Gozit

Yes, this is true no diff for land or sea crossing. I was just referring to it in the context of people having connecting flights through YYZ. And well I suppose they are just making it on the distinction of nationality not residency, so if you are British you get an eTA just like a Brit who lives in the UK, regardless of your status elsewhere. I suppose it could also have something to do with the fact that Canadian PRs are not exempt from ESTA either. In fact Canada goes further than the states in that regard as they allow US LPRs of any nationality to enter Canada regardless of if that nationality is normally visa-required. Americans just go based on nationality. Using the example of Ethiopians, an Ethiopian living in Ethiopia would need a visa for both the US and Canada to travel. An Ethiopian with Canadian PR would need a visa for the US. However, an Ethiopian US LPR would only need an eTA to enter Canada by air, and just their valid green card and passport to enter Canada by land/sea.


Also, Pearson airport is generally considered a huge pain. If you can avoid it I would but if the price is worth it its not that bad.
Cheers

kimilseung

This is what we are doing this summer to Manchester. Train up to Vancouver, the saving is paying for the train, hotels and still saves us hundreds of dollars. And we are getting a mini break in Vancouver to top it off.

kodokan

Dunno if it's nice, never been there before. I picked it on price and timings - I wanted to try daytime eastbound flights as I get bad jetlag that way that spoils the first few days of our holiday. There are only a handful of airports that do daytime service to LHR, and Toronto was the only one where I could get a connecting flight from Columbus the same day rather than having to go the night before and stay over.

Our flights are 6am Columbus, arrive at Toronto just after 7am, then YYZ-LHR at 9.10am. Gets into LHR around 9pm local time but will feel like mid-afternoon to us. No pressure to try and get the kids to sleep on the plane, and we'll potter off to our Heathrow hotel, eat, and get to bed around midnight-1am GMT but for us it'll feel like an early night that we'll be ready for after a long day of getting up at 3.30am and traveling.

Sleep 7 hours or so, get up around 8-9am, breakfast, onward travel to parents in Suffolk feeling a little tired but not too terrible. That's the plan, anyway...

Orangepants

Same happened to me!

Anian

I went through and it took about a hour. People in line with me were moved to the front of the line so they wouldn;t miss their flights. It was slow and super boring because it is a plain white room and you can't even use your phone. That was after getting through the system of PCs where you have to scan your passport, which I still haven't worked out the reason for, since you still have to speak to the immigration officer for about the same length of time and he still looks at all your stuff.

At the gates it was great though, special free-iPad-usage areas where you can order and pay for food using the terminal and someone just brings it to you. USB ports and power sockets everywhere, free wifi.

Jerseygirl

I have a NEXUS card which means I can walk straight through immigration at US and Canadian airports with a swipe of the card. No queues...no wait.

mrken30

I wonder how this compares to APC and MPC (mobile passport control). I experienced APC last year at PDX ,it was quick, but PDX is a small airport.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citize...ssport-control

tonrob

I do this regularly, couple of times each month (different airports but same principle) and it works well for me.

Up at 3.30-4am, fly from BOS or JFK at 8am, land LHR 7.30pm, hotel by 9pm, late dinner and a drink or two then hit the sack at midnight or so. Bit tired the next day but nothing too horrendous, compared to when I fly overnight and I'm buggered up for at least a couple of days.

kodokan

Was this the waiting room for US immigration, coming back in? No phones, and presumably no other tech like iPads? The kids won't be happy

Brilliant, that's exactly what I'm hoping for. Last time I was a wreck for 2-3 days - waking up at 2am wide awake and wanting to snack, falling asleep at 4pm, etc. We're at least already East Coast time now rather than 3 hours later on the West, so that should help too.

Pulaski

What do you do when you arrive on overnight flight?

I admit I often feel like crap when I land, but I force myself to stay awake until as close to a normal bedtime as possible. The following morning I feel right-as-rain.

Generally people do better by stretching their days - postponing sleeping rather than what you're proposing - a day shortened by five hours then trying to go to bed five hours early. That can be a recipe for difficulty sleeping and getting enough sleep, causing extended disrupted sleep and fatigue.

mrken30

I find that adjusting my meal times to the new time zone helps me adjust more quickly than the sleep adjustment.
The best experience was when I landed at 10 am and went straight to work. Being able to sleep on the plane helps.

kodokan

Same as you do - arrive at 7am or so feeling blah, then feel increasingly awful as the day goes on while I try to stay awake until something resembling bed time.

Then I wake up at 2am. Rinse and repeat for the next few days.

Hubby does the same as you; sleeps fine that first night then feels ok going forward.

It's 3.15am here, and just got up after 4 hours' sleep - I'm hoping I'll feel so knackered after this getting up early and the day's travel, that it'll be ok tonight sleeping what in US time would be something like 9pm-5am. I shall report back...

robin1234

I do that with one exception, coffee. I normally drink half a litre of strong, black coffee at 7am and that is the only coffee I drink all day. So when I fly to London overnight, I wait till noon (twenty four hours after 7am) and drink a large americano at costa or wherever. Then later I sleep like a log from about 7pm till 7am, make myself half a litre of strong, black coffee (Tesco Italian) and all is right with the world.

tonrob

I've just woken up in London after a good night's sleep having done the day flight from Boston again yesterday. By the time I went to bed at midnight I'd been up for 15 hours, and falling asleep wasn't a problem. I always feel a little out of sorts as body-clock wise it's 2am now, but it's sunny outside, and after a strong cup of tea and a shower I feel ok. I swear by the BOS/JFK day flights having done them probably upwards of 50 times now.

Pulaski

If that's midnight London time, how come you've been up for 15 hours?

If you got up at 5am EDT (11am BST), flew at 8am EDT (1pm BST), landed at 2pm EDT (7pm BST), and went to bed at 7pm BST (midnight BST), that's only 14 hours. ..... So you must have got up at 4am? No thanks! I'm too far south, so a daylight flight isn't an option anyway.