The Freedom to Say Yes: Travel, Spontaneity and Later Living on the Gold Coast

Some of the best trips start with a phone call. A friend has a spare seat on a cruise. The grandchildren have a free week in the school holidays. A flight sale lands in your inbox on a Tuesday morning. The only question that really matters is whether you can say yes.

At Esprit de Vie in Mermaid Waters, saying yes is easy. That is not an accident. It is the whole idea behind later living: a home that gives you your time back, so the good opportunities in front of you are opportunities you can actually take.

Your Time Belongs to You Again

A later living apartment is designed around the life you want to live rather than the jobs a property creates. The grounds are cared for. The shared spaces are looked after. The building hums along beautifully whether you are in it or halfway across the world.

What that gives you is hours. Whole weekends, in fact. The time that used to go into a big garden and a long list of small jobs becomes yours to spend however you please, and the money follows the same path. For a lot of our residents, that means travel. For others it means a standing Thursday lunch that runs well into the afternoon, a hobby they never had time for, or a long unhurried morning on the balcony with the paper and nowhere in particular to be.

Either way, the maths changes in your favour. Your later living apartment in Mermaid Waters asks very little of you, which leaves a great deal of room for everything else.

Travel Often, Travel Easily

If seeing more of the world is on your list for this chapter, where you live shapes how often you get to do it.

Life at Esprit de Vie makes a trip a simple decision. You choose the dates, you pack, you go. A long slow cruise, a fortnight in Europe, three months following the grandchildren around the country, or a spur-of-the-moment few days up the coast all fit just as neatly into the calendar. Your apartment stays secure and beautifully kept, the community carries on around it, and the whole place is exactly as you left it when you walk back through the door.

The Days You Are Home

Freedom is not only about the big trips. It shows up in the ordinary week just as much.

A slow morning out at your private balcony with a coffee is one of the quiet pleasures of the place.

For the days you feel like moving, the Sweat Club and the heated magnesium pool are a short stroll from your door. It is a home that works just as well whether you are in it or not.

Everyday Life Is Sorted Too

Esprit de Vie sits in Mermaid Waters with Q Super Centre, Pacific Fair and The Star all within a five-minute radius. Shopping, a good dinner out, a show, a day of something different: all of it is close enough to be a whim rather than an expedition.

The community carries on around you in the same easy way. Neighbours who feel more like friends are nearby, the building stays beautifully looked after and daily life keeps its comfortable rhythm whether you are here for the whole month or away for half of it.

The Best Part of Going Away Is Coming Back

Travel is wonderful. Coming home is its own pleasure and it is a good deal better when there is something to come home to. Restock the fridge, catch up with friends, ease back into the swing of things.

After a trip, Harry's Dining is right there for a proper catch-up. Open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee and a well-earned cocktail, it is the easiest way to land back into the community and tell everyone where you have been. You leave with a suitcase. You return to people who are genuinely glad to see you.

A Life With Room In It

Later living is not a smaller life. For people who want to see more, do more and say yes more often, it is a considerably bigger one. The home works quietly away in the background so that the interesting part, the part with people and places and plans in it, gets all the space it deserves. That is later living beyond expectations, and it makes for a very good chapter.

Come and see how it feels for yourself. Call us on 1300 4218 00 or visit espritdevie.com.au to find out what later living on the Gold Coast could open up for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you travel easily when you live in a later living apartment?

Very easily. The upkeep is handled and the community keeps its rhythm while you are away, so trips near and far become simple decisions rather than logistical projects.

Is later living a good fit for people who love to travel?

It is one of the best fits going. A low-maintenance apartment gives you back the time and the freedom that make regular travel realistic, so you can go as often as you like.

What is life like at Esprit de Vie between trips?

Full and easy. Harry's Dining is open seven days, the Sweat Club and heated magnesium pool are a short walk away, private balconies are standard, and Q Super Centre, Pacific Fair and The Star are all within five minutes.

Do I still get my own outdoor space in an apartment?

Yes. Private balconies are standard at Esprit de Vie, so you have your own outdoor spot to enjoy without a garden to look after.