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[2008] Fulltime timesharing?

Finally updated my BLOG as per last week and we are on now week 5 of our 6-week stay in Kona. It has taken me a while since I wanted to include the Snapfish links for all the pictures of the resorts we have stayed at. We have had a fabulous time here in Kona, will leave July 30th for Seattle for a week, then back to Ohio, where our van is.

Some strange things I splurged on for this visit -- since there was the thread about what to take to a timeshare: I spent $7 to purchase the following items at thrift stores:
butter dish, tray, 4 ice cream dishes.

I felt the "investment" was worth it for 6 weeks. We have had several people over for dinner as well as having BIL for a week, so the tray to cart things to and from the lanai really helped. The butter dish made it so much nicer...and the ice cream dishes because the bowls at two of the timeshares were HUGE, and the pitiful amount of pudding I would put in them for dessert would have looked like NOTHING,....and also it made it quite fancy.

So....using for 6 weeks made it more fun and nice. And when we leave, we can give them back!

Here's the link

http://ronandjoanjourney.blogspot.com/

Joan
 
Hi Joan!

Just finished reading the updates to your blog. It is so enjoyable to read about your adventures! I loved the pictures, too. I looked at all of your albums.

I am such a fan!!!

elaine
 
I think Joan has a gypsy spirit. We could never do anything like that, we are too attached to things, but I love thinking about it.
 
I htink my husband has the gypsy spirit and I just enable that!

Before we were married, (41 years ago!!!!- this week) he traveled as a single GI with just a duffle bag and a military ID card (no 9/11 rules then!). So he is a little frustrated with all the new regulations - like a passport???

So sometimes we have a few comunication problems about the new and different travel arrangements when he has to have me around too! But...may I say, he sure does like traveling in timeshares!!! Are we spoiled!!
 
A great benefit to this lifestyle

Many of you have asked how it is possible to live away from a homebase for so long. What I miss most from the house in Ohio was the beautiful garden view from the deck in the summer evenings. Today after I did my laps in the pool (I go here at KHV when it opens at 8 a.m. since otherwise it is too busy), I was sitting a while to dry off and noticed how gorgeously landscaped the pool area was (as is the entire resort, of course), and no one else in the pool…it was like having my own pool…and, even though I love gardening, I realized here was a beautiful garden for me to sit and enjoy, but without the maintenance! (If I do get the urge to garden, everyone is happy to have me help them!) Last week, at Sea Mountain, down by the black sand beach, when I got out of the pool, I could sit and look at the rocky coastal view! How blest we are to be able to live at places like these! Photo is Sea Mountain pool view
Pool+views+(2).JPG
 
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Joan,

I see you're still on the road full time.

So how's it going?

I so want to do something like this one day. :D
 
Permanent Retirement Home

When in the future do you think you will find a permanent retirement home?

Do you plan on full time timesharing for 5 years or more?

You are starting your third year, which is quite a feat. Your blog is so enjoyable to read.

Best wishes for 2011.
 
chriskre said:
Joan,

I see you're still on the road full time.

So how's it going?

I so want to do something like this one day. :D
Click to expand...

Hi Chriskre
Thanks for posting on the thread...well, yes, we are still out there
and it is not as hard as you might think....so yes, you CAN do this!

It would be an advantage though, to be able to run back to a homespot occasionally, like Ray Harper did - he had a condo in Connecticut,I read....

Many TUGGERS are out many weeks, so some of them are almost fulltime! Maybe someday we might do that, just be away many weeks instead of all 52! Prior to 2008, we were away from our home in Ohio a total of 8 months at the end....so we felt we needed to break free of that property.

but right now....we are still busy planning and planning. Hopefully, health will not be a problem, it almost was in September!
 
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london said:
When in the future do you think you will find a permanent retirement home?

Do you plan on full time timesharing for 5 years or more?

You are starting your third year, which is quite a feat. Your blog is so enjoyable to read.

Best wishes for 2011.
Click to expand...


We planned on timesharing 2 years...but now? don;t know. We are pretty well booked up through March, 2012 and still have places we want to go. Although, as I have said before, we keep going back to the same places we have been, we liked them so well.

We do know we will eventually need a permanent retirement home, yes, but where??? We thought 2 years would be enough to decide, but we are still undecided. We like TOO many places!

Of course, family plans, issues, and concerns make things more complicated. My stepmother passed last week and the "phone call" meant that we quickly changed our plans.. got on the best Delta flight we could and also found the best place to leave our vehicle for the extended period.....and that still leaves my mother at 91, father at 93 and MIL at 89. Couple that with grandchildren activities we would like to be a part of....no, we really do not go just wherever we want to! We do have the freedom to choose, of course....and have chosen to be with family and DH's military reunions.

We have finally said that we must begin to seriously decide: so the question is, where does it feel most like Home?

Thanks for writing....
 
Hi Joan,:hi:
I'm just so fascinated by this. I've put a link to this thread on other forums because people just can't fathom how affordable this could really be.
I hope you don't mind. You're famous. :D
Kind of a guru for all of us wannabe's.

I'm finding that I am going to Orlando about 6 or 7 times a year already. Not for full weeks all the time, but for 5 or 6 days sometimes, add my 3 or 4 weeks at the beach and I'm hopeful that when I do finally reach retirement or hit that lotto I'll be all trained up. ;)

I hope you find your perfect retirement home. This country is just so beautiful I can understand why you're having trouble.

Keep us posted. :wave:
 
I just finished reading this thread and one word, AWESOME!
 
Are you flying and renting cars? I have to hand it to you for downsizing that much.
When we were looking for a 2nd home we did 11 weeks in a row, 9 weeks in a row and 12 weeks in a row. I definitely feel a lot of drawbacks to that lifestyle, but as you are going all over the country that is a big plus.
 
chriskre said:
Hi Joan,:hi:
I'm just so fascinated by this. I've put a link to this thread on other forums because people just can't fathom how affordable this could really be.
I hope you don't mind. You're famous. :D
Kind of a guru for all of us wannabe's.

I'm finding that I am going to Orlando about 6 or 7 times a year already. Not for full weeks all the time, but for 5 or 6 days sometimes, add my 3 or 4 weeks at the beach and I'm hopeful that when I do finally reach retirement or hit that lotto I'll be all trained up. ;)

I hope you find your perfect retirement home. This country is just so beautiful I can understand why you're having trouble.

Keep us posted. :wave:
Click to expand...

Well, I feel honored!

We feel like we need to find a place to settle down, and since last week in Seattle was RAINY RAINY and we had to be out in it in order to see all the kids' concerts, we really do not want to be where it is cold, or rainy. We are hearing more and more people say, When I retire, I want t go to somewhere WARM.

Well, what can we say? We have arrived in Florida now, and although it was in the 50's today, it is SO MUCH better than up north, e.g. Ohio.
 
rapmarks said:
Are you flying and renting cars?
Click to expand...

We drive on the east coast, then fly to Seattle, and drive there. At first we rented cars in Seattle, but then purchased our son's old car, and saved so much $$. We were able to buy another used car last month, when the other car's tranmission went out. (see my BLOG for details)

So, we have 2 cars, like many of you. Just that one is in Seattle and one stays somewhere east of the Mississippi, wherever we are flying out of. We have many friends that will keep our car for our extended trips, -- for just a week to Seattle, we'll leave it at the airport, but for months, we need a more safe place, and less expensive too, of course. But we have just found that Bloomington IL, near our son, has FREE parking at that airport. So we are planning to leave the van there next summer.

I look for the cheapest places to fly to Seattle from and then plan to leave the car there. We also utilize motel's park and fly options when we need to.
 
ronandjoan said:
Well, I feel honored!

We feel like we need to find a place to settle down, and since last week in Seattle was RAINY RAINY and we had to be out in it in order to see all the kids' concerts, we really do not want to be where it is cold, or rainy. We are hearing more and more people say, When I retire, I want t go to somewhere WARM.

Well, what can we say? We have arrived in Florida now, and although it was in the 50's today, it is SO MUCH better than up north, e.g. Ohio.
Click to expand...

Welcome back to Florida. :hi:
You're just in time for some sunny weather. :D
 
Thanks, we relaxed as soon as we landed!
 
ronandjoan said:
I htink my husband has the gypsy spirit and I just enable that!

Before we were married, (41 years ago!!!!- this week) he traveled as a single GI with just a duffle bag and a military ID card (no 9/11 rules then!). So he is a little frustrated with all the new regulations - like a passport???



I had to laugh, have you read the Lee Child Jack Reacher books?
Click to expand...
 
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