Single Woman-Life Goals- Vacations and the Details

Grand Beach, Manitoba July 2017

As the year 2016 came to an end, I was determined that come July or August 2017, I would be in Manitoba for the first of the “Ten Best Canadian Beaches” Trip.

My sister and I are exceptional organizers – she as the “Hostess with the Mostess” for dinner parties and Birthday celebrations. Me, I am fabulous at the details for planning events, birthday parties, community events, financial planning, corporate workshops and business meetings. I would be in my element in the planning, execution and enjoyment of my first solo trip.

I requested travel brochures and maps from the provincial Tourism board, I monitored the airline website weekly to check out best dates and prices to fly, I researched pages and pages of B &B’s and local hotels, I considered what type of rental car I would need, I reviewed maps of Manitoba to ascertain how much travelling I would be doing, I sourced online reviews for various activities and places to visit, I checked out the local restaurants. I monitored the Via Rail website for pricing and specials. I even reviewed historical weather data from The Weather Network to determine whether mid July, late July or early August would be the optimum time for a dip in the lake.

I scrimped and saved, worked overtime, opened up a special Beaches Vacation Bank account. Any extra money went into that account religiously.

The only aspect left of my entire trip to sort out, was, once I was in the water and going for a swim, how the heck was I going to get evidence of such an accomplishment?

You see, in 2017 I remained one of the few people in my kids’ circle and my friends circle, that did not possess an IPhone!!!! I still used a small flip phone with the capabilities for voice mail, talk and text. Sure it could capture pictures, but at the size of a postage stamp……..Well then, this would require some further investigation. I would have to get creative in finding someone that I could trust, within 5 minutes of meeting them on a strange beach in Grand Beach, Manitoba…. this person would have to follow me out to the water, stand in the water, listen to me present my “little spiel” about why I was swimming at Grand Beach Manitoba and then they would film me for a few moments. As well, I still had some anxiety about leaving all of my personal belongings on a beach towel, on a strange beach, all by myself in Grand Beach, Manitoba, with a rental car and its keys, tucked in amongst these personal belongings, while I swam in the water, way way out of reach of my stuff. A problem just waiting to be solved……

Stay tuned.

Thank you for letting me share my journey and my story. Joye