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89-year-old leaves home province for the first time to visit Newfoundland

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TORONTO -

An 89-year-old Nova Scotia man is showing Canadians that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams by taking a long-desired family trip to Newfoundland.

Donald Mailman had always wanted to take the ferry to Newfoundland, but in his 89 years he never got the chance until recently, when he got to take the trip alongside his daughter and granddaughter.

“His wish was to come to Newfoundland – he's never been on a ferry – and we fly back his first time on a plane for all three of us,” his granddaughter, Aimee Weage, told NTV.

It’s the first family trip the three have been on, and it will certainly be memorable for them. The Noon Day Gun at Signal Hill has been a staple of Newfoundland history since the 19th century. The cannon is set off daily at noon between July and September, and Mailman got to pull the trigger to cheers from the surrounding crowd.

The trip was made possible by a non-profit organization, We Are Young, that helps Nova Scotia seniors fulfill their dreams.

“He just wanted to see the sights, wanted to see the land, wanted to see all what it was all about,” said Weage.

When asked what the trip meant to the family, Mailman’s daughter had a simple answer: “All the world.”

With files from NTV's Beth Penney 

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