The Word - Vol 98

Spread Your Tiny Wings.

“Spread your tiny wings and fly away.” These lyrics from Anne Murray’s hit song, Snowbird (written by Canadian singer-songwriter the late Gene MacLellan), sums up what thousands of Canadians and Americans from the northern United States do every year just as the first snowflakes start to fall. They spread their wings and fly south. The great migration to the sunshine and warm temperatures. “Let’s get out of this ice box!”

As the snowbirds take wing, the rest of us will just have to sit and dream of the sunny skies, warm weather, and sandy beaches. Unless of course, we take a week or two-week vacation to charge the batteries. No, we’re talking about the hardcore snowbirds who will pack up and leave the cold for the entire winter. If they’re headed for the U.S., they’ll be making sure they don’t exceed the six-month stay rule, or they could be barred from future visits to the U.S. and could also lose their Provincial Health Care benefits.  Alberta, Ontario, BC, Newfoundland, and Manitoba allow citizens to be away from the province for 7 months, without losing health care at home. 

My wife and I almost became Snowbirds, we got halfway there.  We owned a house in Arizona, and would pay multiple visits throughout the year, but never got close to the six-month per year limit. We certainly got a taste of what it would be like to set down roots for half the year, but work and family always seemed to bring us back home!  

One of the advantages of having a winter getaway is that there is no need for a lot of luggage for your trip south. Once you settle into your sunbelt home, there really is no need for a suitcase. Everything you need is waiting for you. Clothes, dishes, cooking supplies, and personal items right down to your toothbrush. The same goes for those who pack up their motorhome, RV, or trailer and head south. Everything you need aside from groceries is with you!  

A neighbour of ours in Arizona would settle in for his six-month stay in late October, or early November every year and would pack up to head home in the Spring. And why not? He said he didn’t have ties in the Lower Mainland. He didn’t have kids or grandkids. He had friends, but they would occasionally take a week or two and come and visit him in sunny Arizona throughout the winter. But for people with family back home, it was a real juggling act, usually heading back home for Christmas, or special family occasions. 
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Some friends of ours tried the ownership, snowbird lifestyle for a few years, but then decided that just heading to the same place every year was getting a little boring. There were other places in the world that they hadn’t seen yet, so why not sell their U.S. home and travel? And travel they did. They have quite a few destinations on the list of places to see, but they started with South Africa. This wasn’t just a three or four-week vacation, they went all in and rented a home for six months! They used this rental property as a base for side trips over that time and really got to see a lot of a country they had always wanted to visit.

Their passion is golf, and South Africa certainly has its share of great courses. But how to pack clubs and bags along with their suitcases? Well, they solved that problem by packing both sets of clubs in one hardcover golf travel bag, and then once in South Africa they went online to Marketplace and bought a couple of golf bags, and then sold them when their vacation was over! Problem solved. 

Next up for them? Australia for a month followed by New Zealand for five months. And as luck would have it, the owner of the Airbnb is a real car fanatic. They had mentioned to him that the cost of renting a car in New Zealand for five months was going to be very expensive, and they wanted to have a car to see the country. He offered a solution. He’d buy a car at auction, fix it up, and rent it to them for a fraction of what a rent-a-car company would. Then when they left after their stay, he’d sell it! Brilliant, they took him up on his offer and now can’t wait to get down under and spend a winter in their summer sun. 

They truly are, living the dream! So, all I can say is what Gene MacLellan wrote so many years ago, “spread your tiny wings and fly away” because, as a wise man once said, “We only live once, this is not a dress rehearsal!” 

Till next week…
Wayne

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