That is not rich. Add up total amount still cannot afford a Macan.

As a Francophile, I'd politely ask you to reconsider your decision to not visit Paris. I liked it enough to visit three times and am very seriously considering living a month or two in Paris this year before the Olympics kicks off.

Even if you don't plan to spend much time in the city, I'd put in a good word for Epicure in Le Bristol Paris, which stands out in my mind as very possibly the best meal I have ever had in my life. Now, I know we both share an interest in partaking of gustatory delights, so I would be remiss if I didn't mention this to you.

I'd also considered L'Ambroisie in Paris, but I ended up not going (for reasons I will mention later). It's an oversight I hope to rectify soon.

Anyway, I'd recommend considering two weeks in major destinations, instead of a week. Having travelled a bit post-COVID, I've found it somewhat annoying to move from one place to the next every week or so. It takes about a day to get settled in to your new location, and another day to pack and prepare for the move to the next destination. This means, in a 7 day stay, you'd spend about 2-2.5 days getting settled in, or about a third of the time you're travelling. This much "prep time" detracts from the experience, if you ask me. This is particularly relevant if you intend to "hit the Michelin stars."

The last time I was in Paris, I had the idea to do a 9-Michelin-star day, i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner in three different 3-Michelin star venues. By the time I was done, I don't know how the wait staff rolled me out of the room. I had planned on L'Ambroisie two days after the 9-Michelin-star day, except I was still stuffed the next day, so I called the restaurant to say I was unwell. I ended up going for pho instead. Subsequently, I cancelled a few other restaurants because I felt physically unable to sit through another 3-4 hour marathon with 9-12 courses.

Mind you, I was in my early 30s. I can imagine the constitution of two retirees in their early 50s would be less up to the challenge of too many Michelin-starred meals, hence the need to pace yourself accordingly.

You will also need to set aside some breathing space to accommodate other "very stupid but very necessary" choices. For instance, if you go to Lyon, and you don't stuff your face with the legendary President cake at Bernachon (unless you've had it already), you can't say you've really visited the city. Throw in the city's praline tarts, wines, and cheeses, and you will need to take very long walks to work it all off...

I'd also consider maybe renting a good car in Nice and doing the southern France route and stopping at the picturesque towns like Villefranche-sur-Mer, Eze, Monaco, Menton, and Ventimiglia (Italy). It's got to be one of the great drives!

while i envy what you have saved , but ive been to to almost all thats listed. and i guess im halfway to retirement ( so youre the role model albeit i dont have your specialty) and should be making changes.

havent been to murica so i guess its a good idea to skip. and while youre driving autobahn to swiss even. i would recommend places like Czech or the other eastern europe. to me kinda worth the stop.

other notable mention like Vietnam island phu quoc.
id skip SK too.

Thank you my friend, for the insightful replies and the great suggestions…. I’ll put some serious thought into Paris, it’s just that at our last visit there, wifey didn’t quite enjoy the people and there was a distinct disdain - almost bordering on neglectful nonchalance - when it came to service standards at some of the cafes and bistros we visited. The opposite was true when we stepped into LV at Galeries LaFayette and a PuTongHua speaking server would nearly trip over herself in obsequious obedience to our every wish and command. It was all a bit too much and we left with a rather unpleasant taste of the whole thing.

Thanks again for your input!

Middle East
- Skip Dubai, it's overrated. An artificial place born out of the sand dunes....

Instead...
Europe
- Go visit Slovenia...
- Germany, careful there. Autobahn doesn't really mean no speed limit. There are plenty of sections with limit, especially those going in and out of cities. Rather, you should go for a few laps in Nurburgring.
- France? Don't miss Mont St Michel.

So, since starting this thread, and reading the helpful responses (with my grateful thanks), I’ve already made some adjustments to my original planned length of stay at major cities.

The destinations are still pretty much as listed, but we now intend to spend at least 10 days to 2 weeks at a major destination.

That’s going to require a lot of additional planning to ensure I don’t end up lazing in the hotel room and wasting those extra days!

This post has been edited by hksgmy: Feb 5 2024, 07:42 AM

That’s a brilliant idea…. But, I highly doubt the rental companies will allow rented cars on track… I might just have to settle for a ‘Ring taxi ride in a M5.

Congrat TS on retirement direction!
U deserved a good life ahead after contributed in saving many lives as doctor....

just curious how u managed children if plan to moved to Sydney? Move along? My guess they should be 20+ now since u can plan world tour

Another question, why decide Sydney for retirement when u been familiar with SG?

My kid in SG as well so wonder whether continue university in SG or somewhere else would be better...

Thanks for ur advice in advance

I'll recommend to visit Jeju island instead of Seoul, should you decide to visit South Korea.

Overall, it looks like a wonderful plan.

Hi bro, wife and I decided 30 years ago that our kids would be better off if we didn’t have them…. So, we did the responsible thing by our definition and opted not to have children.

30 years later, we still believe that was the one single most important and correct decision we made. Our natures are excellent for our workplaces. I’m immersed in my work, and she was dedicated to hers. This would make us absent parents - or worse, parents that (because we obviously have the wherewithal to do so) splurge on their kids materially to make up for their emotional absence.

Sydney was where I spent my university years on a very generous Australian scholarship and I can’t help but feel I owe Australia a debt of gratitude. We have friends and family there, and my network is there, and I have a part time practice there which suits me fine post retirement. The country is huge, and I could easily spend a lifetime discovering it… especially since I love to drive. We intend to be active retirees in Sydney, and I still intend to contribute to society there in my own way - and the low humidity works better for me, because I hate feeling sticky all day long.

Singapore gave me everything… and I gave it the best 30 years of my life. That’s a fair trade. So, as an experienced player would say, it’s best to quit while I’m ahead.

Thanks bro.....

What field is your son or daughter pursuing in Singapore? I could help give you a better perspective if I knew the area of studies…

she is now in Secondary school under MOE ASEAN scholarship. The scholarship will be covered till A level.

she is looking forward law or medicine for university course.

Thinking which location best to build up career as countries hv control on foreign degree. My sis is eye specialist in UK NHS, she planned to relocate to SG last year and got job offer in hospital. But at the end not approved health ministry...

If your daughter is keen on either law or medicine, then staying put in Singapore (especially for medicine) is the better option. As your sister just realised, the criteria for hiring of foreign trained doctors have been tightened over the past decade or so, as we're now churning out 500 medical students locally yearly (up from 150 per year 20 years back), and there are returning Singaporeans on MOH half scholarship/sponsorships, all fighting for limited spots.

Singapore is also positioning itself as a hub for arbitration, as well as the usual financial wheeling and dealing that goes on in the Republic, so I think if she gets into law, she'll be well served in her career as well.

Do you intend for her to come back to Malaysia?

thanks bro for advice

Malaysia...... The future look bleak. So likely no

How about Canada?

Doc, you missed out on my two fav cities. Budapest and Prague.

Do a train tour in Europe or the long train journey from China to Russia. That takes at least two weeks.

I know a few guys who went through the ASEAN scholarship, they are smart, of course their careers are fine. But the one thing I notice is, they became womanizers. Yeah, a few of these friends of mine, when they returned to Msia, they have high flying careers but they have checkered record in cheating their girlfriends with other girls. They tend to work in high flying work late night career jobs that hire a lot of young smart beautiful women in their 20s.

Maybe better to space it out. Maybe one trip per year. No rush to do everything at once.

At least you will have something to look forward to next year and you can take your time at each place before rushing off to the next place on the list.