Day 1 (September 20, 2024): Quick Zip to the 'Peg!

My grandparents were from southeast Saskatchewan.  So, although I grew up in Newfoundland, I had enjoyed several trips to the prairies as a kid, with some additional family reunion, funeral and business trips as an adult.  Winnipeg was always the gateway we used for visiting family in Saskatchewan but, in spite of all the previous prairie visits mentioned, I had never really explored Winnipeg's sights.  And Pam had only been through the city once, also without exploration.

When I stumbled upon deep discount Westjet tickets for the carrier's nonstop route from Halifax to Winnipeg, taking a jaunt to the 'Peg for the last weekend of Summer 2024 was a no-brainer.  Also, with good friends and relatives there, it meant we could catch up with some dear people in our lives.

I worked a half day, and Pam's teaching schedule ends at 11:30AM on Fridays. So the 1:15PM Westjet departure was perfectly timed. We both met at the airport and, with just enough time for a pre-boarding coffee, we were off to Manitoba before we could process it all!

We landed to a sunny late summer's day in Winnipeg. The airport at "YWG" is one of my favourite Canadian airports -- it's just well-designed, appealing to the eye, and very functional.  We jumped in our Hertz car and were off in no time.  We chose the Delta Winnipeg in downtown just because I'm a Delta kinda guy, I guess! I always know what to expect there, and this stay didn't disappoint. 

Thanks for your interest in this short blog, which details all we packed into our 48 Manitoba hours.

Our cheap Westjet tickets saw us board with Zone #9 (it goes, Zones 1,2,3,4, and then they jump to the uber humiliating Zone 9, just to let the rest of the plane know who paid peanuts for their tickets. But we didn't care.  Stuffed into the back of the plane, at least we got to sit together on the brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.

The nonstop flight from Halifax to Winnipeg is incredibly convenient. And the packed flight is testament to the route's popularity with fliers.  We left 15 minutes early and arrived in Winnipeg 30 minutes early!  Hard to beat that.

We tried to create our own business class experience 'down in the back of the bus'.  It takes a bit of planning, yes, but it was wonderful to have some good snacks for the four-hour flight.

I'll never get tired of the beauty of the Canadian prairie, with its straight-as-a-whip roads and patch-work quilt-like array of fields of various colours, as far as the eye can see.

Winnipeg is impressive.  At 800,000

people, its city centre is quite large, sporting a plethora of high-rise towers akin to what one would find in large cities like Ottawa and Calgary.  And the trees!  It is an incredibly treed city.

The airport code for Winnipeg is, of course, YWG!

Time for one last dip of Summer 2024!

Our friends, Adrian and Brigitte, came by to visit us at the Delta.  I go waaaaay back with them, from my Canadian Heritage days.  They aren't just colleagues, they are dear friends.  Always wonderful to catch up with them!