This text was first printed in TravelAwaits on Dec. 12, 2021.
Nearly
instantly after our wedding ceremony ceremony, we launched into what we thought
can be a endless honeymoon. We had each led very career-driven lives and
our starvation for journey had reached its peak. However after crisscrossing the North
American continent for 5 years full-time in an RV, we determined to settle
in a single location each winter to start what actual retirement must be for us
“sexygenarians.” However many ask, “Why Phoenix?” Let me let you know how we reached the choice.
It began with our realization that we weren’t super-persons who didn’t want a group of physicians
who may maintain us frequently.
After my husband suffered a coronary heart assault in Florida—fortuitously close to a coronary heart hospital— and my host of many smaller well being points, we determined to remain put in a spot for just a few months to do the rounds of medical doctors.
Apart from, not getting any youthful, we must get up from the dream later, reduce quick our honeymoon, and actually retire.
Earlier than
making a agency choice, we took our RV and proceeded to remain within the almost definitely
areas the place we may strive semi-retirement to get a greater really feel of how it could
be to stay there, which is vastly totally different from merely visiting. We had been positive
it could be within the South as a result of neither of us may deal with the chilly. My
husband’s fingers turned blue on the Grand Canyon Nationwide Park…in spring; and,
for 54 years, it was summer time year-round for me. It might in all probability be someplace
in Florida, southern California, or Arizona. We launched into a critical search.
SEEKING A BETTER
TAX STRUCTURE AND LOWER COST OF LIVING
Even when San
Diego is touted to have the very best climate within the nation all 12 months spherical, it was
simple to get rid of southern California; unhappy as a result of that’s the place most Filipinos select to stay. Thus, there are Filipino
groceries like Seafood Metropolis, many Filipino organizations to affix, and plenty of
of my former classmates, co-workers, and different colleagues. Nonetheless, the tax construction of the state and
the ensuing excessive price of dwelling will not be good for retirees on mounted incomes
like us. A working example is the price of gasoline. It’s all the time highest in
“SOCAL.” Our greenbacks would purchase a lot much less!
TO BE NEARER
OUR CHILDREN
We turned
our consideration to Florida the place the tax construction is best.
And there are such a lot of ready-made retirement havens for individuals like us. As a
matter of reality, we thought we’d be shopping for a property at The Villages, usually
cited as the very best retirement “metropolis” in the entire nation. We beloved the local weather there, sizzling and humid like I used to be used to within the
Philippines. However, alas, Florida is so removed from the place our youngsters stay. Street
journeys to go to any of them would by no means be sensible, and aircraft flights would
all find yourself being dearer in the long term. These could forestall us
from visiting them usually; or, worse, discourage them from visiting us!
So we zeroed
in on Arizona, the place a street journey to San Francisco, California— the place my eldest daughter lives—would take simply 12 hours; to Denver,
Colorado— which my husband’s daughter calls residence— would virtually be the identical; and to Boise, Idaho— the place his eldest and solely son lives— can be longer by simply an hour and a half. So we took our RV to spend three weeks every
in Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma, Arizona’s candidate cities.
A WARMER
CLIMATE
The Grand
Canyon Nationwide Park is just one and a half hours away from Flagstaff; solely 45
minutes separates it from Sedona, that magical metropolis of crimson rocks (picture). There are
many
different nationwide monuments and state parks across the metropolis: Walnut Canyon,
Wupatki, Sundown Crater, Tuzigoot, and Montezuma, to call just a few. Sure, it’s Arizona’s prettiest nook. If we
lived there, we’d be visited by a whole lot of family and friends. And but, it proved
too chilly for me and my husband since Flagstaff is within the northern a part of the
state, at elevations of just about 7,000 ft.
After three nice summer time weeks, this Arizona metropolis was nonetheless
eradicated.
A MORE COSMOPOLITAN
CHOICE
Let me clarify
right here that I’m a big-city lady, having lived in Metro Manila—a megacity with a present inhabitants of 14 million, one of many
densest cities on the planet, very like Bangkok—till I retired. Given a selection, I
want to have a variety of services for cultural occasions, many choices for
buying, further decisions for worldwide culinary delights (not a single El Pollo Loco), and a full
complement of presidency and business providers. So, even when Yuma has a
inhabitants of 200,000 and is simply 25 minutes strolling distance to Los Algodones, Mexico, a mecca for
cheap dental and medical providers and provides, it was additionally eradicated
from the listing.
A BETTER GLOBAL
REACH
In the long run,
it turned an in depth contest between Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona’s greatest and
finest metropolitan areas. At first, we discovered it tough to determine between the
two.
The Tucson
metropolitan space, inhabitants of just about one million, was the early front-runner.
Temperatures are cooler by 5 levels year-round as a result of it’s at the next
elevation. It is usually nearer to Mexico which we had been taking a look at as a second
residence at finest or an everyday trip spot not less than. There are additionally many landmarks
in and across the metropolis just like the Saguaro
Nationwide Park and the Sabino Canyon Nationwide Recreation Space, apart from
cool day journeys to locations just like the Tumacacori Nationwide Historic Park, the location of the first-ever Spanish mission within the
US. Truly, one other mission, Xavier San Juan del Bac, is true within the metropolis
and is the very best instance of Spanish structure within the US, nonetheless actively offering
enchanting providers. Tucson is decidedly extra Spanish in character. It is usually
the location of the world-famous “Worldwide Gems and Jewellery Competition” in
winter. Nice for aspirational girls, like me!
Then again, Phoenix is 5 occasions bigger with a inhabitants of 5 million, the 11th
ranked within the nation. Though it doesn’t have nationwide parks or Mexico at its
backdoor, the Flagstaff space is nearly three hours away, Yuma concerning the
similar, and Tucson, two. It is usually residence
to extra museums, leisure choices, venues for concert events and exhibits, and
metropolis, state, and regional parks. The latter had been very helpful for communing with
nature after we had been in pressured lockdowns.
There will probably be no dearth of locations to take our guests and friends. The
megacity is made up of a cluster of cities and municipalities like Mesa, Scottsdale,
Glendale, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Apache Junction, and 17 others.
We stayed at
the Viewpoint RV & Golf Resort in
Mesa. With 1,900 websites, it’s the greatest such resort of its type within the Phoenix
space. There was an analogous resort referred to as Voyager
RV Resort and Resort in Tucson. Though a bit of smaller with 1,500 websites,
there was a resort for friends connected to it. Each are a part of Encore Resorts
which additionally owned the community of campgrounds the place we had been members. And each had
sections for properties when one lastly determined to remain put.
We selected
Viewpoint. The deciding issue was easy: Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport is
a worldwide hub, and due to this fact our travels all over the world and visits to kids
in Anchorage, Alaska, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia wouldn’t
solely be cheaper however extra handy, with normally only one cease and even
nonstop cease flight choices.
Three years
later, after we settled with an awesome household doctor and a group of specialists
to whom he referred us, we lastly absolutely retired, bought
our RV and acquired a home in Viewpoint. I’ve fallen in love with the
desert. Spring is a ravishing season to be right here when the ever present paloverdes,
apart from all of the wildflowers, are in full bloom with their delicate yellow
flowers. Fall climate can also be excellent. These
days, we keep residence throughout these two seasons and journey when Phoenix sizzles in
summer time or chills in winter.
It was a
blessing proudly owning an RV. We had been capable of search the nation totally and when
we had been prepared, select from candidate cities by staying in each for 3
weeks. After which we took all of three years wintering in Viewpoint earlier than
deciding to make the association everlasting. It was a rigorous and extremely pleasing course of. And in the long run, we made the very best
choice.
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