Welcome to another edition of Meet Your Neighbors. In this interview, we go to the Big Apple to meet Ken, an architect from Manhattan. Ken came across Storylines while reading an article online when a suggested article popped up about Storylines. With his retirement coming up in a few years and not having any concrete plans for post-work life, he found the concept interesting. After three months (and a lot of research), Ken had signed up for a new home on our luxury residential ship, MV Narrative. For someone who makes extremely calculated decisions, this was out of character for him.
“It takes me at least three months to just buy a new refrigerator.”
Ken has been a practicing architect for forty years and worked for international firms before launching his own architectural business, which he eventually sold to one of New York’s largest firms. One of the highlights of his career was in the nineties when a firm he was working for won an international competition to build the first casino in New South Wales, Australia. As a result, Ken relocated to the other side of the world for three years in Sydney to see out the project, thus fueling his wanderlust and love for living abroad.
“I had a great time and my best friends are actually still in Sydney.”
Today, Ken works for the Federal Bank of New York and is planning his retirement. (This fits the trend of the largest demographic of our residents who are now planning for retirement around the same time as the ship’s launch). In the meantime, Ken will relocate to Florida to care for his mother while preparing for his next chapter onboard MV Narrative.
“I’ve already started getting organized, trying to decide what to bring and what to sell and give away.”
Ken also has an interest in conservation, having created a non-profit and raised funds to revitalize a neglected neighborhood park in the West Village, NYC. His efforts went on to influence several other community parks to undergo a similar makeover. He plans on doing more philanthropic work in retirement and looks forward to the direction Storylines takes to see what initiatives he can add value to.
Ken plans on making his home onboard his permanent base and looks forward to the social dynamic in the community, making new friends, and using the ship's recreational equipment such as kayaks and e-scooters to explore destinations. This is of course all to follow some well-earned rest after such an extensive, hard-working and successful career.
Ken, thank you so much for participating in Meet Your Neighbors – we can’t wait to welcome you on board!