Spending a week in Williamsburg, Virginia: Return trip to this city and doing nothing much at all…
Williamsburg, Virginia is one of those special places in America that beckons every American to come visit. We were certainly one of those people.
Our first trip there coincided with my wife and myself’s lease of our first brand new car together, a Saturn, made by GM (General Motors). Our car, a SL1, was a simple car: a manual transmission, no power steering, no power windows/locks, no fancy stereo system, and rear drum brakes!
Although it was a very simple car, we still loved it, as it was the first new car we would get to lease under our own names. We were so proud to be signing that lease, then driving it to our home. Who doesn’t love a brand new car smell?
We would take that car on a long journey from New York to Williamsburg which back then, felt like an eternity, at a driving distance of roughly 400 miles. As long as traffic didn’t back up, I was doing fine, but you know traffic is bad especially during the summer months along the infamous I-95 corridor.
Driving that stick shift car, making frequent starts/stops killed my legs! I had never driven a stick shift car for that long of a distance, and that is one of the reasons why I remember the trip so fondly.
I truly believe a trip is more memorable when a hardship hits you right in the face (well, in this case, my legs). It was a chore at times to drive in that heavy traffic, but we still remember that trip to this day…
We toured the famous Colonial Williamsburg, had fun at Busch Gardens, and ate some delicious foods across the street from our hotel, a Comfort Suites. The hotel had a dining voucher that gave us something like $20 to be used at that restaurant for dinners. We used it, that’s for sure.
Even though we only had 3 nights/4 days at Williamsburg, we really made our short trip count, filling every day with activities, sightseeing, and/or eating. We still remember our tour guide at Colonial Williamsburg, with his heavy southern accent, especially when he would say “Governor DeWitt”, which sounded to us like “Guvnuh Dew wet”.
It’s those cool moments that make any trip memorable, and we still mimic his accent to this day…
Our return trip to Williamsburg would take close to a quarter of a century(!), in February of 2024 during our Deep South road trip. We toured several famous historic sites including Yorktown Battlefield Park and Jamestown. For a short 3 nights/4 days trip there, we went out to explore just about every day.
On our second return trip to Williamsburg, we did the total opposite of our first return trip. That is, we stayed at our hotel, Homewood Suites Williamsburg, for one week without going outside to explore the area. ***The cost to stay at this hotel was really reasonable at just under $600 for the week!
One slight change I’ve seen in myself after traveling so much the past few years after early retirement, is that I am content staying indoors. Whereas before where I would’ve been antsy, excited, and ready to see the world, these days I’m totally happy and content to stay inside.
I guess this comes from traveling the United States the past few years, driving close to 100,000 miles during that time. We saw so many wonderful places we’ve only dreamt about growing up, like Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Laughlin (Nevada), beaches of Alabama, etc.
I guess you can say that I got the travel bug out of my system. This makes perfect sense though.
In all the retirement related reports I’ve read, they all say the first few years are considered the “go-go years”, where retirees tend to travel the most. This will eventually level out to where retirees will do less and less traveling as the years go by.
For myself, at least for the places I’ve visited previously, I no longer feel the need to go out to explore every single major/minor attraction. I’m content with what I saw previously.
Sure, for new places, this will be different. I’ll go out to explore a new place much more vs a previously visited place.
This change has had some positive effects, financially. Here are some examples:
- Saves money on gasoline
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| Our bedroom |
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| View of outside from our room |
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| Living room with a comfortable couch |
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| Full kitchen with a dining table |
- Saves money at/on attractions
Since we had already visited some of the top attractions in the area the previous year, we didn’t need to see them again, needing to pay again to see them. This of course saved us money.
Of course it’s not just the price of admission at popular attractions that cost money. It’s also things like fuel, food eaten at or near popular attractions, and sometimes parking that cost additional money.
This is obvious yet so true: you can save money when you stay home! Everything costs money when you venture outside, especially to popular attractions.
That sense of urgency, that feeling of needing to visit somewhere (anywhere), has died down quite a bit. I consider this a win, especially for my wallet!
So, what did we do exactly that whole week, stuck inside a hotel room? Here goes:
- Keeping to our routine
We get up when we want, although that’s usually around 7-8 a.m. We do our usual weekday workout routine of doing 400 mountain climbers, 100 pushups for me, bit less for my wife, 100 ab crunches for me while my wife does exercises using a wall, and yoga stretches.
We then eat our breakfast, then afterwards, it’s any combination of the following:
- Watching YouTube videos
- Listening to podcasts/music
- Writing blog
- Preparing lunch/dinner (mostly my wife, although I do help out with dishes) *Even at a hotel, we try to eat right by buying salads, preparing pasta with chicken/vegetables, and/or ready to eat meals like soups, and takeouts. Dishes still need to be done regardless…
- My wife may draw, sketch, or paint depending on her mood
- Taking afternoon naps
- Keeping up with the world by reading the news of the day
- Rinse and repeat *the above items have been just about our typical routine since our early retirement
- Enjoying the ever changing environment of a hotel
Just because we don’t go outside to explore new places, doesn’t mean we are bored. Quite the contrary. Because we’re constantly moving from one place (Airbnb or hotel) to another, we get to experience new stimuli whether it’s new and unfamiliar hotel, hotel room, neighborhood, etc.
Being exposed to new stimuli is one of those very important things that make us happy, engaged, and excited. One of my favorite things growing up was experiencing new lodging, like motel, inns, hotels. There’s always something exciting and special about experiencing a new place.
This has not changed as a grown up. I still enjoy experiencing different places, lodgings, foods, attractions. Just changing where you sleep for the night (or week or month), makes me happy.
That feeling of anticipation, excitement, and pure joy checking into a new hotel is why we travel. I mean, who doesn’t love the feeling of checking into a nice hotel in an unfamiliar (or familiar) place?
During our stay at this hotel, we watched a snowstorm that dumped like 5 inches of snow. We watched in amazement at how beautiful it is to see the snow fall.
It’s little moments like these that we make our travels so memorable. Sure it’s not fancy or epic, but to us, it’s absolutely beautiful and amazing to see nature at work, blanketing the world in awesome whiteness…
One more episode: our neighbor just across our room was cooking steaks when the smoke alarm sounded. We thought it was our room, but when we opened our door, we realized the smoke was coming from our neighbor.
That neighbor sheepishly came out to apologize to which I said, “It happens.”
No one was hurt, and luckily, the smoke subsided quickly enough. No harm, no foul.
Another memorable moment we will not forget easily…
- Ate at Peter Chang Chinese Restaurant, a popular place in town
As I was researching for a good Chinese food, I came upon this restaurant. It got good reviews and it had lunch specials, so I was sold.
When we got there, the restaurant was even better than the reviews. It was a James Beard Foundation Award winner in 2016, which is a cool achievement.
We enjoyed a delicious meal at a reasonable price point. Soups, and entrees were on point. We will surely be going back there if we’re in the area. Oh, the service was good as well. We were greeted immediately, then seated quickly. That counts for something these days, as some restaurants we’ve visited don’t even acknowledge their customers until minutes later…
In conclusion:
It was good to go back to Williamsburg, Virginia again. Unlike our first return trip which took all of 25+ years, our second return trip took just under a year.
Williamsburg is such a cool place to visit anytime of the year. It has so much history along with so many attractions nearby with gazillion places to eat/shop/entertain.
We spent our week not exploring the area this time around, but that’s totally ok. We’ve seen many top attractions previously, and we were content spending a week enjoying our new temporary home.
We are certainly changing with the times. If we’ve visited a place before, we can choose to relax and do nothing much at all. This is a new but refreshing change of pace for us after living these past few years of early retirement.
We don’t always feel the need to go outside to explore everything the area has to offer. We can sit back, relax, and choose to stay in instead.
In this way, we’re living, and not always acting like we’re on a vacation. What’s the difference?
Well, when we’re on a vacation, we tend to pack our days with itinerary to explore as many attractions/activities as possible. When we’re living, we’re enjoying the familiar, comfortable confines of our abode.
This isn’t bad at all. Sure, we’ll still go pedal to the metal when we’re in a new place with things to do and see. But now, we’re mature enough to say we don’t always have to explore the area every single time.
Thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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