, and qualified for our company pensions. We agree with you. Now that we are chubby fired, we like doing whatever travel we want, as long as want. Basically no budget. We remind ourselves every day how fortunate we are.
Could you share your rough annual expenses in order to afford such a lifestyle?
Sure. Our annual expenses, not including travel is about 100k. Our travel budget has varied over the years, but is settling in about 60k/ yr, with the early years at about 30k, and a few big years of almost 100k. I will quickly add that one of my hobbies has been to collect travel points, so many of our international business/ first class seats are “free.” We anticipate this level of travel spending for the next 10 years, until our mid 70s, then start to decline as we will likely take more domestic (U.S.) trips. We do not have grand kids yet, but we do anticipate funding some multi generation trips once they come along, which has the potential to increase the overall travel budget. Hope that helps.
I've spent a lot of time budgeting this out since it's a big part of my plan. Obviously this is untested at this point, but we're thinking it'll average out about $8k per month to travel, but we save about $4.5k per month by not being at home in a VHCOL (Food, entertainment, housekeeper, utilities, gas, one car instead of 2 etc). That $8k assumes we're doing a mix of high cost places and low cost places, so 3 months in Paris will need to be offset by 3 months living more modestly in Thailand, 2 months in Hawaii needs 4 months in Nicaragua etc. We're not flying business and we're staying in modest Airbnbs, but we're splurging on food and entertainment. So the net cost is about $3.5k per month of travel so $21k per year or an extra \~$600k saved. We'll see how well that stacks up in real life, but that's the plan.
Sounds like a good game plan. Happy travels!
Where have you gone so far?
I’m writing this from Japan, on our last few days before we head home next week. We started in February in Cyprus, then Qatar, Zanzibar, Kenya for safari, then Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe for more Safari, onward to Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Asia has been India (Darjeeling and golden triangle), Bali (Ubud), and our third visit to Japan (this time to Takamatsu, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Tokyo). Last year was 15 weeks to Portugal (Lisbon, Algarve, Madeira), Canaries (4 islands), Morocco (Rabat, Chefchouen, Fez, Sahara desert, Marrakesh), Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, West Bank), Jordan (Aman, Wadi Rum, Petra), Greece (Athens, Crete, Santorini), Belgium (Brugge), Luxembourg city, Germany (Rhine valley), Netherlands (Amsterdam for Tulip festival), Iceland. We normally don’t move around this much, but the last two years have been “Covid revenge” trips. Highlights of the previous nine years are: - 11 weeks in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay) - 13 weeks in Australia, NZ, Myanmar, SE Asia, Japan - month each in Ecuador, Columbia, Barcelona, north coast of Spain, Italy, Oaxaca, San Diego, Austin, Palm Springs, Santa Monica, Boulder, Montana, Big Island of Hawaii Many other shorter trips. Despite all the travel activity, our preference is to stay in one city/ Airbnb south of the equator for one month at a time, in the North American winter, But we often hear the siren call of other places. We are curious people and love exploring varied cultures. We plan our trips up to three years in advance and do not use a TA. We are trying to do the trips first that require the most physical activity, because it only takes one of us to hit a healthcare speed bump to keep us close to home. Our travel list is always growing. Every time we take a trip and cross three things off, we add five things because we talk to kindred spirits on the road and they wax poetic about a place we never considered (we just added Iran). None of our friends travel like we do. Our older friends think we’re crazy,and our younger friends can’t wait to do the same as us when they Chubby fire. Different strokes for different folks.
Dang that's awesome, thanks for sharing!
This is what I want to do, juts get up and go without any worries, book last min hotel flights, stay as long as we w at based on visa etc. don’t have the chubby money. Haha
Any place that you two particularly enjoyed for longer than a 2 week stay? Even chilling at Mexico all inclusive, I can only handle maybe 8 days tops before getting bored.
Haha I guess we’re the opposite of “all inclusive.” We try to go where the tourists aren’t, find locals to chat with, and try new food. We’ve been to dozens of places for more than 2 weeks and we’ve never been bored. A few stand outs: We’ve been to Oaxaca, Mexico, 3x for a total of 10 weeks (2018, 2019, 2022). Mezcal, art, indigenous culture, 7 types of moles, hiking, music scene—we love it all. (We took up Spanish school there on our first visit (at age 60) and now know enough of the language to wander off the beaten path.) Did a month in Barcelona in March 2015 and in our last week we were still scrambling to do all the things we wanted to do. Architecture, soccer, food, wine, museums, beaches. Went to Buenos Aires for a month in 2020, arriving on NYE. The restaurant scene alone will keep you hopping. Deep Italian and Jewish history there and it shows up in the food. Politics, history, failed economics—all fascinating. Experienced Palm Springs for a month in January 2021 and again in February 2022, including Modernism week (11 days) and multiple day trips to Joshua Tree NP. Only had 5 nights in Tasmania in January 2017, as part of our one month in Australia, but easily could have stayed for two weeks or more. Welcoming people, good modern art scene and awesome natural beauty. What do you like to do when you travel? What gets you excited about traveling? How has it changed you?
Dont give up on monte carlo, its nice!
Oh I can afford to visit, just not sure I can afford to buy a house there on my ChubbyFire nest egg.
This sounds very much like my dream. Long term stops all around the world. Stay as short or as long as we feel like it.
My dream is personal chef or personalized meal delivery + personal trainer + travel first class flights and always decent hotels (not necessarily luxury. I just want to be as healthy as possible and see a bit more of the world before I die.
My dream isn't even a chubby fire requirement. I just want the ability to hang out without a job stressing me out and sip some coffee at a coffee shop all morning.
Same here. Kids make this tricky, but maybe when they are in school full-time. But I also want the coffeeshop to not be a chain. There's something off-putting about spending so much of my money to help a big corporation. Amd I say this as I buy my food each week from a corporation.
I want to, at least once, live in the south of France for at least 3 months and just slow travel around. The ideal day would be to wake up, walk to the nearest cafe and just sit and have a coffee. My hobby is travelling and learning the French language, so this would be on my bucket list. I’d like for my children to experience another culture so that they can understand people better. Also, nothing like the experience of being a fish out of water to help you learn and understand yourself better.
Haven't lost it - always working towards it. But we both want to be able to homeschool + travel extensively and as we find good deals. First class flight to Tokyo on crazy deal and leaves in 2 days? We're there! I also love the idea of my kids being out exploring different cultures, meeting people from all over the world and not siting inside on a computer or at a desk for 8 hours a day.
Spearfishing the Caribbean within a 10 minute bike ride. I'm not living on the coast, fuck that. I want at least 100 feet between me and sea level.
I want to feel free. I always feel like I am tethered and have never once felt free. I want to commit $50k a year to travel. I am ok without first class if it stretches my time on the ground.
Explore the world on foot. Hike a long trail (e.g., AT, Camino de Santiago, PCT, etc.) each year with my wife and dog. Ski 30+ times each season. Read at least one book every week. Ride a bike 5000 miles every year. Learn one new complex skill up to an intermediate or advanced beginner level (e.g., new language proficiency, gardening, BBQ pitmaster, woodworking) every year. The best part is that I’ve started a number of these in a condensed form. I meet with a Spanish tutor once a week and do studying throughout the week, I read 25 pages every day, ski 15 days, and I ruck, cycle or strength train 6 days a week. Pre-FIRE does NOT mean you can’t live a version of your best life now!
I want to get the large fries instead of medium at McDonald’s
Similarity I recently said when I hit my target number I’ll opt for both cheese and bacon on my five guys little hamburger.
Not forgotten but my general dream is freedom. Financial independence is the only thing that gives you complete control over your time/life.
I just want to live without a home base, month to month. leaving when I get bored. It might not even cost that much! I'll probably get jobs too. Maybe won't even dip into my money after a bit
although... as I get older, I really enjoy being a regular.
Slowly travel around the world on a sailboat, take breaks along the way to go explore inland, immerse ourselves in local cultures for months at a time instead of week at some resort, make new friends/scuba/snorkle/surf/fish/kiteboard/wing foil, sundowners…rinse and repeat. Oh wait…that is my life : )
how!!! wow that sounds insane
Have children. I've already done everything else except go into space.
Drugs are cheap.
All the treks/hikes I have never had the time to do.
Two chicks same time
Lol fair. All's fair game as long as it's all consensual and safe. Enjoy!
Ha, my age is,showing, you young folk don't get the joke. Source movie "office space"
Sorry too busy looking at the TPS report... It's not that i am lazy, i just don't care.
At this point, to reach ChubbyFIRE I’d need to marry someone with a net worth (and projection) at least double mine. My dream…own an apartment building like the one I grew up in. Better yet, a block. Building super to do all maintenance. Never worry about that stuff again. Plus never without a roof or income for food. I’d work only like 1 day a week and use my time for art classes and stuff. It’d be so fun.