Comments on: Austin Travel Diary, Part 1: Pearson Airport

By: Sandy Kemsley

Sandy Kemsley — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:11:35 +0000

Wendy — easy, you do most of it online at http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/nexus/goes-eng.html. The interview at the airport takes about 15 minutes. The entire process took about 2 weeks for me from the time that I first applied until I had the card in hand.

By: Eva

Eva — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:51:27 +0000

I know what the Pearson computers have on me. It’s something along the lines of “Ask her what she’s studying”, because they ALWAYS ask that when I re-enter Canada. Sometimes it’s like they forgot, and they’re all “Here’s your passport, that’ll be…OH, WAIT, what are you studying?” and when I say that I’m doing my PhD in Biochemistry they nod in agreement and let me through.
I think they even finally changed my MSc status to PhD. That took a while, but then again I don’t travel much.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:28:15 +0000

Sandy, we are planning on doing the NEXUS thing. We just have to actually do it.

By: » I Still Own the Phrase! » The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century : Joey deVilla’s Personal Blog

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:36:50 +0000

[...] encounter with U.S. Customs (chronicled in this entry) reminded me of an old post of mine titled The Star-Spangled Banner and Anal Sovereignty. I did [...]

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:05:18 +0000

Body cavity searches just don’t have the same ooomph.

I don’t know… anything that makes you walk funny for the rest of the day is pretty high up on my “oomph” meter. But not in a good way.

By: Joey deVilla

Joey deVilla — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:35:55 +0000

@Kaivalya: It’s worse. At least with a stalker, there’s a good chance of having really crazy-wild stalker sex. Body cavity searches just don’t have the same ooomph.

By: Kaivalya

Kaivalya — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:33:24 +0000

The US Customs thing? VERY creepy. Ugh. It’s like having a government as a stalker!

By: Sean Galbraith

Sean Galbraith — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:13:07 +0000

This is exactly why I love Porter Airlines and never want them to leave the Island Airport.

By: Sandy Kemsley

Sandy Kemsley — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:17:59 +0000

Rule #1 of travel: never book a connecting flight if a direct flight is available, especially in the winter time. Air Canada, as much as we love to hate them, flies non-stop Toronto-Austin, although if you waited too late, you likely missed out on their one flight per day.

Rule #2 of travel: get a NEXUS card to avoid having to talk to immigration in both directions across the Canada-US border. $50 for 5 years. Totally worth it; I can get from curbside to the Air Canada US departure lounge at Pearson in about 7 minutes now, even on a crowded Monday morning.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:07:55 +0000

Woo. I really really really would like to know exactly what they have in their special computers. Besides, of course, “Do not ask them how they are related just because one is white and one is brown.”