Category: Travel

4 Years Of Early Retirement: Finances, What’s Changed And What’s Next?

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Finance, Investing, Net Worth Update, Spending, Travel

How have I now been retired longer than I held my longest job? Longer than I was in college? Longer than any period in my life? Literally how 🙂 ? I have no idea, but it’s true. Time is flying and I’m celebrating completing Year 4 of my early retirement!

So to commemorate the end of my fourth retired year and get pumped for the 5th, I wanted to go over where I’ve been, what I’ve spent, any revelations I’ve had, and what’s next in retirement 🙂 . Let’s get into it!

Continue reading “4 Years Of Early Retirement: Finances, What’s Changed And What’s Next?” →

Review: Greyhound – Montréal, Canada to Boston, MA

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Reviews

As you may know, I had a less than stellar experience riding a ‘Greyhound’ bus to Canada last month that turned out to be an uncomfortable FlixBus and was also 1.5 hours late. It was a last minute trip that we booked a month beforehand because our Amtrak tickets that I had reserved about a year before, no longer existed. If you want all those details I wrote about them here: Continue reading “Review: Greyhound – Montréal, Canada to Boston, MA” →

Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 2]

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Hacking, Travel Reviews

This is the second part of a very long post about my experience flying 33 hours in Singapore Air Business Class. It was a long and convoluted road that led me and my Mom to this surprisingly long, but enjoyable adventure. In case you want all those details, the first post is here:

So let’s get back into it! When I left off, I had just landed in Frankfurt, Germany from Singapore. Continue reading “Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 2]” →

Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 1]

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Hacking, Travel Reviews

A series of unfortunate events happened to my Mom and my Singapore Air flights to and from Australia/New Zealand in the fall of 2023.

As I mentioned in previous posts, we had planned to enjoy 24+ hours in the wild Singapore Air A380 First Class Suites, but instead, because of changes to Singapore’s fleet, we experienced their First Class for the first time, had a shorter visit in the First Class Suites and then experienced this fascinating 33 hour itinerary in Business Class. Continue reading “Review: 33 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class – $7,734 of Flights for $75 [Part 1]” →

The Month Of Montréal: July 2024 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Investing, Keto, Net Worth Update, Relationships, Travel

This month my Partner and I headed back to Montréal! We visited last summer for a month and loved it so much we wanted to come back and visit again for longer this year. So let’s see what I got up to during this month in Montréal, Canada!

Continue reading “The Month Of Montréal: July 2024 Recap” →

Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida

by A Purple Life, posted in Budget Check-In, Finance, Food, Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews

So I mentioned in my monthly recaps while in Costa Rica all the reasons that I chose to move there for over 2 months, but one of those was because I was shocked at how affordable it was to get there.

I’ve worked out that my flights are usually $200 one-way anywhere in the US. I’m able to get those prices even for longer flights because I book early and I am able to plan my travels around when flight prices are lower. However, despite Costa Rica being way farther than any location in the US, it only cost me about $200 to get there.

Specifically I paid $201.78 on American Airlines to fly from Albany, NY to San José, Costa Rica and $232.34 to fly from San José to Austin, Texas on COPA Airlines to see the Solar Eclipse. Continue reading “Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida” →

Review: Greyhound/FlixBus – Albany, NY to Montréal, Canada

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Travel, Travel Reviews

I’m here today with another travel saga for you. But first, I need to set the stage. In my retirement I’ve been chasing the sun. I prefer to go places that are 70 and sunny and move around the country and the world following that climate.

A few years ago I realized that even the Northeastern US was getting a bit too hot for me in the summer and I knew I never wanted to experience a hot as hell Georgia summer again if I could help it 🙂 . So I looked for another destination. Enter: Montréal, Canada 🙂 . Continue reading “Review: Greyhound/FlixBus – Albany, NY to Montréal, Canada” →