We live in an area where millions of people from all over the world want to visit, so there's plenty to do here without needing to travel much. Spouse and I are not lovers of today's air travel hassles, so as long as I can continue driving we do car trips.
It's great! Instead of trying to cram fun into a weekend and hassling with traffic to/from popular areas, we can visit weekdays for 3-5 days at a time, able to enjoy our favorite areas in depth rather than stick to a strict schedule. We have our favorite restaurants to visit, and always try to reserve at least half our meals at new eateries.
We stay at moderate priced hotels because fancy ones have amenities we never use. We don't golf, swim, or play tennis. No interest in spas or massages since I have monthly appts with my regular masseur who is also a licensed acupuncturist. She turned to massage as she enjoys doing bodywork but we both have an interest in alternative medicine and Eastern practices (tai chi).
Being foodies, living here is ideal. Our home area has gentrified so much that we can't even keep up with the new restaurants opening in our 'neck of the woods', let alone other popular areas...but that doesn't stop us from trying, LOL!
This is a very HCOL area. Traveling locally costs us
much more than if we did a cruise (been there, done that, not interested in doing it again) or did a group travel (ditto). To be honest, I'm astonished out-of-state tourists can afford to visit Northern CA. There are lots of budget things to do - don't get me wrong - and many extremely good "cheap eats". But it requires searching, a strict itinerary, and a careful eye on the budget.
However, if you travel as we do - roughly every 4-7 weeks, except in summer (tourist season; we try to avoid the crowded/hot areas then) - picking areas and eateries because they catch your fancy, then it can get expensive, very quickly.
We are fortunate as our retirement income has been sufficient to allow for travel to other states during the first decade of retirement. Now entering our second decade, we're starting to slow down a bit so there's still plenty of 'expansion room' in the budget to afford continuing trips.
Interestingly, we can track inflation by our daily travel costs. We started in January 2010, the height of the Great Recession, so it was a GREAT time to travel. Many Boomers were still working, travel vacancies abounded in hotels and group trips. We went on a fabulous Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) trip to New Mexico that year, led by one of the leading amateur local historians in the state. There were only 12 people on the trip, whereas the year before, the guides told us there were 50-60 on every trip!
We also went on a 6-week trip from Northern CA through the PNW, since I have relatives in Seattle. Great trip including an Alaskan cruise, but boy did I have to do hundreds of hours of research to make it all come out smoothly. Did various other trips over the years, including introducing my spouse to East Coast steaks (he was wowed, LOL) and doing an amazing Korean banquet down in Southern CA where the Asian food scene is so much more interesting than it is up in Northern CA.
Less than two years ago I remarked to my spouse that our travel costs had gone up about 30% from the start of our retirement, just for lodgings and restaurants. And of course, they've gone up since then as well.
Slowly we've settled down into more of a routine with the weekday regional trips. Having acquired a stray cat last year, it makes it a little more difficult to travel now. I don't really like boarding my pets, so right now we have someone who comes in to feed and clean the litterbox daily. But I'm reluctant to ask her to do it for two weeks straight! He's an older cat so upsetting his routine bothers him.
Ironically, the vet bills so far for the cat have totaled what we would spend on a week-long stay in the Napa Valley - one of the most expensive areas in CA to visit
