Well, it finally happened. August 17, 2023. After 20 years of having at least one of our girls in the house full-time, my wife and I are empty nesters! Our incredible daughters are both in college in Texas while we’re here in SoCal. Now, before I continue on about the incredible Inspirato vacations that Inspirato Pass provides for the empty nester, let me first tell you how much we love our girls and how we miss their presence in our home every single day.
We miss dinners around the kitchen table, chatting as we drive together to grab Acai bowls, their friends coming in and out all hours of day and night, chill times sitting together watching a movie, our fun day trip adventures…all the things. We miss them LOTS! And we’ve shed plenty of tears. It’s a challenging season for my wife and I for sure. That being said, it’s not all downsides. Inspirato Pass provides an incredible upside to the empty-nest life stage.
Deciding to Join Inspirato Pass
Inspirato Pass has been the most wonderful thing about our launch into empty nesting! It’s barely been a month, and wow! I’m a believer that every empty nester couple with appropriate means (and some flexibility) should become an Inspirato Pass member. If you’re on the fence about joining and wondering, “is Inspirato Pass worth it?”, consider reading my in-depth Inspirato Pass review to learn more about how Pass works and its flexibility and value.
Our family joined Inspirato Pass almost four years ago now (and oh how that time has flown by!) in order to get as many family vacations in as possible before our girls left the nest. We did that, and it was fantastic. You can read about many of our Inspirato vacations here.
Empty nesting seemed like this far off, distant future time back when we joined Inspirato in 2019, but I knew there would be this pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if we stuck with Inspirato Pass until the nest was empty. I knew there would be some unique travel opportunities for my wife and I if we continued to be Pass members once our girls left the nest. After all, there are no kids we need to worry about leaving at home if we decide to skip town, or country, or even continent on a whim.
Three Incredible Inspirato Vacations as Empty Nesters
So, what in the world is so great about the empty nest and Inspirato? Well…how about these three incredible Inspirato vacations during just our first two months of empty nesting?
Inspirato Vacation #1 – Montage Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina
After moving our youngest into her dorm room in Texas and saying our tear-filled goodbyes, we headed straight up to DFW to jump on a plane to Savannah, Georgia. We figured that our first week of empty nesting would be a challenging one and that it would be wise to transition with a week of rest and relaxation.
We opted to enjoy a week at the Montage Palmetto Bluff. About 45 days prior to check-in (I think the trip cost 42 Pass Days), I selected a 7-day stay at a two-bedroom suite at this spectacular property, an incredible value. The Montage Palmetto Bluff exceeded every expectation that we had. The grounds, the amenities, the service, the dining…it was all absolutely top notch.
Montage Resorts simply does things right…always. I’m not sure there could have been a better spot on the planet for my wife and I to spend our first week as empty nesters. The Palmetto Bluff community includes thousands of acres, and you can check out complimentary bikes upon arrival that you keep just outside your door for the entire stay. We loved this!
I’m not sure why, but I’m a huge fan of resorts where biking is the primary mode of onsite transportation. Something about it feels so restful and disconnected from the craziness of normal life. I’m a SoCal native, so having huge, sprawling bike-centric communities is not something we encounter here. It’s all freeways, cars, and ever-worsening traffic. We rode our bikes daily to the little neighborhood store, the coffee shop, the pool, the town center, and pickle ball courts. It was delightful.
We did day trips to Charleston and Savannah and dove into the history of each while enjoying more than our fair share of Southern cuisine. There were just so many fantastic restaurants I won’t even begin to name them. As good as biking around property together was, and as good as the food tours of Savannah and Charleston were, our very favorite times proved to be those hours spent poolside, plopped down in lounge chairs with a good book and perhaps a margarita or two to welcome in our afternoon poolside naps.
Our week in Palmetto Bluff provided my wife and I a week of rest, relaxation, and connection that we are so grateful for. Thank you, Inspirato Pass!
Inspirato Vacation #2 – Punta de Mita, Mexico
A short seven days after our return from Palmetto Bluff, it was already time to jump on a plane again to enjoy another beautiful Inspirato vacation. This time it was a guys’ trip to celebrate my 50th birthday. We stayed in a 4-bedroom penthouse at Los Veneros. And it was everything a bunch of 50-year-old dudes would dream of.
These luxury residences include daily housekeeping with a huge bonus of freshly prepared, made-in-residence breakfast each morning by your own private chef. With Inspirato, this is an included amenity and all you pay for are the groceries. Huevos Rancheros, Chilaquiles, French Toast, lots of fresh tropical fruit…you get the idea. There’s something special about rolling out of bed on vacation knowing that a freshly prepared hot breakfast is awaiting you upstairs.
The trip report is simple. We did the exact same things four days in a row. It wasn’t broken, so we didn’t fix it. It went something like this…breakfast at 9:00, pool time at 10:00, grab surfboards and surf from around 11:00-1:00, lunch at Chevycheria (the beachfront restaurant/bar right on the sand at the W Hotel adjacent to Los Veneros), nap/take-it-easy time around 3:00-4:30, drinks and appetizers on the deck at 5:00ish, off to dinner in town around 6:00 or 7:00, back to villa around 10:00, night cap(s) and a blend of both ridiculous and existential conversations for a few hours until we finally needed to hit the rack for our beauty rest. Rinse and repeat for 4 days straight. It was glorious.
Inspirato Vacation #3 – Newport Coast, California
This trip is still 10 days out but deserves a mention. Pelican Hill Resort is spectacular. It’s our family’s favorite Inspirato vacation spot. In fact, our family loves it so much that my wife and I haven’t yet had the heart to tell our girls that we’ll be enjoying a long weekend there without them in a few days.
We have dual villas reserved, each with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. They are spacious and comfy. The sprawling property with its multiple gigantic pools, perfectly landscaped common areas, and delightful vistas is always a special treat.
For this getaway, my wife and I will be hosting somewhat of a family reunion (sadly sans our own daughters). My favorite cousins and their families are coming down to visit from the Seattle area, along with my dad and my sister from Colorado. It’s a three-generation group that includes babies and toddlers, one of whom we get to meet for the first time!
It’s a blessing and an absolute joy whenever we get to spend time with these special people. Being Inspirato Pass members, and having access to large residences and villas, has created so many awesome opportunities for us to share Inspirato vacations with friends and family that otherwise would have never happened.
Some (present company included) might say that regular pricing at Pelican Hill Resort can be outrageous. But, that’s not the case with Inspirato Pass. The value achieved by doing this trip with Inspirato Pass is almost unbelievable. We’re talking huge discounts off rack rates. Most importantly though, we are able to host and provide a space where we can have special moments and create priceless memories with those we love most.
Future Inspirato Vacations…
The above-mentioned trips are just in the first couple of months of being empty nesters. Lord willing, there will be many more to come. A big one we now have on the books is London, Rome, Florence, and Tuscany in February.
It looks as if we’ll be able to do this entire trip staying at Inspirato properties. We’ve already booked Rome and Florence and still have some time to figure out our time in London and Tuscany. This will be a huge trip for my wife and I, being the longest trip we will have ever taken as a couple, thanks to the freedom of the empty nest. We can’t wait to celebrate our 25th anniversary over in Europe! So thankful for the wide range of luxury accommodations that Inspirato has in London and across Italy.
Another trip on our must-do list for 2024 is San Miguel de Allende. We were last there as a family in 2010, and we’ve wanted to go back as a couple ever since. It looks like 2024 will be the year. We’ve been drooling over the large Inspirato residences at the Rosewood San Miguel de Allende and hope to make that trip a reality ASAP. Then, of course there is Montage Los Cabos…the Dominick in NYC…etc.
We miss our daughters and are grieving the end of what is likely the most precious life stage of them all, raising your kids in your home from fully dependent little babies to quasi-independent young adult college students. We’ll continue to miss them. We’ll cherish holidays and summer vacations when they are home for extended periods. And of course, we’ll continue to take Inspirato vacations as a family as often as possible!
Our hearts are sad, but full. And having all of these exciting trips with Inspirato does ease the pain, reduce the sting, and make our launch into empty nesting an exhilarating one. So, here’s to an empty nest filled with travel and adventure; a renaissance for our marriage and how we enjoy the world together. Thank you, Inspirato Pass!
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