well, we landed!
 

We landed today at the Thousand Islands Bridge crossing.

Cos of the weather(snow) we set off at 7am for whats supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour drive. It took 5 hours most of that at this end, with snow stuff and more snow related stuff.

Anyway we drove to USA and saw some very very helpful polite American customs officers. We explained that normally we would love to visit their wonderful country but as the weather was bad and we had spent 5 hours on the road we would rather just be able to turn round and "land". "OK," said the nice lady, "I understand". She gave us the choice of paying $6 US and doing the visa waiver thing, or waiting for 90 minutes and then going straight back. We coughed up the money, had fingerprints and photos, passports visa'd and left waving happily. We went back to Canada, where we waited for 10 minutes in a freezing cold hall, (no line up, no one in front of us, just wait) then we saw a taciturn, muscle bound, canadian immigration officer.
He did all the forms with the minimum of words, a few questions, and no smiles. No welcome to Canada handshake:( . Then we went to Customs who just stamped a form the immigration man had gaven us, didnt want to see any documents, and that was it.

So noone welcomed us to Canada, the Americans were super polite and helpful, the Canadians minimalist in customer service. All the Canadians wore body armour, the Americans didnt. Surprisingly.

So now we are home. worn out, here to stay for better or worse. Lets hope it gets better.

Re: well, we landed!
 

welcome to Canada!

we got 4 of the above welcomes so have one of our Spares

Re: well, we landed!
 

FOUR!! maybe they have quotas and have run out for this year??

Thank you for the welcome :lol:

Re: well, we landed!
 

Welcome to Canada Batty :thumbup::thumbup:
Wishing you and OH happiness with valuable life
adventures in Canada.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Yoong

Re: well, we landed!
 

a real handshake would be a bit difficult, but:

Welcome to Canada, PRs Batty and OH! :thumbsup:

Re: well, we landed!
 

Jeez, sorry to hear about the dour Canadian officials, but ...

Welcome to Canada! :thumbsup:

Re: well, we landed!
 

Welcome to Canada Batty:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Here's to a very happy future:);)

Re: well, we landed!
 

Re: well, we landed!
 

Welcome to Canada! Welcome to Canada!

You came twice.

Re: well, we landed!
 

Big welcome from me too :thumbsup:

Re: well, we landed!
 

Glad you made it in one piece and are now sitting with your feet up in the warm hopefully drinking your WELCOME TO CANADA drink. :thumbsup:

Re: well, we landed!
 

Welcome to Canada batty... from me and my beaver! ;)

Re: well, we landed!
 

Congrats Batty! :beer:

We only ever get a nice reception from an Aussie Canadian who works the bridge here, the rest are as miserable as at your crossing.

Did they at least take your US visa waiver out, or are you planning a trip back before then?

Re: well, we landed!
 

I am indeed sitting in the warm with my feet up. And as for drink, am on my third stonking 2 fingered gin and tonic, yeee hah

HWP, its good to know your beaver sends greetings. It means a lot to us

Biiiiiink, The americans told us what to do with the visa ticket, and so we asked the nice young man ( hah) to take the tickets out.

Yeeee hahhh, one more gin before bedtime:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: well, we landed!
 

Congrats on the landing :thumbsup: We had a miserable Quebecian woman landing us in Edmonton - she did mumble something about "welcome" I think - it was hard to tell - she was too busy looking at her computer screen and avoiding eye contact ;)