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Joy

Retired couple in their 50s lives on cruise ships, and it costs about as much as living on land

"You don't have to be a millionaire or billionaire to do what we're doing."

via Anthony Ketland/Unsplash

A large cruise ship crosses the ocean.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to give up all life's stresses and live on a cruise ship? Every few days, you experience a new, exotic destination, and you don’t have to worry about traffic or cooking your meals. There’s no light bill, no water bill, and no need to pay someone to mow the lawn. It’s great to fantasize about, but that lifestyle is only for the super wealthy, right? Think again, a retired couple from Ontario, Canada, sold their home and lives on cruise ships, and it's surprisingly affordable.

Tori Carter and Kirk Rickman, 50 and 54, have been living on cruise ships since December 2022. The couple decided to live the best life possible after Tori went through a period of hardship. In 2019, she lost a friend to a stroke and her dog, which she loved like a son. She also had a back injury that affected her mobility for months.

“We started asking ourselves, Why wait until we’re old and sick to go on big trips if we can do it while we’re healthy? We were still pretty young—both in our 40s—but since we’d each worked two jobs, we’d already managed to save a good amount of money for retirement,” Kirk told Toronto Life.


So, the couple sold their home, pocketed the cash, and used that, along with some rental property income, as a nest egg to help pay for their new lifestyle. The couple also takes advantage of extensive programs through cruise lines and credit cards to save on transportation and booking fees. Since taking to the high seas in December 2022, the couple has been on 29 voyages across 12 cruise lines, averaging about a month each. Their longest cruise lasted 68 days. "We feel like each ship is a destination in itself," Tori told Business Insider. "Because we live on ships, it's not like we want to party every single night."

“It’s crucial for us to avoid really expensive ships,” Tori told Toronto Life. “You could easily spend a million per year on luxury cruises, but you can ride consistently on smaller boats for not much more than $30,000 each per year. We also save money because we no longer have to pay for things like a mortgage, lawn maintenance, car payments, groceries, and everyday house or yard items.”

The couple shares all of their cruise tips and tricks on their YouTube page.


In addition to finding good deals on cruises, the couple saves a lot of money through reward programs. They use their Visa and Mastercards on as many purchases as possible, including booking their cruises, to maximize their points and perks. They use those points for hotel stays between cruises and flying to ports to hop on their next cruise. They also have Expedia Gold status to get "heavily discounted" travel. Their Mastercard is with WestJet, which gives them a free companion voucher every year and credits to pay down travel costs.

The couple also make liberal use of Carnival Cruises' stock perks. By owning shares in the company and booking through travel websites, they’ve earned $4,340 in money they can spend on the cruises. When you add it all up, they spends about $7,337.49 per month to live on a cruise ship, which is about $118 per person, per day. That includes food, cabin, and onboard amenities.

cruise ships, cruises, sunset cruise, sunset, ocean, beautiful sunsetA cruisehip at sunset.via Alsonso Reyes/Unsplash

Even though the couple has lived at sea for most of the past two and a half years, they show no signs of wanting to stop their nomadic lifestyle. "The most exciting part is that there’s still lots to explore. Health willing, we don’t anticipate an end date for our adventures—we want to do this for the rest of our lives,” Kirk said. “Or until we run out of money! But we think that if we can continue being smart about how we book trips, we have at least several years of cruising ahead,” Tori added.

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Family

17 photos of adorable kids who were born prematurely, now holding their own baby pictures

Love this so much!

OriginalAll photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

Chloé was born at 32 weeks.

Every single day, babies across the world are born prematurely, which means that they're born before 37 weeks of gestation.

In Canada, about 29,000 infants are born prematurely each year, roughly 1 in every 13. But in the United States, around 400,000 to 500,000 are born early. That's about 1 in every 8 to 10 babies born in the U.S.!

Red Méthot, a Canadian photographer and student, decided to capture the resilience of many of these kids for a school photography project.

He's the father of two prematurely born kids himself, so the topic is important to him.

"My son was born at 29 weeks and my daughter at 33 weeks," he told Upworthy a phone interview. "These are the kind of pictures I would like to have seen when my first child was born — they've been through that, and they are great now."

Méthot said he knows not all preemie stories have a happy ending—one of his photos features a child whose twin passed away after they were born prematurely—but for so many kids who come early, they go on to experience a great life.

Meet several of the beautiful kids he photographed:

a little girl holds a black and white photograph of herself as a premature baby

1. Lexiani, born at 25 weeks

Original. All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

twin boys hold black and white photo of themselves as premature babies

2. Noah and Nathan, born at 32 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a little girl holds a black and white photograph of herself as a premature baby

3. Margot, born at 29 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a little boy holds a black and white photograph of himself as a premature baby

4. Thomas, born at 23 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

siblings each hold black and white photographs of themselves as premature babies

5. Samuel, born at 36 weeks, and his sister Alice, born at 27 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a little girl holds a black and white photograph of herself as a premature baby

6. Éva, born at 29 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a little boy holds a black and white photograph of himself as a premature baby

7. Charles, born at 26 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a girl holds a black and white photograph of herself as a premature baby

8. Chloé, born at 32 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a young boy holds a black and white photograph of himself as a premature baby

9. Félix, born at 24 weeks

OriginalAll photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

siblings each hold black and white photographs of themselves as premature babies

10. Felix, born at 23 weeks, and his brother Alexis, born at almost 33 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a young boy holds a black and white photograph of himself and his deceased twin sister as premature babies

11. Noah, born at 32 weeks; his twin sister, Victoria (on the left in the framed picture), passed away when she was one month old

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a little girl holds a black and white photograph of herself as a premature baby

12. Juliette, born at 30 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a young boy holds a black and white photograph of himself as a premature baby

13. Léonard, born at 35 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

three siblings each hold black and white photographs of themselves as premature babies

14. Olivier, born at 31 weeks, his sister Ariane, born at 33 weeks, and their brother Noah, born at 34 weeks.

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a young boy holds a black and white photograph of himself as a premature baby

15. Émile, born at 26 weeks

Orignal.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

a young boy holds a black and white photograph of himself as a premature baby

16. Théo, born at 25 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

twin siblings hold black and white photo of themselves as premature babies

17. Charles-Antoine and Mara, born at 27 weeks

Original.All photos belong to Red Méthot, who gave me permission to share them here.

Méthot's school project originally consisted of 10 photos, but the reaction has been so positive and he's enjoyed taking them so much, he continued adding to the collection.

Currently, he has captured 50 images. (You can view them all in the album on his Facebook page!). Méthot told Upworthy that his favorite part of the project has been meeting the subjects.

"Each time I meet a new person, I [learn] about a new story," he said.

And I think we can all agree that Méthot is a wonderful storyteller through his photography. Between his photos showing the bright future so many premature babies have and the loss of others, he captures reality beautifully.


This article originally appeared ten years ago.


From Your Site Articles
Joy

Unlikely couple falls in love after man rents woman’s spare room as an Airbnb

The Airbnb was a last-ditch effort to pay her rent and medical bills.

Upworthy

Talk about a meet cute.

The funny thing about love is that the person we fall in love with, more often than not, we run into by accident. Another strange twist is that the love of our life is likely to show up when we least expect it.

The following story, which feels like the promise of a hit rom-com, comes courtesy of a twist of fate created by the World Cup and an Airbnb.

In 2013, after six years of battling an illness, Ana was living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Having been financially drained by years of being sick, she invested the last of her money to buy two bunk beds and convert one of her bedrooms into an Airbnb for small groups of friends.

The Airbnb was a last-ditch effort to pay her rent and medical bills. A year later, the modest investment grew into a success, Ana’s health began to return, and the World Cup, one of the largest sporting events in the world, was coming to Rio.

To take advantage of the soccer fanatics flocking to the Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvelous City), Ana and her roommate, Fabio, turned a half room in their apartment into an Airbnb rental to give tired soccer fans a place to sleep.

“Though it was a small (pantry!) room, we added a bunk bed and listed two beds on Airbnb. One day after the listing went live, we had tons of requests for ‘Fabio’s Pantry,’” she shared. “It was fully booked for the entire World Cup period except for one week in July.”

Around this time, Ana was feeling well enough to go on her first vacation in years and took a quick trip to Uruguay. Just before she left, Ana received a reservation from a man named "Darko B." for the only unbooked days in July.

“I have always been a big fan of the movie Donnie Darko and thought it was a strange coincidence, but didn't think anything of it,” Ana wrote. “I accepted the request, let him know I would not be there for check-in and Fabio would care for him until I was back the following week.”

When Ana returned after her trip, she had no idea that her life would change forever. Upon opening the door to her apartment, there stood Darko, who was so taken by her that he nearly fell over. “I was sure he stumbled because he had sand on his feet and didn't wash it downstairs as the rules of the building say, and I caught him, lol (everybody does that!). But it wasn't sand, it was just love at first sight... for him, I was still mad about the imaginary sand,” she joked.

As Ana worked on her business classes and workshops in her apartment, Darko lay around watching TV, barely venturing outside to see the marvels of Rio. Even though Ana told him all the great spots to visit, he was just as happy to hang around and talk to her when she took breaks.

It seemed that all Darko really needed was right there in the Airbnb.

“We chatted about everything in life during my breaks and got more and more connected,” Ana remembers. “We were still keeping a respectful distance because, from my perspective, he was my guest and I wanted him to feel safe.” As the temporary tenant, Darko was in a strange position, too. He was a “strange man” in Ana’s home and didn’t want to be too forward.

Ana believes that because the two kept a safe distance, their feelings had more time to grow. “That distance was the key for our friendship and connection to develop organically,” Ana said.

As Darko's week-long stay neared its end, the duo decided to catch a sunset at Arpoador Rock. It was a mesmerizing evening with a dual spectacle: a breathtaking sunset on one side and the grandest supermoon in three decades on the other. Moved by the magic of Rio and his growing bond with Ana, Darko extended his stay by three months, sidelining his plans to travel across Brazil to watch soccer.

“We had 3 awesome months together exploring Rio,” Ana wrote. “We did not go to the stadium to watch the games live, but we went to ‘watch events’ with friends, traveled to small places around Rio, and stayed in an Airbnb in Ilha Grande.”

Sadly, after 3 months, Darko had to return to Canada for work, and it seemed their blossoming relationship had come to an end. “I thought our journey would be over and we would remain as friends, but we kept in contact every day until he came back 3 months later for another 3 months in Rio together,” Ana wrote.

Three years after Darko fell, or at least stumbled, in love at first sight, the couple was married and recently celebrated their 6th anniversary.

All because of a chance Airbnb booking in “Fabio’s Pantry.”

bride and groom toastingAna and Darko at their wedding.Upworthy

Airbnb brought Ana and Darko together and continues to be a big part of their lives. “We went on a big trip together in 2016/2017 to Southeast Asia, and we stayed in tons of Airbnbs in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia,” Ana wrote. Her relationship with Airbnb, which started in Rio and moved on to Asia, has now gone worldwide.

“By 2017, I was recovered and traveling the world as a program manager for entrepreneurship programs. I had projects (and Airbnbs!) in Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, USA and East Canada (New Brunswick) and luggage all over the world,” Ana wrote.

In 2018, Darko took Ana to his birthplace, the former Yugoslavia, which is now Bosnia, and they visited Rovinj by the sea, a place Darko fondly regards as paradise. Naturally, they used Airbnb during their trip, extending their stay across various Croatian cities.

Darko and Ana’s story is a beautiful example of serendipity's role in people’s lives.

The right people found each other in the perfect place and had all the time in the world. Nice job, Airbnb. If any aspiring screenwriters read this, “Fabio’s Pantry” is a great name for the film adaptation.


This article originally appeared two years ago.

travel
Family

When her 5-year-old broke his leg, this mom raised $0. It's actually inspiring.

Her crowdfunding alternative is so obvious, it's shocking America hasn't taken advantage of it.

OrthoIndy

A bad injury doesn't come with a cost.

Freddie Teer is a normal boy. He loves Legos, skateboarding, and horsing around with his older brother Ollie. But in March 2017, his mother faced every parent's worst nightmare.Freddie was doing tricks down the stairs of his front porch when he fell off his bike—and his bike fell on him. "[He was] just crying, wouldn't let us touch his leg, couldn't put any weight on his leg. We knew," mom Ashley says.

Ashley rushed Freddie to the emergency room, where an X-ray confirmed the bones in his left shin were broken in half. He needed to be sedated, his bones had to be set, and he was put in a cast. It was an agonizing day for the Teers. But it's what happened next that was truly inspiring.

green and yellow bike lying in grass beside red shoesFreddie fell of his bike—and his bike fell on him. Photo via iStock

We've all seen heartwarming stories of communities coming together to raise money online to help people cover medical care costs for themselves and loved ones.

There was the Kentucky mom with stage 4 cancer whose family collected over $1 million. The New Orleans police officer whose unit banked thousands for her chemotherapy. The Colorado man who lost his legs and whose friends crowdfunded his recovery.

various headlines

Many Americans raise money and receive donations to cover healthcare costs.

Photo byMonam/Pixabay

While Freddie's injury required major treatment, none of Ashley's friends raised any money for him.

No one from their town took up a collection or held a bake sale.

No GoFundMe page was started to help cover his bills.

Instead, Ashley and Freddie walked out of the hospital owing nothing. Because they live in Canada.

"You just leave," Ashley says. "You don't pay anything."

Incredible.

Under Canada's healthcare system, people like the Teers can see their doctors and go to the hospital when they're hurt or sick, and they don't get charged.

So heartwarming.

It almost wasn't this way.

Ashley was born and raised in St. Louis in the U.S. where health care is expensive and complicated. In 2005, she fell in love with a Canadian man and moved with him to Abbotsford, British Columbia, where they and their five children will enjoy heavily subsidized, affordable health care coverage at a low premium for the remainder of their natural lives.

"We're able to go when we need help and we get help," Ashley says.

Just amazing.

As Freddie recovered, no one showed up at the Teer home with a large check or collection plate full of cash.

Instead, Ashley and her family were "supported through meals and just that kind of care"—meals they were able to enjoy without having to decide between enduring the shame of hitting up their friends for money or facing the prospect of sliding into bankruptcy.

two boys playing outside

Freddie (right) and his brother Ollie.

Photo by Ashley Teer.

The most uplifting part? Middle-income Canadians like the Teers pay taxes at roughly the same rates as Americans and still get their bones fixed for free at hospitals.

Not everything about Freddie's recovery process was smooth.

The first night, Freddie tossed and turned in severe pain, unable to sleep. Ashley, however, was able to call her family doctor—who she never has to pay since he is compensated by a public system that continues to have overwhelming public support to this day (though support has dipped slightly in recent years)—to get her son a codeine prescription. Miraculous!

Canada's public health care plan doesn't cover drugs. But, inspiringly, because of price controls, medicine is way cheaper there.

The Teers did lean on their friends and family for help while Freddie got better.

"We were kind of just asking people to pray," she explains—primarily to lift her son's spirits, and not, thankfully, to ask God to provide sufficient funds to cover basic medical care that every human living in a fair and prosperous society should have access to.

Even though he wasn't able to move around, friends and relatives eagerly invited Freddie to hang out during his recovery instead avoiding him out of guilt for not pledging enough to his GoFundMe campaign.

young boy in a cast sitting by corn stalks

Freddie with his cast in the garden.

Photo by Ashley Teer.

Just. Wow.

With support from his community, Freddie's cast came off six weeks later, right on schedule.

Healthy once more, Freddie went right back to enjoying extreme sports like BMX biking, skateboarding, and snowboarding, and Ashley is free to let him enjoy them without worrying about one fall wiping out their entire life savings and leaving her family destitute.

"Where we live, we're not stressful when things happen to our kids," Ashley says. "It's not a stressful time financially, so the whole family is not anxious."

It's peace of mind that she—and the residents of virtually every other rational, wealthy, industrialized country in the world—share.

"I feel safe, and I feel like my voice is heard," she says. "I can't imagine living in a place that I didn't feel that way."


This article originally appeared seven years ago.

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