Retirees Trade Home For the Vagabond Life
退休族賣房子 浪跡天涯
By David Wallis

Some call themselves “senior gypsies.” Others prefer “international nomad.” David Law, 74, a retired executive recruiter who has primarily slept in tents in several countries in the last two years, likes the sound of “American Bedouin.”
他們有的稱自己「長青吉普賽族」。有的比較喜歡「國際遊牧民族」這個稱呼。至於已退休的高端人才獵頭業者、74歲的大衛．羅伊，他覺得「美國貝都因族」聽來最順耳。這兩年，他多數時候睡在一些國家的帳篷內。

They are retirees who have chosen a life of travel over a life of tending to possessions. And their numbers are rising.
他們都是退休一族，而且選擇過著旅行而不是照顧資產的生活。這個族群人數正在增加。

Mr. Law and his wife, Bonnie Carleton, 69, who are selling their house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, spoke recently by phone from a campground in Stoupa, Greece, a village on the southern coast of the Peloponnese. He explained that they roam the world to “get the broadest and most radical experience that we can get.”
羅伊和69歲的妻子邦妮．卡爾頓正在出售他們在新墨西哥州聖塔菲市的房子。羅伊最近從希臘斯陶帕的營地以電話接受訪問，斯陶帕是伯羅奔尼撒半島的一個村莊。他解釋道，他們倆環遊世界，是為了「盡他們所能，去追求最寬廣、最與眾不同的人生經驗。」

They recently decided they were getting too old to camp out. Now they intend to continue what Mr. Law termed their “endless holiday” in a more comfortable recreational vehicle.
最近，他們認為年事已高，不再適合露營。現在，他們打算以較舒適的休旅車，繼續羅伊口中他們「無止盡的假期」。

Between 1993 and 2012, the percentage of all retirees traveling abroad rose to 13 percent from 9.7 percent, according to the United States’ Commerce Department.
根據美國商務部的統計 ，1993至2012年，旅遊國外的美國退休族從9.7%增至13%。

About 360,000 Americans received Social Security benefits at foreign addresses in 2013, about 48 percent more than 10 years earlier. While many retirees ultimately return home or become expatriates, some live like vagabonds.
2013年，約有36萬美國人是在外國地址領取社會福利金，比10年前多出48%。雖然許多退休族最後會返鄉或定居外國，有些則過起流浪生活。

Lynne Martin, 73, a retired publicist and the author of “Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World,” is one. Three years ago, she and her husband, Tim, 68, sold their house in Paso Robles, California, gave away most of their possessions and now live in short-term vacation rentals they usually find through HomeAway.com.
73歲的琳恩．馬汀就是其中之一，她是位退休公關，也是《無處不是甜蜜的家：我們賣屋、創造新生活、看見世界過程》的作者。三年前，她和丈夫，68歲的提姆賣掉加州帕索羅伯斯的房子，處理掉多數的財產，目前落腳在他們通常在HomeAway.com 網站上找到的短期假期租屋內。

The Martins have not tapped their savings during their travels, alternating visits to expensive cities like London with more reasonable destinations like Lisbon. “We simply traded the money we were spending for overhead on a house and garden in California for a life in much smaller but comfortable HomeAway rentals in more interesting places,” Ms. Martin said by email from Paris.
旅行中，馬汀夫婦並未動用到積蓄，他們有時去昂貴的城市如倫敦，有時則去比較划算的地方如里斯本。馬汀女士在寄自巴黎的電子郵件中說：「我們只是把在加州房子和花園生活的開銷，換成到一些更有趣地點，過著房屋雖小，但也舒適的HomeAway租屋生活。」

On her blog, Barefoot Lovey, Stacy Monday, 50, a former paralegal who lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, wrote: “I used to dream about all the places I would go as soon as I was old enough to get away. But then ... life happened.” On May 1, 2010, she embarked on her dream trip. She “crisscrossed the U.S. three times” and visited Mexico, Ireland, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain and many other countries.
居住田納西州諾克斯維爾、50歲的前律師助理史黛西．孟岱在她的「愛赤腳」部落格寫道：「我一直夢想著老年退休想去的所有地方。後來，這種生活降臨了。」2010年5月1日，她踏上了她的夢想之旅。她「三度橫越美國」，還旅行至墨西哥、愛爾蘭、法國、義大利、摩洛哥、西班牙和許多其他國家。

“I sold everything I had,” Ms. Monday said. “I paid off all of my debt. I have no bills and no money.” She estimates that she now spends $150 a month and earns a modest income through “odds-and-ends jobs.”
孟岱說：「我賣掉所有東西。償還所有債務。我沒有帳單，但也沒有錢。」她估計她現在每月的開銷是150美元，可靠著「打零工」賺點微薄收入。

Ms. Monday volunteers at nonprofits in exchange for room and board or finds free lodging through Couchsurfing.org, which puts its membership of people 50 and older at about 250,000.
於是孟岱到非營利組織當志工，換取食宿，或是透過Couchsurfing.org（沙發旅行網站）找免費住宿。Couchsurfing.org估計50歲以上會員約有25萬人。

Ms. Monday says that when she tells people about her life, most women respond with encouragement, while many men are less supportive. “They say: ‘You should be home. That’s not safe. You are old.’ ”
孟岱說，當她告訴人們她過的生活時，女性多數是以鼓勵回應，男性則較不支持。「他們說：『你該待在家中。這樣並不安全。你已經老了。』」

Hal E. Hershfield, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of California, Los Angeles, observes that many “pre-retirees” still assume retirement is a “decrepit, sitting on a porch, maybe playing golf, ice-tea type of life.” But current retirees are “still healthy and sort of young at heart.”
根據洛杉磯加州大學教授行銷的助理教授哈許菲爾德的觀察，許多「準退休族」仍然認為退休是「等死、坐在門廊上、或許打打高球，喝點冰茶的生活。」但現在的退休族「仍身強體健，且有顆相當年輕的心」。

Danila Mansfield, 58, and her husband, Chris Gill, 64, sold their house in San Jose, California, last year and got rid of nearly everything. They do not even rent a storage space.
58歲的達妮拉．曼斯菲爾德和她64歲的老公克利斯．吉爾，去年將加州聖荷西的房子脫手，還幾乎處理掉所有東西。他們甚至不租用任何存儲空間。

They plan to volunteer on game reserves to protect endangered species and then study great white sharks.
他們計畫到野生動物保護區當志工，保護瀕臨絕種物種，然後再去研究大白鯊。

So far, their travels have surpassed expectations, but there have been rough spots. An acute respiratory illness required three visits by Ms. Mansfield to urgent care centers. At one point she cried for home, but then managed to brighten her mood. “I kept telling myself, ‘This is home,’ ” Ms. Mansfield said. “Where I am is home.”
至今，他們的旅行已經超出期待，儘管不是一路順遂。一次急性呼吸系統疾病，導致曼斯菲爾德三度送往急診中心。一度她哭著想回老家，後來設法恢復心情。曼斯菲爾德說：「我不停告訴自己，『這裡就是家』，我人在哪裡，哪裡就是我家。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/30/business/increasingly-retirees-dump-their-possessions-and-hit-the-road.html

2014-09-30聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 王麗娟譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版右