Glengowrie Retirement Village residents have their boarding passes ready to take in a taste of Cairo, Auckland and Athens.
Flight for fun
The Glengowrie Retirement Village residents haven’t found a loophole in Australia’s border closures, instead Village Manager, Debbie Dean, created an around the world trip through a little bit of imagination and a lot of cardboard and crepe paper.
The Flight for Fun event transformed the village’s community centre into a boarding lounge, complete with a ‘Retire Air’ plane, offering all the perks of travel, including complimentary champagne, hot towel service and duty free.
On booking their trip, residents receive a very detailed travel pack, including a passport, travel itinerary, boarding passes, and immigration forms.
Lifting residents spirits
“The residents think I’m a bit crazy – but everyone has a lot of fun,” Debbie said. “These events are important to lift everyone’s spirits.”
Outlandish events are quite normal at Glengowrie, with Debbie and the team spending hours creating concepts and props to make each occasion memorable.
“I do a lot of big events for my residents. We’ve had all sorts of things like casino nights, a mock wedding, the Olympic Games and the Logies.
“I held an event with flights to London, Rome and Paris for each course of a meal a few years ago, and a lot of residents were asking if we could do it again. This time we’re off to Cairo, Auckland and Athens.”
Retire Air ready for boarding
On arrival at the community centre, residents produced their special passports and boarding passes to make it onto Retire Air.
Onboard everyone received first class treatment and experienced all the usual flight features – except the leg cramping and long-haul flight times Australians are used to.
“They’ll be much quicker flights. After all, we’re flying from Cairo to Auckland between entrees and the main course,” Debbie said.
“Even going through customs is fun with our residents; they can get very creative with their occupations on their immigration declaration forms.”
Creating engaging community events
Glengowrie Retirement Village resident Jean Mahood said she was looking forward to the event – which was booked out.
“It’s absolutely fantastic what Debbie organises for us,” Jean said. “She puts such an effort into all the bits and pieces she creates to make each event special.”
Jean said Glengowrie’s residents were drawn together by the fantastic events created by Debbie.
“I’ve only been here two years but I’m sorry I didn’t make the move her years ago. There is so much to do with the different classes and events and activities – you actually have to look hard to find the free days in your diary.”
