A Home Base after 60? Yes.
Stopping Travel? Absolutely Not!
Signing that lease in Las Vegas and picking up my keys felt surreal.
After four-plus years of full-time travel, it’s taken me a minute to remember my keys again. Wonderful, but weird.
And here’s the important part: settling down didn’t end my travels — it simply changed how and why I go.
Before COVID, when I last lived in Vegas, I used to escape to Seattle or San Diego just to hear and smell the ocean. When you’ve lived landlocked long enough, you start craving that sound in your bones.
I’ve returned to this travel.
Since moving in, I’ve been flying to San Diego regularly — seeing friends, doing my cruise-crew gig for a day, wandering the Embarcadero, grabbing tacos from the market, taking the ferry to Coronado, walking the bay, face tilted toward the sun, listening to the water. It’s simple. It’s meaningful. It’s mine.
San Diego helping cruise passengers embark and debark.
For the cost, the location, the convenience — and honestly, the thrill of living my best life over 60. This is my second time living in Las Vegas, but this time feels completely different. I didn’t return out of circumstance; I chose it with intention.
Why a high-rise on the Strip? Because reinvention isn’t quiet.
I picked a furnished apartment in a high-rise — by the same architect who created the State of Illinois building in Chicago where I once worked. A little full-circle magic.
I’ve always loved high-rise living:
• sweeping views
• a pool and gym steps away
• Peloton bikes
• concierge and valet
• EV charging
• walkability to everything I need
It feels like living in a luxury hotel without ever checking out. Or from my experience a land based cruise that never ends.
Las Vegas understands people over 60 — those of us who still have plenty of living, learning, and leaping left. Las Vegas has a lower cost of living than California or Chicago, no state income tax, great weather, and endless (free) things to do. For me, this move wasn’t about retirement. It was about alignment — finding a home base that supports the life I actually want to live.
One early Sunday morning, walking through one of many Vegas indoor malls, I caught myself wondering if they had a walking club. Tell me you’re 65 without telling me you’re 65.
As a resident, I get discounts at restaurants and access to the other properties, pools and spa. But what sold me were the views — the mountains glowing at sunrise, the sunrise in the morning or neon reflecting off the mirrored face at night, the hum of the city below. It’s like living in a quiet nest above it all.
I had lived in Las Vegas three years before becoming a full-time nomad and have come in and out of Vegas countless times during my travels. But choosing it again feels different — more intentional, more rooted, and more aligned with where I am now.
Las Vegas sunrise view from the top…every morning.
Next post the I’ll share the real Las Vegas, the one off the Strip. It has all the vibrancy and community I’ve always loved and makes life in NV work.
Choosing Las Vegas again wasn’t settling down.
It wasn’t an ending.
It is a continuation — another loud, colorful, unexpected chapter in a life that keeps unfolding.
Reinvention isn’t quiet.
And sometimes, it looks like a high-rise in the desert.
Rebuilding a life after 60 isn’t settling — it’s choosing what feels right for this season. Routine, community, and purpose can be their own kind of freedom.