What is the purpose of your visit to Canada today?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Well, officer, we just wanted some Tim Hortons.
This answer threw the Customs and Border Protection folks for an absolute loop.
A lot of Chicago pilots say that they will fly to Canada, but they never do. Today, we did it. We washed the plane off in some showers near Midway. Chicago Approach did their best to keep us away from the heavier stuff. No lightning, just rain.
I watched some TH-cam videos before attempting this Border boondoggle. The videos helped explain the system. We actually went south into Canada (Windsor is just south of Detroit).
The Canadian border officer was dubious when we said that our trip was just for fun. He put us on hold for 10 minutes as we called to report our arrival.
We had called a couple days early to set all this up. There is a system called eAPIS that set up the paperwork. Once you get started on the system, it is not too bad.
We had to return early from Windsor, Canada, because the customs office at Battle Creek, Michigan, closes at 3 pm.
We stopped at a grill called The Base near Battle Creek Airport. I tried their "California Reuben", not realizing that it was made without pastrami. It was okay.
The US Air Force Thunderbirds were parked on the Western Michigan University ramp. We stopped our movement on the taxiway to try and get a good picture. Cool.
Oh Canada!