Contrary to all expectations, Canada made us a huge gift, because with April 1, the entry rules were changed as follows: for vaccinated people, PCR tests were no longer required at both the departure and destination airports. Since we had been "hiding" for the last few days either way, this wouldn't have been a problem - however, the quarantine requirement was waived for us upon arrival and we knew we wouldn't have to wait too long for our bikes! So only briefly upload our vaccination certificates in the "Arrive-Can-App" - and it was already done!
On Sunday (10.4.) it was finally time. From Vienna airport we went with Airfrance to Paris: best weather, no big turbulences, the luggage all checked in correctly - we could relax a bit for the first time.
After about 4 hours stay at the Paris airport, we continued to Montreal in the evening. Again with Aifrance, which had the advantage that our suitcases were simply routed through.
The fotos above: 1.) Found the next flight! 2.) Changing the gates in Paris 3.) Waiting for the next flight 4.) With this bird we crossed the sea!
The two flights themselves were quite unspectacular: booked to the last seat, rather narrow passages - alternately hot and cool! But even here when flying we were lucky, because we each had pleasant seat neighbors around us, who themselves also wanted their peace and remained well-behaved in their seats. So we had enough time to look forward to our travel adventures, to pursue the question whether tomato juice really tastes sweet at altitude, to rest a bit and to try to keep the jet lag a bit lower. After all, the time difference with 6 hours in the direction of the west extends the day by quite a bit!
First glance of Canada from above:
Landed at Montreal airport with some delay, we started to follow the other passengers like ants. Signs where to go were nowhere to be found at the beginning. However, you have to hand it to the Canadians that they were really well organized. For example, there were airport personnel here who checked passports in advance and asked everyone to have their ETA ("entry permit") ready. This made for a really smooth process for everyone, even though there were so many people in the arrivals hall. Waiting a bit in line is part of the process everywhere, I guess. But in contrast to other airports: everyone was rather relaxed here and the staff really friendly and patient.
The next station was a kind of "self-service counter". At this counter, a kind of customs and entry declaration had to be filled out (or crosses had to be tapped). Afterwards, a very funny photo of everyone was taken by this machine and with a printed receipt, it then went to the next counter with officials, where again a passport control and the control of the ETA took place.
Funny enough: there was no entry stamp there anymore! For this we would have had the opportunity to join another queue at the very back. Due to the time difference of 6 hours and because we were really already slowly tired, we waived this entry stamp.
Auch die weiteren Zollkontrollen verliefen problemlos und schon waren wir um ca 20.00 Ortszeit offiziell in Kanada: „Good evening/ bonsoir Canada!“
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