Arrival

 Quarantine Begins

If the scarcity of people at Heathrow and on the plane made pandemic travelling a pleasure, Toronto Pearson was in stark contrast.  A smooth 8 hour flight was followed, by a 3 hours and 20 minutes being processed through the airport.  

I am not one of life's queuers.  I will go somewhere else, go without, pay more or do something different.  This was not an option.  If the number of people arriving made the queues inevitable, the way arrivals were processed was extremely well organised.  Passport control was well, like most passport controls for non-nationals.  Thirty minutes later and purpose of travel quickly established, we were directed off for an immigration interview.  

The all important six month stamp

Documents reviewed, son's Residency confirmed, pre-arrival application numbers noted, quarantine arrangements checked, and an hour later we had the all important 6 month passport stamp

After immigration and baggage retrieval (all seven not-so-small holdalls - I now know how they got the name) and we were off for the Covid tests.  The first queue was to register online where at the end your details were checked against your passport and you were handed your numbered test kit before going for the Mr Bean, things up nose part of the process.  The young staff were chatty and efficient and they must have seen hundreds pass through.  On the way out we were handed our kit for a further test at 10 days of quarantine.  Passport details given a final check, we were on our way to three days of hotel quarantine and a final queue for the transfer bus.  

Four hours after landing we were at the hotel and our first door-delivered meal, from plastic boxes, paper plates and a non-existent menu.  Not the Ritz, but hot and edible so OK given the circumstances.

In room dining 'experience'

The thought that had gone in to getting arrivals through the airport when international travel is far from straightforward ensured a relatively smooth, though not necessarily fast process.  The use of technology to manage Covid tests results and the subsequent tests was clever.  The system seemed to work.

Throughout, the Canadian officials, queue managers, immigration officers were polite and helpful, ensuring an elderly new arrival was able to have a seat while her husband queued, answering the same questions over and over, making sure travellers had their paperwork ready.... but I still hate queuing!

No room for the kitchen sink

We now settle in to three days of meals from paper bags and an eighth floor view of West Toronto.  We rather hope the test results will be through more quickly, so we can be on our way to Vancouver.