USA

My long trip away from Vancouver began with a fantastic home-cooked breakfast and teary farewell from Clayton, Rob, Craig, Sebastian and Isaac. Sebastian left that morning for Provence, so we had our farewell very early on. As usual, I was running late, with my last-minute packing proving difficult. These bags are HUGE! I’m worried they’ll split on the plane. At least I’m flying a full-service airline and I should be able to get through without any problems.

Chris offered to give Nick and I a lift to the airport, and so it was that I left Vancouver. I know I’ll be back in a few months, so it wasn’t all bad news. Leaving then will be even harder. I’m trying not to think about that now!

Usually flights originating in Canada ‘pre-clear’ US Customs in Vancouver. However, because I was joining a Cathay Pacific Hong Kong-NYC flight, they did not do that, and so I was left with quite a bit of spare time in Vancouver. It’s not a particularly interesting airport. All the good food outlets (Tim Hortons, I’m looking at you!) are on the US side. All this meant I was destined to clear US immigration and customs at JFK. I had thought this would be a fairly painless procedure, but clearly I was wrong.

I consider myself to be fairly adept at this travel thing. I have travelled to most continents, both by myself, and with friends or family. I’ve crossed borders in developing and developed countries, with visas and without. But NEVER, ever, have I encountered a system as convoluted, discriminatory and painful as the new US Visa requirements.

Basically, for those of us lucky ones from Visa Waiver countries (think EU, Australia, NZ and very few others), we are meant to be able to arrive to the US, fill out an I-94 form and receive a 3-month visa. This visa is slightly different to most others as you can’t just leave the States and start again. You have to leave the continent – i.e. for most people go home.

So here beginith my ordeal. I arrived with the wrong form (Cathay’s fault, not mine!), and the man working behind the desk was being a knob. Instead of saying, ‘here’s the right one, go fill it out and come back’, he thought he’d be a bit “hilarious” and replied ‘oh no, well we’re going to have to send you back to Canada then!”. Ha ha, fucking hah! Wanker! Then he proceeded to tell me that I wasn’t staying in NYC, I was staying in Jersey City (true) and that it was a really unsafe part of town and I should buy a flack jacket. What a great introduction to the US, eh? I miss Canada!

So after all that rigmarole, I made it to Ange’s terminal and we made our way to the hotel. It took AGES, what with the SuperShuttle, the PATH and then the walk. At least it wasn’t that cold (about 8 degrees). The hotel itself (Candlewood Suites, Jersey City) is really nice with a full kitchen and bathroom, although it’s now 2am and I’m just plain TIRED! Seeing Angela though has made this whole day worthwhile. All the goodbyes, the crap at the airport, all of it. Yay to NYC and Ange!