It’s an American coming-of-a-certain-age rite of passage. You turn fifty and you join AARP, right?
For me, it was easy – I’m married to a man five years older than me.
The blow of my aging milestones are always softened because David clears the way for me – he crashes through them kicking and screaming so I can glide into them gracefully knowing that it’s not the end of the world (until I look in the mirror and realize that I don’t quite match up to the image I have of myself in my mind!).
Riding on David’s coattails, I’ve been carrying an AARP card in my wallet for over five years now.
Yet I have never whipped it out for a discount. Periodically I’ll remember to ask at a movie theater and ALWAYS make sure it’s David who proves he’s a member by showing his card. Usually I simultaneously mock him for being an old guy – if you can’t laugh at your husband, who can you laugh at?
Humor begins at home and, with the kids grown, David gets to be the butt of all of my jokes – and vice-versa.
When I recently became a member on my own merits, I started paying a bit more attention.
Because I’m a tech-savvy, heavy-travelin’, newly-certified old gal, I quickly discovered that Expedia has amazing discounts for AARP members. We now book our plane tickets almost exclusively using their site. I always cross-check with other discount providers and, because Expedia waives booking fees for members, the prices rock.
But that was the extent of my participation with AARP.
Until last weekend when we were invited to check out the Life@50+ Expo in Atlanta with a great group of Boomer Bloggers.
Honestly, when the initial e-mail came in, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. Whipping out my card for discounts is one thing (not that I’ve done it yet), but now I was being asked to jump in with both feet. But when I found out that our buddies The Roaming Boomers and Donna Hull were going to be there – we had to accept the invite.
A Volunteer Explosion
James “JB” Brown, Pepper Schwartz and Dan Marino kick it off!
The expo started with an amazing event – the Celebration of Service.
I loved this – members gathered together for a pep rally of sorts with AARP Ambassadors Dan Marino, James “JB” Brown – and others – before storming Atlanta by volunteering at senior homes, Boys and Girls’ Clubs, learning centers, urban forests and food banks.
David, the Atlanta Falcon’s Jessie Tuggle, and 100’s of volunteers
create hygiene bags for Clean the World
We chose to help put together hygiene kits for Clean The World, who collect and recycle soap and shampoo products discarded by hotels and distribute them to impoverished people worldwide to help prevent millions of hygiene-related illnesses. To date, Clean the World has put over 11 million soap bars and 325,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner back in use, simultaneously eliminating over 750 tons of waste.
Amazing work they do.
We also found out about Create The Good, a non-profit that pairs members up with volunteer opportunities based on their life experiences, skills and passions.
Hitting the Expo Floor
Having never been to an expo like this, I had no idea what to expect. The brightly-lit, highly-charged event was a blast – and the information and freebies flowed like water!
I was especially impressed by the TEK Pavilion, where jam-packed seminars saw highly engaged folks learning about the latest in technology.
VERY popular Tablet training workshop at The TEK stage at @AARP #Lifeat50 Expo – fabulous! #LiveItUp pic.twitter.com/PUc65pBhq9
— The GypsyNesters (@gypsynester) October 4, 2013
I Want My Senior Discount!
There was no stopping me in the AARPDiscounts.com area of the expo – I knew this was my chance to find out how whipping out my card could enhance my miserly ways. When I found out that most of the discount providers have an online presence, and that public card whipping need not be done, my excitement grew exponentially.
For example, I have a long-standing relationship with 1-800-Flowers. Every year on David’s birthday I send my mother-in-law flowers as a thank you for bearing David in pain.
I’ve always used 1-800-Flowers because they have a wide variety and, to mix things up, some years I like to send her of their more fanciful offerings.
I could have been getting a 20% discount?! How did I not know this?
And that was just the tip of the bargains iceberg – Geek Squad offers a 30% discount for help with computer meltdowns, UPS Store has 15% discounts, I can get free donuts to dunk in my coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts, Live Nation hands out ridiculously cheap concert tickets, Angie’s List offers 45% off membership… Follow AARP Member Advantages on Facebook to keep up with the latest and see our full list of AARP travel discounts we found.
Hangin’ with Celebrities
Schmoozing football guys was not our only opportunity to reach for the stars.
Appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Tyler Perry, Jane Pauley, Andy Garcia, Martina Navratilova — as well as speaking events with authors, doctors, scholars, faith leaders and filmmakers — were going on all over the place. You couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a celeb!
Let’s Party!
And the Garys keep comin’! Gary Puckett at the @aarp #LifeAt50 Dance Party! #LiveItUp pic.twitter.com/7NEBLtPY1e
— The GypsyNesters (@gypsynester) October 5, 2013
Speaking of celebs, there were three concerts to attend – a Gospel extravaganza, The Happy Together Dance Party and my fellow new AARP card carrier, Gloria Estefan.
We opted for the Happy Together Tour, featuring The Turtles, Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night and three Garys – Puckett (of Union Gap fame), U.S. Bonds, and Lewis (as in “and the Playboys”).
These guys, all of a “certain age” rocked it.
And so did I, AARP card and all.
Veronica, GypsyNester.com
DELVE DEEPER:
— My biggest tip on mother-in-law bliss – and how to save 20% to boot!
— Check out our list of AARP travel discounts!
— See favorite part of Life@50+ – helping out in the community at the Celebration of Service!
— Also at Life@50+ – the Movies for Grownups Film Festival
bookmarked!!, I like your web site!
I’ve been side eyeing those AARP envelopes in my mailbox for a few years now . . . so I can totally relate! I just don’t have a husband to soften the blow.
The conference sounds like a blast. Did they talk about doing another on the West Coast?
Thanks for a great post and a great Blog, I love stopping by.
Kimberly
FiftyJewels.com
Go ahead and open one up Kimberly, you’ll be glad you did.
Well, if I’d known that Gary Puckett was going to be there….. I tried to ignore my AARP membership for quite a while. Then I discovered the Budget Rental Car discount. 🙂 Oh, and you bet we can still rock it!
The discounts are great, and so was the concert!
Discounts! I have never thought about joining AARP! But I’ll be doing it now! Atlanta sounds like great fun! As soon as Randy is better we will start hitting the road…but a double lung transplant gives opportunities for other journeys as well!
Hope all goes well, see you on the road. 🙂
It all happens while you sleep -I’m convinced.
This sounds like it was my kind of party and clearly relevant to my blog. Unfortunately (well, not unfortunately unfortunately), we are expecting to be on my husband’s sabbatical in Honolulu next spring, so I’ll probably have to miss the Boston event. My sister-in-law lives in Cambridge so that would have been a good one to attend. Why haven’t I been using Expedia to book our travel with our AARP cards???? (Have you been what I call reverse carded yet? That’s when a 16 year old selling tickets for something asks you if you’re eligible for the senior discount. They usually require you to have attained age 65 — so “No, dammit,why do you ask?”)
Embrace the discount! 😉
Yeah, got the AARP membership application in the mail around my 50th birthday and threw it out. They’d be smarter to offer the first year free so people get hooked on the discounts, rather than sending me a bill for my birthday. A lot of the travel discounts come with AAA membership, I’ll have to look at what else comes with that.
Please pass me another oyster. 🙂 Great recap. I think you’ve used up your words for the day. Great to see you guys again. If you get to AZ, look us up!
Great to see you guys too!
I don’t think we have these cards in the UK but they sound like a good deal.
Don’t know about the UK either, but it is a good deal.
What a great recap guys! We had a blast didn’t we. I have been telling people all week about our times at Lifeat50 in Atlanta. I don’t think they will believe me until they have attended a Lifeat50 event themselves. Boston next Spring would be nice!
Thanks, it was fun. Maybe we’ll see you in Boston.
Awesome recap! The discounts are SO worth revealing our age, wouldn’t ya say? (Of course, I’m still a few months away from being “legal” so it’s been my older hubby acquiring our cards… that I use more than he does!)
Tons of great info here. Kudos!
Thanks Lisa, great to meet you.