3 retirement travel mistakes that can drain your savings — and what to know before you plan your next trip

If you dream of spending your golden years exploring the nation — or the world — you’re far from alone. Whether it’s hitting the open road in an RV, taking the train across Europe or hopping on an expedition cruise to Antarctica, adventure awaits.

Often, those bucket-list trips get pushed to retirement; when you’re younger, you might be too busy raising kids, building careers, paying off the house and saving for retirement. But leisure travel in retirement requires financial planning, especially for those on a fixed income.

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When it comes to discretionary income, a majority (86%) of Americans aged 50+ identify travel as one of their top priorities, according to the AARP 2026 Travel Trends survey. And nearly two-thirds (64%) expect to travel this year (1).

“The desire to travel is incredibly resilient,” Lona Choi-Allum, AARP’s senior consumer insights manager, told AARP. “Despite challenges or barriers, older adults are adapting how they travel, not whether they travel (2).”

However, cost continues to be a major roadblock to travel, as inflation takes its toll. “We noticed a significant increase in the [anticipated] annual dollar spend, from over $6,800 last year to a little over $7,200 this year,” Choi-Allum said.

For example, even as the price of jet fuel comes down, airfares are expected to remain elevated.

That doesn’t mean retirees (or soon-to-be retirees) should put their travel plans on hold — but preparation is key. Here are three retirement travel mistakes that could quietly drain your savings and what you can do instead.

1. Overspending in your go-go years

The ‘go-go years’ are the earliest phase of retirement, when retirees are generally at their healthiest — and they’re ready to spend some of that money they’ve been saving up for decades. Discretionary spending tends to decline in the slow-go years (between ages 75 to 85) and the no-go years (85+) (3).

But without a financial plan and withdrawal strategy that includes leisure travel, it’s easy to end up overspending on travel in your go-go years. Not only can that eat into your nest egg, but it also makes you vulnerable to sequence-of-returns risk during market downturns.

In other words, if you withdraw more money from your retirement savings in the first few years of retirement and your portfolio drops in value during those years, your nest egg could be whittled down even faster.

Read More: Almost 50 with no retirement savings? Here’s why you don’t have to panic

2. Underspending out of financial anxiety

On the other hand, underspending can be a risk, too. For some retirees, it can be a tough transition from accumulating money to withdrawing it. And even someone with a substantial nest egg — and guaranteed income sources such as a pension or annuity — may cling onto their savings and investments at the risk of not fully embracing their golden years.

Indeed, about a third of retirees still have 100% or more of their initial savings intact by the time they reach their mid-80s, according to a study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) (4).

“Although outliving one’s savings is often viewed as the primary concern in retirement, it is also important for retirees to use their resources in ways that support consumption, security, autonomy and intended bequests,” according to EBRI.

Without a plan in place, retirees could face a massive tax bill when required minimum distributions (RMDs) kick in.

There’s another risk, too: “It represents a life not lived, the vacations you didn’t take because you were afraid you were going to run out of money,” Marianela Collado, a certified financial planner in Plantation, Florida, told CNBC (5).

3. Not adjusting for inflation

While you want to avoid overspending and underspending, you’ll also want to account for inflation, especially if you have a long retirement timeline. Failing to adjust your spending over time could deplete your nest egg faster than anticipated.

For example, the cost of travel is rapidly rising, with travel-related prices outpacing overall inflation. The Travel Price Index (TPI) increased 9.8% year over year (YOY) in May, with motor fuel prices soaring 40.9% YOY, airfares jumping 26.7% YOY and hotel prices rising 5.1% YOY (6).

As costs rise — including travel costs — your purchasing power erodes, meaning your money won’t go as far as it used to. This is particularly hard on retirees who rely on guaranteed income sources such as Social Security and pensions.

While Social Security recipients receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), many pensions don’t include increases to keep up with inflation. One rule of thumb is to plan for an inflation rate of 3% over retirement to improve the longevity of your portfolio.

How to protect your nest egg — and still travel

This doesn’t mean you should shelve your retirement travel plans. But you’ll want to work travel into your retirement budget, taking into account everything from cash flow, taxes and inflation so you know how much you can spend without putting your long-term savings at risk.

If you’re not close to retirement, consider creating a travel savings account separate from your retirement portfolio. By the time you retire, whatever you’ve accumulated in that account could be used specifically for travel — and you won’t have to worry about how that will impact your nest egg.

Another option is to use a flexible withdrawal strategy, in which you adjust your withdrawal rate depending on how the market performs — rather than following a fixed withdrawal schedule — and dynamically adjusting your spending. This could help protect against sequence-of-returns risk during market downturns.

You could also consider waiting until after Social Security benefits kick in before embarking on major trips, since you’ll have a guaranteed source of income (and will be less reliant on portfolio withdrawals). However, if you’ve taken early retirement, that option may not be appealing.

Whatever your circumstances, you can also travel smarter. In AARP’s 2026 Travel Trends survey, most respondents (89%) said they shop for bargains when planning trips, such as comparison shopping, searching for online travel deals and using loyalty perks (2).

In retirement, you likely have more time to look for deals and travel in the off-season, so you can still pursue those bucket-list trips without putting the rest of your retirement at risk.

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AARP (1), (2); Retirement Researcher (3); Employee Benefit Research Institute (4); CNBC (5); U.S. Travel Association (6)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.