At Fuller’s, John Keeling travelled for work. Now he travels for pleasure. And with 64 days on the road in 2024 he, along with his wife Symone, have taken in some fantastic sights. Along with a smattering of excellent beer, too. And they’re not ‘dunroamin’ just yet.

It’s now been six years since I retired and I must admit, I am enjoying it. If I may be bold and offer anyone approaching retirement some words of advice it would be to just not let it happen. Plan for it.

Sure, we all produce a list of things to do and it’s probably something like my list I bet.

Which was 1) read more books 2) listen to more music 3) develop new hobbies 4) travel more.

Well, your plan needs a bit more detail than that if you want a successful retirement. A successful retirement is a happy retirement.

So how has it gone for me? Well, I have read some books and enjoyed them. Not as many as I thought I would although I did skate through Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series which was great fun.

The same applies to music with me mainly sticking to my old favourites not discovering new music which I thought I would. This is not a problem because it still leaves me with the ambition. 

I have developed no new hobbies, and this is because I have kept an involvement with brewing and beer which gives me great enjoyment without huge responsibilities.

Sure, I could have more involvement, but I don’t have the drive to find that extra involvement. That leaves me content not dissatisfied.

However, there is one ambition which I have been overwhelmingly successful. Travel!

Sometimes I offer some sage advice like ‘become an accountant’ or occasionally ‘go back to being an accountant’, but I know they have been bitten by the bug.

Before retirement I travelled for business and after retirement I travel for pleasure. I love to mix a little brewing business into my travel and visit breweries and meet brewers.

It gives me great pleasure to hear their plans and taste their beer. The world of beer is a great place. Sometimes I offer some sage advice like ‘become an accountant’ or occasionally ‘go back to being an accountant, but I know they have been bitten by the bug. I just hope they enjoy their life as a brewer as much as I did.

So where have I been this year? Well, my travels started in February with a trip to Edinburgh and finished in November with a trip to Paris.

In between, my wife, Symone and I visited Istanbul, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Suffolk, Nottingham, Harrogate, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, North Wales, Isle of Wight, Prague, Venice and Milan. That meant 64 nights in hotels this year. I enjoyed each one.

My favourite trip beer wise was my three and a bit week trip around Britain. I think this was for nostalgic reasons as much as anything else plus my favourite beer is cask.

This took me back to the days of my youth traveling Britain sampling the local bitter. Each region had its own interpretation of bitter and mild and it was a joy discovering.

I hope craft beer can have a stronger regional identity too. In fact, that is my wish and that Is craft beer in each country should have its own beer identity.

Prague is somewhere that definitely has its own beer identity and culture. I had been to Prague three times before but only on business.

This time we could do all the touristy things too. Beer and tourism are so easily combined in Prague sometimes it is not easy to separate them at all. A place to revisit time and time again

Istanbul and Venice are both overcrowded even in the off season but they boast magnificent architecture and the atmosphere more than makes up for this.

Milan is a great city too and has its own vibrant beer scene but with less tourists. You must go and see the main station though – it’s one of the best I have ever seen. Texas is a fantastic place to visit, and Austin is a great beer and food town

The great thing about beer Twitter/X is that every time I ask for suggestions of places to visit, I get lots of good suggestions.

It is very enjoyable visiting a recommendation and knowing that somebody out there made the time to help me. Thank you all.

So, the record for me is 64 days travel, will I beat it next year? Well, I’ll certainly try. Now to look forward to Christmas I have already ordered beers from breweries like Fuller’s and Utopian but I think I can fit some more in so I will have to make some difficult choices…