There's some timeline confusions here, this is what I get, please note any corrections.
November 21 - she retrieves her van from storage in Sooke, telling the tow-truck driver she's moving back home. It's parked in a lot about 1 block away from the shelter where she is staying.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/l...g-a-mysterious-trail-through-victoria-1.75659
November 23 - first call to her mother to say she wants to come home but doesn't know what to do with her stuff/van. Over the next 4 days she cancels, calls for help and cancels again.
November 28 - (All the timeline for Nov 28 is from here:
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/blog/clues-that-may-help-in-the-search-for-emma-fillipoff )
7 am she discovers the van has been towed as she has not paid for the parking.
8:23 am she buys a pre-paid credit card at a downtown 7/11 (presumably on Broughton street). Note a credit card isn't needed to retrieve a car from impoundment. Also a $200 credit card won't buy you a flight anywhere these days.
5:55 pm she buys the pre-paid cell phone at the same 7/11, and video footage shows her lingering around the store.
6:10 she catches a cab from the Harbour Air Terminal (downtown right near her former workplace, about 2 blocks from the 7/11. Note: Harbour Air only flies in the daytime.) The cab returns her to that area when she says she doesn't have the fare
-after 6 she is found in the same area downtown by an acquaintance, standing on a corner but unable to cross the street, looking around suspiciously. He walks with her as far as the Empress (Inner Harbour) and then calls police, who locate her in the same area, carrying her shoes. After a 30 minute interview (a long time!), they release her. She is not seen again.
From these actions, I get the impression of someone who is on the borderline of her ability to cope with practical tasks such as what to do with her belongings, how to get her car out of impoundment, how to get a flight home. To me, these don't look like the actions of someone who has decided to deliberately disappear.