Hello everyone, my name is Yang Juan, I am 61 years old this year, and my wife and I used to be ordinary employees of state-owned enterprises.
Our pension is about 7,000 a month, and we have worked hard for most of our lives, and we have always wanted to be able to retire.
So I went on a trip when my son didn't have a family and his parents could take care of themselves.
We know that this is also the only long-term travel opportunity for us ordinary people in this life to have money and leisure.
01
In the beginning, we opted for a group tour.
The reason is too simple, save money, save worry, especially suitable for novices.
As long as you pay the money, follow the tour guide and the travel friend, take care of each other and help, and don't have to worry about booking hotels and routes, you can also communicate with each other and increase your knowledge.
We used to be very happy, and went to many places with the tour group, such as Guilin, Hong Kong, Zhangjiagang, etc., and enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery.
But after only 2 years of traveling like this, we got tired of it.
We found that this approach did not work for us, and there were many disadvantages, such as:
1. The itinerary is too rushed, the stay time of the scenic spots is too short, too many sightseeing and sightseeing, and the scenery is not fun.
2. If you are not satisfied with the group meal accommodation, it is not your favorite taste and environment.
3. It is too time-consuming, in order to save costs, most of them are buses, it is inconvenient to go to the toilet on the road, and it is sometimes common to hold urine for a long time.
4. I often have to shop, if I don't buy a tour guide, I'm not happy, I bought it, it's too pit, and it's also a headache to meet group members with poor quality.
We have met a group member who is particularly procrastinating, the whole car waits for her alone for half an hour, and we have also encountered chattering and shouting in the car, and I can't take a nap, so we feel more comfortable traveling by ourselves.
02
After getting to know a few like-minded local travelers, we decided to try our hand at a group tour.
A few experienced friends organize the route and arrange room and board, and those of us who are inexperienced can just follow the team, which is also trouble-free.
The original intention is very good, because we are all acquaintances, we can play as long as we want, and buy whatever we want, but the imagination is beautiful, and the reality is cruel.
It was only after playing with acquaintances that I found out that it was even less free.
Sometimes we don't want to stay in this spot for longer, but others want to, so we have to accommodate them, and sometimes we don't want to eat this kind of food, but they want to, and we are embarrassed to bring it up directly.
I remember one time in Sichuan, they wanted to eat hot pot, my wife and I were afraid of spicy food, and we didn't want to eat it, so we said not to go, and acted freely, but everyone said that it was too much of a loss to come to Sichuan and not eat hot pot, which was equivalent to a trip for nothing.
That time my wife and I ate Yixingshan, the stomach was not full, a trip to the hot pot, we hastily ate a few bites, but when the checkout, I had to AA with everyone, and I was unhappy to eat and paid more, and then I had to buy a bag of toast and bread pads to make up for it.
In addition, everyone's time is uncertain, and they often have to make up everyone's time to change it back and forth, but it will delay things even more, and then everyone wants to play at different destinations, so after about half a year, the group tour will be gone.
In fact, this is also due to human nature, and it will be divided after a long time!
03
Later, my wife and I went out and decided to travel by car, anyway, we also have a lot of travel experience and skills, right, free travel, go wherever you want, go when you want, go wherever you want, don't have to listen to anyone's orders, let alone accommodate others, just me and my wife drive around.
But after a long time, we found a new problem: although we are indeed free, we are quite tired of driving and navigating, finding accommodation, and arranging trips along the way.
Moreover, the cost of a road trip is not small, which is indeed a big burden for our modest pension. In the past, when there were many people in a group, you could negotiate group purchase discounts with the hotel, like many express hotels that could be done for more than 100 a night.
After we traveled by car, we found a cheap hotel for 200-300 yuan a night.
I don't know how to drive, I rely on my wife to travel, but he is on the highway, I don't dare to rest, always talk to him, afraid that he will be sleepy, just like that, once he was more than ten kilometers away from the exit of the highway, he actually took a nap!
I sat in the co-pilot and accidentally found that he couldn't help but close his eyes, wanted to doze off, startled, quickly took out the wind oil essence and gave him the temple, painted under the nose, and asked him to turn on the music to the maximum, and it was easy to hold on to the exit and stop quickly, and he slept for half an hour in one breath before relieving himself.
After that time, I didn't dare to let him drive tired anymore, I felt that long-term road trips were not suitable for us, and my physical strength really couldn't keep up.
04
Nowadays, my wife and I use one of the laziest methods, and we call it fool travel:
1. We drove to the destination city, brought tents and pots with the car, and changed the car into a bed car, which can occasionally live in the car, or rent a house for 3 months to half a year (or negotiate charter with hotels and B&Bs)
2. We don't drive, take the train high-speed rail sleeper to buy a special ticket to the destination, and then rent a house for a short period of time, live for a year and a half, and send the express delivery of daily necessities before going.
When we arrived in the local area, we bought some oil, salt, sauce and vinegar to cook and eat by ourselves, saving money and being clean and hygienic.
3. After arriving in the local area, we buy two city annual cards, usually more than 200 yuan each.
For example, we are like this in Nanjing, 260 yuan, you can play 52 attractions unlimited times throughout the year.
After we arrived in Nanjing, we rarely drove, and took the bus and subway plus self-driving to play these scenic spots.
It takes two months to visit one attraction a day, but we are slow and leisurely, and it is enough to visit 3 places a week. In this way, people are not tired, and accommodation, food and drink are also saved.
We visited many vegetable farms in the streets and alleys of Nanjing to find different local specialties.
This feeling is very good, the tickets are super saving, the accommodation is also saving, and the tired will rest at home.
It's not as tiring as driving before, and you don't have to worry about the high hotel room rate, the combination of work and rest, and the integration of various travel modes, you can stay at home if you want to, and go out if you want to go out.
You don't have to worry about designing a travel route, just go to the attractions according to the annual card, take the subway and bus is cost-effective and convenient, and then fry some vegetables and cook some rice, put it in a thermos bucket, and carry it with a backpack.
I think my approach is very suitable for ordinary people like us with average economic conditions.
Now, we have almost played Nanjing, and the next stop, we plan to go to Suzhou, because we have inquired, and there is also a city annual card.
I sincerely advise everyone to take advantage of the money and leisure after retirement, and hurry up to play.
There is a lot of money to play, and there is a game with less money and less money, which is good for me.
Do you agree with our way of traveling, and how do you all get around?