How Mike and I arrived at The Long Vacation

As we converse with young people here in Maui from France, Germany and Canada, they ask how we decided to travel. They ask, "Were we travelers before this?" We were not. We might have taken vacations but we were not travelers. Tonight someone suggested that we retired and then got bored. He implied that we decided to travel after we quit work on Aug. 31. Then we planned a 7 month overseas tour through Australia and South East Asia and took off a month later (without realizing that we also disposed of an apartment with all our stuff, settled business affairs and said proper good byes to our families. The following is an attempt to show the evolution of our actual travel plan, a plan that took almost 5 years to develop. Finding one another and arriving at a shared travel goal was the biggest miracle of all but the plan took years. Why wouldn’t it? It needs to take years to properly undo a lifetime of accumulation.

On January 22, 2007 I opened an unusual (actually earth -rocking) letter from General Motors informing me that GM had audited my length of service and determined that under a 1996 contract granting 100% lay off guarantee I had 30 years of service prior to 1/1/07. (Persons not having 30 years prior to 1/1/07 get a lesser monthly payment. They do not get the entire amount of a defined pension plan.) When I got this letter from GM I saw that the only thing keeping me in Michigan was my house. 8 days later a realtor assessed the house. It sold in June 2007.

If I had known who negotiated the 100% lay off guarantee, I would have sent them flowers. I was laid off for 2 years, from Feb 1983 until GM recalled the Tarrytown Assembly Plant’s second shift in Feb. 1985. This lay off guaranty gives me deep appreciation for the UAW (United Auto Worker’s Union). I never paid union dues as a salaried employee but nonetheless the UAW did me a tremendous service.

The young folks here in Maui made note that I sold before the 2008 crash. My house sold for $217, 000 after I paid $255,000 in 1999. So I lost money but I do not mind since I made money when the housing market was good and it equaled out. At the time I felt huge fear that housing would crash. I wanted to travel and see the world. All I needed was to find one buyer and with brokers expertise we did.

What would I do once retired? I looked at travel on the internet because I wanted to go everywhere all at once without jet lag. My Uncle Albert is a good example of what I did not want to have happen to me concerning travel. In 1965 or so he won a prize for selling the most spark plugs. The prize was dinner with Henry Ford II in Bangkok. My uncle got sick at dinner and refused to ever leave home again. I did not want that to happen to me. If I get sick at dinner I want the option to lay up in Bangkok, get well and not have to rush back to work.

On the internet I found RWT (Round the World Trips) offered thru One World Alliance, an airline consortium that charges something like $3500 for 3 continents, $5200 for 4 continents and $6000 for 5 continents. Note: The continent of origin counts as the first continent. The ticket is good for a year. I realized that a round the world trip was for me.

I signed up for classes with a group, 2Y2R (Too Young To Retire) to discuss next steps. Issues with my only child, then 26 year old Ben were emphasized by 2Y2R. Ben graduated from Eastern Michigan in 2006 but he is not self-supporting. Ben was diagnosed as bipolar and by Aug 2008, Ben got his first assistance check. Today Ben no longer depends on me.

Mike and I met at work in April 2008. Mike was planning his retirement and he liked to look at motor homes. He even asked if I'd like to go halves on a used GMC. I did not reply. All I knew was that I was much happier going to work since Mike was nearby. I liked Mike so much that I would have accepted motorhome life all by itself if that was all Mike could tolerate.

In October 2008 threat of a lay off for all contract workers loomed large per the Wall Street Journal. Mike was retired from the UAW after 30 years. He had worked as a contract designer on engine coolings systems and accessory drives.

For me, Liz, the duress of being required to sign "Yes" or "No" as to whether or not I would retire, I could not sleep that the idea that Mike would not be there after Friday. Working next to Mike really cheered me up. He made work better. I approached him the next day and he asked me out. By the weekend of Oct 8, 2008 he set forth a plan to marry on Memorial Day Weekend of 2009. That Monday he designed an engagement ring and 3 weeks later we announced our engagement.

As the overwhelming newness of our union subsided, I showed Mike the dream trip for overseas. He thought the general price range was reasonable. I showed Mike a map with an example of a trip from North America to South America and then Hawaii, Australia and South East Asia. Mike accepted the plan when I crossed out South America. I crossed out South America because it made no sense to fly back from South America thru Los Angeles to go to Hawaii. Mike aptly said indigenous peoples have too many reasons to hate us and that we would not feel safe there. Gradually I modified the idea of a one year trip to a six or seven month trip since any longer feels like punishment.

Thailand is a focal point of out trip because of Mike’s army service. Mike spent a year supporting US Marines in Vietnam when he was 19. He was under constant attack. Then he returned to Fort Leonard Wood, Kansas and was bored so he transferred to Thailand. To this day Mike loves the Thai people and their joy of living. The idea of returning to Thailand totally charms Mike. He speaks some Thai. We expect to spend several months in Thailand, We hope that flooding in Bangkok is over quickly.