A Return To and Summer in Canada -Quarantine Style
Jan 5, 2021, 4:35 am
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2008
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A Return To and Summer in Canada -Quarantine Style
Where to start with this. What I intended to be a simple day trip to Detroit to renew my work visa turned into 6 months of hanging out in Canada. Apologies to my Dad who likely never indented his 31 year old son showing up on his door step. But we'll get to that. Not like I wanted to be there either.
I started my day northbound on I-75 to TPA with a Wawa coffee in hand and without a worry in mind. Parked the car in economy parking, wondered into the terminal with my fellow masked travelers, and all was good. I was finally getting to leave a 5 mile radius of my house!
I already had my mobile BP so went straight airside. TPA has 4 separate airside piers, and normally they have rent-a-cops sitting there scanning boarding passes to tell you if you’re getting on the wrong airside tram, but they were absent today. Cost cutting and social distancing I guess.
At the WN airside pier, nothing was open but the little Hudson News type outlet.
WN 1498
TPA-BWI
Boarding was done by groups of 10, instead of groups of thirty. Fairly organized and you got yelled at if you didn’t have your mask on when boarding, as I saw. On board I had a row of 3 to myself and cracked my self-catered special Diet Coke from the airside shop.
We went up, we came down, and were handed cans of water with straws and a bag of snack mix. So really not all that different from a normal Southwest flight except you get the full can of beverage!
WN 516
BWI-DTW
It was just like the first flight. Like creepily the same. I managed to get the whole exit row to myself.
Hertz DTW
For some reason, Hertz decided that running their shuttle once every 30-45 mins was sufficient. One other frustrated Hertz customer and I were chatting and he suggested hopping on the National bus since they’re right next door. So we did that and handily beat all the Hertz customers to the lot.
Onward to Canada!
I’d never driven across the Ambassador Bridge before. While being Canadian, this isn’t my hood, so to speak, I’m from flyover country. I took my shiny 2020 Nissan with 500 miles on it and we pulled up to the toll booth all the arms were up and not a human in sight. Sweet, free bridge. So over to Canada, I wave my Canadian passport and tell them what I’m doing, and the CBSA agent said hang a left at the stop sign and follow the “Back to USA” signs. Cool beans.
Onward to the US!
Back over the bridge. So to not violate some rule I’m unaware of, lets just say that I was not successful at getting my work visa issued this day, and I got to drive back across the bridge to Canada again - this time from the special CBP only on ramp! It wasn’t just me. The guys in the car next to mine got royally yelled at for their excuse of “essential travel” which CBP was not buying.
Back to Canada!
Back in Windsor, and officially entering Canada this time and not hanging a left at the stop sign, went through the normal questions and was directed to secondary so they could call a Quarentine Officer. They were operating like teleheath at the time. As a returning Canadian citizen, I was now subject to the compulsory 14 day self isolation. Only problem is I didn’t have any friends/family in the area.
After about an hour of sitting in my car and CBSA officers occasionally visiting with a Public Health Canada woman on speakerphone, we figured my marching orders. Since I had no place to self isolate, I had to report to their quarentine facility by EOD, the nearest of which was in Toronto. It was around 15:00 at this point.
I then realized this was a blessing in disguise. The nearest Canadian Hertz location was at YYZ, so I could drive myself, turn in the lost MI plated car - that was due back tomorrow at DTW, and figure it out from there. So they handed me back my passport and a Covid info sheet and sent me out on the 401.
I spent most of the drive in stunned silence and coming to terms that a single CBP ... hat can singlehandedly upend your life, and with crackly radio trying to figure exactly the way out of the pile of .... that I had found myself in. I’d never driven the 401, so this was new for me. After futzing with Google Maps, I lined up a gas station that just so happened to have an LCBO next door, fueled the car, fueled me, and returned the car to Hertz at YYZ.
The Hertz guy saw the Michigan plates, wrote the mileage and muttered you need to go see the office. This is gonna be good. I had a flashback to eightblack’s TR where the Hertz woman said “this vehicle can’t be taken outside of Michigan!”. (I realize in hindsight that this TR bears a striking resemblance to an EB TR) I go to the office and he takes my receipt, stamps it in one of those manual time card readers, hands it back and says “the US will send you the receipt, we fax this to them” fax? hahaha
Oh great, this ought to be fun. I just returned a $35 one day rental to the wrong airport in the wrong country.
Nothing to do about it, so threw the receipt in my bag and went on with my life, texting the Health Canada Lady that I was ready for my transportation.
Outside a deserted YYZ, I waited where I was told, and a freaking ambulance rolls up. Not a public one, but one of those private ambulances that transports people from place to place. This day’s just getting better and better. So I hop on the back and we move to Destination Unknown.
DU is an airport hotel in the general vicinity of YYZ. Due to Public Health Canada confidentiality rules, I can’t share the name of the hotel. Yes I’m being serious. It was on my welcome paperwork!
We walk in and two nurses in full PPE take my temp and run the full battery of questions. I come to realize I’m known as “land border guy” since all their other arrivals came in through YYZ. After that, the Canadian Red Cross guys informed me of how food works.
The whole entry takes place in a makeshift lobby where they’ve covered everything in white plastic. I felt like I was about to be sprayed down in a hazmat booth.
It’s now about 21:00 and I’m mentally and physically worn out. Escorted up to my room, they say dinner will be dropped off soon for me and a couple other late arrivals. I cracked one of my contraband beers, phoned a couple people, ate my cold dinner and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up, and brekkie was right on time. Cold (previously hot) oatmeal, a cold bagel, and some fruit juice! Thankfully the room had a microwave. Still sucked BTW.
So now to figure out how the f*** to get out of here. I’m not one who likes being told what to do, or where to be, and now that I had a night to decompress I needed out of Public Health Canada Jail. Being let out of my room for supervised walks in a circle was really not going to work for me. According to the rule book I was provided, you could continue onward in Canada to your self-isolation location as long as you weren’t exhibiting symptoms. In hindsight, this makes no sense, but none of the Covid related travel policies make sense. Since I met that criteria, I found a YYZ-YWG flight for that evening. I’m from YWG and have family and a house there. Got the OK from my Dad that I could stay there, got the OK from the mysterious Public Health Canada Lady that I’ve only met over text message, and booked it. OK. 10 more hours. Shortly after this a nurse came by to do my first temperature check of the day.
I got peckish and into the trash bag full of snacks left for guests. Kids fruit juices, tuna and crackers, etc. I found Five Alive and whiskey was the best. Iced tea and whiskey was not as good.
Lunch arrived and it was cold mac and cheese, a barely edible red cabbage salad, and a roll. It’s food I suppose.
I grew very envious of the smokers. Since you weren’t allowed out of your room without an escort, you had to schedule your outdoor walks...around the fenced in parking lot. I was too busy to deal with this. I had a call mid afternoon with my understandably very pissed off HR Manager and my company's immigration lawyers. After getting that out of the way it was dinner.
Dinner was a cold steak and a salad. Now I love steak. But cold steak with no way to cut it (no plastic Sysco cutlery doesn’t work) was a bit sad. I went cave man on it and went handheld.
Finally it was time for my transport back to YYZ. This time I got the actual bus and not the ambulance. Only downside is I had to stand and ride on the wheelchair lift because it was “policy” and couldn’t climb the 3 stairs at the door.
I was also presented with this “get out of COVID jail card!”
Back at YYZ, sweet sweet air travel. The terminal mostly was deserted with the exception of Air India pax for the flight to BOM. There was a compulsory hand sanitizer station as you walked through the AC check in desks, and they took temps entering the security line. Beyond that it was the usual CATSA idiocy. That’s still the same, COVID or no COVID.
Once airside, YYZ continued to be a ghost town. Nothing was open but the pseudo Hudsons News, Tims, and one sit down restaurant/bar. Mask compliance was very good and people left each other alone.
I started my day northbound on I-75 to TPA with a Wawa coffee in hand and without a worry in mind. Parked the car in economy parking, wondered into the terminal with my fellow masked travelers, and all was good. I was finally getting to leave a 5 mile radius of my house!
I already had my mobile BP so went straight airside. TPA has 4 separate airside piers, and normally they have rent-a-cops sitting there scanning boarding passes to tell you if you’re getting on the wrong airside tram, but they were absent today. Cost cutting and social distancing I guess.
At the WN airside pier, nothing was open but the little Hudson News type outlet.
WN 1498
TPA-BWI
Boarding was done by groups of 10, instead of groups of thirty. Fairly organized and you got yelled at if you didn’t have your mask on when boarding, as I saw. On board I had a row of 3 to myself and cracked my self-catered special Diet Coke from the airside shop.
We went up, we came down, and were handed cans of water with straws and a bag of snack mix. So really not all that different from a normal Southwest flight except you get the full can of beverage!
WN 516
BWI-DTW
It was just like the first flight. Like creepily the same. I managed to get the whole exit row to myself.
Hertz DTW
For some reason, Hertz decided that running their shuttle once every 30-45 mins was sufficient. One other frustrated Hertz customer and I were chatting and he suggested hopping on the National bus since they’re right next door. So we did that and handily beat all the Hertz customers to the lot.
Onward to Canada!
I’d never driven across the Ambassador Bridge before. While being Canadian, this isn’t my hood, so to speak, I’m from flyover country. I took my shiny 2020 Nissan with 500 miles on it and we pulled up to the toll booth all the arms were up and not a human in sight. Sweet, free bridge. So over to Canada, I wave my Canadian passport and tell them what I’m doing, and the CBSA agent said hang a left at the stop sign and follow the “Back to USA” signs. Cool beans.
Onward to the US!
Back over the bridge. So to not violate some rule I’m unaware of, lets just say that I was not successful at getting my work visa issued this day, and I got to drive back across the bridge to Canada again - this time from the special CBP only on ramp!
It wasn’t just me. The guys in the car next to mine got royally yelled at for their excuse of “essential travel” which CBP was not buying.Back to Canada!
Back in Windsor, and officially entering Canada this time and not hanging a left at the stop sign, went through the normal questions and was directed to secondary so they could call a Quarentine Officer. They were operating like teleheath at the time. As a returning Canadian citizen, I was now subject to the compulsory 14 day self isolation. Only problem is I didn’t have any friends/family in the area.
After about an hour of sitting in my car and CBSA officers occasionally visiting with a Public Health Canada woman on speakerphone, we figured my marching orders. Since I had no place to self isolate, I had to report to their quarentine facility by EOD, the nearest of which was in Toronto. It was around 15:00 at this point.
I then realized this was a blessing in disguise. The nearest Canadian Hertz location was at YYZ, so I could drive myself, turn in the lost MI plated car - that was due back tomorrow at DTW, and figure it out from there. So they handed me back my passport and a Covid info sheet and sent me out on the 401.
I spent most of the drive in stunned silence and coming to terms that a single CBP ... hat can singlehandedly upend your life, and with crackly radio trying to figure exactly the way out of the pile of .... that I had found myself in. I’d never driven the 401, so this was new for me. After futzing with Google Maps, I lined up a gas station that just so happened to have an LCBO next door, fueled the car, fueled me, and returned the car to Hertz at YYZ.
The Hertz guy saw the Michigan plates, wrote the mileage and muttered you need to go see the office. This is gonna be good. I had a flashback to eightblack’s TR where the Hertz woman said “this vehicle can’t be taken outside of Michigan!”. (I realize in hindsight that this TR bears a striking resemblance to an EB TR) I go to the office and he takes my receipt, stamps it in one of those manual time card readers, hands it back and says “the US will send you the receipt, we fax this to them” fax? hahaha
Oh great, this ought to be fun. I just returned a $35 one day rental to the wrong airport in the wrong country.
Nothing to do about it, so threw the receipt in my bag and went on with my life, texting the Health Canada Lady that I was ready for my transportation.
Outside a deserted YYZ, I waited where I was told, and a freaking ambulance rolls up. Not a public one, but one of those private ambulances that transports people from place to place. This day’s just getting better and better. So I hop on the back and we move to Destination Unknown.
DU is an airport hotel in the general vicinity of YYZ. Due to Public Health Canada confidentiality rules, I can’t share the name of the hotel. Yes I’m being serious. It was on my welcome paperwork!
We walk in and two nurses in full PPE take my temp and run the full battery of questions. I come to realize I’m known as “land border guy” since all their other arrivals came in through YYZ. After that, the Canadian Red Cross guys informed me of how food works.
The whole entry takes place in a makeshift lobby where they’ve covered everything in white plastic. I felt like I was about to be sprayed down in a hazmat booth.
It’s now about 21:00 and I’m mentally and physically worn out. Escorted up to my room, they say dinner will be dropped off soon for me and a couple other late arrivals. I cracked one of my contraband beers, phoned a couple people, ate my cold dinner and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up, and brekkie was right on time. Cold (previously hot) oatmeal, a cold bagel, and some fruit juice! Thankfully the room had a microwave. Still sucked BTW.
So now to figure out how the f*** to get out of here. I’m not one who likes being told what to do, or where to be, and now that I had a night to decompress I needed out of Public Health Canada Jail. Being let out of my room for supervised walks in a circle was really not going to work for me. According to the rule book I was provided, you could continue onward in Canada to your self-isolation location as long as you weren’t exhibiting symptoms. In hindsight, this makes no sense, but none of the Covid related travel policies make sense. Since I met that criteria, I found a YYZ-YWG flight for that evening. I’m from YWG and have family and a house there. Got the OK from my Dad that I could stay there, got the OK from the mysterious Public Health Canada Lady that I’ve only met over text message, and booked it. OK. 10 more hours. Shortly after this a nurse came by to do my first temperature check of the day.
I got peckish and into the trash bag full of snacks left for guests. Kids fruit juices, tuna and crackers, etc. I found Five Alive and whiskey was the best. Iced tea and whiskey was not as good.
Lunch arrived and it was cold mac and cheese, a barely edible red cabbage salad, and a roll. It’s food I suppose.
I grew very envious of the smokers. Since you weren’t allowed out of your room without an escort, you had to schedule your outdoor walks...around the fenced in parking lot. I was too busy to deal with this. I had a call mid afternoon with my understandably very pissed off HR Manager and my company's immigration lawyers. After getting that out of the way it was dinner.
Dinner was a cold steak and a salad. Now I love steak. But cold steak with no way to cut it (no plastic Sysco cutlery doesn’t work) was a bit sad. I went cave man on it and went handheld.
Finally it was time for my transport back to YYZ. This time I got the actual bus and not the ambulance. Only downside is I had to stand and ride on the wheelchair lift because it was “policy” and couldn’t climb the 3 stairs at the door.
I was also presented with this “get out of COVID jail card!”
Back at YYZ, sweet sweet air travel. The terminal mostly was deserted with the exception of Air India pax for the flight to BOM. There was a compulsory hand sanitizer station as you walked through the AC check in desks, and they took temps entering the security line. Beyond that it was the usual CATSA idiocy. That’s still the same, COVID or no COVID.
Once airside, YYZ continued to be a ghost town. Nothing was open but the pseudo Hudsons News, Tims, and one sit down restaurant/bar. Mask compliance was very good and people left each other alone.
Last edited by krazykanuck; Jan 5, 2021 at 5:07 am
Jan 5, 2021, 5:22 am
#2
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Posts: 12,790
Back at YYZ, sweet sweet air travel. The terminal mostly was deserted with the exception of Air India pax for the flight to BOM. There was a compulsory hand sanitizer station as you walked through the AC check in desks, and they took temps entering the security line. Beyond that it was the usual CATSA idiocy. That’s still the same, COVID or no COVID.
Once airside, YYZ continued to be a ghost town. Nothing was open but the pseudo Hudsons News, Tims, and one sit down restaurant/bar. Mask compliance was very good and people left each other alone.
Once airside, YYZ continued to be a ghost town. Nothing was open but the pseudo Hudsons News, Tims, and one sit down restaurant/bar. Mask compliance was very good and people left each other alone.
Jan 5, 2021, 8:31 am
#4
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You missed the fact that my US visa renewal was denied. Hence I had to turn back around and this entire kerfullel became a thing. Had I been able to to renew my visa as intended this would have been a one day trip and I would have been back on the US side of the border after lunch time. BUT that's not what happened.
Jan 5, 2021, 10:44 am
#5
Join Date: May 2005
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Programs: Marriott (Lifetime Titantium), whatever other programs as benefits make sense.
Posts: 1,920
Yikes. I once said the wrong thing when getting a TN visa about my job title, and the guy was about a hair's breadth from not giving me my new visa (I'd had them multiple times before (and yes, I realise TN is not a visa, but an entry status)). He asked a lot of follow up questions, but I think between my answers making some sort of coherent sense of what the job I did was matched the titled based on the category, and probably my shell-shocked look, he did approve it. Made sure I always answered the questions based on the invitation letter after that.
Looking forward to the rest of the report.
Looking forward to the rest of the report.
Jan 5, 2021, 11:02 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Delta DM, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, National EE, AS MVP Gold 75K, AC 75K
Posts: 1,000
So did it take you 6 months to renew your work visa or something else came up?
I always had the immigration lawyer take care of the TN renewals. They send me the paperwork and I just hand it immigration/custom officer. They've never asked me any questions besides what job position I'm applying for. We used to have HR do the paper work and I've always gotten tones of questions. Also, if I get denied, I was told to just call the immigration lawyers and they would take care of it.
I'm also curious where the Quarantine Hotel is...yes I know it's confidential.
UT was using Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn while Sheridan was using Four Point to quarantine international students coming in (This is not a secret, it's published in their pamphlet).
I always had the immigration lawyer take care of the TN renewals. They send me the paperwork and I just hand it immigration/custom officer. They've never asked me any questions besides what job position I'm applying for. We used to have HR do the paper work and I've always gotten tones of questions. Also, if I get denied, I was told to just call the immigration lawyers and they would take care of it.
I'm also curious where the Quarantine Hotel is...yes I know it's confidential.
UT was using Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn while Sheridan was using Four Point to quarantine international students coming in (This is not a secret, it's published in their pamphlet).
Jan 5, 2021, 2:55 pm
#7
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
Outside a deserted YYZ, I waited where I was told, and a freaking ambulance rolls up. Not a public one, but one of those private ambulances that transports people from place to place. This day’s just getting better and better. So I hop on the back and we move to Destination Unknown.
.
Know how you feel on that one
At least you didn't fall asleep on the 401 between Windsor to London, that road is just flat and straight as hell.
Shocking how an isolating facility can be 5 hr drive away from the border.
I'm shocked Health Canada is taking this seriously, CBSA for Air arrival feels like sign this piece of paper, go home and that's it.
Last time I came back I got 1 follow-up phone call in 14 days Quarantine Period?
Plus if you break quarantine, has Canada sent anyone to jail? Largest I've seen is a 1000 CAD fine
Little slap on the wrist at best
Dying to Ski - https://globalnews.ca/news/7501940/w...arantine-fine/
Snowbird Couple - https://globalnews.ca/news/7174550/f...n-coronavirus/
That lunch look like somebody picked it up at Loblaws, YIKES!
Your Quarantine breakfast isn't very removed from what I had in HKG Quarantine hotel though
No Ambulance Photo?
I believe that list is public.
And not in Brampton
Highest Positivity Rate of Canada
Jan 5, 2021, 4:06 pm
#8
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Yikes. I once said the wrong thing when getting a TN visa about my job title, and the guy was about a hair's breadth from not giving me my new visa (I'd had them multiple times before (and yes, I realise TN is not a visa, but an entry status)). He asked a lot of follow up questions, but I think between my answers making some sort of coherent sense of what the job I did was matched the titled based on the category, and probably my shell-shocked look, he did approve it. Made sure I always answered the questions based on the invitation letter after that.
Looking forward to the rest of the report.
Looking forward to the rest of the report.
So did it take you 6 months to renew your work visa or something else came up? ...I'm also curious where the Quarantine Hotel is...yes I know it's confidential.
UT was using Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn while Sheridan was using Four Point to quarantine international students coming in (This is not a secret, it's published in their pamphlet).
UT was using Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn while Sheridan was using Four Point to quarantine international students coming in (This is not a secret, it's published in their pamphlet).
And no I didn't get any points or elite night credit! krazykanuck, welcome back but not really
Know how you feel on that one
At least you didn't fall asleep on the 401 between Windsor to London, that road is just flat and straight as hell.
Shocking how an isolating facility can be 5 hr drive away from the border.
I'm shocked Health Canada is taking this seriously, CBSA for Air arrival feels like sign this piece of paper, go home and that's it.
Last time I came back I got 1 follow-up phone call in 14 days Quarantine Period?
Your Quarantine breakfast isn't very removed from what I had in HKG Quarantine hotel though
No Ambulance Photo?
Know how you feel on that one
At least you didn't fall asleep on the 401 between Windsor to London, that road is just flat and straight as hell.
Shocking how an isolating facility can be 5 hr drive away from the border.
I'm shocked Health Canada is taking this seriously, CBSA for Air arrival feels like sign this piece of paper, go home and that's it.
Last time I came back I got 1 follow-up phone call in 14 days Quarantine Period?
Your Quarantine breakfast isn't very removed from what I had in HKG Quarantine hotel though
No Ambulance Photo?
Ask and ye shall receive!
Last edited by krazykanuck; Jan 5, 2021 at 4:25 pm
Jan 5, 2021, 6:23 pm
#9
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HKG/YVR/NYC
Programs: AC 75K, A3*G, AS MVPG, AA LT Gold 1MM, JL/JGC (OWS) , Marriott Titanium, Hertz 5*, Avis PC
Posts: 3,697
The whole thing with the hotel was a bit strange, it was like calling Amex for a retention offer. They didn't want to offer it up until I said "I have nowhere else to go" which was true. And then they're like, umm can you get to Toronto by any means at your disposal? Sure. I have a very lost rental car that is going to cost me a lot for abandoning. And they said great, text us when you're ready to be picked up at YYZ with no instructions in the middle. So I took my time on the very boring drive, stopped to get a bottle of CC, and put gas in the car. I'd have much rather been sitting on a patio at a brewery on the Michigan side of the border that afternoon, which was my original plan for that day
Like the upcoming PCR test requirement
I would say your situation is rare but not completely unforeseeable.
Say for myself, how does a YVR or YYZ person supposed to quarantine if they are entering at the Pembina crossing.
Driving alone would be over 2 days time.
Save that line though "I have nowhere else to go" LOL
God forbid someone from the Beaver Creek, YK crossing
Jan 6, 2021, 7:06 pm
#11
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Of the many issues to solve - that one was easy! Extended the rental by phone, FedEx'd the rental car key and parking slip back to my Mom, who went to go fuel it and drop it off a couple days later.
After a couple days in YWG, my dad decided to bug out to our lake house and leave me at the city house, which is where I told Public Health Canada I'd be anyway. Not that they ever bothered to check in on me, but that's neither here nor there I suppose. This began the longest and worst summer of my life. Contactless delivery for everything for about 12 days, the MLCC does delivery now, which is cool.
Also Hertz sent me the bill for my one day/one way/transborder rental. It's just say it was a couple hundred more than the one day rental I had booked, but was less than I mentally was prepared for
Now we'll zip through the summer and into the fall.
The best physical distancing sign of the summer at YWG
A nice summer day out at Grand Beach - FWIW the summer weather was absolutely glorious.
I found a new favorite brewery walking distance from the house
In mid July, once the travel restrictions were relaxed between Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, I went out to Kenora, ON for a day. My family used to have a lake house out here when I was a kid, so I went back to visit the old place and into town for beer and lunch.
Eventually, I was still there long enough to see snow and see all the leaves fall.
And we brought Covid back, since the first iteration was so much fun. My cell phone pictures steadily got worse as the glass was cracked and filling up with dust.
Eventually I got my work visa approved and could go back. Though with DL operating YWG-MSP only 3x weekly by November and all other transborder service from YWG suspended ...indefinitely... or until UA thinks it's worth flying CR2s up there again, getting a flight was easier said than done. Luckily I flew back over US Thanksgiving week when there was little demand.
By the time I left, Manitoba had begun not allowing in person sales of things deemed non-essential. Apparently neck pillows at the airport were non-essential, though I think many economy class fliers would disagree!
After a couple days in YWG, my dad decided to bug out to our lake house and leave me at the city house, which is where I told Public Health Canada I'd be anyway. Not that they ever bothered to check in on me, but that's neither here nor there I suppose. This began the longest and worst summer of my life. Contactless delivery for everything for about 12 days, the MLCC does delivery now, which is cool.
Also Hertz sent me the bill for my one day/one way/transborder rental. It's just say it was a couple hundred more than the one day rental I had booked, but was less than I mentally was prepared for
Now we'll zip through the summer and into the fall.
The best physical distancing sign of the summer at YWG
A nice summer day out at Grand Beach - FWIW the summer weather was absolutely glorious.
I found a new favorite brewery walking distance from the house
In mid July, once the travel restrictions were relaxed between Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, I went out to Kenora, ON for a day. My family used to have a lake house out here when I was a kid, so I went back to visit the old place and into town for beer and lunch.
Eventually, I was still there long enough to see snow and see all the leaves fall.
And we brought Covid back, since the first iteration was so much fun. My cell phone pictures steadily got worse as the glass was cracked and filling up with dust.
Eventually I got my work visa approved and could go back. Though with DL operating YWG-MSP only 3x weekly by November and all other transborder service from YWG suspended ...indefinitely... or until UA thinks it's worth flying CR2s up there again, getting a flight was easier said than done. Luckily I flew back over US Thanksgiving week when there was little demand.
By the time I left, Manitoba had begun not allowing in person sales of things deemed non-essential. Apparently neck pillows at the airport were non-essential, though I think many economy class fliers would disagree!
Last edited by krazykanuck; Jan 6, 2021 at 7:13 pm
Jan 12, 2021, 9:17 am
#13
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Move over Eightblack. Absolutely hilarious report, especially the sorry gong show that is Canada's CBP and COVID quarantine protocol.
Jan 12, 2021, 9:39 am
#14
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,790
Jan 12, 2021, 3:50 pm
#15
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Delta DM, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, National EE, AS MVP Gold 75K, AC 75K
Posts: 1,000
Doesn't Manitoba have a separate provincial 14 day quarantine requirement for entering from Ontario to Manitoba? You didn't have to reset your quarantine when you travelled from YYZ-YWG?