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Crossing the border to Canada was more difficult than antipicated. The border guards seemed convinced that we were terrorists and delayed us for a long time while searching our car and interrogating me. Eventually they let us in, and we drove to Mission to stay with John and Hetty, who we only knew through e-mail. The following day we spent in Vancouver, a city that seemed to be completely dominated by the Chinese.

Adventure in North America 2002, Part 4: Vancouver

Jan Arild Teland
2006-05-14 15:47:23

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July 27, Saturday

We got up at 0800. Gisela had made scones (called biscuits in the USA) for breakfast, which was excellent and felt more like a typical Norwegian breakfast. After packing our stuff, we said goodbye to Vernon and Gisela and then we drove the short distance to Port Havelock. It was a nice little town, so before getting on the ferry we walked through the main street and visited some shops. I also called John to tell him we would be arriving in Canada today. I had never talked to him before but he seemed very nice on the phone.

The ferry left at 1115 and after a brief detour we found the way towards Canada. On our way we came to the "Deception Pass", which made a striking resemblance to "Justřybroa" outside Lillesand in Norway. The view from the bridge was exactly as the view from that bridge over "Blindleia", so it was very beautiful. For a brief lunch, we stopped at a gas station and had a sandwich each. Then we continued towards the border.

We had expected the border crossing to go smoothly, since as Norwegians you are usually free from suspicion. However, to our surprise, at the border we were asked to park the car and come inside. A young, tall and lean guy, looking very grumpy, first asked us some questions. "Have you been to Canada before?". "No", "Where in Canada did you visit last time?". "But, we haven't been here before!". "But you just said that you had been visiting here before". "No, we didn't say that".

Now the guy was suspicious as he seemed to believe there had been a contradiction in our statements. (Yes, he really was that intelligent!) He started asking more questions! "Where were we going to stay?" "How did I know John?" Finally, he disappeared for a few minutes before returning to tell us that they were going to search our car! We could do nothing but wait, looking at the three officers searching our car and opening our bags and suitcases for at least ...