Vancouver coming up...

01/14/2018 So there we were on the Greyhound bus on our way to Canada. Our bus driver, high as a kite, calmly drove us to the Canadian border. At the last stop, he asked once again if all remaining passengers really want to go to Canada and have all the necessary documents with them. No one got off and the journey continued. And there it was, the Canadian border (in the middle of nowhere), our excitement grew. Although we had all the necessary documents for the visa, we had to answer a question with YES on the customs declaration. Because we had nuts, mandarins, granola bars, etc. with us, our little "integration". However, these items must be "declared", even if they are allowed to be brought over the border legally. When we arrived at the border booth, we grabbed all our luggage and walked to the customs officer, who referred us to another room where we should wait. Slightly annoyed, the same officer came up to us and asked to see our passports and visa confirmation (Port of Entrance Letter). He asked us how long our visa should be valid - 1 or 2 years, we answered and were allowed to sit down again. Slowly, our nervousness grew, after all, we still had our food with us. We were prepared for the border officers to search our suitcases, as we knew from "Border Control Canada"... a few minutes later, we received our visa and were allowed to go. Huh, that's it - we thought, okay, bye. Our previous fear was not unfounded, because in the adjacent room, a blind man who was on the bus was thoroughly searched and interrogated by several officers - in the end, he was also left behind and the bus continued without him.

Back on our seats on the bus, we still couldn't believe it. We made it, we have our visa, we are officially allowed to work in Canada. However, we are prohibited from working as a prostitute or a stripper... too bad. The anticipation of Vancouver slowly rose, because Susi (my old AuPair roommate) would greet us at the bus station. Since Susi is almost always on the go, it was clear that we had to start in Vancouver - so that we could spend some more time together before she gets wings again and moves on. The remaining bus ride from the border to the bus station in Vancouver went by very quickly (about 1 hour). The forests slowly disappeared, which could only be guessed in the darkness, it became brighter and houses appeared on the side of the road. After another short stop in a suburb, we arrived at the not so inviting bus station where Susi was already waiting for us. After a big hug, we went to the taxi (we have it) and headed to our accommodation in Little Italy on Commercial Drive. The key handover went smoothly and we moved into our little apartment for the next 2 1/2 weeks. It was very clean and modernly furnished. We had a small kitchen, a bathroom with underfloor heating, a small dining area, a couch, and of course a bed - we would have loved to just lie down in it and sleep. But hunger drove us with Susi to a nerd restaurant about 200m away from our bed. There were very tasty burgers and theoretically we could have played games too, but tiredness drove us back to our holiday home. And so our first night in Vancouver began.