Entry #2: Canada... at last!
Toronto Landing
We landed in Toronto, Canada on Saturday, 31 March. I will admit that, after all the hard work and angst it took to achieve this, I shed a few tears of total relief as the plane left Schiphol and also as we sighted Canada for the first time (mainly frozen wastes, actually, as we came in over Labrador City)!
Toronto's Pearson International was somewhat chaotic, what with around 12 flights coming in at the same time from all over the globe. Plenty Canadians had been on vacation to some very sunny spots by the looks of the tans, shorts and T-shirts they were sporting, but nevertheless there were
Toronto Coffee Club Gathering
The next day the clocks went forward and we had to get up earlyish
to go to the Coffee Club gathering in Toronto, so no rest for the
wicked here. The gathering was great fun - it really is comforting
to hear advice from those who'd been in Canada a little longer
than 12 hours! We met in the middle of Toronto at Shopsey's and
had brunch.
Toronto: Canada's own Jo'burg
After the Coffee Club gathering, we headed off on a walking/
subway tour around Toronto. It was a bit chilly and wet, but not
too cold at all Cape Town in winter stuff, and certainly no worse than the UK. I have always loved simply walking around new cities and looking, so
it was great. There were a few things I remember from last time, but the overriding impression of Toronto being much like Jo'burg remained, especially since everything was still brown and dead after the snow, much like Jhb in the winter. I simply can't comment on what the areas outside Toronto are like, except Barrie and Sudbury because I've never been to most of them.
OK - I will admit, it looks as if the parks and gardens must be very pretty in summer in Toronto! But we were about to head out across Cottage Country to Sudbury via Barry...
Other
Van Diary
entries
Leaving England
Barrie; Sudbury;
Science North;
Car hire &
the Greyhound Experience
Van mortgages &
Neighborhoods;
Lee's Van landing; Van lifestyle; SIN numbers, MSP
Buying the car; Temporary accommodation;
West Van SS
schools;
Earthquakes;
First snow session; Vancouver rah-rah; First job;
Mortgages again
Driving back-to-front; BC elections; TV;
Van Sport;
Shopping;
Van weather
One-month
anniversary
enough immigrants landing to make the whole process lengthy - almost 2 hours, what with customs and all as well as immigration. We queued for quite some time, mainly because a lot of immigrants didn't speak English very well at all and thus some interviews dragged on forever. Some returning residents were trying to bring in family members "on holiday" when it was pretty obvious they weren't about to send anyone back to Delhi.
(One word of advice there are absolutely no refreshments available until you're leaving the airport. What with the long flight and a hot airport building, it's worth making sure you have some liquids with you, especially if you have kids with you!) [TOP]
Immigration
When at last it was our turn, the immigration officer asked Neville to sit at the other end of the hall while he processed me (and vice versa). Now, although there was nothing to fear at this point (I think), you still feel like you're getting a bit of a grilling there were a fair number of questions about where we'd be staying and with whom, what work do I do (now what exactly did CHC London put on that visa he's now looking at?!), how did I get into that field, what kind of job will I be doing, etc etc? He thawed entirely after all this was done and turned out to be very human with a huge smile then I signed my visa and he stapled the huge piece of paper into my once-slim passport and stamped it. And there I was, a proud new Canadian. "Am I in now?" I asked him and he beamed "Yes, congratulations. Welcome to Canada." That was it. By the time Nev had been processed we were both grinning like idiots and trying hard not to leap in the air and yell YESYESYES! All in all a piece of cake. [TOP]
Customs
Then on to customs with all our "goods to follow" inventories. Do not bring in any foodstuffs, especially not with SA being listed as a foot and mouth area! We were also told that our container would probably be inspected unless (like us) your goods have been in storage since before the outbreak. However, customs also wondered whether we'd be allowed to bring in our (brand new) mattress, as a mattress can't be fumigated. We pointed out it was a firm foam mattress and he thought that might be OK, as it is not hollow. We'll have to see.
I had statted the container inventory for customs and I don't know whether that was entirely necessary, but it saved time because he didn't have to go off and do it elsewhere.
And then we were through and there were Janine and Aislinn waiting for us, and we were bundling ourselves and all our luggage into the back of a cab driven by another individual who couldn't speak much English at all SIGH but we finally got to Coleman Avenue, opened a bottle of Canadian sparkling wine that Janine had bought for the occasion, and celebrated all our landings! By then we were too wacked to go anywhere - we'd been up since 5am in England and by then it was around 3.30am UK time - so we ordered pizza and had more champagne. The jetlag hung around for a good few days just as well we didn't go out. [TOP]
