Don’t Leave Home without it

We almost didn’t get to Canada for my daughter’s graduation.
On the Friday night before our Saturday morning departure from Changi in the midst of the major packing, we realised that our flight would transit in Detroit USA before heading for Toronto.

That meant that we needed visas to enter the USA. The only problem was that our old passports were in Johor Baru and so I decided to brave the 90 minute jam to get the passports.

We had travelled to the USA both pre and post Sept 11 and figured it should not be a problem. After a frantic search, I found the passports and checked my son’s document and it had about a year left. So I called my wife back in Singapore and told her I had the passports.

After a few minutes, I decided to check our own passports as I knew that our visas were obtained earlier. There was a sinking feeling as I discovered that both our visas had expired by a few weeks.

Anyway we went to the airport but were promptly offloaded by the airline. The security staff advised us to find another way to fly to Canada as it would take a few days to get a transit visa.
After a hasty conference, we decided to send our son as he could still fly. My wife gave him some US and Canadian dollars so he could get to Halifax.

We had already booked Air Canada from Toronto to Halifax with about 4 hours grace to clear Immigration and check into the Air Canada flight.

My son had flown solo a few years before to Australia but this was more complex. He had to transit in the USA and then hop on the next plane to Halifax.

The next 20 hours were anxious ones until we received a phone call from our daughter telling us he had arrived safely.

When he arrived in Toronto, he asked him the reason for the visit and when he gave my daughter’s name and date of birth, they accepted the reason.

Singaporeans do not need a visa to enter the USA. I thought Malaysia also had good relations with the USA but I guess it is only limited to us letting them make use of our facilities.

The moral of the story? Check all travel documents and visa requirements well in advance.