How I’ve Embraced Flexible Living as a Retiree—Without an RV in Tow

Most of my life has been marked by consistency. Living in only a few locations and a handful of homes while working in the same industry for decades, I imitated what I saw others around me doing. However, when our daughter decided to move from California to Virginia for college on the brink of our retirement, my husband and I experienced a shift in that mindset—and an itch to try something new. We decided to sell our house and the majority of our belongings to spend a year traveling the East Coast.

Almost one year and four cities later, and we have no intention of stopping anytime soon. Here is our story of how we’ve adopted flexible living as retirees, and why we’d recommend this lifestyle to anyone looking to live life to the fullest and further exploring their surroundings.

“Are we crazy?” 

My husband and I knew we wanted to travel, but we weren’t sure where we wanted to go. Originally, we looked into buying an RV, since we have friends who have done that full-time. However, we decided that wasn’t really for us because of the financial commitment and the intensive labor that comes with setting up and tearing down an RV each time we’d move. 

We wound up starting our travels on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, but it was expensive and difficult trying to piece together all the plans myself. So, I started looking around to see how else we might be able to travel and stumbled upon Landing when I was looking for short-term rentals. It was exactly what we needed for what we were trying to do. 

Because the apartment comes fully furnished, all we bring with us in our F-150 truck is four tubs with clothes, a few household items, our printer, our e-bikes, and some food. Other than that, we  just show up to our different cities, and our furnished apartment has had everything we’ve needed right there for us. 

Adopting a more flexible lifestyle has been so great, but I’m still adjusting to giving myself permission to do something so different. People keep saying, “This is so cool, I can’t believe you’re doing this,” but I wonder, “Are we crazy? Why isn’t everybody doing this?”

Enjoying our East Coast travels

When we first signed up for Landing in January, we lived in the Sarasota area, then moved to Charleston in May. I love to walk around and take pictures, so Charleston was a dream for me. We stayed there until September and thought about moving inland to somewhere like Greenville, but there’s something about the beach that I can’t get away from. So, we crept up the coast a bit and decided to spend some time in Wilmington. 

So far, I’m really loving living here! We’re getting to know the area and getting used to downtown living, which is such a departure from what we’ve done in the past. We’ve never lived in a downtown area before, but it’s so wonderful that everything you could want is right close by, from the live music pavilion beside our apartment to restaurants along the boardwalk. I even found a bike trail that goes from downtown on the riverfront right to the ocean, so I can ride my bike and end up on the beach. 

As for where we’re headed next, we’re figuring that out as we go. We thought about exploring another place around November and December, but we’re liking Wilmington so much that we just might stay a little longer. But then we’ll probably head to Florida for the winter, then we are thinking about Colorado or Michigan for the summer and then Boston or somewhere in the northeast to see the fall foliage next year. 

Shifting the way we travel—and live

We originally thought we’d move more frequently than we have, like every six weeks. But what we found was that it takes about three to four months to really get to know a place. We actually go look at neighborhoods and communities to get a feel for the whole area and what it would be like to actually live here.

That was something we had to get used to. When you’re on vacation, you think every single day you have to go, go, go. When we first got to Charleston, I felt like I had to do that, and then I thought, “Wait a minute. I live here!” You have days where you just stay at home and do laundry. You have days where you just veg out. It’s not a vacation—it’s real life. 

For us, it’s been a great fit to go and try things. It’s kind of like you’re trying stuff on without the commitment of buying. We’re going to try on a neighborhood, a community, or a city, and if we don’t like it, that’s okay! We can just look for a new place and go.

The whole lifestyle just feels very luxurious. It feels like we’re somehow cheating or doing something we shouldn’t be doing. We get to go and try someplace new while someone else does all the hard work of setting up the apartment. It feels too good to be true!

What’s also wild is that we’re living within our budget still. I figured out how much we were spending on our house, along with maintenance, insurance, and property taxes. So, I took that budget and transferred it over to what we would spend living this lifestyle—it’s not costing us any more to do this. 

What’s next?

We originally thought we’d do this for a year, but what we’re finding is that instead of figuring out where we want to put down roots, we’re getting less and less of a desire to settle. We could just do this for a long time! We don’t love the thought of purchasing a house and going back to having the maintenance, costs, and upkeep. We really don’t know what’s next—we’re just playing it by ear. We thought we’d do this for a year, and now the year is just about up and we don’t have any intentions of stopping yet.

Right now, we’re just doing things so differently than we ever have. Each place has been very unique, and it’s great knowing we’re not locked in for 12 months and we don’t have to move all of our stuff each time we change locations. Landing lets us taste all these different lifestyles you might not otherwise have the chance to experience.