I drifted off into one of my deep thoughts last night (when I should have been sleeping ) about our plans for the past year and how things never quite work out the way we want. A year ago we bought our Hymer Nova, Mark was working less days with his new 4 on 4 off shifts. Zara, our gsd was struggling with her hip dysplacia so having both the dogs in the nova warm and cosy helped her condition. Our plans were to tour with our Familia and leave our Nova in Wales where we love. As I needed a few pretty ghastly medical procedures done we didn't manage to get much touring done so having the comfort of the Nova was a great help. The girls loved being in the Nova with us and so looking back we are so pleased as it was Zara's last summer with us. So, one year one our lives have completely turned around, Mark is now back working 5 long nights driving long distance and we are wondering how on earth we will make the time to look after both the vans in the way we like to do and enjoy using them. If we were to be honest with ourselves we should sell the Nova but with the prospect of surgery for me in the new year looming the space and comfort of the nova would be great . Doo-Dah is of course our love and if we had to choose he would be staying even tho we really do need a bit more room to stretch out. So, what will the coming year bring for us? We have decided not to make any plans as we often find that things don't always work out the way we hope for. That saying comes to mind. "man plans and God laughs". My question to you all is, "did you fulfill your plans for the last year and have you any special plans for the coming year"? Good health and happiness to you all.

Hi ellen and Mark, as you know we are boh early retired, some 7 years now, and I'm 62. We make plans, short, medium and long term and ghey work for us. Like Randa we have never (until now) been well off, we have always enjoyed life though and I have made no secret of our many years of tenting, camper vanning, motorhoming and caravanning, but as we are now vanless we holiday in apartments or cottages. We have found several that are very very good and we return to these as we like what's on offer.

It is difficult to advise but I would tell everyone and anyone that if they can afford to retire then it should be looked at as an option, so many retire at 65 or later and then "have" to do a few hours as they can't adapt. Easy for me as I was made redundant and had a choice to make, easy option was to retire, it was tight for a couple of years without touching savings but we managed and had good holidays. The decision to sell our Eriba was purely down to circumstances, we knew we were getting a large (for us) inheritance, our savings bond was maturing and we had another endowment maturing. We bought a new (to us) 2015 BMW and now have a very comfy life, with 4 holidays already planned and booked for next year.

Whatever you do, take your time, make a plan BUT above all stay safe and well, as without your health you have nothing, no matter how much money or other posessions we might have,

Best regards and Christmas wishes to all,

Ditto all of the above. All of our plans failed this year, we managed one holiday in the Eriba. Family (the children and the parents) conspired to change every arrangement we made. However we have moved our ferry booking that would have seen us in Italy this week to May. So, once again, we are making plans. Who knows what the next year will bring but Agger is right, health is the most important. Like the Randas we took early retirement and with careful watching of the bank account we still manage to live well.
Life is what happens when you are making plans.

You are all absolutely right, good health is paramount so fingers x that I get put right next year,. If holiday time is limited then we will make the most of the time we have with Doo-Dah . This is what happens ladies when you marry a toyboy, he still has 10 years to work when you are retired. The most annoying thing for us is that Mark paid into a private pension so that he could retire early but as with lots of these pensions this just will not happen. As Marks pension is our only income unless our numbers come up we will just have to work with what we have. We are very much the "glass half full" people and think that life could turnaround again and that a better job with less hours could be in the near future for Mark.

Quote: ellen wrote in post #1

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That saying comes to mind. "man plans and God laughs".

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Cheers Ellen

We are like Ellen and Mark...not retired yet, but hope this will happen within the next 3-4 years, unless Ernie or the lottery come up first. We both work 4 nights a week, but being self employed it is the double edged sword....great to work when we want to, but no holiday or sick pay. We hope eventually to take a back seat and be able to have someone work for us, which in time will give us time to get away more.
We bought our 430 eighteen months ago and were worried it was too soon as diving was still our first love. To date we have got away 11 times in the van, be it only for 3-4 days at a time, apart from the Eribameet in Stratford where we stayed at 3 campsites over 10 days. We have found you only need to go 1 hour up the road and instantly you have left any worries behind and can relax just for those few days.
Plans for 2016??...we have 2 diving holidays booked and 2 short breaks in the van to Bristol and Brighton. We are also looking at a campsite around Llangollen for a summer break. Apart from that, we will watch the weather forecast and try to get a few 3 day breaks away. We would love to do a tour in Europe but at present we cannot get the time off and think this will have to wait until we retire.
Chris

First up hope the upcoming opp goes well and you are fit and well again.

As Roger and others have said you can't beat early retirement, problems with a disc in my neck and a bad shoulder joint meant I was only capable of basic lab work where I should have been out sorting scrap and heaving stuff in skips.
Phisio and a stay in hospital resulted in a call to the bosses office where I worked to discuss my future at which the proposal was put forward that the company would be prepared to let me go if I was agreeable, in return I could collect my company pension on leaving ( I was 58 at the time and company pension was only available from age 60)
A few years before that had seen the departure of my second wife to seek "happiness" elsewhere which cut down my outgoings considerably, around that time things got really busy at work and I found myself working up to 60 hours a week for long periods and after paying off what little remained of the mortgage the rest went into the bank as I continued to overwork for a number of years.

As a result when I was pastured out at the age of 58 (just before the financial crash) I calculated the return on my savings plus my company pension would see me with my almost frugal lifestyle doing ok .

The downside was the financial crash which saw the returns on my capital investments tumble to a shadow of the pre crash predictions

However with little in the way of close relatives I was able to break the "investors charter" which seem to be ............. you should have enough to live on without spending any of your capital

My reply to this whenever pointed to a "financial advisor" was cobblers (in my estimation these people only exist to line their own pockets)

If you don't wish to subsidise others after you are gone spend it I say

So to date I have spent about 30% of my capital since retirement and am lining up al least another 10% to be spent next year (64 this month so next year state pension to spend too)

So did I do all my plans this year? ..............yes I think so .............did it go to plan? ...................No as usual the sodding UK weather got in the way and 2 weeks in Yorkshire was something of a washout.

Not a total failure though as I got to meet Alan and his charming wife (deeps on here) and also the chance to dress up and pose as a poacher at a 1940's weekend

On the road again (2)

Highlight of 2015?

Probably my beer and bangers trip

Where I got to cook on a fire pit and there was a brewery on site

Beer and Bangers trip

Zitat

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My question to you all is, "did you fulfill your plans for the last year and have you any special plans for the coming year"? Good health and happiness to you all.

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Breathing in and out is the first priority for next year apart from that nothing planned so far


For those curious enough to still be reading this an operation a year later cured my left shoulder problem the disk in the neck was put to me as "we may be able to put it right but" needless to say I declined that one.

A first for 2015 ............... the first Eriba owner ever to be spotted on a web cam

On the road again

We had a sad 2015.....my wonderful Catalan father-in-law died just after his 95th birthday. Just before we got the phone call telling us he was unwell my husband had rushed off to the GP with floaters before his vision in one eye.....he was given an emergency appointment with an opthalmologist next morning it was 17.30 at this time....and advised to attend an A&E with specialist opthalmologist should things get worse....they did on the way home...we decided to go to A&E immediately but home was between GP and hospital so we popped in and then got the message re my father in law....had to rush on the the hospital where we had to wait for the doc to become available about 2 and half hours then hubby had to undergo a host of tests on the ward to establish that his retina was not becoming detached....it wasn't...some gel around the retina had become detached and was causing the floaters.....whew!!!! what a panic....he could not fly just then.... we came home around mindnight....packed the caravan changed our chunnel booking which was for a couple of weeks later and set out as soon as we were ready...we got to the Tunnel car park around 06.00 and had a sleep before catching the 08.30 train....and pointed the car toward Barcelona....expecting to arrive there in the evening. On our journey we had regular reports on Papa's condition.....and at around 13.00 the call came to say he had passed away. We pulled over and had a sleep...... no more need to rush. Following the funeral in Barcelona we stayed at home there for just a few days then set off southish to spend a few days in the sun....hubby was still having the floaters.....we wandered about for a month....then went back to the home in Barcelona for a wee while to make sure all was well before pointing north again.. A few weeks following our return I had arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder......3 weeks after that we went away with the grandchildren camping for a long weekend.....a month later we were on the ferry to Ouisterham...with the caravan...calling at my friend's (whom I hadn't seen since 1998) house near La Rochelle....then on down to Spain..La Rioja and across to Barcelona....to greet a cousin from Ireland ...who stayed a week with us there....then off to the airport to collect my stepson from USA who popped down to visit whilst on business in Germany...he overlapped with my brother-in-law who to had come over so that my hubby and he could sign docs re Papa's will. It was a very busy....sad ... sometimes happy year...none of these were planned much in advance just 'spur of the moment'...'why don't you' type plans a couple of weeks in advance. My (toyboy) hubby retires in April.....yippee.....(I retired in 2009) and I've booked Plymouth to Roscoff from April 21st to July 9th....we're 'doing' Spain particularly the north west as we've not been over that way....then south...we were going to 'do' Portugal but discovered that the Toyota + caravan is charged at commercial vehicle rates in Portugal on motorways...so we've decided to leave Portugal until we change the towcar later in the year. We'll just wander round southern Spain...then come on up to Barcelona and spend a little time at home there (RB stays in the garage... the reason we bought an Eriba 5 years ago was that he fitted through the arched entrance to the house in Barcelona nothing else would) then wander up to the family flat in Roses where our neighbours will join us for a week in June....we'll then head back to Barcelona for RB and head
home before Bastille day in France until the autumn and our next European trip....all being well!!!