I had some issues with the internet in the transition from our Sheraton Wall hotel room to the Viking cruise ship Orion, delaying the timing of this post. We were one of the first couples on board after my run this morning discovered the dock location at Canada Place. It’s a beautiful, sunny day to start our adventure to Alaska. We had lunch along with our welcome Champaign and toured the ship that is similar in layout to the boat we took from Venice to Athens last spring. It was then exhausting to unpack our six suitcases and find room for them and their contents in our Deluxe Veranda. Fortunately, the suitcases all fit nicely under the bed and there is plenty of closet and drawer space. Our patio faces to the East so we can enjoy the sail up the Canadian coast. The nicest thing about a cruise is that you don’t have to move hotel rooms or constantly pack and unpack. 

I had a disturbing e-mail from the Canadian government once we went through customs. My mobile phone was not set up for international travel, knowing that we would only be on foreign ground for one day. It was not until we got settled in our hotel room and had access to the internet that the e-mail came through requiring me to take a mandatory Covid test at the airport as part of their random screening of visitors. Why me and why use e-mail to select their victims?

All the testing sites were at the airport, so it would not have been a problem if I had seen it before we made the long, pricy drive to the hotel by taxi. However, after already paying for the eMed tests and testing negative the day before, I did not understand the need to take another test. They naturally have their own preferred providers, so the other tests don’t apparently matter. I didn’t have a phone connection to call them, and they did not provide an e-mail link, so my responses simply bounced back from these threatening messages of fines if not administered within 24-hours of arrival. I was not about to pay to go back to the airport to get their official test when I was leaving the next morning anyway. I’m sure there’s a warrant for my arrest, or I may never be allowed back in the country. My picture is probably posted on a wanted poster as a Canadian criminal!