Senior nomads: Retirees hit the road

As the cost of living continues to rise, many people are making changes to their daily lives by cutting spending downsizing or taking out loans.  A few older residents have actually packed up their lives altogether — to hit the road and live as nomads.

Vicki and Bob Enteen, 76, who currently live in Walnut Creek, California, are part of the “Senior Nomads” — a group of thousands of retirees from around the United States who have given up their fixed residences to travel the world.

“There are a lot of us who, as retired people, gave up our homes and just started traveling around the world,” Vicki said. “Some people choose to come back for various periods of time, but we were nomads for 4 1/2 years. We didn’t have a residence and didn’t return to the United States during that time.”

Facebook group

Many of those people have been inspired by Debbie and Michael Campbell, a Seattle couple who began their nomad adventure in 2013. Now ages 66 and 77, the Campbells have been to 90 countries in the past nine years and are the founders of the Senior Nomads blog and Facebook group, which has 4,200 members.

“In 2012, we were late in our careers, our kids had left, and our daughter was home for Christmas. She lives in Paris and she asked us if we had heard of Airbnb. We had not, but she said we should retire and live in Airbnbs and travel around the world,” said Michael Campbell in an interview via FaceTime.

“At first, I didn’t think there was any way we could afford it, but we ran the numbers and concluded that if we sold our house then we could travel the world for the same amount of money that we would spend if we were just sitting in our rocking chairs in Seattle,” said Michael.

The pair have since written about their journey in a book, “Your Keys, Our Home.”

They have built up a certain amount of celebrity in nomad circles. “Every time people want to meet us along the way or write to us and tell us that we changed their lives, it’s just so rewarding,” Michael said.

65 countries 

Vicki and Bob Enteen haven’t met the Campbells, but they know all about their story. They too have always been big travelers, selling their New York home in 2006 to move to Paris. After seven years there, they moved to the San Francisco area to be closer to their two daughters, who live there.

However, the travel bug didn’t fade, and they soon decided to head back to Europe after retiring from their jobs in marketing and journalism. They again gave up their home, packed up a few belongings and headed out to become nomads like the Campbells.

They had met a couple from the San Jose area "who had been living as nomads for 15 years. So that kind of inspired us. We just ended our rental and got rid of a lot of our stuff,” Vicki said.

“We went to every European country except for five of them, all the way from Ireland in the west to Turkey in the east. We spent a month in Istanbul and then we went to Israel, Morocco, Ukraine and Bulgaria. We’ve been to about 65 countries.”

The average time they spent in one place was about a month, though it varied. They used Meetup, a social media platform that brings people together in certain areas, to meet new friends. They often rented cars to explore smaller towns and villages, while returning frequently to Paris to see friends. Amsterdam was another favorite spot, especially in summer. Winter was spent in sunny Barcelona.

It might sound like a dream to many, but Vicki and Bob actually found themselves saving a lot of money compared to San Francisco. 

“We were saving an average of $1,000 a month doing this,” Vicki said.

Keeping costs down

“We were budget travelers. We used public transport a lot. We cooked all of our meals. We paid a flat amount for our Airbnb rentals, and often negotiated. When you think about it, when you stay in an Airbnb you don’t pay extra for internet, water, electricity; all of that is included. So it can be a pretty frugal way of living.”

The Campbells agree. “You can control your environment. You can live in an expensive place like Ireland for a while, then you can pull back and live in Albania for a while to save,” Debbie said. “And you’re not paying for bills, gas, car insurance or any of that stuff that adds up.”

The Enteens traveled with nothing but their clothes, papers, a few kitchen tools and a box of spices. Their pet cat, Jasmine, also came along for the ride, pet passport in tow. “She had been to 25 countries by the time she turned 4 years old,” Vicki said. “A great traveler.”

When it came to deciding where to go next, they would try to plan four or five months out. Weather was a big consideration, as they didn’t have a lot of clothes. A lot of Airbnbs wouldn’t accept pets, so that had to be thought out, too.

The Senior Nomad Facebook page was a big help, as were other members of the group. Language also proved to be much less of a barrier than they expected, as more people speak English than they'd expected.

In 2019, Vicki and Bob decided to return to California to be close to their daughters again. There were also a few other issues that pushed them back stateside.

“The one thing that is important when you’re a senior is health care. Our American insurance doesn’t work in Europe, so you have to pay extra,” Vicki said. “Travel days could also be stressful, but we found ways to make the transitions easier, and it was always so exciting.”

The Campbells have managed to find reasonable insurance that works internationally, so the medical side of things isn’t too much of a concern on their part. However, they do return to the United States for their annual checkups.

“We have faith in doctors around the world but there is some value in the consistency of going to the same ones," Michael said. "Especially because we’re nine years older than when we first started this.”

“Nine years ago we were moving a lot faster; we’d get the bus and handle our own bags and do everything ourselves,” Debbie adds. “Now, we’re more likely to get a car at the airport and that type of thing. We try to take it a little easier.”

Call of the road

The Enteens have also been taking it easy since moving back to California, but it was tough to adjust to living in one place again — especially after the pandemic hit. Now that travel restrictions have mostly lifted, Vicki already has her planning book back out.

“We’re hoping to go to Vietnam and Cambodia soon. I recently investigated my Canadian citizenship — my father was born there — so that’s also a possibility,” she said.

“When we tell people our story, they’re shocked. It’s something that a lot of people wouldn’t think of doing in a million years, but it’s just a fabulous way to retire. Aside from it being a money saver, it’s also a great way to stay young. It keeps your brain cells and energy going.

“Every day was a bit of a challenge but also a great learning experience. When you retire, instead of thinking about making your life smaller, maybe use the opportunity to do things that you never had time to do in the past.”