Tag: retirement living

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Active Adult Living Retirement

Travel in Retirement

travel tour group

Travel is probably the one activity most associated with retirement. We dream all our working lives that one day we will have the time to travel.

For one group, the travel dream is being lived out and that group is active adults.

Active Adults Like to Travel.

It makes sense, since being active means to move and if you move enough, you are traveling. Ha.

In our Active Adult Community, we have a monthly newsletter, The Deaton Creek Villager, that has a section called “Traveling Villager” that displays photographs of residents on their travels.  I love this section which gives you a good idea of where Active Adults travel to.

This month the Traveling Villager has photographs of our residents in these locations: Mt. Masada Israel, Arches National Park in Utah, Grand Teton National Park WY, Bacelona Spain, Dunrobin Castle Highlands Scotland, Murphy’s Bar Lillarney Ireland, Rose distillery Dillard GA, Eiffel Tower in Paris, cruising Glacier Bay Alaska, on a camel in Judean Desert West Bank, Lambeau Field Green Bay, Erice Sicily.  Wow, how’s that for a bucket list, and that’s only one month.
travel photos

 

Active Adult Communities Make Traveling Easier

There are a couple of ways living in an 55+ Active Adult Retirement Community makes travel easier.

  1. You feel safer leaving your home. It is a gated community with neighbors that know each other.
  2. Travel Opportunities

There are Many Types of  Travel Opportunities

Some examples of travel opportunities in Active Adult Communities are:

  1. Day Trippers Group – Day Trippers take a different trip each month. We are limited to excursions that can be completed within one day. We go to places within a 150 mile radius from the Village.  With 700 members, trips fill up fast.  Some trips coming up this year are:
    8/7/ Harrah’s Cherokee Casino
    9/17/ Cirque du Soleil Luzia
    10/12/ College Football Hall of Fame, Carlos museum
    11/17/ Gwinnett Gladiators Ice hockey
    12/16/ Symphony
  2. Independent Travel Group – People who want to plot their own itinerary when planning vacations. Purpose: Meet to share experiences on how to plan your own travel, save money, basic photography, use the Internet to find information, learn country customs, book hotels, get a more in-depth cultural experience, etc.  Many times neighbor friends in Active Adult Communities do a trip together.
  3. Travel Group – Do you like to travel ? Do you want to travel ? Well then this is the group for you! UPCOMING TRIPS: Many great trips planned for the coming months including, Ireland, Tulip River Cruise, London/Paris, British Isles cruise, Australia/New Zeland and New York City Holiday.

These travel groups are a tremendous resource for your retirement travel in so many ways, giving travel ideas, making travel easier and even letting you travel with friends while not having to worry about the logistics of travel.

Outside travel companies cater to our Active Adult Community and make presentations in our clubhouse. Organized trips will pick us up and return to our parking lot. How convenient is that!

Mary Ann and I will be on the Daniel Discovery Tours ten day trip in October for the New England Fall Foliage. Escorted motor coach tours these days provide high-quality, comfortable trips to destinations throughout the United States and Canada.

Road Scholar learning adventures are designed to enrich, thrill, and challenge you.  Road Scholar has been recommended to me by several friends. Not cheap, but reportedly worth it.

Collette Tours is probably the top senior travel company offering guided tours worldwide. They will have tours leaving from your Active Adult Community.

Cruises. One of my favorite posts to research and write was Cruise Travel Tips and gives a good overview of why people love to take a cruise.

Associations– This week one of our community friends (Mary Lou) is in New Orleans and posted a pic of her group cruising the Mississippi River. She is there attending a retired teacher association meeting.  Another neighbor Ron is retired military and told me he went to a retired  military group meeting in Saint Louis and another I think in Portland Oregon later this Summber where he is spend some vacation time. With my track club association I have traveled to MN, NC, NM, and AL attending the USATF and National Senior Games.  You may have some outside associations too that offer travel opportunities.

AARP Travel is a good source of travel ideas and travel discounts.

4. Travel With Teens – Many of our friends like to travel with their families once a year. My pickleball buddy just went on a cruise with this family, then he and his wife did a back to back cruise by themselves. Other popular family travel is to rent a big house at the beach or in the mountains.

Living in an Active Adult Community definitely helps one enjoy their dream of retirement travel. This is a intangible benefit that you may not be made aware of when considering an active adult community lifestyle.

Robert Fowler

Travel while you can.
My friend Larry

 

Categories
Active Adult Living Retirement

Planning Your Schedule in Retirement

Planning your day in retirement
Planning your day in retirement

When we were in the work world, we had a routine didn’t we? You knew where you were going each weekday and most likely what you were going to be doing.

Then finally retirement comes along and you rejoice in not having a routine. You don’t even have to set your alarm clock for a change.  Just get up and do what you want to do. Not what the boss wants you to. Nice.

But then you realize there are pitfalls.  One day you don’t get dressed until noon and some days you may not even go out of the house.  Having a lot of free time without anything to do leads to problems.

You realize you need physical and mental activities. You need and miss socialization.  You start doing things again, things you look forward to and want to do.

In an active adult community there are plenty of things to do and people to do them with.  At first when you are new, you want to try as many things as possible and actually that is a good way to find out what you really like to do. But you find out you can’t do everything. In fact, more is not necessarly better.  One, two or three scheduled activities a week is just fine for many folks. Some want more.

Planning Your Retirement Schedule

You realize you are missing out on some things you really wanted to do. You check the activities calendar and do some juggling on your schedule.  You discover  planning your schedule in retirement is key!

Then you realize there is a pattern, a routine of events and activities. You sign up for the bocce league and get assigned to play every Tuesday at 10am.   Or, you play pickleball with a group every Tuesday and Thursday.  On Monday and Friday you take a Cardio Sculpture class from 11am until noon.  My wife, Mary Ann, is likely to play Hand and Foot card game with a group every Tuesday from 1pm until 3:30pm. I play Hearts on Wednesday.

Be the master of your own schedule

It is ideal to schedule some physical, mental and social activities. A lot of activities cover some of each.

You find it best not to crowd your schedule. You are not trying to schedule your whole day. Most days I have something scheduled. Today it’s trivia at 4pm. Then there is always filler activities like going to lunch, taking a walk, visiting the gym or the library and many more.

The weekend comes and everyone takes a break. There are not as many scheduled events on the weekends at active adult communities. Next week we start again.

Your schedule starts to settle down to a comfortable pattern. The activity is always fun but you no longer have to hassle with planning your day. You have developed a routine and a schedule. Life is good!

Developing and planning your schedule is part of part of the adjustment to a successful retirement.

Enjoying busy my way!
Enjoying busy my way!