If you’ve been following this space for a while, then you know I married a Canadian in 2012 (here are our wedding photos). Prior to the pandemic, we traveled to Toronto at least four times a year to see family and friends. The border has now been closed for 18 months and we kept thinking we would go the day they finally opened it up to Americans, without requiring quarantine.
That day is coming in just over a week, on August 9 (here’s what you need to know), but sadly we’re not going. Here’s why:
1. The Delta variant
Without a doubt, the Delta variant has put a kibosh on our summer plans. Once the pandemic started, we waited over a year to travel as a family by air and our first flight (LAX-JFK) was in early June to see family in Connecticut. Here’s my trip report. We had a fantastic trip and we were so relieved that our daughter did so well on her first ever plane ride that we started booking more flights. But unfortunately, the Delta variant started spreading like wildfire so we canceled our plans. One of our many trips was supposed to be to Toronto but it’s not going to happen since we have two little unvaccinated kids.
2. Canadian airports will be a zoo
Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and other major Canadian airports are going to be packed on August 9 and for the first couple weeks afterwards, with family, friends and colleagues ready to reconnect after so many months apart. I recently wrote that if you thought the LHR airport arrivals scene in the hit movie Love Actually was emotional, wait until the day the US/Canadian border opens. However, YYZ and others are going to be a zoo. There are already reports saying that passengers complain of overcrowding and utter chaos at Toronto’s Pearson airport. YYZ is getting progressively busier, much to the dismay of those eager to get away from Toronto for the first time in many months.
3. Canadian Customs and Border Services set to strike
If YYZ wasn’t bad enough on a normal day, it could be much worse, starting on August 6. That’s because, according to Travel Industry Today, “more than 8,500 unionized staff with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have given their union an overwhelming strike mandate, throwing into question the federal government’s plans for a smooth reopening of the Canada-US border this summer as a federal election looms. CBSA employees could potentially begin strike action.” If this strike happens, watch out and it’s all Canadian airports not just YYZ.
4. Toronto Pearson Airport scraps decision to separate arrivals by vaccination status
No one wants to be jam-packed in slow immigration lines at any time but especially not during a pandemic. Toronto Pearson announced last week that they had started to separate vaccinated and partially/non vaccinated travelers in customs lines, which was a great idea. But unfortunately, they scrapped the idea and a statement from the airport read: “As such, the practice will be ceased as of July 26, 2021, with entry requirements based on vaccination status being enforced once a passenger reaches CSBA.” (via CTV News)
5. It’s going to be expensive
Just like the USA, Canada is requiring all travelers entering Canada to produce a negative COVID-19 test from the last 72 hours. It’s similar to the United States’ plan, except Canada’s requires a PCR test, which costs a lot more than an antigen test. It could cost well over $100 per person to get tested and then you have to worry about the test coming back positive. You can’t leave right away so you will need to let the virus run its course while in a foreign country. Not fun.
Listen, no one wants to go to Canada more than my wife but she says she’s not putting our kids at risk. I want to go too, and especially after watching some clips from last night’s Blue Jays vs Kansas City Royals game. The game made me want to go even more. It was the first game they’d played in Toronto in 670 days!
How about you? Are you going to Canada soon?
Yes their are people deliberately spreading diseases.they are knowledgeable in medicine they have people set up in medical records and they are getting more in the numbers .they are mostly women and they nonchalantly use the phrase “non extraditable state” as they give a half truth confession.or they call it awareness when they get caught.about every four years they do what I call a tour duty they collect collect and they do this state to state getting money from fraudulent insurance claims whether it be an accident per see or storage unit policy and there seems to be a death with an inheritance even if they aren’t related.i tracked this group and they were disease spreading in louisiana kentucky south carolina and it was legionnaire s disease as well as whatever they could do in a large crowd.it was the fair that year.funny thing is others with the same charges had to register with the state but not this group …they were listed as culprits but thier true identities were not. I could go on and on but I do know that law enforcement knows and they choose to look the other way. If they get caught they say it’s about awareness and how they are trying to let the public know exactly what people can do they really are getting bigger in numbers and it’s usually teens who end up taking thier charges because of promises made .the best advice I can give if your teen goes to a depression website they just might run into them.they will tell your kid how much they love them and how much thier family would be willing to accept them. They will give your child h.i.v or worse when he/she goes to meet them.they will make your child need them .
So this article judges Canada as a country based on one city, Toronto. For someone who claims to travel all over the world, that’s not a very worldly assessment of a country, especially one as big as Canada.
A person living in country that has 100,000+ new cases everyday thinks it is dangerous to go another country that has less than 400 daily new cases. Go figure !
I have read most of the comments and I think that everyone needs to grow up and just live. Don’t. Act like children
As a Canadian, I thank you. We have enough fear mongering idiots here as it is.
Vaccines work, even against variants and as long as you are vaccinated you have nothing to fear.
Can’t handle that, then stay home, and never travel again. Covid is not going away.
If the vaccines (which aren’t even vaccines) work then why are the majority of DELTA outbreaks people that are fully vaccinated? Just like the PCR test which will be discontinued December 31 because it’s deemed USELESS! The guy that created it said it would only create false positives especially at the threshold it’s being tested at. Fuck it will pick up if you had a cold months earlier. ANY CORONAVIRUS! You people are a fucking joke with your brainwashed theories. LOL. Tell me mr virologist where is the DATA or SCIENCE that suggests ANYONE under 70 should need to get any vaccine???????????
It doesn’t EXIST. Even the real virologist who created the mRNA technology said NO YOU G ADULT OR KIDS should ever need to be vaccinated. SO FUCKOFF you jackass!
This person knows there is more to Canada than Toronto, right?
No I do not think so, some there actually beleive canada is a state. Lol kiddind
That’s not our flag , please don’t disrespect us
You could say that about any country. Dont single out Canada. Look at your own damn country.
We don’t want you here.
As a Canadian I would politely invite you to kiss my rear end. Stay home. We actually don’t want you or need you. Your last four years have been a whole world wide joke.
I like turtles.
We all had a meeting about you. By a landslide they voted that the country doesn’t want you to come!
Wife and Kids welcome!
How many people did you US kill so far? A million more Americans killed the ww2 and Korean conflict!
Good work! Your country is in the 4th wave and losing! Good work!
Ont. Have 80 plus people with at least 1 shot, 68 percent wil 2 shots
1 REASON I WONT GO TO THE STATES. YOUR COUNTRY IS IGNORANT! ?