EmailKid

Poster has been pretty much spot on with predictions

run&fly

🙂 still going to wait before booking...

bchandler02

Amtrak, while positive? Really? That's a pretty selfish and crappy thing to do. Driving is the only option that seems reasonable to me but I do not know US/CA border crossing rules.

danielflyer

You traveled and took a covid test knowing there was a mandatory quarantine. Suck it up and do your time.

Hopefully countries will continue to relax or eliminate quarantine. In the meantime, I am always prepared to test positive at my destination and plan accordingly.

Sohigs

I am not complaining about the quarantine, I have to do it and I will complete it.
I am trying to find out my options after the quarantine is complete.

lcohen999

but...I Just caught covid and now have my golden ticket!!!

j/k that is great news

sushanna1

I agree. Please do not ride Amtrak after testing positive.

Stanbury

Thanks for this information! Does "pre-entry" refer to both the currently required test prior to boarding and the test upon arrival?

Adam Smith

@run&fly, based on the track record of posts in this thread, no, it is not reliable.

YYZ1313 claims to be or have some sort of inside source for this type of information. I don't know him/her, but what I do know is that what has been posted here has frequently not been consistent with what/when the government has eventually announced. See, for instance, how Canada was going to close to foreigners and impose a 14-day quarantine again back in December (didn't happen), or how hotel quarantine was going to go away July 21 (government announced the day after that post that it was going away as of July 5); a month earlier, it was confidently predicted that hotel quarantine would go away June 21.

I'm sure someone will point out that many of these predictions were somewhat correct, and that the government frequently changes its mind at the last minute so they may even have been the absolute best information at the time they were posted, but that only reinforces my point - even if the PM himself were secretly posting on FT, if he's going to change his mind 30 minutes before an announcement, what's the point of reading what he's thinking about a week before that? For instance, even if it was what the government was contemplating on May 16, if you relied on YYZ1313's comment on that date that hotel quarantine would go away June 21 to book a trip for June 22, you would have gotten stuck, given that it only ended July 5.

It's ultimately your call to decide what/whom to believe, and what risk you want to take on speculative bookings. I very much hope the information is correct (I have plans for several foreign trips in April), but I would not make any travel plans based on it.

YYZ1313

I'll keep to myself then. Not my fault plans change, often at the last minute. Cheers!

psusaver

So if planes dont allow y̶o̶u̶ them, why would you even suggest Amtrak? Amtrak has a very clear policy that states you have to fill out a Covid form. Essentially, without having any actual knowledge you are suggesting that OP lie on Amtrak forms. This risky advice and it is better not to make random suggestions that could put others in trouble. I thought "experienced FTers" would know this much.

psusaver

With Hertz/National etc, if you have status or a corporate plan they let you pick up contactless. If it is very very important for you to be back inside Canada, i would suggest doing a long rental so you can potentially drive it back or return one way (is that possible across borders - might need more research).

You can also buy a "cheap" car on Carvana, use it to drive across. Later on sell it in Canada or US or back to Carvana. I guess with enough money you can figure out options .̶O̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶,̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶g̶g̶e̶s̶t̶e̶d̶.̶.

I think once you are cleared with a negative test after quarantine (or even by the last day), you should be ok to travel using any of the options discussed.

Adam Smith

That's not the point. I have acknowledged that the government seems to change its mind frequently, and I have not impugned you or your sources. But someone asked whether the information was reliable in the context of booking travel. The fact is that the things you have predicted have frequently not come to pass on the timeline you said they would, which could lead to great disappointment and/or meaningful costs for someone who committed significant dollars to travel plans based on your comments.

YYZ1313

I never said anyone should make plans based on what I post. Not my problem. Things could get posted on official government websites and still change at the last minute. And twice is not frequently. It's well documented that the federal government was ready to close the border again at the beginning of Omicron and that provincial prime ministers talked them out of it at the last minute. I'm out of this thread.

RangerNS

Perhaps you are reading something else, but I clearly typed both "maybe" and used a question mark. And this is what the forum says when I read back now. Do you see something different?

Both of these indicate doubt. I'm not holding a gun to OPs head, and I've said nothing about fraud.

I also offered, with a question mark, renting a car. Did I offer that one way international car rentals might as well be as expensive as buying a car, or that NJ turnpikes have toll booths and speed limits? I did not. Nevertheless, renting a car and getting from Newark to Buffalo to Niagara is an option. Up to OP if he has a driver's license and cash to pay tolls and knows how to drive.
Morso, I don't understand the question at all. OP is not "stuck" in the USA, he is a Canadian citizen with unquestioned right to enter their home country. The problem is basically a Candy/Martin movie. Just head north. It's not that hard. Trains and planes and automobiles do it everyday. Planes out? How about trains or automobiles?
On the way North OP shouldn't eat yellow snow or swordfight with Zorro. Should not under any circumstances be caught with a short lobster, or the decss code printed on a t-shirt. Oxygen is required for human survival of longer than 5 minutes or so.

What more generic life advice should I provide?