Retire Early
Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler
In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age
of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this
financially independent lifestyle, they invite you
to take advantage of their wisdom and experience. |
|
Six
Countries, Eight Flights, Five Trains and 74 Days
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli
The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
We just wrapped up a six-country trip through
southern
Italy, Sicily, Malta,
Paris, France, Sint Maarten and
Nevis, West Indies in the Caribbean.
As is our style, we
tracked
our spending and wanted to share with you some
insight and financial figures from our experiences.
Booking most rooms through Booking.com, we paid cash obtaining a discount on a couple
of apartments which we had rented on our earlier trip in the spring. We had contact
info with the owners so this made it easy to arrange.
These apartments were offered with nice decreases in price, but we had to pay in
cash. This is not a hardship for us as we are used to bargaining with cash and
receiving discounts. Both the apartment owners and we ourselves were pleased
with the transaction.
We will be producing numerous detailed articles and reviews from our trip as we
create them. They are always published on
RetireEarlyLifestyle.com.
We flew from Guadalajara, Mexico to Rome, Italy, via Madrid. (see pricing
of flights on a chart below)
From the Rome airport
we had a private driver whom we used before to bring us to
Hotel
Riviera in the coastal town of
Anzio. We paid him $110Euros for the ride.
Spending ten nights in Anzio at $138USD per night we had an ocean view room on
Roman Emperor
Nero's Beach and a remarkable buffet breakfast included. This was a gentle way
of getting over jet lag.
We found an award-winning restaurant - Restaurante Turcotto - and it was so
amazing that we ate there three times!
Then we took a train to Salerno on the Amalfi coast. Spending three nights there
in an apartment with breakfast included, the price was $100USD per night.
Again, we took a train ($75Euros for 2) to the ancient town of Matera for ten
nights, at $100USD per night. Living in a cave-turned-apartment with breakfast
included was an unexpected experience and we explored the famous village of
Matera.
Back on the rails we made our way to Brindisi on the Eastern Coast of Italy.
Because we had been here in the Spring, we were able to get a nice adjusted
price on the apartment paying cash, $65USD per night with a light breakfast
included.
In this renowned seaport city of Brindisi we explored more sights that we missed
on our short first visit including a working military castle and a sailors
monument.
In order to fly to Palermo, Sicily, it was a short train ride north from
Brindisi to Bari. This time we only spent one night in Palermo at $92USD.
Earlier in the spring we stayed a week, seeing the sights in this multi-cultural
city.
Then, we took the train to Cefalu ($23Euros for 2).
In Cefalu, on the northern coast of Sicily, we ran around checking out the
classic old town and excellent beaches. Our 2-bedroom apartment was centrally
located which was very convenient. We paid $98USD per night and after 5 nights
we took the train to Catania ($33Euros for 2).
Catania is the second largest city in Sicily located on the eastern coast. It
has a very distinctive vibe and there are countless restaurants and eateries
located here. The fresh fish market was the most extraordinary we have ever
seen.
Eating our way through Sicily we stayed in Catania for seven nights at $97USD
per night. The fact that we rented our two-bedroom apartment here in the spring,
again we were able to get a great price for our second stay.
Flying from Catania to Malta allowed us to visit another country and culture.
Eight nights in the town of Rabit at $88USD per night, gave us more than enough
time to explore the small island. After the dynamic and spirited Sicily, Malta
seemed a little more vanilla-flavored than we would have liked. But how do you
know unless you go?
Onward to Paris, we flew Air France for an eight-night stay in the Latin
Quarter, paying $175USD per night. Paris is
seductive, vibrant, cultured alluring and a gourmet’s delight. The architecture, history and natural
beauty are unforgettable. Our hotel was located so that walking everywhere was
easy.
Cold and sometimes rainy,
the weather in Paris pushed our bodies and our wardrobe to the
limit.
The next flight on Air France took us to Sint Maarten in the Caribbean Islands. We basically went from 50-degree damp,
windy
weather to 85-degree balmy tropics. AAAAhhhhh..... put away the sweaters,
jackets and long pants!
We stayed five nights on the friendly and welcoming Dutch side of the island for
$99USD per
night, getting over jet lag and normalizing to island time.
On an island hopper airline, WinAir flew
us to St. Kitts where we taxied ($40Euro) to Reggae Beach and took a private
water Taxi ($20Euro each) to the island of
Nevis.
The Lovely Nashanti serving us a Mango
smoothie at our villa on Nevis WI
We lived on Nevis in 1991 when we began our retirement. This was our first time
back in 33 years. Seven wonderful nights of relaxing in our ocean front villa at
$244USD per night, swimming daily and rediscovering places we had seen decades
prior. We understood once again why we had fallen in love with this gentle
island all those years ago.
We returned to Sint Maarten again at $99USD per night via WinAir
for two more nights in order to catch our flight on Copa Airlines
via Panama City back to Guadalajara, Mexico.
With all the stops we made, the different modes of transportation, the assorted
Sims cards for our cell phones that we needed for each country, the time changes and currency variations,
there were a lot of moving parts to keep straight.
The airfare and lodging were about equal as the airfare was $8,000USD, and the
apartments/hotels were $8,900USD. We preferred breakfast being included or a
refrigerator in our room at each stop. This made life so much easier on a
day-to-day basis.
Aero Mex |
$3,015.00 |
|
paid |
|
Booked |
|
|
Brindisi/Bari - Palermo |
$118.00 |
paid |
|
Booked |
Ryanair |
|
Catania - Malta |
|
$94.00 |
paid |
|
Booked |
Ryanair |
|
Malta Paris |
|
$410.00 |
paid |
|
Booked |
AirFrance |
|
Paris- SXM |
$1,682.00 |
|
paid |
|
Booked |
AirFrance |
|
St Maarten- StKitts |
|
$786.00 |
paid |
|
Booked RT WinAir |
|
St Kitts- St Marten |
|
included above |
|
Booked |
WinAir |
|
St Maarten -PTY-GDL |
$1,908.00 |
paid |
|
Booked |
Copa Airlines |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FCO-MAD-GDL |
|
|
paid |
|
Booked |
|
|
This ticket was not used as it was cheaper to buy RT than OW. |
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Our every day living expenses including taxis, tickets to the Eiffel Tower and
Arc de Triumph, museums and meals averaged $83USD per day.
Utilizing Salumerias in
Italy and local shops and markets in other countries
plus having a full kitchen in many places allowed us to create great meals at
home. This was a noticeable money saver.
This 73-night adventure cost us $314USD per day including airfare for eight
flights, five train tickets in Italy and our accommodations came in at less than
$23,000USD for the whole stay.
Long-time readers of our website know that we have kept our
annual
spending
around $30,000USD for years. We have been hinting at increasing it as our net worth
has grown - outpacing inflation - after spending.
At 71 years of age, if not now, when?
Rush Hour on the island of Nevis, West Indies
Retire
Early Lifestyle appeals to a different
kind of person – the person who prizes their
independence, values their time, and who doesn’t
want to mindlessly follow the crowd.
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