I could fill up pages and pages on this thread, but have held back from contributing for a variety of my own reasons. I have been retired for over 8 yrs. I am a certified personal financial planner, not professionally, since I don't want a job, but as an avocation. As part of a pro bono fiduciary level of service to a select group of family and close friends, I do retirement planning and have begun to see some of them make it to retirement in the last couple of years. I also know and converse with a large, varied group of retirees, many of whom are early retirees like myself.
A couple of short anecdotes...
One gentleman really wanted to relocate out of the area, for all the usual reasons. Sold his home and moved to a small town in New Mexico. It hasn't been that long, but he spends close to half of his time back here. Hard to tell how this is going to work out, but it doesn't seem to be working out as he anticipated.
Another couple have wanted to move to AZ for a long, long time. Both on the same page, they pulled the plug recently as planned, sold their home, bought a place in Prescott, moved in a couple of weeks ago all in the space of about 2 months. Plans have seemed to work out. Of course, they are just beginning.
A close couple, educators - early 60s, retired about a year ago. Happy to stay in place, no debt, in good shape for the foreseeable future. 2 weeks ago he threw a clot and stroked out massively. Survived, barely, and is starting the mind-blowing process of recovery.
Finally a couple I know intimately, retired early, in their mid to late 50s, also educators, hoping for a move to a pleasant place with similar goals to many of you. Away from here, someplace smaller, more enjoyable, nearer the coast, maybe central Cal. Lots of planning and dreaming over the years. Only, MIL is now 96 still living semi-independently in her home, relatively healthy but needs some assistance, shopping, paying bills, home maintenance. Who knew that we'd be holding out on our retirement due to family? Happy to do it. But not getting any younger and we had to move to get out of a really bad, deteriorating neighborhood. So now we have a nice place in a nice locale, and are essentially settled here for the foreseeable future.
If there is any takeaway, I'd say that while it is great to dream and plan, life has a way of throwing you curveballs. If you are many years away from realistically retiring, the future is probably too uncertain to know how things will shake out. Even when you get as close as 5 yrs out, the uncertainty is still very high. At the beginning of 2008, we thought we'd be retiring and moving away in mid-2009. Then the Great Recession smacked us upside the head and set us back a year. And forget moving away. Probably not going to happen. Retired nearly a decade and still faced with a boatload of uncertainty.
But I am into the pursuit of happiness which is a process not a state of being. I have been all over the world and have done amazing things and know that I can be engaged and interested in life anywhere. I don't know if I will be mtn biking in my 70s but realistically, that is not too far down the road. I hope I am still surfing in my 80s as it is a little more benign and less likely to end up with a visit to the ER. But bottom line at this point is that it doesn't really matter all that much. I look forward to this afternoon, and then my ride tomorrow, and then... Hope you get my point.
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Either slept in the car or stayed with friends, and hit Santa Fe Ski Basin, Taos, Crested Butte, Vail, Aspen, Alta, and Brighton (backcountry); then back to Mammoth. Almost ended the trip on Day 2 by nearly skiing off an unmarked cliff at Santa Fe SB! It was dumping and I probably wouldn't of been found until the next summer..
I was actively looking at properties along the way, but the housing crunch took away any equity I could've tapped for the move. The value came back but some neighbors sued the Association over slope/settling issues. 
That's supposedly resolved and it's game on once again!
