Day Trip From Orlando To Toronto (Air Canada Rouge 6/20/2017)

ORLANDO, FLORIDA / TORONTO, ONTARIO (June 20, 2017). I had moved from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Orlando, Florida the previous month. I was a GO Transit bus driver from 2003 until this time. I was still "technically" a GO Transit (a subsidiary of the bureaucratic monstrosity known as Metrolinx; ie the people who gave you the Eglinton Crosstown line that will never open) until later in May) employee until my vacation time, leave of absence and benefits ran out.

In short, I took a "vacation" in May, I just never came back.

Anyway, I was at the tail end of the U.S. immigration process when I moved to Florida. I was allowed to move down there (ie here), I just couldn't work.

In June, 2017, I had to see a U.S. government "certified" doctor in Toronto to clear me for my medical. They have such doctors here in the U.S., but I wasn't allowed to see one because my application was from Canada.

I flew up to Toronto on the morning of June 20, 2017, and headed downtown on the Union Pearson Express train. I visited the railway museum near Union Station which, ironically as a GO driver, I had never had the chance to visit, then headed uptown to St. Clair and Bathurst for my appointment.

A TTC streetcar driver ran a red light and crashed into two cars at St. Clair and Winona. Sadly, I didn't get it on video. But rest assured, the TTC and the city did.

Everything went well. The quack said I had the same virgin pink lungs my mom gave me. I stocked up on medication for my wife at Shoppers Drug Mart, shipped it back to Orlando via parcel post, and made my way back to the Toronto Airport.

Fun fact: When I drove across the border the previous month, my B2 visa (which one doesn't generally physicall receive, it's recorded electronically by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection) was good from six months, expiring in November, 2017. The officer reasoned that, with my immigration interview coming up shortly in Montreal, that was my guarantee I would be returning back to Canada; one way or the other.

My day trip to Toronto, and returning the same day, resulted in me receiving a physical, paper visa slip at the Toronto Airport U.S. pre-clearance. And the six month clock was reset. I was now technically good until December, although I eventually got my status the next month, in July.

A couple of good-natured digs at two GO managers. But as we say here in the South, it's all good. At least, I think it is.

I got a copyright violation notice from YouTube for the use of Ravel's "Bolero" in the video. But. apparently that's all good, too because the only place the video can't be viewed is in Russia.

As the video says, I'm flying up to Toronto on the first Air Canada Rouge flight of the morning. It's an AIrbus A-319. With no legroom for a guy who is 6'1. My knees are literally crunching against the seat in front of me.

No video of the return flight (sorry). Makes no difference because it was dark. In any event, I was also in an A319. Except this time, there was nobody in the middle seat, which allowed me to have the aisle seat and stretch out.

It made for a long day. But it had to be done.

Hope you enjoy.