I never did this, but if I had to do it over again, I would do it that way.
I think I remember you saying you/wife worked most summers via. Summer School,tutoring, furthering your education, etc. Plus of course you had real estate stuff going on.
My question is - Had you done nothing (work related) in the Summers would you have considered those "mini-retirements" or would that be too short?
Just curious, for those on thread who don't know me my wife is a teacher and I'm sort of self employed and hope to join her in Summers off in 3-5 years after clearing up some debt.
Two months is nothing. That's barely enough time to decompress. We did a backpacking through Europe trip one summer, and that was great, but not like a retirement (even a mini-one).
I think I'd take 1-2 year sabbaticals, personally.
The wife and I just hit a year, approximately, and we discussed how we weren't quite ready to go back, though we could if we had to (e.g. if we had only saved up enough to take a year off, instead of being FI), but that in another year, we'd totally be energized and ready to work again, if we were planning on it.
I mean, sure, two months is better than the lousy two weeks most people get. But we can spend a month or two just in a single town. Having two months off to relax and vacation and decompress is quite a bit different than a retirement where you aren't just temporarily doing it, but you're
living it.
IDK, it's hard to explain. You'll see what I mean though, when you do fully FIRE and spend all your time with the wife/kids/stuff you want to do. :)