I Left Retirement to Travel the World—and Get Paid for It

For many people, working life means spending decades in the same industry, making the idea of starting over feel intimidating.

Yet it is never too late to reinvent yourself and pursue work that genuinely inspires you.

In a challenging jobs market, retraining and applying transferable skills can bring significant rewards. For some workers, it may even become necessary as redundancies increase and industries are reshaped by new technology, including artificial intelligence.

Whether you are exhausted by a high-pressure job, searching for greater flexibility and better pay, or simply tired of the same daily routine, there are plenty of reasons to consider a career change.

However, before resigning and making the leap, careful planning is essential.

Career experts share seven steps for anyone thinking about changing direction, along with practical advice to improve the chances of success.

Step one: Don’t let excuses rule you

Worried that you are too close to retirement? Have you spent 10 years or more in one profession and assume your skills are too specialised to transfer elsewhere? Financial responsibilities, including supporting a family, can make the decision even harder.

A career change can feel like a leap into the unknown. Finding the confidence to begin is difficult, and it is easy to use these concerns as reasons to avoid retraining.

But Dr Sally Ann Law, a life and work coach, believes those obstacles can be overcome. She also cautions that turning to relatives for advice may not always help.

She says: ‘Family members usually mean well when you ask for guidance, but they may focus on all the reasons you should not take the risk.

They tend to value security and may be anxious about uncertainty. If your job is making you unhappy, you may need someone to encourage you to act. A careers adviser can remind you that it is never too late to reinvent yourself.’

Dr Law advises people not to let their age or the comfort of a familiar role prevent them from pursuing a new career.

She says: ‘Consider the work you would truly like to do, then explore the route that could take you there. People already working in those roles often began in a position much like yours. The time to start planning is now.’

Robert Long, chief of staff at job-search website CV-Library, says: ‘Fear is often the main thing stopping people. You only get one chance at life, so make sure you use it well.’

Step two: Fine-tune your skills

Enthusiasm can take you a long way, but the right qualifications are crucial too, particularly if you need to pass the initial screening stage of a job application.

A careers adviser at your local Jobcentre Plus can help you work out which qualifications and training courses may be required for your chosen field.

Research the roles you are interested in and study the requirements listed in current job adverts. Where possible, complete the necessary training while you remain in your existing job.

The Government’s annual skills report, available at gov.uk, includes information about training opportunities across a range of professions.

Refresher courses can also update your CV if your relevant qualifications or experience are out of date. Make sure these recent courses and skills appear prominently near the top of your CV.

Don’t use the same CV for different applications. Tailor it to specific vacancies. A CV should provide a single-page summary of skills and career achievements in a visually appealing way.

If you are applying for roles in a new area, you may be better off starting a CV from scratch rather than updating an old one.

Step three: Beat the A.I. bots

It may sound old-fashioned in the modern world where companies often prefer to communicate via email and chatbot – but face-to-face conversations can really help.

Dr Law says: ‘Try to bypass the AI [artificial intelligence] application form barrier. Get yourself in front of a real person. Contact firms and ask to meet representatives in person.

‘Even if you’re not successful, at least it shows you are keen. There are trade events and local talks where you can introduce yourself. 

Visit the library and enquire about possible events coming up. It all helps to build a personal rapport.’

Long says it is also worth trawling through contact books and speaking to former work colleagues. 

If you find out about a vacancy through word of mouth, it can help set you apart from others as you have a personal recommendation.

Another key tip: work experience is not only for fresh-faced graduates – so ask if this might be possible.

Step four: Get free expert advice

Do your homework before making any major life changes. You can get free guidance from qualified career advisers by using the National Careers Service.

This can be accessed online, over the phone or via face-to-face appointments at Jobcentre Plus offices. For more information and to take a skills test, go to nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/discover-your-skills-and-careers

Dr Law says: ‘If you are working for a large corporation, there might be opportunities for a career

change within this as well – and you might consider talking about this with your manager and human resources department.’

Step five: Set a financial plan

Responsibilities, such as mortgage and family, stop many of us following our passions. But if you create a solid financial plan this does not need to get in your way.

Those making a career change later in life are often at an advantage because they have paid off their mortgage and family have flown the nest. 

If you plan to downsize, that would also free up money to give you a financial cushion while making a career change.

Dr Law says: ‘If you are working as a couple, it is important to discuss plans because money is one of the biggest causes of arguments.’

Step six: Market yourself well

Have the confidence to put yourself out there. Long says: ‘Networking is key to getting on in life – no matter what you do. Once you have a goal, you must get out there and sell yourself.’

Sharpening up your CV, knocking on doors and answering adverts, as found on websites such as uk.indeed.com, reed.co.uk, cv-library.co.uk and jobsite.co.uk is just the start. 

You must also ensure you stand out from the crowd and promote yourself on social media, such as LinkedIn.

Long adds: ‘AI filters through initial job applications looking for buzzwords such as mentor, collaborate and resolve. 

‘They are also big on what you put for achievements as well as transferable skills and flexibility.’

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But do not use AI to write your whole cover letter or CV. Recruiters sniff this out. Take time to personalise a job application while still reflecting terminology they use in an advert.

Rather than sending hundreds of applications, hand-pick a few. Mr Long says: ‘Stay confident. 

‘Do not allow rejections to feel like death by a thousand cuts but ask for feedback from them to fine-tune a CV and help with interviews.’

Switching careers in your 50s or 60s can pay off because you have valuable experience. Long adds: ‘Older workers can turn concerns about potential ageism into a positive as experience really matters.’

Show that you are keen to adapt to an evolving workplace and embrace new technology.

Step seven: Don’t get greedy

The reward for all the hard work required to change career should be an enjoyable job – but you must still embrace fresh challenges. 

Dr Law says: ‘Chasing money is not as important as a rewarding career. Finding a job that fits in with your passion and skills can be such an exhilarating experience.’

‘I got a cabin crew job at 57’

Jetting around the world as an airline steward keeps Tim Bott, 62, feeling young and energetic – at an age he once thought would be spent with his feet up in retirement. 

After 30 years on the beat as a front-line officer with Kent Police, Tim took retirement in his early 50s.

But when his year-long global backpacking adventure was cut short by Covid, he volunteered to give people vaccines at hospital hubs in Kent. 

It was a chance encounter with airline cabin crew also volunteering that sparked an idea for a fresh start.

Hearing them speak about how they travel all over the world while getting paid inspired him to apply for a job. Tim says: ‘I’d lost my identity in retirement. 

‘A chance to turn my great love of travel into a career was something I felt had passed me by until I met Virgin Atlantic volunteers who were cabin crew. They explained that age was no barrier and encouraged me to apply for my dream job.’

Tim, who lives near Folkstone in Kent, was recruited four years ago and has been using the job to travel ever since. 

He says: ‘Last month I went balloon flying over Johannesburg, snorkelling in the Maldives, sailed a catamaran off Jamaica and swam with manatees in Miami. This was all thanks to airline stop-offs at work.’

The application process was straightforward. He clicked the apply button on the Virgin Atlantic website career link and uploaded his CV. 

After passing an online quiz on handling scenarios you might face on board, he was invited to an assessment day with other potential crewmates.

After passing with flying colours, he was sent on a training programme before taking off as a fully-qualified member of crew.

As with other airlines, including British Airways and EasyJet, age is no barrier. Tim adds: ‘Rather than feeling like I was past it and on the scrapheap, it turns out experience and being an older personality can be a bonus.’

He is on a part-time rota – working for 21 days and then having seven days off. He earns £1,500 a month but says the best reward is travelling the world, where he is put up in hotels and given meals, all for free.

‘Hospital drama made me rethink’

It took a near-death experience at 55 for Peter McKerrow to quit his overly-stressful job as a project manager and start a career in the music industry. 

Peter, of Purley, south London, reflected on his career while in hospital after the doctors said he had escaped death by 20 minutes. The father of one had blood clots on his lungs.

He says: ‘I was a project manager for a construction firm in a high-stress job I hated. My first love had always been music, so I decided to take the leap before it was too late.’

The 73-year-old, who went on to become a music lecturer and producer, says: ‘I signed up to the University of the Arts London for a degree in sound arts: design.

‘Turning up at the age of 57 surrounded by teenage undergraduates I felt like a fool – but it turned out to be the most exhilarating years of my life. 

I graduated with first-class honours and went on to do a masters. Lecturers asked if I would then come back as a tutor. It was my dream job and enabled me to produce music.’

‘Navy exercises added up for me’

Neil Montgomery served 21 years in the Royal Navy where he worked as a physical training instructor before he decided to become an accountant.

He felt it was time for a career change, so he went to a job centre office, where he was given aptitude tests in various fields.

Neil says: ‘I was surprised to discover I was mentally dexterous with numbers. Accountancy sounded like a fun challenge.’

He went to Worthing College in West Sussex and took an Association of Accounting Technicians diploma. 

He says: ‘I asked a local accountancy firm in the Somerset town of Yeovil if they would let me do work experience at the age of 40. They liked my positive mindset to work and a few months later offered me a job.’

Now 77, he says: ‘Discipline, respect and camaraderie learned in the Armed Forces were essential in pursuing my career.’

After 14 years in accountancy, he became a further education lecturer in accounting.

• Have you successfully switched careers? Email moneymail@dailymail.co.uk