Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Toronto: Canada Weekend GetawaySo it’s been a while since I got the chance to get out of the country and the opportunity presented itself just before the heavily traveled Thanksgiving weekend. Having never been to Canada (unbelievable right) before now it was a great trip I thought I’d share.

Arriving at La Guardia airport bar before the gate, I was surprised to find Ipad’s for ordering anything you want to eat or drink.  This meant the elimination of having to speak to a human being unless being served.  This is the wave of the future in the service industry I believe.

Of course browsing the web while one waits for their order to arrive is a no-brainer.  I decided to check out who was voting on the site’s latest poll question.When I arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport I thought I’d get through customs fairly quickly.  How wrong I was…lesson learned here.

When dealing with customs agents whether it be foreign customs or domestic the best course of action is to answer their questions absent any hint of “attitude” regardless of how ridiculous the question may seem or how many times they ask the same question.

It was my first time to Canada so when I ended up being sent to more customs agents for further grilling after the first customs agent I came across, I was shocked.

I’m thinking I’m an American citizen with a legit passport, no criminal background to speak of so what’s the hold up?  Apparently the first custom agent didn’t like the tone of my response to her questioning the purpose of my trip and why I had chosen to travel to Canada this particular weekend?  I realized this when I looked at how my customs declaration paper had been marked with a highlight marker.

In addition they wanted to know who I was coming to see, what I did for a living, where I worked, what brand of toothpaste I used, & the color of my underwear (kidding about the last two).  The second customs agent told me to have a seat while he did a background check on me.  I was like “great”.  I left my sunglasses behind by mistake along with my passport at the agents station while I sat and waited.

Having realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses at the custom agents station I went back to retrieve them.  As soon as I got to his station the custom agent asked me if I’d ever been arrested.  I told him no and he seemed surprised almost as if he was expecting me to say yes.  I relaxed my disposition and told him that I came for a mini vacation and couldn’t wait to take amazing pictures of Toronto.

In that same moment he replied that I looked like the Japanese tourists with my camera around my neck and immediately stamped my passport and I was on my way.  Lesson learned.

Stay tuned for the following day’s photo walk in beautiful Toronto.

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