OSH for non-aviators

This will be my 4th trip to OSH and this time I'll be bringing a non-aviator.
We'll be camping in HBC.
I'm perfectly happy to sit and listen to airplane engines, harass the vendors in the pavilions multiple times and wander the flymart aimlessly, I am a little worried that my significant other will not enjoy the trip.
Any suggestions for someone that really wants to come but whose eyes may glass over pretty quick?

She's a great sport and actually looking forward to the 6 hour flight there.

There are vendors there that sell jewelry. I bought a a really pricey set of ear-rings shaped like little airplanes for my wife about 15 years ago, and she still likes them. The vendor was a lady in one of the booths inside one of the main vendor buildings, and I think she was from Texas, of all places.

If you have access to a car, there is an outlet mall across the main highway, just west of the EAA Museum. I just checked the Earth View in Google Maps of Oshkosh, and "The Outlet Shoppes of Oshkosh" have blue roofs, You can't miss them.

Also, is she in to "people watching?" There are lots of opportunities for doing that there.

i took my significant other last year. She isn't a pilot but comes from a military family and enjoys the military. She had a blast, thought it was a cool thing. YMMV but there's plenty to see and do. Mine enjoyed shopping for some of the non-aviation items that are featured in some vendors booths (mainly the outside ones IIRC).

The 5 hours or so getting there got a bit much for her crunched up in the back of the four but she had a blast and would do it again I'm sure.

just a suggestion

Does she have a really good headset? If not, maybe after a long flight you could take her to David Clark and Zulu and try them all out. Spend the money and get her the one she wants. Best aviation investment ever for me. YMMV.

Yup...

She will get excited and you will be building another airplane before you leave.

couple of bose A20's.
I've sat at the dinner table and waxed romantic about early morning P51 engine starts and the quiet water slaps on floats. Her eyes glaze up and I can spot her feigned attempts at deep interest. But I absolutely MUST find a way to keep her interested in OSH. Its a deal breaker and I would have troubles going in future years if we couldnt share this wonderful experience together.

She does in fact like flying and we've made some trips around Texas and shes looking forward to the cross country and purchased a funky neck pillow and stocked up on iTunes.

IowaRV9Dreamer said:

Does she have a really good headset? If not, maybe after a long flight you could take her to David Clark and Zulu and try them all out. Spend the money and get her the one she wants. Best aviation investment ever for me. YMMV.

Click to expand...

Not at Oshkosh, but how about a side trip to a nearby destination that she would like. Mackinac Island MI is a popular one. Add an extra day to your trip and spend a night during the middle of the show. You can leave your tent up in HBC and return later to your spot.

There is also a craft tent if she is into those types of activities.

She will enjoy the seaplane base. That's a good place to go spend a couple hours. They typically have a pontoon boat that you can ride that takes you around the lagoon.

There's always the museum too.

You probably already know all this but ....

moll780 said:

This will be my 4th trip to OSH and this time I'll be bringing a non-aviator.
We'll be camping in HBC.
I'm perfectly happy to sit and listen to airplane engines, harass the vendors in the pavilions multiple times and wander the flymart aimlessly, I am a little worried that my significant other will not enjoy the trip.
Any suggestions for someone that really wants to come but whose eyes may glass over pretty quick?

She's a great sport and actually looking forward to the 6 hour flight there.

Click to expand...

Where do we begin?

First, get an assessment of what is important to HER. Make THIS trip ALL ABOUT HER!!!

As someone mentioned (since she has stocked up on iTunes) go and listen to ALL the major (high fidelity) headsets. GO back two or three times. Get the ones SHE wants. (Make sure she has her Itunes device with her so she is listening to HER favorite tunes.

Focus on the VARIETY of activities and try to have one or two to focus on per day with HER STUFF taking priority.

Examples include ...

Museum
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The Museum is quiet and cool. It can be relaxing. A nice place to be for a while. Away from hustle and bustle. While over there you mike look into a helicopter ride of they are doing them at Pioneer Airport.


Theater In The Woods
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Another place to just sit on the grass and enjoy the environment. You can look across at some nice Antique and Classic planes while in the area. And just watch people and plane activity from afar.



Seaplane Base
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Take an afternoon and catch the bus over to the Seaplane Base. You might only stay there thirty minutes or an hour but it is such a nice "getaway". Totally different from the rest of Oshkosh.
Airshow

Night Airshow
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The night show is **different**. Things all around have slowed down and you can enjoy it. There is a certain beauty and grace about it plus the BOOM BOOM at the end. Good to watch anywhere.


"Social" Events each day
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There are social events that involve being with people. And at these events (e.g. RV Social) she will get to meet and engage with kindred spirits.

Forum of Interest
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Lots of forums about lots of stuff. What is HER area of greatest aviation interest? Weather? ADS-B (traffic and weather)? Using your EFIS? New Regs? Formation flying? Building? If you can find out such from HER, then you can probably find something to have on the calendar.

Innovations Building
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New cool stuff that might show up in a few years.

Ford Building
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Cool car stuff

NASA Display
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Space stuff that you get to hear about and some cases touch, that you never before realized existed!

RV/Warbird/Antique & Classic Walk-thru
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If there is any interest in any of these, a slow stroll with frequent stops to just sit and look and listen may be in order. But if boredom is about to set in be sure to have one of the items above ready on the agenda.


The key is to let HER decide implicitly or explicitly on the above and I suspect that at least half of the items will be of interest.

And oh, if you go through the vendor buildings just taking a "look see" she will probably find something that strikes her fancy for spending more time.

James

rv7boy said:

If you have access to a car, there is an outlet mall across the main highway, just west of the EAA Museum. I just checked the Earth View in Google Maps of Oshkosh, and "The Outlet Shoppes of Oshkosh" have blue roofs, You can't miss them.

Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, EAA has a free shuttle that runs back and forth from the shopping mall numerous times each day.

I'll add that even though Tanya IS an airplane person, the vendor buildings are her kryptonite. She dreads having to go anywhere near them. After she has gone through them with me, which she does only because she loves me (usually), she is pretty much guaranteed to be a little grumpy for the next thirty minutes. She couldn't care less about all the cool new gizmos and gadgets that I can get lost in. Instead I sometimes drop her off with Andrew, Stein, ... you know who you are, to yap about something else. Why do you think she always has cookies .

Maybe the next airplane I build her won't even have an electrical system. She doesn't need it or want it usually. The horror .

a couple more ideas..

1) OSH has a deal with the local YMCA (there is a bus that goes back and forth). They have a pool, excercise equipment and probably classes she can attend, if she's into that.
2) There are several "women in aviation" type events and forums, if she's into that.
3) There's music/dancing events at the Theater in the Woods (i.e. Lt. Dan Band Concert) that are a blast to go to. Also the opening day concert.
4) Fly In theater - every night there are airplane-themed movies, for free. While they are aviation themed, sometimes it's a stretch (i.e. they're not all "super aviation buff/war documentary-type movies). Usually, fun movies like Airplane, the animated movie Planes 2 (I think it'll debut this year) and others are quite fun...
5) Offsite dinner/movie/bar/dancing/etc.. Remember, there are plenty of things to do offsite too. Try taking her to the SOS tent for drinks, food and dancing to live music. The scenery there is pretty nice for guys too!

+1 "It's all about her."

Oh, one other thing. Remember, it is in fact "about her" if you want to be sure she'll return. My wife's first trip to OSH was when she was 4 months pregnant, and it was a scorcher that year! (2011). I made sure to spend time in air conditioned places, not walk too much, and gave her plenty of rest breaks,"look honey, they have soft serve" (right across from the air show in progress).

Go down to the ultra light field in the morning. Although it is airplanes, it is kind of like watching a comedy on the TV. (Likewise sitting in a lawn chair out by the DC-3 field. Can be a comedy watching planes try and land on the dots)

Big must visit is the float plane base. Just like being in a park.

There are many forums that are general interest and loosely linked to aviation. Listening to some of the old war veterans (getting less every year) is more like watching the history channel.

If she is into doing stuff & helping people and gets bored easily sitting around or shopping, show her the volunteer opportunities web page. There are LOTS of airplane "widows" who volunteer every year doing all kinds of really neat stuff, and it will give her a purpose. Then when she makes all kinds of friends, she'll want to come back and do it every year, turning you loose to do whatever you want! Some jobs have really nice perks like air conditioning or shade and free food and drinks. Does she like kids? KidVenture might be a fun place to volunteer. Hours are usually really flexible. Before I got a job that chained me to a booth, I volunteered in Vintage Showplane Camper Registration the first weekend of the show for several years and loved every minute of it. It's more about the people than the planes.

http://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/volunteer/volunteer-at-eaa-airventure-oshkosh

I took my 10 year old son last year, which is the first time I'd been at Oshkosh and not just on my own to look at what I wanted. He was a trooper and enjoyed it, but I did have to consciously make an effort to do things that HE enjoyed and not just stuff that I wanted to do / look at.

He liked the airshow, which I haven't necessarily considered all that important in years. He really dug looking at warbirds and jets. I've never wanted to stand in line or fork over two or three or ten bucks to "tour" a DC-3 or a B-17 or a Boeing 737, but he really liked that. He also really liked the Red Tails movie and that tent was well air conditioned. I like moving from airplane to airplane on the antiques and classis line and looking at each one in detail, but that bored him, so we didn't do that much last year.

We also spend a lot of time at the seaplane base... fishing.

Just try to change up your Oshkosh experience to focus on things that your guest gravitates towards doing. She can probably find her own interests, if she doesn't feel like you're dragging her to do what you want and ignoring what she is naturally interested in.

Women stuff

Fortunately for me, Sweetie seems to love aviation almost as much as I, or she does an excellent job faking it. She really gets excited meeting the big names and getting autographs. Sean Tucker talked to her for at least 5 minutes and gave her his last signed cap. She was glowing all day and still shows it off every chance. She also enjoyed the flea market.
Thankfully I think she loved the music and airshows more than anything else. I wish we were flying in but alas, Lucy is far from done.

This will be the first time at Oshkosh for both me and my wife. We're going mainly to check out what other people have done with their RVs... paint schemes, interiors, that kind of thing. Of course I want to meet a few vendors, play with a few EFIS and maybe see if I can luck into something/some things I need at the fly market. It's my only chance to see and touch about 80% of what I will need to buy for my plane, and I like to see and touch before I lay out a lot of money.

But I too am concerned about keeping her from getting so turned off by the experience that we don't go back again. Neither of us is bog on crowds and she's not into the kind of craft-y things a lot of women seem to be. She will fly with me, but has only done so a couple of times and is still nervous about it. Suffice to say, she is not yet an "airplane person".

That's why we're staying at a nice hotel (even if it is in Neenah) and it's one reason we're taking the truck instead of the car (plus, who knows what I might find for sale) and why I'm going to shell out for XM radio in the truck for the trip. Good thing they just sent me another beg letter, $20 for six months. And... we're only going to be there Sunday evening through Wednesday.

We'll see how this goes.

This will be his and my wife and five year-old son's sixth OSH trip. (He turns six in a few months.)

Although not a pilot, she enjoys it so much she just had me sell her OSH pop-up camper for something bigger. The deal is, we spend two days pulling the camper up there and all is happy.

She has already gone through the list of seminars and picked out what she wants to see.

Of course there will be a day or two at kidventure, which we all three enjoy.

If she (and you) need an AC break (assuming it is hot) send me a note and we will have you two over for a cool one.

There are various tourism groups in the vendor buildings that are happy to flying into their areas. If she likes flying with you, maybe have her visit those booths and plan some trips.

All great ideas here

And a couple more:

To get my son to come with me a couple of years ago I chartered a fishing boat on Lake Michigan for half a day. He came to love Airventure, regardless of the fishing trip, so I guess you could say that I "hooked" him real good!

Still working on the wife - maybe someday.... On that note, one thing I am trying to do is to get her to come for just a couple of days - not for the whole week. The thought was that someone with little or no interest in airplanes might be able to stand a day or two, but more than that might be pushing it a bit.

The Fly-in theater was mentioned, and this is one of my favorite things to do. The Museum also has short movies in its theaters as well.

Day trips to Greenbay, or perhaps a trip to a cheese factory might be a nice diversion.

There are tons of buses that take you to lots of different things around town.

Parties in the campground late into the night.....

How about a ride in a piece of aviation history - the Ford Tri-motor, B-17, B-29, DC-3, P-51, or another great one is to take a quick chopper ride in the Bell-47 (MASH) helicopter......

Etc., etc.

moll780 said:

couple of bose A20's.
But I absolutely MUST find a way to keep her interested in OSH. Its a deal breaker and I would have troubles going in future years if we couldnt share this wonderful experience together.

Click to expand...

I have a question. Why? This should not be a make or break deal.

My wife has been to Oshkosh, once. She enjoyed walking around and looking at the airplanes and spending time together with me. However, she does not have the passion I have and feels perfectly free in talking with me about it. But she understands it is important to me and has supported my many trips to Oshkosh without her. She makes sure I understand that I have her complete support when June rolls around and the Oshkosh plans begin. There has only been one time a couple of years ago when she asked (with a smile on her face) if I could please come home early for our son's wedding. Other than that she expects me, each year, to get away, enjoy myself, look at aiplanes, meet up and have a beer or two with friends and generally have a good time. We'll still have our time together on things we both enjoy together. It shouldn't be a deal breaker. And yes, I know I'm a lucky man.

Bill is dead-on. My wife and I have things we do together, things we each do, and sometimes together, and other things we wouldn't dare ask the other to do. Oshkosh fell into the second group (sometimes) until a couple years ago, when she decided it was good for her, too. This will make four of the last five years that she has attended. I think buying the motorhome helped a WHOLE lot; she wasn't into tents! Consider something like this if she would be happier. It is a great way to really experience Oshkosh.

There are little out-of-the-way places that are fun to visit in Oshkosh. Arnie and Ed's is always a great stop for a quick meal. The root beer is superb, and being served by girls on roller skates is good fun!

Bob