July 2017
As the day grew closer to my first solo vacation, I would be remiss to not consider how to protect myself while away from home and in a distant province.
There are some realities a single older woman travelling on her own must be cognizant about and must be prepared for.
Copies of my full itinerary were given to my sons, my neighbours, my parents, my sister, the lady taking care of my cats and a few friends. This list included flight # and flight times, train # and schedule, contact info for my accommodations and a draft schedule of all the places I would visit. I purchased a special credit card holder that would protect my cards from any “illegal” tampering. I advised my credit card companies that I would be out of province. I carried an extra copy of my Emergency Contact List with me in my bag and I made sure to identify my ICE (In Case of Emergency) contacts in my little phone. I had my travel insurance taken care and my Will was already in effect. Not that I live by this motto but -“anything can happen to anybody at any time”. It’s a sobering thought, but one we all must consider. My decision to stay at a B&B or hotel also weighed on me, as I planned this trip.
Stay tuned and read my next post about the pros and cons – B&B or Hotel.
For added measure and peace of mind, I borrowed my son’s tablet and ensured I had strong battery and a good charging system.
While in Manitoba, before I headed out for the day, I posted on Facebook what my plans were. Some of my family and friends “followed me along” and others just sent the proverbial – “Good luck” “Have Fun”, “Can’t wait to see pictures”. I even provided the hostesses of my B&B with a daily itinerary.
Remember, I did not yet own an IPhone, I possessed this tiny pay as you go, flip phone.
I could text, take some very small pictures and I could talk on it. It even had voice mail. No maps, no “Find Friends” feature, no “share my current location”, no Siri, no music, no unlimited data or unlimited minutes across Canada. NADA!!!! So, of course, I brought along both a digital camera and a video camera……Oh the horror of it all…..
As luck would have it, the morning of my day trip to Grand Beach, I ran out of phone time!. Sure enough, I could not get thru to Customer Service at the Mobile Service Provider. I was stuck – with no phone………..Driving a rental, in an unfamiliar area and I would not be able to call or contact anyone. This was a daunting experience to say the least. My only recourse, was to take along my tablet, find locations with free WIFI – even though I had no idea how to “turn on WIFI” and hoped I made it thru the day, without incident.
I reached out to my sister on FB Messenger and asked her to contact my kids and let them what had transpired. Cause of course, young men are not sitting reading FB on a warm, beautiful day in July….. At least not my sons……
Thus in early 2018, before I embarked on my trip to the East Coast of Canada, my eldest was adamant that I finally purchase an IPhone. As he said, “Mummy, I cannot be worried that I won’t be able to reach you or that your Phone time card has run out.” “Just get the IPhone.” So, I did.
More to follow.
Thank you for letting me share. Joye
Single Older Woman - Living Life Passionately 