From: https://www.reddit.com/r/nudism/comments/b8fm82/a_poor_nudist_experience/?utm_source=ifttt
On Sunday, I attended a local nudist resort. It’s not my aim to shame or denigrate nudist places - I am glad they exist and I want them to succeed - so I won’t name them in this post. The experience was very poor, though, so I want to describe it here.I’ve been to the resort a number of times before, but always in the summer (and one extremely warm autumn). It’s very nice, with indoor and outdoor amenities. So when I had a free Sunday I decided to go see how it was in the winter. I knew it wouldn’t be very busy, and that’s fine. I don’t mind doing my own thing.I get the resort’s monthly e-mail, and they bill their Sundays as “Sunday Funday”, with trivia and games. They used to have a board games night every week and I thought they must have moved it to Sunday. My expectations weren’t high, but I’m a trivia junkie and I thought this would be worth checking out. If nothing else I could read a book and sit in the hot tub for a while.The desk is in the large common room/bar/eating area, and because it was cold (and snowy! On March 31!) I didn’t undress at my car as I usually do. There were several cars in the parking lot, making me think that maybe it would be reasonably busy. I went in to register, noting that there were several lunch specials posted on the door.In the common room there’s one large table with about eight chairs around it. It was full, presumably of the year-round residents. They were laughing and having a great time.They were all fully clothed.The staff were also clothed (as they always seem to be).There wasn’t a single nude person visible.I registered and got a locker. At my locker, I removed my clothes. Nearby, another person had arrived and was taking her clothes off as well. Both of us headed to the showers and to the hot tub.We chatted while we warmed up in the tub. She is a resident, and has been since the early 1980s. She started attending the club in the 70s.After a while, I got out and went to the sauna, and she got out and went to the shower for an extensive hair care routine. I left the sauna and as I showered briefly, I asked her about the fact that there was no one nude anywhere. She pointed out that the club only requires nudity in the pool and sauna areas (which I knew), and that nudists cover up in the cold (which I also knew). We chatted a little about misconceptions that non-nudists have about nudists, and then I went into the common room for lunch.The lunch was very good - they had a homemade beef and vegetable soup that was excellent. The food is always good at this place in my experience.There was one man in a towel at the bar, watching the TV. Two men played darts, two sat on the couches, and the crowd remained around the table. The man in the towel was the only one even close to nude there.The trivia started up. No one invited me to join in, or paid me any attention at all. The ones at the table were boisterous, and clearly knew each other well. The trivia took about a half hour, and was appreciably tough (I followed along and scored 11/20). Much shouting from the participants.Afterwards I went back to the hot tub and chatted there with a couple who were day visitors. I considered going back to the common room and reading, but it felt very strange to be the only nude person in the room. And the only couch available would have been directly across from the people sitting in the other couches and watching TV (clothed). It felt like I would be imposing. So I went home.A few lessons from this, I think.A nude resort needs nudity. Other resorts do this better. When you go to a nude resort, and no one is nude, you send a message for visitors that they shouldn’t be nude either.At nude resorts, especially in quieter times, visitors should be made to feel welcome. A group dynamic will inevitably show up for the regulars and residents, and that’s great. But if no effort is made to bring new people into the circle, or even make them feel welcome, there won’t be any new people. I have no problem talking to people, and I actively try to connect with other people when I’m around them in situations like that. But in the common room there was no opportunity to do so, and no one else made any effort whatsoever.I hope that the club improves itself. I’m sure it’s difficult to find things to do in the winter months that will attract visitors. I’m not upset by them or the experience, but I now know to ignore them completely until the summer months, when I can be outside and there are lots of other day visitors there as well.
On Sunday, I attended a local nudist resort. It’s not my aim to shame or denigrate nudist places - I am glad they exist and I want them to succeed - so I won’t name them in this post. The experience was very poor, though, so I want to describe it here.I’ve been to the resort a number of times before, but always in the summer (and one extremely warm autumn). It’s very nice, with indoor and outdoor amenities. So when I had a free Sunday I decided to go see how it was in the winter. I knew it wouldn’t be very busy, and that’s fine. I don’t mind doing my own thing.I get the resort’s monthly e-mail, and they bill their Sundays as “Sunday Funday”, with trivia and games. They used to have a board games night every week and I thought they must have moved it to Sunday. My expectations weren’t high, but I’m a trivia junkie and I thought this would be worth checking out. If nothing else I could read a book and sit in the hot tub for a while.The desk is in the large common room/bar/eating area, and because it was cold (and snowy! On March 31!) I didn’t undress at my car as I usually do. There were several cars in the parking lot, making me think that maybe it would be reasonably busy. I went in to register, noting that there were several lunch specials posted on the door.In the common room there’s one large table with about eight chairs around it. It was full, presumably of the year-round residents. They were laughing and having a great time.They were all fully clothed.The staff were also clothed (as they always seem to be).There wasn’t a single nude person visible.I registered and got a locker. At my locker, I removed my clothes. Nearby, another person had arrived and was taking her clothes off as well. Both of us headed to the showers and to the hot tub.We chatted while we warmed up in the tub. She is a resident, and has been since the early 1980s. She started attending the club in the 70s.After a while, I got out and went to the sauna, and she got out and went to the shower for an extensive hair care routine. I left the sauna and as I showered briefly, I asked her about the fact that there was no one nude anywhere. She pointed out that the club only requires nudity in the pool and sauna areas (which I knew), and that nudists cover up in the cold (which I also knew). We chatted a little about misconceptions that non-nudists have about nudists, and then I went into the common room for lunch.The lunch was very good - they had a homemade beef and vegetable soup that was excellent. The food is always good at this place in my experience.There was one man in a towel at the bar, watching the TV. Two men played darts, two sat on the couches, and the crowd remained around the table. The man in the towel was the only one even close to nude there.The trivia started up. No one invited me to join in, or paid me any attention at all. The ones at the table were boisterous, and clearly knew each other well. The trivia took about a half hour, and was appreciably tough (I followed along and scored 11/20). Much shouting from the participants.Afterwards I went back to the hot tub and chatted there with a couple who were day visitors. I considered going back to the common room and reading, but it felt very strange to be the only nude person in the room. And the only couch available would have been directly across from the people sitting in the other couches and watching TV (clothed). It felt like I would be imposing. So I went home.A few lessons from this, I think.A nude resort needs nudity. Other resorts do this better. When you go to a nude resort, and no one is nude, you send a message for visitors that they shouldn’t be nude either.At nude resorts, especially in quieter times, visitors should be made to feel welcome. A group dynamic will inevitably show up for the regulars and residents, and that’s great. But if no effort is made to bring new people into the circle, or even make them feel welcome, there won’t be any new people. I have no problem talking to people, and I actively try to connect with other people when I’m around them in situations like that. But in the common room there was no opportunity to do so, and no one else made any effort whatsoever.I hope that the club improves itself. I’m sure it’s difficult to find things to do in the winter months that will attract visitors. I’m not upset by them or the experience, but I now know to ignore them completely until the summer months, when I can be outside and there are lots of other day visitors there as well.
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