An important aspect for any woman to consider when travelling alone, is what sort of accommodations are available. For the purpose of this post, I refer to our safety.
We are vulnerable as soon as we get to the airport, or the train station or the cruise ship.
For my first trip, to Manitoba, I had already prepared my itinerary and mapped out all the places I wanted to visit. With this info, I sourced both Bed and Breakfast places and hotels. At a hotel, I would just be one other guest. They wouldn’t care, that I was travelling alone, that I planned to drive from the west part of Manitoba to the east!. There wouldn’t be anyone to ask how my trip was, what places did I visit, did I run into any difficulties, I couldn’t provide them with an Emergency Contact list, nor could I call the front desk if I ran into a problem whilst driving everywhere. Plus I would have to eat restaurant food 3 times a day.
For these reasons, I chose to stay at two separate Bed and Breakfasts. The first one was located in Morden, Manitoba- “A Wee Bit of Heaven B&B“. The owners are Carolann and Joe Krohn. The 2nd one was located in Selkirk – “Evergreen Gate B&B” owned by Laurel and Rob Sarginson.
I spent 3 days at each home and laughed so much, shared so much and learned so much from both of these couples. Homemade breakfast and coffee with lively conversations first thing in the morning. A care package of water, fruit, snacks to take with me on my day’s journeys. A phone call later in the day, to ask if I would be home for dinner, shall they save me a plate.
While in Morden, I visited Riding Mountain National Park, I drove thru Holland, I visited the Canadian Mint and spent one day in downtown Winnipeg. I drove along the TransCanada Highway – which I had never done before and to realize that one could cross our entire country by this route, is both inspiring and motivating, to say the least.
Once I made my way to Selkirk, I visited the Lower Fort Garry Historic Site, I spent an afternoon in Gimli where I did a tour of the Gimli Glider exhibit. Alas I did not make it to the factory where they produce Crown Royal…… On the day before I headed home, I spent the afternoon at Grand Beach!
You will recall earlier I mentioned that I only had a small phone with limited capabilities. The day I drove from Morden to Selkirk, I had booked a horse trail ride at Miracle Ranch. Well, whilst driving along the Perimeter Highway, I got lost and had no idea how to make my way back. I used up valuable travel time and very valuable phone time, and had to cancel my reservation. By the time I found a local restaurant to get my bearings, it was too late in the afternoon and I had to get Evergreen Gate B&B.
This first vacation was so much fun and the entire experience was made more rewarding and enjoyable due to the graciousness, kindness and courtesy shown to me by both the Krohn’s and the Sarginsons.
Thank you for letting me share my journey.
Come back again. Joye
Single Older Woman - Living Life Passionately 
Very interesting read……like a Mora Roberts book…..
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