Getting to your destination

Posted On November 12, 2018

Travelling. For some people journey starts only when they arrive to their destination. For me the journey starts right after I close the door and head to any means of transport I’ll be travelling with. So I cannot omit this part before finally arriving to Vancouver!

The morning glory of the flight to London

As I mentioned earlier I was flying via London with 3 days to spend there. It was the first time in years since I flew with a checked bag (low cost airlines taught us how to pack efficiently in just a carry-on) and I was a little bit nervous about when to get to the airport. I said to myself better to be safe than sorry.

Well, the morning flight to London from Bratislava is a pretty early one. I arrived about 4:20 am…to an almost empty departures hall. The check in desk was not open yet. There was literally no one except for few other very sleepy people. Yes, Bratislava airport is not a very busy one…

“You really came 2 hours before your flight? At Bratislava airport?!…For a morning flight?! LOL” 

I do not particularly like flying (thank you Air crash investigation documentary series!) but on this flight to my own surprise I wasn’t nervous at all. The take-off was still before the sun rise and you could already see the early morning commuters slowly creating the first traffic congestion. Bye Bratislava!

We flew up above the layer of thick clouds, the sun was just rising. Oh, that beautiful soft yellow morning light! There’s something magical and powerful to it when you witness it, although it lasts only a few moments (maybe that is why it is so special). Very calm but strong. All your worries are off your mind because there is something spectacular happening in front of your eyes. It’s a good start, I said to myself.

Adios Europe

My connecting flight 3 days later. My first long distance flight actually. And I was caught by surprise by how well the other travelers were prepared!

I got to my seat. The lady next to me immediately took her shoes off, put a bag full of sweaters and blankets under the seat in front of her and a bottle of water in the net in the front seat. Another lady across the aisle changed her shoes for slippers and another one behind her had already put on a sleep mask and got herself in a very interesting snake-like position (don’t ask me how she could possibly sleep like that). We haven’t even taken off.

As it was extremely hot I was wearing only a T-shirt, everything else was in the overhead compartment and not even close to me as I switched seats. The plane took off. Twenty minutes passed and I am thirsty and I am shivering from cold. A big”ahaaa” moment, lesson learned! (Oh, and I didn’t know how to open the door to the toilets. But in my defense even the other passenger I asked did not know and he was sitting right there! He could have at least observed the trick after half of the plane already went there, ha)

Anything to declare?

Landed!!! Now border control, customs and immigration. At YVR airport they tried to speed up the process and you go to a machine where you answer questions about purpose of your trip, length of your stay, if you have anything to declare. And if you bring Cannabis.

On the way to these machines there are posters saying that the failure to declare some products may cost you $400. Among other things fruits and nuts are pictured there. I recalled stories of people travelling to New Zealand being charged high fines for having an apple. I remembered I had 2 nutty protein bars in my purse. And my brain starts to put these 2 information together.

New poster appears with “dispose your goods you do not want to declare and avoid facing charges” next to the bins. My brain starts to overthink massively. What if it is similar here as in New Zealand? What do I do? I ate one of those bars while waiting in the queue for the machine. I was hungry. At least one problem solved. But what with the other one?

I did not declare the protein bar. And no one cared! I’m not sure if I was relieved or disappointed. Now, immigration and getting my work permit! Moment of truth if I haven’t forgotten about something and they will deport me home!

I waited for my turn, having the POE letter, passport, insurance, proof of funds, criminal records ready. After 40 minutes I got to an officer, gave her my passport and POE letter. I did not get my work permit.

BUT I got it 2 days later. The system was down and they could not print out the permits. I was told to come in two days back to airport and pick it up. And so it was. No one wanted to see any other documents I had ready for them to show.

So here I was in Canada!