First you spend a few months de-stressing and getting enough sleep. Then you do some of the things you always wanted, like adventure travel.
After a few years of that, you realize that frantic activity for its own sake doesn't truly satisfy. Besides, it tends to deplete your retirement resources. This is the point when you look at yourself and your living situation and start thinking, this is who I am and this is what I've got, how do I make the most of it?
The settling-in phase is when life can become peaceful and quiet, also very fulfilling in a way that's hard to explain. Deep satisfaction can come from small, everyday, unplanned things. This is when you can really smell the roses.
After reaching the settling-in point, I started seeing car free living as less of a physical/tactical challenge, and more as part of an overall retirement strategy I call Convenience Living. I guess that's for lack of a better term. The concept is that one's life (in retirement) can be arranged for maximum efficiency, sustainability and convenience. And that as a result it's possible to simply eliminate the need for driving and car ownership.