I can now mark “Travelling to Canada” off my bucket list! The trip was an eye-opening experience! The trip had its ups and downs but what an adventure!
One of the funniest things I was teased about was traveling to “Regina,” and my first name being Regina (pronounced differently). It was opening to see the large airport say, “Welcome to Regina.” I didn’t have my glasses on and thought it was welcoming me!
I wasn’t prepared for the large lines and constantly having to show my id and passport. It wasn’t obvious, especially when it’s the first time you’ve ever had to do this. Next time I will allow for more time and possibly learn some possible faster workarounds.
We made a few mistakes, such as not converting our money into Canadian cash. This was needed when our rental car’s tire became low on a site-seeing tour, and we needed coins to get our tire aired up. I finally bargained with a cashier to buy multiple maple syrup beef jerky and give me change from a credit card, and it worked out.
The four of us (Drake, Phil and Amy, along with me) knew to bundle up; of course, it was frigid. The convention was great, and it was fun to hear the Canadian accents! We have customers in Canada, but this was the first time we’ve been to one of their conventions.
As with the U.S. conventions, the accents are slightly different, but the people are so friendly and good as gold. We even saw a few of our vendor friends! We met a lot of new friends in Canada as well!
Our trip home was a little rough. Our first flight was delayed to another place in Canada, and we missed our 2nd flight. There was no representative to help us, so we just got on our phones and flew to Michigan and then Memphis. We had very little time, but we made it! It was so good to arrive in Memphis. However, our luggage didn’t (sigh).
After a week, we finally got our luggage and immediately bought luggage to go in the overhead bin for our future trips. (I’ll have to learn not to carry so many shoes!).
What an experience we had!
As with all of my ag friends all over the world, fly safe!
