Single Older Woman – travelling alone- Phone Maps or paper road maps

In one of my earlier posts, I touched briefly on my experience only having a pay- as- you- go cell phone, with only data and text options.

During my first solo vacation to Manitoba, I ran out of minutes, had no idea how to connect to WIFI and had to rely on my sister via Facebook to communicate to family members back in Ontario, where I was and what I was doing.

Never again…. So in March 2018, before that summer’s East Coast trip, I invested in an IPhone6.

I was very happy to have my BFF with me – she was street finder, restaurant locator, map reader and Siri expert and a superb photographer…..she used the map feature on her phone to get us to all the places we needed to go. I did the driving and PB2 took great pics too. I would have been lost in PEI without PB2.

Well fast forward to 2019 – trip to Saskatchewan and Alberta, now I’m travelling solo and I have to look after all these little tasks myself….. I managed quite well the few days in Sask. However once I got to Alberta, things went by the wayside……and I did not venture too far out of the vicinity of the hotel, for fear I would get lost….

In 2020, we all stayed home. As 2021 approached, I was itching to get back to my Beach travels. I had hoped to go to the East Coast, however VIA Rail had suspended their trips for the year.

Well then, I’ll complete the list of Ontario Beaches – Sauble Beach, Owen Sound; Sandbanks, Prince Edward County; Singing Sands, Tobermory. All I needed was a full tank of gas, some lunch and snack items and maybe a hotel stay or two.

For this trip, I would rely solely on paper road maps and not my phone. My dad immigrated to Canada from Europe in the mid-1950’s. He loves maps- he is an expert on maps, streets, highways, towns,etc. He can calculate to within a kilometre the distance between any two points on such map….My inspiration, to say the least.

Paper maps give you that whole big picture idea – you can lay it all out and see North, South, West and East. As a member of CAA, we have access to as many maps as we wish, for free. Off I went to the local store, to get my hands on ALL THE MAPS –

Stay tuned – more to come on this journey – the planning, the anxiety, the day excursions, the highlights, the funny moments, the momentous and the AHA moments.

Thank you for reading and letting me share.

Joye