I like thinking of retirement. Specifically, I like thinking about my own early retirement. Life is all about priorities. For example, I'm driving a 15 year old vehicle and have the money I've saved socked away. This means I can work at least one year less than many others I know. If I combine that with other examples of our moderate lifestyle, I really don't think I need have to wait much longer. It's all about balance, after all. If one can forgo expensive toys in the near term, then that allows personal freedom in the longer term. To me, owning my own life is more important than owning items bearing the tag of 'luxury'.
The main problem with finding a nice little place to escape our rainy winters, is the fact we cannot choose just one. I've blogged here about wanting to own property elsewhere for a yearly migration, somewhat like what Canadian geese do. Yet, it'd be hard for us to tie ourselves to just one destination. Due to this, perhaps we'll need not buy a second home and should just continue exploring or re-exploring the world each November to February.
There are more places on the potential list than years left, I fear. We could definitely start from these locations which are in no particular order: Palms Springs, Puerto Vallarta, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and this year's hot choice after a 10-day visit, Malaysia. I could so happily spend four months a year in that country, I think.
There. There are five year's worth of proven destinations, already! Time to get at it ... in 2014?
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Sept 2011. Other than the capital, we only visited Penang, so I want to go back soon to check out the south-west coast nearer Singapore.