Editor’s note: Omahans John Kelly and Gay Flynn, who recently retired, leave Omaha this month for 10 to 12 months of living and traveling in Europe. Today they describe how they prepared. Periodically they will weigh in from abroad to let us know how the journey is going.
Gay’s father was career Air Force, and she spent seven years in Germany. She traveled extensively all over Europe, and at some point during the seven years she began to consider the idea of coming back after retirement to wander all over Europe for several months. And so the idea of what we’re calling our Sojourn was born.
We met on Okinawa in 1973 when I was assigned to her father’s office and he was my first sergeant. By 1975 our relationship had ended, and while she was developing European travel experience, I settled into life in Southern California and limited my travel to commutes on the 101 Freeway.
It wasn’t until 1994 that life allowed us to reconnect. Gay and I married in 1998. I knew about her retirement dream, but it wasn’t until 2006, after a trip to Ireland, that I was hooked and signed on to Gay’s dream.
When Gay isn’t traveling, she is planning a trip or reading and dreaming about one. Even her career with the National Park Service was as a relocation center and travel programs manager. (John is retired from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.)
Gay started organizing for this endeavor months ago, but really she has been preparing for this day since she first lived in Germany. She is the logistical magician. And me? Well, I get the luggage out of the storage room.
First, the cost question
If Gay is talking about a trip, it usually means she has already started planning, and she has.
It probably began the first time she received a paycheck and immediately put 5 percent of it in savings before doing anything else. When we got together I found 5 percent of my check disappeared into savings, and, over the years, the percentages grew in what I called the “pay Gay first” plan.
It’s a good plan. It provided us the funds to travel. And when we started thinking of how to finance an extended stay in Europe without the income that we had been accustomed to, Gay had already been considering the options and variables that were available to make this dream a reality.
It comes down to budgets. First, she figured out what we had to spend — the annual income from retirement and Social Security, supplemented by what we were comfortable taking out of our savings plans. It’s always wise to consult with financial professionals, and we did. We got some pretty good advice.
In the end, Gay had established a budget, and we agreed that whether it lasted a year, eight months or eight days, after that budget was used up, the Sojourn would be over.
Next she determined expenses. It’s impossible to know exactly how much one is going to spend, but the key thing is that we have arranged so anything we would be paying there we would have been paying here instead. We sold the house and recently gave up the apartment. Now we don’t have a mortgage, and any rent we would have paid here will simply be paid over there. Same with utilities, food and car payment.
So, where are we going to stay? Months ago we booked an Airbnb apartment for our first three months in Germany in a town called Rhens am Rhein for significantly less than the rent we had been paying in Omaha.
How did Gay find an affordable two-bedroom apartment on the Rhine River? The Internet has made research so much easier to find the best deals and options that were never considered before. It also has made communication with these establishments far easier. Airbnb is not the only option for finding reasonable short- or long-term places to stay. There are others, but here are links to three we researched: Airbnb — airbnb.com; Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) — vrbo.com; and FlipKey (owned by Trip Advisor) — flipkey.com.
The downsizing
When we committed to the idea of extended travel in Europe, we realized it was going to require some serious changes in lifestyle. After all, we can’t be hanging out in Europe for months and still maintain a household here, not as a couple of retiring federal workers.
So we sorted all our possessions — room by room, garage and storage — into what had to go and what could stay.
Gay adopted the “How often have we used this?” system. Anything that we hadn’t seen in years, or forgotten we had, would go. Also, since we had decided to move from a four-bedroom house to smaller quarters, she made some hard decisions on furniture. Naturally, the mother instinct in her required her to offer anything of value to the daughter and grandchildren.
Then, the garage sale. Be prepared: It will turn out that anything you valued will have no value at all to the bargain hunters who pick through the merchandise, but an old rotting wood ladder I put aside for the trash was grabbed up. Since downsizing, Gay occasionally goes looking for something, can’t find it, realizes it’s gone, mourns briefly, then moves on.
Part of our downsizing plan was to sell the house. This isn’t always an easy step, as owning a home is what often defines us as being responsible, tax-paying adults. I warmed to the idea immediately upon realizing that I would never have to mow the lawn again. For Gay, this was just part of the big picture. She longed to travel rather than nag me to maintain a lawn or do household maintenance, and she honestly never wanted to weed a garden again. We put our home on the market, it sold and we never looked back.
We realize that is not the normal response, but Gay grew up Air Force and married Air Force.
After the house sold we moved into a two-bedroom apartment and found that we were quite content with what we have. We still have the memories of the grandchildren playing in the old backyard, and there is a real freedom from home-maintenance responsibilities.
We decided we would give up the apartment, put what is left in storage and be vagabonds until our return. Downsizing is the key, and as we face the cost of long-term storage, we realized it was time to downsize again. Just how important is it to have more than one television?
The itinerary
This itinerary has gone through a few mutations over the past year, and to be truthful, I’ve not paid a whole lot of attention, generally nodding approval unless there were pictures to look at.
However, I paid attention when Gay mentioned that we had to be out of the Schengen countries before 90 days were reached. I didn’t even know there was such a country.
Actually, there is no Schengen country. It is an agreement that was signed in the town of Schengen in Luxembourg. The agreement is long and complicated, but among other things, it outlines how long “foreigners” can stay in Schengen agreement countries. Not all EU member countries signed the Schengen Agreement Great Britain, Republic of Ireland and some countries such as Switzerland, which doesn’t belong to the European Union, did sign the agreement. Great Britain is currently in the middle of Brexit, which leaves us further confused for our future in Europe.
So, what does this mean for us?
It means that we are allowed in Schengen countries only for 90 days out of 180 days and then we must get out for at least 90 days before we can go back into Schengen countries. So, our itinerary calls for us to leave the agreement countries and go to Great Britain for 90 to 120 days before returning to continue our travels in Schengen countries.
There is an alternative involving obtaining a visa that allows additional time, but it requires proof of health insurance and financial solvency, etc. Since our travel plans included travel to Ireland and Great Britain anyway, we are electing to jump out of Schengen countries after 90 days in June and return in October.
Do they take this agreement seriously? When we went to Italy on a trip, the Italian customs were a little lax in checking passports and simply waved people through. When leaving, we had to transfer planes in Germany, where they wanted our passports and questioned why we had no stamp showing entry into a Schengen area. Naturally we blamed the Italians, but the German agent was not amused and we received a nice little lecture that it was our responsibility to ensure our passports got stamped.
We are making our home base the first three months in Rhens to answer Gay’s desire to “live like a German” and also to practice our German. But we will be taking day trips even during those months. Things could change, but here is the list of countries we hope to visit: Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland and Italy.
We are off to meet people and gather experiences all over Europe. Follow us at facebook.com/alongacobblestonepath.
Gay’s father was career Air Force, and she spent seven years in Germany. She traveled extensively all over Europe, and at some point during the seven years she began to consider the idea of coming back after retirement to wander all over Europe for several months. And so the idea of what we’re calling our Sojourn was born.
We met on Okinawa in 1973 when I was assigned to her father’s office and he was my first sergeant. By 1975 our relationship had ended, and while she was developing European travel experience, I settled into life in Southern California and limited my travel to commutes on the 101 Freeway.
It wasn’t until 1994 that life allowed us to reconnect. Gay and I married in 1998. I knew about her retirement dream, but it wasn’t until 2006, after a trip to Ireland, that I was hooked and signed on to Gay’s dream.
When Gay isn’t traveling, she is planning a trip or reading and dreaming about one. Even her career with the National Park Service was as a relocation center and travel programs manager. (John is retired from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.)
Gay started organizing for this endeavor months ago, but really she has been preparing for this day since she first lived in Germany. She is the logistical magician. And me? Well, I get the luggage out of the storage room.
First, the cost question
If Gay is talking about a trip, it usually means she has already started planning, and she has.
It probably began the first time she received a paycheck and immediately put 5 percent of it in savings before doing anything else. When we got together I found 5 percent of my check disappeared into savings, and, over the years, the percentages grew in what I called the “pay Gay first” plan.
It’s a good plan. It provided us the funds to travel. And when we started thinking of how to finance an extended stay in Europe without the income that we had been accustomed to, Gay had already been considering the options and variables that were available to make this dream a reality.
It comes down to budgets. First, she figured out what we had to spend — the annual income from retirement and Social Security, supplemented by what we were comfortable taking out of our savings plans. It’s always wise to consult with financial professionals, and we did. We got some pretty good advice.
In the end, Gay had established a budget, and we agreed that whether it lasted a year, eight months or eight days, after that budget was used up, the Sojourn would be over.
Next she determined expenses. It’s impossible to know exactly how much one is going to spend, but the key thing is that we have arranged so anything we would be paying there we would have been paying here instead. We sold the house and recently gave up the apartment. Now we don’t have a mortgage, and any rent we would have paid here will simply be paid over there. Same with utilities, food and car payment.
So, where are we going to stay? Months ago we booked an Airbnb apartment for our first three months in Germany in a town called Rhens am Rhein for significantly less than the rent we had been paying in Omaha.
How did Gay find an affordable two-bedroom apartment on the Rhine River? The Internet has made research so much easier to find the best deals and options that were never considered before. It also has made communication with these establishments far easier. Airbnb is not the only option for finding reasonable short- or long-term places to stay. There are others, but here are links to three we researched: Airbnb — airbnb.com; Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) — vrbo.com; and FlipKey (owned by Trip Advisor) — flipkey.com.
The downsizing
When we committed to the idea of extended travel in Europe, we realized it was going to require some serious changes in lifestyle. After all, we can’t be hanging out in Europe for months and still maintain a household here, not as a couple of retiring federal workers.
So we sorted all our possessions — room by room, garage and storage — into what had to go and what could stay.
Gay adopted the “How often have we used this?” system. Anything that we hadn’t seen in years, or forgotten we had, would go. Also, since we had decided to move from a four-bedroom house to smaller quarters, she made some hard decisions on furniture. Naturally, the mother instinct in her required her to offer anything of value to the daughter and grandchildren.
Then, the garage sale. Be prepared: It will turn out that anything you valued will have no value at all to the bargain hunters who pick through the merchandise, but an old rotting wood ladder I put aside for the trash was grabbed up. Since downsizing, Gay occasionally goes looking for something, can’t find it, realizes it’s gone, mourns briefly, then moves on.
Part of our downsizing plan was to sell the house. This isn’t always an easy step, as owning a home is what often defines us as being responsible, tax-paying adults. I warmed to the idea immediately upon realizing that I would never have to mow the lawn again. For Gay, this was just part of the big picture. She longed to travel rather than nag me to maintain a lawn or do household maintenance, and she honestly never wanted to weed a garden again. We put our home on the market, it sold and we never looked back.
We realize that is not the normal response, but Gay grew up Air Force and married Air Force.
After the house sold we moved into a two-bedroom apartment and found that we were quite content with what we have. We still have the memories of the grandchildren playing in the old backyard, and there is a real freedom from home-maintenance responsibilities.
We decided we would give up the apartment, put what is left in storage and be vagabonds until our return. Downsizing is the key, and as we face the cost of long-term storage, we realized it was time to downsize again. Just how important is it to have more than one television?
The itinerary
This itinerary has gone through a few mutations over the past year, and to be truthful, I’ve not paid a whole lot of attention, generally nodding approval unless there were pictures to look at.
However, I paid attention when Gay mentioned that we had to be out of the Schengen countries before 90 days were reached. I didn’t even know there was such a country.
Actually, there is no Schengen country. It is an agreement that was signed in the town of Schengen in Luxembourg. The agreement is long and complicated, but among other things, it outlines how long “foreigners” can stay in Schengen agreement countries. Not all EU member countries signed the Schengen Agreement Great Britain, Republic of Ireland and some countries such as Switzerland, which doesn’t belong to the European Union, did sign the agreement. Great Britain is currently in the middle of Brexit, which leaves us further confused for our future in Europe.
So, what does this mean for us?
It means that we are allowed in Schengen countries only for 90 days out of 180 days and then we must get out for at least 90 days before we can go back into Schengen countries. So, our itinerary calls for us to leave the agreement countries and go to Great Britain for 90 to 120 days before returning to continue our travels in Schengen countries.
There is an alternative involving obtaining a visa that allows additional time, but it requires proof of health insurance and financial solvency, etc. Since our travel plans included travel to Ireland and Great Britain anyway, we are electing to jump out of Schengen countries after 90 days in June and return in October.
Do they take this agreement seriously? When we went to Italy on a trip, the Italian customs were a little lax in checking passports and simply waved people through. When leaving, we had to transfer planes in Germany, where they wanted our passports and questioned why we had no stamp showing entry into a Schengen area. Naturally we blamed the Italians, but the German agent was not amused and we received a nice little lecture that it was our responsibility to ensure our passports got stamped.
We are making our home base the first three months in Rhens to answer Gay’s desire to “live like a German” and also to practice our German. But we will be taking day trips even during those months. Things could change, but here is the list of countries we hope to visit: Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland and Italy.
We are off to meet people and gather experiences all over Europe. Follow us at facebook.com/alongacobblestonepath.
Resource :http://www.omaha.com/living/omaha-couple-paring-down-in-preparation-for-lengthy-sojourn-in/article_8790a25a-de4b-56bb-9a7e-01a829fe64bf.html
