Save The Naugas! » Retirement

The Austin World Travelers Come to Visit

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:31:09 +0000

We had guests from Austin, Texas last weekend, and they were real RATS! In this case, that stands for Retired Austin Travelers. They said they had retired from teaching in the Austin public schools, and were now “spending their children’s inheritance” by seeing the world.

The husband said they had visited 21 of the 44 nations in Europe, along with countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Their next trip was going to be to Antarctica in the “summer” (January), where they hope to see some penguins. They also enjoy flying and driving around the United States.

The wife said that there are a lot of retired people in Austin who like to do a lot of travel, and that they were by no means exceptional. They mentioned a magazine called International Travel News, where they get a lot of their information on new destinations.

They behaved themselves – no drunken brawls or running naked through the dining room – so we were glad to have them visit and invited them back the next time they were in this neck of the woods.

Retiree Association Members Come to Visit

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:42:32 +0000

We had a group of retirees stay at the Naugas last week. They had all retired from the same large corporation, were now living on pensions and 401K money and were having fun. Their trip was arranged by their retiree association, and we gave them a pretty good nightly rate.

I got to chat with the president of the retiree association about his “job.” He said he volunteers his time for the job, and likes it because it keeps him busy and actively engaged. He said he had decided to become active in the retiree association even before he retired, when he was just thinking about retiring.

I asked him what it was like to lead a retired staff association. He said that leadership of a retiree association was a lot different than leading a business, because all his staff – vice president, secretary, treasurer, sargeant at arms, travel director, discussion group director, wellness chair – were all volunteers. He could not order them around, like he could paid staff.

In addition, the members of the retiree association had more absences due to health issues, many were lonely widows or widowers, financial difficulties, and some had “memory problems” (in many cases, a code word for Alzheimers disease). These all made retiree association management more challenging than corporate management.

He said he had located a resource for retiree association leaders, an internet mailing list named RetireeAssociations where they could discuss their mutual problems and find common solutions.

Our discussion helped me understand better some of the things that go on here at the Naugas…although we will never be large enough to have our own association of retired staff.

Bat-Man Comes to the Inn

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:45:20 +0000

Well, I thought I had seen just about everything…until Bat-Man checked in!

He was probably in his 70s and un-married, a retired engineer he said. He walked up to the desk to check in, and when I looked up I almost lost it. He had these clear plastic bat-wings sticking out of the sides of his head.

Earglasses made of clear plastic

We aren’t always too polite and discrete at the Naugas Inn, so it wasn’t long before somebody asked him what the heck those things were. He said they are Earglasses, a non-electronic hearing aid. He said they work just like if you cup your hand behind your ear, in order to hear a faint sound. He said they only cost $10 a pair, and don’t make strange sounds or need batteries like normal hearing aids.

He said he likes them, but knows that they make him look more than a little odd. He has regular electronic hearing aids for more formal situations, and uses his Earglasses mostly in private.

Bat-Man was a perfectly well behaved guest, and we wished him well when he checked out two days later.