an overnight trip to Vancouver BC

Went to Vancouver BC for an overnight vacation.  Learned a couple of things on this trip. 

The first lesson was that my passport that I had never used expired last month—they last ten years. 

Another lesson was when at the Canadian border and they ask “where are you going?”  “Canada” is not the information being sought.  :)

The third lesson is if you have a choice of car colors to drive to Canada, don’t take the red car.

The fourth lesson was even though the HP Notebook says the battery is fully charged, bring the power cord anyway.  Apparently the HP batteries needs to be ‘calibrated’ on a periodic basis that is much shorter than 18 months.  My notebook died with no warning after about 20 minutes use on a battery that registered fully charged when I left.

Priceline was a good deal using the bidding system.  I got a room at a Holiday Inn in downtown Vancouver for just under 50% of the listed rate.

I had the perception the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) agent that interviewed me was fairly new to the job.  She flagged the senior citizens in front of me for a more thorough inspection and then also had me ‘pull over’ for more directions.  By the time I got inside the customs office, she had been relieved of duty and was walking inside the office with a less than pleasant demeanor.  I felt sorry for her. 

The in-depth customs quiz by the Canadians felt like a big piece of security theater to keep the US government happy.  What do retired Americans senior citizens smuggle into Canada using passenger vehicles?  There is nothing that I can think of.   I am sure they have CBSA has a quota of pulling over X number of cars per day so they can report mission accomplished to their ICE counterparts at US Homeland Security.

While I was in the CBSA office undergoing further scrutiny, I was well-aware that I would soon been on my way.   It felt good to know that I would not be locked up in some corrupt third world jail while being extorted for money.

I like our kind, pleasant and respectful neighbors to the North.  I wish that we were more like them.  They did not let bankers destroy their economy with a housing bubble.  A casual observation of simply counting dump trucks showed BC hard at work with construction project.  There was even a commercial on CTV for jobs at a Rio Tinto mine—I have not seen a TV commercial for jobs in the US for years. 

The Canadian drivers I saw were a lot more thoughtful and efficient than US drivers.  On the freeway, they would move to the right lane to let faster traffic by.  It was a little weird on the US side of the border headed home in that drivers with BC plates no longer bothered to let faster traffic by.   I wondered if these drivers might be living in the US and lost their Canadian kindness while living with the Yanks.

I am grateful for the ability to get great rates on hotels using the internet/PriceLine, having well-mannered English speaking people living 100 miles north of me in a foreign country and for warm sunny Fall days.  Stanley Park is awesome.