Planning The Best Girls Getaway

It’s springtime and soon all of my teacher friends will be out of school for the summer.  After taking a fun spa trip last summer to celebrate my retirement, we have decided to repeat for friend Patti’s retirement this summer and most likely make these trips annual events in the future.  There’s never a bad time to get away with a group of gal pals or a mom/daughter 3-5 day mini trip.  Girlfriend getaways can be tricky since they involve different personalities of people who have little to no travel experience together.  The main thing to keep in mind when planning a getaway is to get input from everyone throughout the entire planning process.  Organization on the front end is important when balancing activity with relaxation in a short, 3-5 day trip.  There are a lot of things to consider such as destination, activities, restaurants, and accommodations. 

     

“What do we want to do?”  A lot of people choose the destination first, but shouldn’t the destination be based on the primary activity?  When booking our spa trips, we research the best spas in the U.S. and build our trip around one of those destinations instead of choosing the destination and then settling on the spa available in our selected location.

“When do we want to go?” Probably the toughest part of the planning process is choosing dates when everyone is available.  When I was working as a teacher and President of my teachers’ union, one strategy that always worked for me when scheduling for busy people was to give 3 possible dates.  That still seems to work.  

“Where shall we go?”  Based on chosen activities and dates, I like to repeat the 3-choice method.  Offer up 3 possible destinations and get input from your travel mates.  Everyone likes choices and it’s more fun for your travel mates to choose from 3 possible destinations than to ask them to come up with an idea.   

Once the destination and dates have been chosen, the planning gets much easier and a lot more fun!  Book your activities, meal reservations, and work out your travel plans.   I like to use a combination of Trip Advisor and travel blogs to help guide my options of restaurants and activities.  Although the recipe for a great getaway includes options, flexibility, and good planning, the most important thing is to relax and have a good time with precious friends and/or family.        

Go Play Outside!

Remember when our kids were little and we would say, “Go play outside and get some fresh air?”  Maybe we should take that advice for ourselves.  The weather is finally getting nice (at least in Illinois) so last weekend I set the tone for my April to October workout routine:  Play Outside.  April to October gives us 7 months that we can make nature our health club.  My favorites - biking, hiking, and golf (walk, don’t ride).  There are dozens of outdoor activities that will get you moving, from strolling through the Farmers Market to gardening, or just go to a beautiful nature trail and bike or hike.  Saturday I journeyed a 4 mile hike on one of the many nearby forest preserve trails and Sunday the bike came out of the garage for a 20 mile ride.  

There are many factors that make playing outside a much better workout than sitting on a stationary bike or walking on an elliptical inside of a gym:  change in terrain, environmental differences such as wind and temperature, and the mere fact that we are doing ALL of the work instead of being helped by a machine.   Add to that these benefits:  better mental health, breathing in fresh air, and soaking up some Vitamin D.  My “Play Outside” mantra might sound like a broken record but I cannot stress enough how valuable it is.  This is not to say we should completely abandon the health club.  It’s a great idea to mix in some instructor-led classes, like yoga, pilates, or CrossFit, but when the weather is nice, we should try and get outside as much as we can.    

For the next 8 weeks, I will be spending my days with grandson Dominic while his Mom and Dad are working.  So lucky to have the opportunity to spend time with the little man, but it required a change in my activity schedule.  Easy fix - this is a great time to change my routine from going to the health club in the morning to biking and hiking in the evening.  I also found some yoga and pilates classes that fit into my new schedule.  For grandparents who spend days with grandkids, take the kiddos outside with you.  They love going for walks with grandparents and the fresh air/Vitamin D is good for them too!  It seems like more and more people are taking their workouts outdoors.  Many instructor-led classes are meeting outside between May and October.  Use google or contact your local park district to find outdoor instructor-led fitness classes, like the Stroller Strides class my daughter found for new moms.           

What are you going to do with your 168 hours this week?  Whether you're working or retired, young or 50+, devote some hours to playing outside.  

Retiring Soon? "What Will I Do All Day?"

It’s been almost a year since I took the plunge and started my new life as a retiree.  In conversations with a friend of mine, who is making the move in June, we talk about what retirement has looked like for me and how it might look for her.  Making the decision to retire almost always starts with the all-important question, “What will I do all day?” Of course popular responses such as traveling, reading, time with the grandkids, etc. are easy answers.  We can all imagine what our day looks like when we travel or when the grandkids come over.  But what about those days when we wake up in our own home and we have no set plans for the day?  What does THAT day look like?  Eventually all of our closets will be organized and all of the redecorating will be finished.  Now what? What is your vision of your daily schedule?  

After 35+ years of getting up each morning, going to work and leading a scheduled life, it can be exciting, but also a little scary, to start a new life with no schedule.  Those of us who thrive on a fast-paced, scheduled lifestyle (shout out to all my Type A friends) can feel a lot of uneasiness with our impending retirement.  My dad always said, “I’m not ready for the rocking chair on the front porch yet.”  In other words, his vision was not a relaxed retirement, but more an active one.   A great article I recently read from the 50+ Field Guide Facebook page titled, “Which of These Retirement Paths Will You Follow?” talks about 6 retirement paths people take.  I see myself as the adventurer/searcher with a touch of involved spectator.  My uneasiness was not fear of retirement - it was fear of boredom.  

Immediately following my official retirement date, I established a

new routine based on my goals and personality.  One of my top retirement goals was to focus on healthy lifestyle practices, specifically, physical activity, healthy diet, and plenty of sleep.  Many of us try and maintain a healthy lifestyle while working but end up just “fitting it in” to our busy schedules.  Developing a new daily routine gave me an opportunity to dedicate to my goal full time.  After a nutritional smoothie and a morning workout, I have the rest of the day for hobbies, time with grandkids and friends, or whatever tasks I want or need to complete for the day.  Try and end your day with activities that are aligned with your goals as well.  I like to create healthy recipes for dinner and go for a hike (if the weather cooperates).  

Retired friends will tell you, “I don’t know how I had time to work.”  That statement is not far from the truth - if you choose to have a full calendar, you will.  Start your retirement with a routine that makes you happy and healthy and everything else will fall into place.  

Embracing Technology During Retirement

Baby Boomers seem to have a love-hate relationship with technology.  Many of us purchased our first home computers in the 90’s with the thought that our kids would use them for educational purposes and we would spend time browsing the internet.  Little did we know that we would soon be expected to incorporate technology into our careers which was intimidating and frustrating to many.  My opinion has always been to embrace it - it’s not going away.  If we don’t, we will become more frustrated as the world changes around us and we don’t change with it.  Case in point - either learn to work the kiosk at the airport to tag your luggage or be prepared to stand in line at curbside check-in (sometimes in the cold).

Several years ago on one of my many trips downstate to spend time with my mom in the nursing home, I stopped and picked up a router to install in my parents’ home so that I could use my iPad to enter grades for my students during the weekend.  I had been thinking about getting my dad an iPad to keep him occupied during the many hours he sat by my mother’s side.  Knowing my father’s curiosity with technology, I was certain the device would spark a little interest.  As I installed the router, my 80 something year old father says, “What’s that and what are you doing?”  After explaining the concept of wifi, I opened my iPad and soon my dad was leaning over my shoulder with “What’s that?  Can I see it?”  Within a few minutes, there was an iPad on it’s way to his home from Apple.

Watching an 80+ year old teach himself (for the most part) how to use an iPad, master a Smartphone, and download novels to a Kindle verifies my belief that we are all capable of learning new information no matter what our age.  Embracing technology during retirement can be fun and can help connect us with our kids and grandkids.  Here are some ways technology can be a friend during retirement:

• Pictures of family.  Remember years ago when we scheduled photo sessions for our kids, waited for the photos to be developed, paid a handsome price for enough copies for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and then either shipped them off or gave them away for Christmas?  Social media like Instagram, Facebook, and SnapChat allows us to see an abundance of photos instantly.  We can save photos to our electronic devices and send them off for prints that will be sent to us before we have a chance to buy frames (I use Mpix).  I love that my kids text me photos of Carson and Dominic on a regular basis.  Technology is a natural part of the world our kids and grandkids live in.  Becoming a part of that world is a great way to build connections.     

• Trips!  Anyone recall the way we used to book trips?  Call the airline, get prices, wait for the tickets to arrive.  We had to visit a travel agent and look through books and brochures.  Now we can get a plethora of information from dozens of websites.  A website like Trip Advisor can help us book trips and choose restaurants or plan activities.  It’s also fun to write reviews of the places we have visited for other travelers.  Going on a road trip?  We can use the GPS on our Smartphones instead of muddling our way through the countryside.   

• Shopping.  Amazon is my go-to for anything that may or may not exist.   You can find just about anything on Amazon.  For those of us who are not fans of the crowds and confusion on Black Friday, we can do most of our Christmas shopping online (get a PayPal account).  If you like to shop for unique and creative gifts for friends, family or even yourself, visit Etsy.       

• A chance to be creative.  Pinterest is a great place to visit for creative inspiration.  The recipe I used to create dozens of jars of cinnamon pear butter for Kristina’s baby shower came from Pinterest.  I got a lot of ideas for the graphic tea towels I created for family and friends from Pinterest.    

For those of us who are already comfortable with technology, kudos.  Anyone out there struggling a bit, ask your kids for help or just play around with it until you feel more comfortable.  I still can’t figure out how to animate photos on Snapchat, but I’m never too proud to ask for help!  For now I will just let the kids send me funny photos and I will comment on them!