Arrival in Canada

I set foot on Canadian soil for the first time in Toronto. Upon arriving at the huge airport in the metropolis, the first thing to do was to navigate the immigration bureaucracy. It went relatively well, although it took me a little longer to get my visa. In the meantime, Jil had already retrieved all our luggage from the conveyor belt. The long wait was more due to standing in line than the actual formalities. The officer only wanted to see my visa application confirmation, none of the documents I had taken as a precaution, such as my health insurance or proof of sufficient financial means, were of interest.

Once we finally made it to the airport exit, the next hurdle was getting to the hotel. We had specially booked a hotel near the airport for the first night, which we wanted to walk to. However, once outside, we couldn't find any sidewalks, only huge roads leading away from the airport. Regular shuttle buses from various hotels arrived at the exit, and at an information desk, we were told where our shuttle was supposed to depart. So we waited there for 20 to 30 minutes, but no one came... We were just exhausted, awake for over 30 hours, everything was exciting, but our energy was slowly fading, so we ended up taking an overpriced taxi to the hotel. It turned out that we should have called for a shuttle. Good to know.

In the hotel room, we quickly took a shower and then fell into bed and slept deeply and soundly. Finally arrived...