This is part 2 of a series about picking the right retirement community to fit your needs. In this post, we will talk about “The Greater Community”, meaning offering entertaining trips into the metropolitan area, and possibly beyond.
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From The Author of the list:
What opportunities for exercise, cultural pursuits, sightseeing, religious services, entertainment, and just plain fun are available in the neighborhood and the metro area as a whole (which you may not know that well if you are moving from another part of the country)? An independent living community shouldn’t be just a self-contained unit but, rather, an extension of the greater community around it as well.
From My Visit to Retirement Communities:
From my visits around the country, the greater community varies widely. Some RetComs are in small towns or sparsely populated areas, that would require multi-hour trips to “see the sites”. Some are in large cities where the possibilities are almost endless. Some, like the “Villages” in central Florida, are cities within themselves.
A couple of the RetComs I visited offered multi-day trips with hotel stays along the way. One even went so far as to offer week-long adventures, including a trans-Canadian trip.
My Retirement Community:
My RetCom is in a rather large college town. It provides transportation two and from many cultural and sports related activities. There is also the weekly dining out trip that is very popular, sometimes a couple of hours away. Once a week or so, they offer trips 50+ miles away to Indianapolis and other areas.
My Take “Greater Community”:
Since I own a car and able to do things on my own, I didn’t put much weight on this service when I was looking at RetComs. I guess I failed to realize that some day, possibly in the not too distant future, I will rely on provided transportation.
Please realize that this discussion doesn’t include transportation for appointments, food shopping, and picking up meds, and similar things. Almost all RetComs provide this service, although one I visited, it was really just an Uber telephone call for you.
The Closing Thoughts:
While I didn’t take “Greater Community Visits” very seriously when I was deciding where to live, I’m glad that it is very well covered by my RetCom staff. While you are visiting communities for a future home, ask questions to make sure your “future”, as well as your current needs, are met. This might not be important to you now, but very likely it will be sooner than you think.
I will leave you with a secret to how to judge the RetCom’s commitment to “Greater Community” by the size of their biggest bus. My community, of about 200 people, currently has two buses with about a dozen so seat capacity each. So, popular destination fill up quickly.
🎵 Sometimes You Just Want To Get Away… 🎵
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RJ's Corner 
The community we are moving to in a few years is in a large suburb/college town that is part of a major city of 5 million.
This commumiy offers regular excursions to area plays, concerts, sporting events, and museums. Also, there are a few all day or overnight trips to places like Sedona or the Grand Canyon each year.
When we stop driving we will not feel cut off from the outside world.
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