WC Holiday Shopping Guide Part 3

WEST CARLETON – Worried about receiving your gifts in time for Christmas Day? With the postal strike dragging in to its third week, shopping local is a great way to avoid delivery snags. 

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about how our local businesses are finding ways to guarantee your holiday purchase will arrive in time.

In West Carleton Online’s third gift guide we speak with three local entrepreneurs who say when it comes to their gift ideas, it’s all about the journey.

When Constance Bay resident Jennifer Sloan opened her business Unexpected Journeys during the pandemic she never anticipated she would end up sending more than 3,600 groups out on her curated self-guided unique local tours over the past four years. Such was the beginning of her own unexpected journey.

“I never expected to retire, and I never expected to open a business,” Sloan told West Carleton Online. “That was not initially my plan. But the pandemic changed everything. I used to plan things for family and friends, so after I retired from 28 years of teaching my partner said why don’t you do the same for other people. That is what I have done and also why I chose the name Unexpected Journeys.”

Currently, Sloan offers 11 journeys with more on the way. Each journey arrives in package with an explanatory note and a series of five sealed envelopes, one for each surprise outdoor stop. The experience is designed to fill a day and also includes many optional things to do along the way such as, foodie stops, photo ops, hidden pathways, or waterways to name a few.  

“Although it comes in a small package, the beautiful Unexpected Journeys envelope includes a lot,” she said. “People have some idea of the direction they are going but they don’t know what the stops are. Journeys are priced for groups of people, I have even sent out a bachelorette.”

Journeys are suitable for all times of year and Sloan suggests re-doing a tour in a different season for a whole new experience.  She says it’s a great gift for yourself or another and a fun way to re-discover your own backyard.

“One of my special places is the Eagles Nest Hike in Calabogie,” she said. “Another hidden gem is Blakeney Rapids. Nobody knows it and it’s never busy when we go. Another one that not a lot of people know about in the Ottawa Valley is Arnprior’s Gille’s Grove. It’s beautiful.”

Sloan says so far all of the journeys have been popular sellers.  

“It’s a fantastic idea for tourists to complement their trip to the Ottawa area,” she said. “Soon I will be adding tours for the Ottawa Valley, Tremblant, Prince Edward County, Kingston and Muskoka.

Sloan says she gets lots of feedback from customers and one she hears most often is also her favorite.

“People tell me all the time, I’ve lived in this area all my life and I didn’t know these places existed,” she said.

In Fitzroy Harbour, co-owners Dawn Evans, Alda Lee, and Shannon Silsbe of Eleven Love are hoping their jewelry and other products will support people on a journey of a different kind. Since inception in 2017, Evan says the company has been built on the pillars of love and kindness offering creative makes that are meant to uplift and inspire people on their own personal healing journeys.

“Alda and I first met through our young daughters and we were in the same situation where we worked corporate and didn’t want to go back after having our kids,” Evans said. “She was teaching yoga and I was doing reiki, and we combined our favorite things we loved about our modalities, our healing journeys personally, and we created little gemstone wish bracelets.”

Evans explains each bracelet comes with its own wish.

“I think there are about 50 choices for bracelets,” she said. “Each comes with its own special wish. They relate to things we want to manifest in our own lives, things we want more of, things we want to heal or maybe its things we want to let go. All of these wishes came from our own personal growth journeys.”

Soon after the business launched, the pandemic happened and Evans says everyone was asking for a custom note such as, ‘wish I could be with you,’ ‘sending this to you,’ or ‘things will get better.’ Some Monday mornings she says they were shipping up to 60 bracelets all over North America.

“One bracelet we created during the pandemic was called, I am With You,” she said. “I couldn’t travel to Nova Scotia so I made those bracelets to remind family we are close.”

Evans says a wish bracelet is a special gift for you or someone else. It reminds us although we grow up, the magic of making wishes and believing is still a real thing. 

“Our New Beginnings wish bracelet has always been our most popular and is perfect for a new mom, or someone starting a new job or entering retirement,” Evans said. “Another very popular choice is a bracelet called Manifest which is basically a reminder for you to make your wishes and manifest. If you focus your attention daily on what it is you want more in your life, it reminds you to take the extra step, make that phone call. These small actions help you along that personal growth journey.”

For those who want to travel further afield, Marathon Village resident Bruce Holt and his travel agency Heart of Oak are ready to help you with the planning. He believes a cruise makes an ideal gift and he says now is the time to book.

 “You go on a cruise and you compare that to a weekend at a resort there is no comparison on price and what you get,” he said. “Depending on the time of year, you can get some incredible deals. Knowing the people and what they want to experience, you can match them up really well with a really good cruise. There is something for everyone out there.”

Holt began his career many years ago with the Royal Canadian Navy followed by several decades in the Information Technologies sector. When the pandemic came along he decided to change careers and become a travel agent. As a veteran himself, Holt says he looks forward to working with veterans because he knows where they are coming from and what they have been through.

“Veterans tend to be very history oriented and they are very knowledgeable about Canadian war history,” Holt said. “I did a cruise this past summer to the UK and I figured we would do a trip though France to all the major Canadian battlefields, that is the type of things veterans would like to do to see these places.”

Because travel agents know the ins and outs of the business Holt says they are well positioned to find you the best deals and a great experience. They are also there for you should a problem arise.

 “We know what is going on in the market,” Holt said.  “I know the best times, the best ships and how to book a cabin. You want to have a cabin above and below you on the ship and on either side. You don’t want to have a really good cabin underneath the restaurant. I also know when the deals are coming up. We are the experts on this.”

You can meet Holt in person at his booth at the Eastern Ontario Craft and Gift Christmas Market (free admission and parking) on Dec. 14 and 15 at the North Grenville Municipal Centre in Kemptville.