Arrival into YVR Vancouver
 

We are due to travel in January for a family ski trip from UK to Whistler. Looking at the Canadian govt website for entry restrictions it's not totally clear. It seems all international travellers are PCR tested at the airport and must quarantine until the result arrives which takes 24-72 hours.
What is not clear is if, after taking the airport test, we can continue immediately to Whistler and quarantine in our own hotel room (the hotel said they are ok with this - Four Seasons), or if we have to be shipped to a government hotel local to the airport. We are all double vaccinated and booster jabbed.

Has anyone any recent experience of YVR?
Thanks

I've not had any personal experience, but am myself going out to Vancouver/Whistler in January so have been reading up. As it stands at the moment, you only need to quarantine in a government facility IF you are coming from a country on the naughty list (Africa Basically)

That said, they keep changing the rules. It is also not 100% certain at this point if you will get tested or not. They are working towards 100% testing, but believe they are not quite there yet.

There are a load of posts on the Canada forum which explains this well.

Your hotel will be fine.

Thanks

Matt

I’m on my way to YYZ at the moment. If you’re fully vaccinated, you can isolate at your chosen / booked accommodation (family home, hotel, etc.). One of the questions from the ArriveCAN app that you complete within 72 hours of departure: Can you avoid all contact with other people in the household with whom you did not travel and have no guests (while isolating).

Hello Ripley5000,

Yes - that is correct. You may quarantine at your place of choosing, and wait there until your results come back. You will most likely receive an email or a 1800 call confirming your results after.

Does this mean that if you were going for a holiday, rather to a family residence, you would have to book a hotel for an up to an extra 10 days on top of your stay on the off chance things did go pear shaped testing wise?

Correct. After all, that happens everywhere - if you test positive, you're not supposed to be going out side and you can't get on a plane back either.

Welcome to Flyertalk, iamelusivevisitor! Unusual and noteworthy enough for someone whose first post is not to ask for help but to offer it, so please do make yourself at home and hope you'll stay with us all for the long haul!

That's true of like everywhere, right? Omicron has caused panic everywhere, and the entry rules will have to change. I believe BoJo also revised testing rules as well for UK entry?

You need a PCR before you leave UK (as you probably know), then you'll need to complete the ArriveCAN app form which asks for your vaccine status, where you're staying etc.

On arrival, you may be selected for a PCR test (no cost), if you are selected, you must quarantine until you receive the results (anecdotal evidence from friends, results have been between 24 - 48 hours). You are able to travel onwards from the airport to your accommodation where you'll then quarantine. If you are not selected, you do not need to do any arrival test and you do not need to quarantine at all. The government has said they are working up to 100% testing of international arrivals, but when we arrived to YVR on 17 December we were not tested and it seemed like they were only testing a small minority.

Source - Canadian living in London, travelled LHR to YVR last week for the holidays.

Yes, you would need to do that only *IF* your results came back positive. You don't need to book a 10 day hotel proactively before you arrive.

I'd personally reconsider taking the trip and likely defer it until sanity returns to global travel.

Living in the Western US in a state that shares borders with 2 Canadian provinces, I used to spend a week or more in W. Canada every spring or summer. As Vancouver has exploded in size and lost a lot of its charm, I scaled back my trips there to the point where my most recent trip, in October, was my first visit in 5 years.

I've never much enjoyed the YVR airport and especially the way you get treated when you arrive, although this might be unique to American visitors, and might represent tit for tat in how Canadians view that they are being treated when they visit the USA; can't know that. What I do know is that I get treated a lot better when I go to the UK or continental Europe, which is where I choose to travel to these days.

On my most recent visit in mid October (before Omicron) I found the pre-arrival and arrival experience to be very much subpar. Although I don't personally agree with requirements for PCR testing of vaccinated travelers, one can disagree, but the idea that you are going to go there and get tested on arrival and then risk getting put into some sort of an involuntary quarantine is a non-starter for me. At least if you are tested pre-arrival and test positive, then you can abort the whole trip and remain home. 10 or 14 days of forced quarantine in a foreign country when what you thought you were doing was going on a ski trip would simply be a deal killer for me. Not worth the risk, in my opinion.

And that "Arrivecan" phone app is beyond insulting.

As someone who has visited both Canada and the US more times that I can count, I would say you're about right.. they're usually miserable and as curt as each other.

The best immigration is the likes of DXB and DOH where they have an Apple AirPod in one ear with their iPhones under the desk watching YouTube where they barely acknowledge you, not least care about what job you do or what your manager's name is. :D

I'm totally spoiled by Global Entry, returning to the USA as an American. Many times my only interaction is with a machine, that recognizes my ugly face, generally without even looking at my passport. Occasionally after that I will then have a 1 sentence conversation with the customs agent while giving him the piece of paper ejected by the machine.

The assumption of Canadian customs agents when dealing with Americans is that they probably have drugs or an AR-15 and an Uzzi in their checked bags. The fact that the limit for bringing anything into the country such as alcohol or gifts is the equivalent of $40 USD doesn't help.

Adding my experience of this exact trip 2 weeks ago - (UK to YVR then Whistler, arriving 10th December) - we were worried about having to quarantine waiting for results too. We'd booked one night in Vancouver before planning on heading to Whistler the following morning, so were unsure whether to book extra nights in Vancouver just in case. In the end we didn't, and we didn't get selected for testing anyway. Definitely didn't seem like the majority were getting tested but that was 2 weeks ago. On the plus side immigration was really quick, was outside with my bags about 20 minutes after landing.

In case you need it for returning to the UK, there's a testing centre right in the middle of Whistler village that we used. It wasn't cheap ($150 CAD) but 5 minutes walk from the hotel, very quick and easy, and results (thankfully negative!) in 15 minutes.