As I left Missoula, MT on business a couple of weeks ago, my hotel shuttle bus driver was a retired HS English teacher widower. I think he just enjoyed getting out of the house, driving around town and getting to talk to different types of people. He was quite a promoter of the area, even handing me maps.
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At one of our recent weddings, the hotel desk clerk had gone to HS near my home town - he was a retired school counselor. After traveling in retirement, he realized he needed to work a part time steady job for a variety of reasons. He was very good in his job - very helpful and friendly.
There are some jobs that donāt seem like āworkā to some people. They like the schedule, the social interactions, decent work environment.
Unfortunately my ājobā is to get healthier - ālove exerciseā enough to get the benefits out of it; learn to eat a lot less. Has to become a priority. I do best with a āroutineā. Cannot keep getting bigger.
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Yeah, I know getting a flying gig would be easy, thereās a large demand and not much supply, one could get hired by anyone right now. But I left the best flying job around, as far as pay and seniority, so thereās no way I would want to go back to a far worse job.
Iām just thinking about something to do part time in the future when I have more time, that has flexibility and health insurance. Definitely not driving a bus of any sort, though!
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That makes sense. Not everyone wants a big mortgage, but a small mortgage can seem acceptable, particularly if you can get a lower rate. I canāt imagine getting a loan now, with inflated prices and interest rates.
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Iāve thought a lot about the āpart-time gigā during āpre-full retirementā years. Of course itās a numbers game (to have enough to afford to cut back to part-time) but it does seem like an interesting option. My only concern would be hating the part-time gig and then cutting more into 401k.
busdriver11 - I donāt blame you not wanting to drive a load of kids around. Iād love to be around kids but having that level of responsibilty for their lives would be incredibly stressful for me!! Plus just not a fan of driving, generally, lol.
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I always have one pro bono activity in my mix. Sometimes it is creating something or working as part of a team to end a civil war. Was on an NGO board for a while, but left because I didnāt think it used my skills/talents well. Current focus on a project designed to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. All of my projects use my distinctive skills/talents.
My retirement will involve increasing the amount of my time that I give to these activities relative to other work.
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@busdriver11, how hard is it too stay licensed/certified to do occasional medical transports (of patient or organs)? Might not offer the same pay/seniority you left, but the feelsā¦
Unfortunately, itās a lot more complicated than that. I am qualified on just one aircraft right now (though I would still have to go through a couple of weeks of training to get up to speed), and itās a very large aircraft. It would take a lot of body parts to fill that up. 
For that kind of work, Iād have to retrain on an entirely new aircraft, which would take months (and nobody would pay for me to do that, and then fly an occasional flight).