{"id":389706,"date":"2026-01-25T12:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/389706\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T12:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:57:08","slug":"i-spent-50000-travelling-in-my-60s-on-a-gap-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/389706\/","title":{"rendered":"I spent \u00a350,000 travelling in my 60s on a gap year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tGeorge Jerjian, now 70, took a ‘retirement gap year’ after he was given six months to live at the age of 52\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

George Jerjian chose to spend over \u00a350,000 travelling around the world for 80 days of his retirement<\/a>, instead of saving into his pension.<\/p>\n

The now 70-year-old author and former businessman took the trip in 2018, a decade after stepping away from full-time work, and says it was one of the most deliberate money decisions<\/a> he has made since retiring.<\/p>\n

In total, he splashed out around \u00a340,000 in travel and accommodation, with a further \u00a38,000 on food and other expenses during his trip where he visited countries including New Zealand, Australia and Canada.<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

The biggest costs were not the flights, but the time and distance, he said. His round-the-world ticket<\/a>, covering all destinations, came in at around \u00a35,000 for economy class \u2013 far lower than he expected.<\/p>\n

He decided to take what he calls a \u201cretirement gap year\u201d after he was forced into retirement when he was diagnosed with a bone tumor in 2007 at the age of 52.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI was given just six months to live. Thankfully, further investigation revealed that the tumor was benign and local.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, it required two operations followed by six months of rehabilitation as I learnt to walk again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, an experience like this can\u2019t help but teach one things, and for me, the lesson was that time is more important than money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than treating it as a blow-out, George, who has since \u201cunretired\u201d, managed his day-to-day spending carefully, keeping costs down by avoiding high-end hotels and restaurants.<\/p>\n

In countries with a lower cost of living<\/a>, particularly South Africa, that approach meant his money went further than it would have at home, while occasional indulgences were planned rather than impulsive.<\/p>\n

He treated himself to a meal at a fancy French restaurant in Quebec, and a flight over the Southern Alps in New Zealand, which he said was \u201cworth every penny\u201d.<\/p>\n

The funding for the trip arrived unexpectedly as years earlier, George, who studied at Bradford University, had sold a share in a US property investment and unknowingly overpaid tax, a mistake that took several years to resolve.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThen one day, [as] I was doubting my trip, the money turned up in my account. $50,000 (roughly \u00a337,000) with three years\u2019 worth of interest included at 8 per cent. I suddenly had all the funds I need for my trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a financial point of view, George had options. He had a personal pension and savings and did not need to draw down his pension immediately, preserving long-term income.<\/p>\n

As it became clear he would live much longer than expected, full retirement turned into semi-retirement, allowing him to balance income with recovery.<\/p>\n

10 years on, he concluded that semi-retirement without purpose was not sustainable, either emotionally or financially. He described that period of his life as a \u201crecipe for misery\u201d due to boredom.<\/p>\n

Instead of carrying cash whilst he was abroad, George relied on a prepaid Caxton travel card loaded with multiple currencies. He kept around \u00a310,000 split across five currencies which helped him avoid fees and keep spending predictable across borders.<\/p>\n

\"\"During his trip, George managed his day-to-day spending carefully, keeping costs down by avoiding high-end hotels and restaurants<\/p>\n

He believes his experience highlights a wider problem facing many retirees, particularly as people live longer and pension pots are stretched further.<\/p>\n

George, who now works as a consultant for other retirees, said: \u201cIf more people thought about retirement planning, they\u2019d realise it\u2019s a broken system. Most people don\u2019t have enough money for a full retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised this and that I needed to use retirement funds to upgrade myself and learn new skills. As we get older, we need to be inventive and creative.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people will outlive their savings but there are always options if you\u2019re worried about this, like using part of a pension pot to see who you want to be in this new stage of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about retirement is that your old identity is gone. You\u2019re not a retired doctor or a retired lawyer or something else, you\u2019re just retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people might be hesitant to do this but, for most people, if you stay where you are, you will outlive your savings, so there\u2019s a problem guaranteed with that option.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you invest in yourself however, and remake yourself, who knows where it could lead? I know it\u2019s led me to building an audience and authoring 12 books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, he says he would not change how he funded the trip. His advice to others considering something similar is focused on cost control and planning.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cDon\u2019t rely on your own knowledge alone. Use a travel agent to minimise the odds of things going wrong, set a budget and use a travel card for frictionless travel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Jerjian, now 70, took a ‘retirement gap year’ after he was given six months to live at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4178,4174,4175,4204,8666,387,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-389706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-pensions","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-personalfinance","13":"tag-retirement","14":"tag-saving","15":"tag-travel","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}