As a follow-up to yesterday’s post I applied for NEXUS.  For some reason I had it in my head that the cost was over $200 which seemed a bit much for maybe 5 trips to Canada per year, but it is actually $50 for 5 years.  Depending on when I get approved and how the interview schedule is I may, however, need to schedule a trip to to a NEXUS interview office for an interview, but as of right now I have a couple trips scheduled to Alberta and I may need to visit British Columbia again so hopefully I can just tack it onto another trip.

In addition to NEXUS I may just be able to enjoy some of the upcoming TSA trusted traveler features.  I will have to see about that.

Although Canadians overall have been extremely friendly, their immigration department still has an important job to filter out people coming over with an intent to stay.

Apparently I fit into their demographic of a potential questionable person and I have been sent to secondary questioning 4 times out of 20 or so crossings.  I was always able to placate the secondary officer by presenting a return ticket, hotel, and rental car reservation, but occasionally they would request to read the contract or a letter of introduction from my company…sometimes going as far as requesting a business card as well.  The business card part is even more interesting since my Canadian clients are have been much less interested in collecting business cards than their American counterparts.

The problem is that now that I will be in Sales there often is no existing contract, but I will always be traveling for a pre-set meeting, not randomly dropping in on people.

My Canadian entry package will change from:

• Passport
• Letter of Introduction
• Training Agenda
• Travel Itinerary
• Signed copy of Contract (at a minimum including the service contracted for, often also for the whole system purchase if not included together)

As always, you may cross many times and never have a problem, but after making the mistake of saying I was going to Hamilton, ON for vacation I decided to get all of my ducks in a row and be safe rather than get declined admission.  Being declined admission is not a risk I am willing to take so I get all of my papers together.

Of course my first order of business in my new job is heading right back up to Canada so I won’t have time to get business cards printed with my new title, but overall I hope that isn’t a show stopper.  Now I will try:

• Passport
• Letter of Introduction
• Travel Itinerary
• Meeting Agenda
• A copy of the quote if I can find it
• And maybe a copy of an e-mail confirming the meeting.

Overall I hope to just present my passport and say I’m there for a meeting and be done with it, but apparently I look really guilty or something so I’d rather be prepared.  Also, it’s just not worth it to me to lie to immigration because I don’t want to affect any future entrance into a country.

I don’t think “Why would I want to move to such a cold place” is a good defense to questioning.

Since it’s winter and I live in the south of course that means all my business travel is to Canada.  I have a client fairly close to Buffalo so it makes more sense to fly into Buffalo instead of Toronto due to traffic patterns and the ridiculous airfares into Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

Last week I got to the National desk in Buffalo and I was offered an Impala or a Malibu.  I really like Malibus so I chose that car, but immediately noticed the dash had a single unit speedometer.  Now since many of you out there don’t believe me that such cars exist I took a picture.  I once debated with CBP about why I had rented a minivan to cross into Canada when it was just me (Canada didn’t care, but the US was very concerned when I was reentering).  I stated I rented it because it was the only car they had with miles and kilometers on the speedometer.  They told me all cars have that.

So, how did I remedy this situation?  I have always assumed there was some way to toggle this to Km/h, but instead of fiddling with it after crossing the border I just set my GPS into metric mode.  I looked at the car speedometer in the US and the GPS speedometer (since my Garmin shows my current speed) in Canada.

I was working in Canada last week and needed to cross back into the US at Buffalo.  I don’t like to data roam on my cell phone so I didn’t check wait times at the checkpoints and I followed my GPS to the Lewistown bridge that I always take.

I got on the US side of the bridge and I saw 3 lines.  The left line had3 RVs and 5 cars.  The middle line had about 13 cars.  It was hard to tell how many cars were in the right line, but it was shorter looking than the middle line.  I was going into the right line at first because I thought (in hindsight correctly) that line split into more lanes.

Which lane did I choose?  The RV lane because I used the logic that 1 RV is the size of 2 to 3 cars so that line was shorter.  What I didn’t realize was that lane had everyone who required 30 minutes of processing to clear.  Not just the RVs, but the cars as well.  I sat waiting for 1:30 until it was my turn and I just got the basic “purpose of visit, length, bringing anything home? welcome back.”  1:30 waiting for30 seconds of questioning.  I don’t mind the 30 seconds of questioning, don’t get me wrong, but I was curious what was taking the other cars so long.  They weren’t being searched and nothing was being passed from the car to the agent after the initial presentation of documents.  Other lines were moving much faster and many people who entered the border 30 minutes after I did cleared waay before I did.

I didn’t have time to gas up my rental, but I did actually make my flight!

Moral of the story is never stand behind me in a line (TSA, grocery store, anything like that).

This is my second stay at the Crowne Plaza.  I usually stay at the Staybridge Suites in Hamilton, but I’ve been waiting too long to book my hotel and so I end up at the Crowne Plaza.

I shouldn’t really say “end up” though since it is a property that really seems like it is trying.  Downtown Hamilton is an interesting experience and there are several head shops, tattoo parlors, and pawn shops near the hotel.  There are also some awesome Asian restaurants so  I shouldn’t really complain.

Both times I have been upgraded to the club floor which includes continental (bagels and cereal) breakfast.  The pool I believe was recently renovated before my stay back in June because the extremely friendly waitress kept insisting I needed to check it out.  I did bring my bathing suit, but I checked out the fitness room instead (because I’m training for a marathon, not a triathlon).

My favorite feature of the room is the drape clip.  There are many times where the drapes just don’t meet properly or the AC likes to blow the curtains out.  Granted, I was on the 7th floor so a peek from a passer-by would be rare, but some mornings I don’t like the sun to wake me up!

The staff is friendly and helpful.  There is one main waitress in the restaurant and she will remember you from one visit to the next.  She will also let you know what’s going on.

The fitness room had a lot of different things compared to Hampton Inn fitness rooms.  I only used the lone treadmill.  It doesn’t reset after it has been stopped unless you pull out the emergency stop clip.  The treadmill actually felt safer when I was running than when I was walking.  It worked though.  There are 2 flat screen TVs in the fitness room and 1 is positioned with easy viewing from the treadmill.  There is also a bathroom with a sauna right across the hall.  There is a step out of the bathroom.   I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t remember it from the way in.  If the floor had been wetter I might have taken a tumble, but I managed to find the floor with both feet.

I like the Staybridge because it has nice breakfast and an OK dinner included in the rate, but the Crowne Plaza has better parking since it has a garage and doesn’t require double parking.

I’ve been doing a lot more Priority Club and although there is a software issue preventing most of their hotels from getting my room under my correct name (I book the room under my current name through my travel agent’s website and some how when I go to check in the reservation is under my maiden name with an address I haven’t lived in for 4 years).  I should probably reclaim the status with them I lost a few years ago.