Vacationing Seniors

Everyone deserves to get away once in a while—especially retirees! Just because you’ve stopped working and moved to a retirement community doesn’t mean you have to stop doing the things you want. In fact, it’s the opposite. Living independently with Phoebe means being as active as you want to be—and that includes going on vacations. Whether you’re an inveterate traveler who is running out of new countries to visit, an aspiring adventurer ready to begin, or simply a diehard beach goer, there’s no reason to hold back in your retirement years.

Phoebe’s independent living communities have been created deliberately to encourage residents to live the life they want to live. For many people, that means continuing—or starting—a long cherished tradition of vacations. Some people even maintain vacation homes in other states. They’re best known as snowbirds, but their destinations are not limited to the warmer climates. The mountains of upstate New York in summer and even the remote reaches of Maine in winter count among some of our residents’ favored getaways.

Long term vacation homes notwithstanding, there’s an almost universal tradition among eastern Pennsylvania families of going “down the shore”—Bill and Rose Marie Scharle, 89 and 88, have been keeping up that tradition with their family for 38 years. Every summer, the Scharles and their five children rent a house in Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. Over the years their number has grown and now includes four generations.

The Scharles live at the Terrace at Phoebe Allentown, but they have been all over the world thanks to Bill’s work with Air Products. They’ve spent up to a month at a time in China and Russia, traveled Russia by river, and explored Machu Picchu in Peru. Today they travel less, but still make time for family and relaxation at the Jersey shore.

Other Terrace residents, too, often take advantage of their time to see family in far off places. Anne Harrity took a trip up to Boston to see her daughter this summer, and still gets down to the Delaware beach, where she and her husband built a summer home in the 1950s. Another Terrace resident makes frequent trips to visit the Catskills in New York, and was a frequent traveler in Europe and South America in younger years.

There’s no one better to recommend vacations than frequent vacationers, and the Ragsdales are a perfect example. Residents of Phoebe Berks Village since 2012, the Ragsdales were always travelers before they moved to Phoebe, and do their best to keep up with it every year. This summer they traveled to a retirement village in Suffolk, Virginia, as part of the Passport to Travel program available to all Phoebe Berks residents. As a member of the Council for Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM) of the United Church of Christ, Phoebe residents enjoy free lodging at other participating communities across the country. (Learn more about the Passport to Travel program). The Ragsdales spent a week at one in Suffolk, while enjoying all of the vacation amenities of the harbor area.

John Ragsdale’s parents were missionaries, and he spent much of his life living abroad. His recommendation to seniors looking at retirement communities like Phoebe is to move in early. “If you go in and get settled while you’re still able to do things, life can be more interesting as a result,” says Ragsdale.

Residents at the Terrace and Phoebe Berks Village can also take advantage of Phoebe’s snowbird program, which offers halved monthly rates on apartments and cottages for people who live in a second home for at least four consecutive months of the year. Phoebe keeps an eye on things, too, keeping up with lawn care and landscaping, and making sure lights and air conditioning or heat are turned back on when residents return from extended trips.

Whether it’s a winter in Florida or a week at the shore, Phoebe makes it easy for people to enjoy their retirement and live their best lives. See for yourself how Phoebe’s independent living options could make your life easier, and free up time to see more of the world.

The Terrace at Phoebe Allentown: 610-794-5032

Phoebe Berks Village: 610-927-8183