Welcome to our August interview featuring Lesley from Freedom56Travel. Her blog talks about her aspirations of retiring at 56 and traveling the world with her partner, Ross. They love to share their motorcycle journeys and travel planning tips with their readers. Be sure to visit her blog and say hello!
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DITS: Who is Freedom56Travel? Tell us about your blog and yourself.
Lesley: I’m Lesley and I’m the main voice behind Freedom56Travel. The name comes from my goal of getting to “Freedom56” in 2020. I’m very fortunate to be able to stop working full time when I turn 56 in 2020 and I wanted my blog to reflect that freedom. My blog is geared toward providing in-depth travel advice and information to middle-aged travelers, like myself.
I have kids aged 28 (twins) and I’m a grandmother to two boys aged 6 (also twins). Twins definitely run in the family! Ross is my partner and he appears on the blog from time to time as well.
I love traveling and I’ve always loved writing so travel writing seemed like a natural fit for me. I wanted to have something challenging and interesting to focus on after I finished working full time, and Freedom56travel is becoming just that.
DITS: We see you are gearing up to full time travel as of 2020 – tell us how you are working towards that goal.
Lesley: As we get closer and closer to 2020, Ross and I are working towards down-sizing our homes so that we can easily be away for long stretches of time and not worry about taking care of things at home. Part of this process involves minimizing the “stuff” that we all tend to accumulate through life. We’re finding this very challenging just now! While we may be minimizing our regular daily life stuff, we’re continuing to acquire travel gear as we need it.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about what I want my life in retirement to look like. It’s incredible to realize that a goal that we’ve worked toward for so many years will be coming to fruition so soon.
We’ve also been doing a lot of research for several years into RV travel. We go to the seasonal RV shows here in Vancouver to look at the different kinds of RVs. We also follow a few people on YouTube who make videos documenting their RV travel journeys. We’re regulars at the big RV dealers in our area as we like to get an up close and personal look at the different RVs that interest us.
DITS: Our readers love learning about budgeting tips. Tell us how you are saving money in order to travel full time.
Lesley: I have a few favorite ways to save money for traveling, whether full time or part time. I’m a big advocate for home exchanging, and this is one of my favorite ways to really feel immersed in an unfamiliar area. If you’re not familiar with home exchanging how it works is you exchange homes with another person who wants to spend time in your area and who lives in an area you want to visit (see the Cameron Diaz movie “The Holiday”). Cars can be exchanged too. I’ve even exchanged pets! I’ve exchanged homes in New York City, Cambridge, England and Aarhus, Denmark. No money changes hands and you save a lot on accommodation and transportation costs. We’re hoping to do some longer-term home exchanging after 2020.
Another way we’ve saved money for travel is via what’s commonly known as credit card hacking. We used loyalty points to fly and stay for free at a luxury resort in Cancun in February 2019 and we’re going to Europe in September 2019 (and flying business class) on loyalty points. I mostly use Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy, but also dabble in other loyalty programs which helps to fill in the gaps.
I’ll be retiring from full-time work with a rather lovely indexed pension, but I’ll continue to work part time remotely. I also earn income from my blog and I’m hoping that will increase over time.
I currently earn a bit of income (less than $200/month) from my blog, but it’s increasing over time. I’m using advertising (Google Adsense) and affiliate marketing via Amazon, tour companies, travel insurance and a few others. My goal by next May is to be earning $3000/month from my blog – it’s a big goal and a lot of work, but I love it.
DITS: How will you be traveling full time? In an RV, car, train, plane…? Will you still have a “home base”?
Lesley: We’ll be traveling full time with a variety of means. We’ll be maintaining a home base in Vancouver and will be spending time in Vancouver in the warmer summer months.
We’ll be purchasing an RV in 2020 and will be traveling full time in the RV at least 6 months per year. We’re hoping to travel through the southern US in the colder months and into Canada in the warmer months. We’ve considered living full time in the RV as well and that may yet happen, but not right away.
We’ll be bringing our motorcycles with us when we travel in the RV (we’re buying what’s known as a toy hauler) and will be doing a lot of motorcycle touring along the way.
We’ll also be regularly traveling overseas to Europe and Asia a few times each year. Ross claims to think cruising is for “old people” but I’m working on him so I predict we’ll be doing some cruising as well!
DITS: Where are you planning to travel to first as soon as you’re able to travel full time?
So many places to choose from!
We honestly have not made plans yet for that first trip after “Freedom56”. Maybe it doesn’t seem real yet? We have a lot in front of us before that happens so right now we’re focusing on the projects we need to complete before all that can be put into motion.
If I had to guess, I think it will be a motorcycle trip into the US. I’ve been longing to do a long trip on just our motorcycles so perhaps that will finally be the time . Any suggestions? Comment Below!
DITS: Out of all the places you’ve traveled to, if you had to pick just one – where would you go back to again?
Lesley: I always travel with the idea that I’ll be back so I never feel like I have to see it all in one go. That means I want to return to all the places I’ve been. But, if I have to pick just one, it would have to be Denmark. I’ve got a lot of family there and lived there when I was a child and it feels like a second home to me. Plus, everyone in Denmark looks very much like me!
DITS: What was your most recent trip?
Lesley: I spent a week in New York City in April 2019 with my sister. It was my 5th trip to NYC – I really love it there! There is so much energy in New York and an endless choice of things to do and see.
My favorite work of art lives in NYC – Starry Night by Gaughin is the Museum of Modern Art. I feel like I have to visit it regularly so it doesn’t forget me. I’ll never forget the first time I saw it in person. I’d always thought it was beautiful, but never realized how incredible it was until I saw it in person. It made me cry and it makes me tear up every time I see it.
We stayed in Lower Manhattan on this trip and it was really different than staying in Midtown like I have before. Lower Manhattan is a very old part of NYC and I really loved seeing all of the old buildings mixed in with the new.
Ross and I visited Cancun in February this year, and loved it. It’s great to escape from the Canadian winter.
DITS: What has been your worst travel experience?
Lesley: This is a very tough question!
I spent 10 days in Rome in 2016 with a friend. It was July and I didn’t realize how hot it would be and how little air conditioning there was. I dislike heat and humidity and react poorly to it. My feet and hands swell up and I feel really unwell. I don’t know if it was normal heat or a heat wave in 2016, but I learned a solid lesson with that trip. Always check the temperatures and humidity for the time you’re going to be there!
I still have good memories of the sights we saw in Rome but the overriding memory is still of the oppressive heat. I definitely have to return, but this time in May or October!
DITS: Tell us what it’s like to travel by motorcycle! What are the best parts and what do you struggle with the most when traveling this way?
Lesley: Traveling by motorcycle is awesome!
Ross and I LOVE motorcycle touring. There’s nothing like the feel of the open road in front of you and controlling a powerful machine to make the trip all the more challenging and fun. We’ve motorcycle toured all over British Columbia and parts of Alberta and Washington. We love to find out of the way places and the twistiest roads to get there.
What I love about motorcycling is the freedom of it and the challenge of doing it well. I have to admit that I like a bit of speed and there’s nothing like the feeling of riding a sharp corner really well at a good speed.
You really experience the landscape differently when you ride. It’s much more personal and up close. The smells are more immediate, and so is the weather! Animals can be quite a hazard so you have to be more careful than when driving.
Motorcycling and touring can be physically challenging too. It takes a lot of energy to ride 500km in a day but the sense of accomplishment and the sleep you get at the end of the day makes it all worthwhile. Heat and cold have to be managed appropriately so I tend to pack a lot of options like heated gear, cooling gear and different types of gloves. Thanks goodness for side bags!
DITS: We love what you’re doing and sharing with the world on your blog, tell us how we can support you!
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