We have finally landed
Thursday night we had a lovely meal with our very good neighbours and friends. We will miss them a lot. We went to a local pub and had a nice meal and some great conversation reminiscing on our nine years in the house.
We set off for the airport on Friday morning and I used my company’s car service to get us to Gatwick, which made the trip easier and stress free. We hit some traffic near the airport, but the driver went on a detour and we eventually got there.
Checked in ok, we were really concerned about the weight of our cases, one in particular as each case can only weigh a max of 32kg. Trouble was we had already thrown away our bathroom scales so could not weigh them properly. Hubby thought it was very near the limit, but there was very little we could do about it, so decided to see what happened and deal with it there (buy another case). However it weighed half a kilo under so we breathed a sigh of relief.
Had dinner at the airport and then went through to departures and eventually down to gate. Flight took off half an hour late, but the paperwork had suggested an 8 hour flight, but the captain said it would only be 7 hrs 15 mins, so would get in at the original time. Flight went well, but seemed to drag, eventually reached Toronto at 6.40pm.
Took a while for the plane to reach the unloading area and then had to walk 5 miles to the passport area (ok it wasn’t that far, but why can’t they park closer?) No queue at passport control, just one person in front of us. Went up to the woman and told her we were landing. She congratulated us and checked our customs form, scribbled over it in pink and told us to make our way to immigration where we would be processed.
Went to immigration – no queue. Went straight to a man at a desk who, once he knew we were landing told us to take a seat in another area and wait to be called. We didn’t even have the chance to sit as we were then called into a booth, even though there were other people waiting. The woman asked for our passports and the immigration paperwork we were sent with our visas. She looked at the photos and said she had to take new ones. Having been awake for nearly 20 hours, we were not at our best, so our PR photos will look awful.
She took new pics, then completed some paperwork, got us to sign the paperwork and then gave is a copy. She then told us to see a man at the end of the corridor who would give us our landing packs.
Walked along the corridor and a man greeted us with “Welcome to Canada”. He gave us paperwork to get our SIN number, health cards and other bits and pieces and a booklet giving details for general stuff in Canada.
We then collected our baggage and then had to go through the goods to declare customs section. Again, no queue and was seen instantly by a nice woman who asked for our goods to follow list. I gave her my home done list and she said it was perfect, one of the best she had seen. She filled in goods to follow form, typed some stuff on the computer and then stamped and stapled our lists to her form. I also gave her a list of items we bought with us, when she also stamped. She then gave us a computer printout, which we need in order to collect the goods when they arrive.
There, we were done and free to enter Canada. Whole process from getting to passport control, to walking out of the airport about 30 mins.
Got a shuttle to our hotel, showered and fell into a blissful Canadian sleep.
Woke early this morning and finally got around to reading through the booklets and paperwork we had been given. All seems pretty straightforward. We got ready and then went down for breakfast and then packed bits away and waited for a car to pick us up and transport us to Belleville.
Car came at 10am and after a stress free trip, complete with obligatory stop off half way at Timmy’s we arrived at our Belleville hotel at 12.00.
Checked in and after dumping all our stuff in the room, walked down to the Ford garage where our new truck is waiting for us. We had to sign some paperwork and show originals of our passports, visas and driving licences (they already had copies). Unfortunately the registration company do not open on Saturdays in the summer so we cannot collect the car today. However, now all the paperwork is complete, we are going back on Monday and will collect our new truck.
We then walked over to the mall and looked around Sears and other places for some bits and pieces for the house. Had dinner at Swiss Chalet and have now come back to the hotel to chill out for the night.
Will catch up tomorrow.
