For Yvonne Kroeker, entering the \u201cPack Your Bags\u201d contest started as a fun daily habit while listening to the radio at work. Now, it is turning into the trip of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
Kroeker was announced as the grand prize winner of the contest presented by Porter Airlines<\/a>, Mr. Lube + Tires<\/a>, CFAM, The Eagle, and Country 88. The prize includes a trip for two anywhere Porter Airlines flies, along with $500 in spending money.<\/p>\n When she got the surprise phone call, Kroeker could hardly believe it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s awesome,\u201d she said moments after learning she had won. \u201cThank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Kroeker said she entered the contest several times whenever she heard the daily boarding pass-word while streaming the station online at work.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I believe a couple times during the day,\u201d she explained. \u201cTwice, three times, whenever I caught it.\u201d<\/p>\n While the contest offered endless travel possibilities, Kroeker already knew exactly where she hoped to go. Her dream destination is Vancouver Island, where her brother and extended family live.<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother lives there and that was my goal, to go visit Rose and Elliot on the island,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was on my bucket list to do.\u201d<\/p>\n A bucket list trip years in the making<\/p>\n What makes the win especially meaningful is that Kroeker has never been able to make the trip before.<\/p>\n \u201cI never have,\u201d she said when asked if she had visited family there before. \u201cThis would be the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that both time and finances had kept the trip out of reach until now.<\/p>\n \u201cLike I said, it was on my bucket list and I just haven\u2019t had the time or the financial money to go and make this trip,\u201d Kroeker said. \u201cSo this is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n Her family often sends photos from British Columbia showing green grass and mild weather while Manitoba deals with snow and freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we have winter, they have green grass,\u201d she laughed. \u201cThey love to send pictures this way to the family members.\u201d<\/p>\n Kroeker said she enjoys firing back with a few Manitoba reminders of her own.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll take a picture of a front yard with a big snow bank on it and say, \u2018Look what you\u2019re missing,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her family originally lived in Manitoba before moving west for retirement, making the upcoming visit even more special.<\/p>\n Looking ahead to the adventure<\/p>\n Kroeker said she is excited to finally experience Vancouver Island for herself after years of hearing about it from loved ones.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll probably have an itinerary for us and show us all the sites,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019d be amazing to go.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cPack Your Bags\u201d contest drew nearly 2,000 entries in less than a month, with listeners tuning in online and through the station app for chances to win.<\/p>\n Now, thanks to a little persistence and some lucky timing, Kroeker is preparing to cross a major item off her bucket list while reconnecting with family on Canada\u2019s west coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Yvonne Kroeker, entering the \u201cPack Your Bags\u201d contest started as a fun daily habit while listening to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-426948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}