Did you miss out on the chance to backpack around the world when you were young?  We did.  Busy working, saving money, getting married, having kids.  The excuses were endless.  But not anymore.  The kids have grown up and left home and we are retired.  Now we’re in our sixties there is no way our backs are carrying that load, it’s four wheels all the way for us. Every travel agent at travel seminars seemed to think we had a money tree in the back yard.  We hate flying but desperately want to see the world, so extended holidays were the answer for us.  So here is our story of how much we’ve seen so far and believe me it didn’t cost and arm and a leg.  Being your own travel agent is smart and saves an enormous amount of money, but it means a lot of planning and commitment to get it right. And a lot of help from Mr Google.

We are a retired couple in our sixties living on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and we’ve travelled a fair bit around Australia and New Zealand. So now we’ve decided it’s time to visit Europe.  No backpacking, even though there’s no money tree in the back yard.  Yet here we are planning a three month holiday to the continent.  Why three months?  Because our inconsiderate ancestors decided to move to Australia too many generations ago – therefore any longer and we’d be overstaying our visa.

How can we afford it when we are on the old age pension and no longer working?  Sometimes during the organising I did wonder – but we did it – without touching the credit card.