There’s a first time for everything.

LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST. IF YOU DON’T STOP AND LOOK AROUND ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU COULD MISS IT.

It’s been a busy spring in the Perks household. Quite the whirlwind, actually.
What was expected to be a normal first half of the year was turned upside down by a work email indicating that I was eligible for early retirement. To be fair, the thought of retiring this year had crossed our minds, and we were having very preliminary conversations about the possibility, but it was always an end of year, early 2027 thing.

Our early discussions about retirement and what it could look like led us to book time on February 24th to do some exploratory RV shopping. We weren’t retiring anytime soon; we were just researching the costs of doing the things we wanted to do in retirement.

And then the email………

Let me put the timeline into perspective (you may want to hold onto something):
• January 2026 – We start talking about what retirement could look like in the fall or in early 2027.
• February 24, 2026 – RV shopping (research) and the decision that at some point, probably next year, we would like to purchase a motorhome.
• February 25, 2026 – Book a retirement planning meeting for March 4 with our financial advisors.
• March 2, 2026 – Early retirement Incentive email received.
• March 4, 2026 – Meeting with our financial advisors to see if early retirement is possible.
It is.
Also found out that our advisor went to school with the owner of Woody’s RV and to not buy an RV without speaking with him first.
• March 4, 2026 – Submit Early Retirement request form.
• March 5, 2026 – Phone call with Darren Paylor of Woody’s RV.
“I have a brand new 2025 Solara Class C motorhome in Abbotsford that I will make you a great deal on”.
• March 8, 2026 – Travel to Abbotsford for more RV shopping.
• March 10, 2026 – Place a hold on the 2025 30’ Solara Class C motorhome.
• March 16, 2026 – Buy a 2025 30’ Solara Class C motorhome and drive it home to Sooke (in the rain and wind).
• April 2, 2026 – Advised by email that my early retirement application had been processed and is pending final approval.
• April 9, 2026 – Approval received, my last day on payroll is May 29; due to unused vacation, my last working day is May 1, 2026.

In just over a month, we went from “can we retire early and buy an RV”, to owning an RV and retiring at the beginning of May. If that’s not a personal whirlwind, I don’t know what is.

And what does all this have to do with a travel blog? Good question….I probably should have started with that.

WE ARE RV-ERS now!

Let the adventures begin, or as Ferris Bueller so eloquently put it; “The question isn’t ‘what are we going to do,’ the question is ‘what aren’t we going to do?’”.Leia mais