I arrived in Vancouver airport, I had to proceed to customs, I told them I was on the Working Holiday Visa and they asked me a few simple questions (how long do you plan to stay, do I have a place to stay, etc). The guy then wrote something on my arrival card and directed me to the baggage area, once the your bags are collected you need to go through the immigration section, you show them your arrival card and they will take you off to a little area. I arrived at about 10 pm and there was practically no one there. The immigration officer asked me a few more questions, practically the same ones, I was surprised I wasn’t asked for proof of funds or anything like that, anyway he was happy with the information I provided and went away for 10 minutes to check it all out on the computer, came back with my visa and sent me on my way.

We had dinner at Picton Hotel, which was alright I had pasta though it didn’t really have much flavour and was a bit bland, anyway then we went to the bowling club, where Kieran and I dominated at pool or at least we did in the last game or two lol.

I said goodbyes, came home and stayed up until about 1 am packing things and still hadn’t finished!

I woke up early the next day to finish and said goodbye to the grandparents and off I went to the airport! We lost my boarding tickets at the airport which was a bit of a freak out, it  was fine though because I gave us plenty of time. I said a sad goodbye to the parents, got on the plane and away I went, who knows when I will return!

It made me realise how much I’m going to miss all my great friends whilst I’m in Canada… they are all really great people and I’m lucky to have them as friends. Anyway enough sappy stuff lol.

Everyone had an awesome time, we got back at about 3 am and few of us stumbled a bit and hung out, then finally crashed in bed. Great night

It was Liz’s 21st Birthday party last Saturday night, the theme was celebrities and famous characters. Typically I came up with an idea at the last minute and rushed to get it all sorted. I decided on the Cat in the Hat, and quickly realised I wouldn’t be able to find all the pieces for the costume in a few hours so I decided to make it. It turned out surprisingly well considering my lack of artistic/craft skills (my worst subject in High School was art!).

Anyway the picture below shows how it turned out, which I thought was great considering it was made out of cardboard! It was also taken after the party which I think is a credit to my hat making skills, that it actually lasted that long haha. It also shows the bow-tie which Ben’s mum made for me in about 30 minutes, which is crazy!

Travel insurance is a must have when travelling overseas, I’ve heard many unfortunate stories where people did not get travel insurance and where their family had to sell their assets to pay for hospital bills and sometimes special flights to get them back.

It is not only important that you get travel insurance, but it is also important that you get it as early as possible. Everyone should be aware of the travel problems in Europe which have been caused by ash from the Icelandic volcano called; Eyjafjallajokull. Now for most insurance companies if you purchased your insurance policy after the ash had caused problems the first time you would not be covered for ash related problems. The reasoning behind this is because travel insurance is meant to protect against the unpredictable, however it is now highly probable that the ash may cause travellers problems.

So my advice is for everyone to get travel insurance and to get it early to avoid future problems such as these.

The only difference is mine is black. The RRP is ridiculous and I definitely wouldn’t pay $619.95 for backpack, but because it was 50% off I got it for $310. The service was great and the guy who served me really knew his stuff, its surprising how complicated backpacks can be, mine has sooo many adjustments it’s crazy, but most make the pack way more comfortable and are well worth it if your going to be using it a lot.

That brings me pretty much all the way on my trips check list, just need my travel insurance sorted and I’m all set!

Also this one shows you a bit more of some the cool looking hot air balloon designs.

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]]> http://artikles.net/?feed=rss2&p=1059 0 http://artikles.net/?p=1048 http://artikles.net/?p=1048#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:22:08 +0000 Jacob Plantzos http://artikles.net/?p=1048 First of all I’m basically writing this to give people an idea about the B1/B2 visa if they are going on a Canadian Working Holiday. I’m not an expert when it comes to American visas so you should always check the American Consulate website to ensure that you have the correct information.

The above image has been sourced from the US Consulate website

I got my Canadian visa a number of months ago which allows me to work in Canada, however it gets a little bit complicated if I want to visit the US after I’ve been in North America for 90 days. Essentially the rule is your only allowed to spend up to 90 days in the US on the visa waiver program, however time you spend in Mexico and Canada counts towards this 90 day limit. Since my Canadian visa allows me to work in Canada for 2 years and it’s likely that at some point after 90 days I will want to visit America, I won’t be eligible to visit the US on the visa waiver program which means I have to apply for a B1/B2 visa if I want to visit for tourist reasons.

Now to make matters a bit confusing, many people online say that this isn’t the case and you can visit numerous times and you will be fine. I called the US consulate and was advised to get the visa, and it could well be that it’s one of those regulations which you are told are enforced but perhaps it isn’t enforced at all or perhaps it even depends on the customs officer. If however it is enforced when I try to come, I don’t want to be told I can’t get into the US unless I leave North America and then come back (which is the only way your meant to get another 90 days and can make for an expensive experience).

The alternative is to apply for the B1/B2 visa, this is the route I took. I applied about a month ago for the visa, I had to complete a DS-160 which is an online application form, the website was slow and often caused errors so I had to save the application often, even so I lost bits of my application numerous times and it took a few hours to complete in full because of that.

Once the DS-160 is complete you should book an appointment, basically the US Consulate was booked about a month in advance when I booked my appointment, so you need to make sure you have enough time to wait for your appointment.

I arrived at my appointment about a month later, my appointment was scheduled for 10:30 am (but I was told to arrive at least half an hour early). Once I was through security I waited for about an hour before I was called up, they asked for my forms and a few quick questions and then I had to sit down again and wait some more. Another 40 minutes passed and finally I was called up for my interview. To my surprise as soon as I showed my Canadian Working Holiday visa acceptance letter, the interviewer said he didn’t need to worry about any more information. Basically all the forms I prepared (bank statements, employment information etc wasn’t needed).

Since I applied for a 5 year B1/B2 visa instead of the one year visa I had to pay an extra $30, I then had to be processed by the cashier, this took another half hour. Finally I left my passport with them and my self addressed envelope and to my surprise the next day I received my passport with the visa inside.

The B1/B2 visa takes a lot more effort then the Canadian Working Holiday Visa however if your planning to travel to the US at some point whilst in Canada it’s probably a good idea to get the visa.

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]]> http://artikles.net/?feed=rss2&p=1048 0 http://artikles.net/?p=1039 http://artikles.net/?p=1039#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:56:46 +0000 Jacob Plantzos http://artikles.net/?p=1039 So as the title says, this is just a quick update. I haven’t been up to too much exciting stuff, blame that on university! I did go bowling and then see a pretty good movie on Saturday night though, it’s called Green Zone (I know, pretty bad name, sounds like a kids movie) and the main role is cast by Matt Damon. It’s about the American invasion of Iraq (though it interweaves between fact and fiction throughout the movie). If you get a chance check it out, in the mean time here is a trailer for the movie;

In completely unrelated news, I have a report due in the next few days which is based on time management, I was meant to audit my activities at the end of each day for a week to determine how well I spend my time… well Facebook, TV, the movies, among other things may have distracted me from doing that so ironically I’m going to be rushing to get the report done… I suppose I’m not that good at time management…?

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]]> http://artikles.net/?feed=rss2&p=1039 0 http://artikles.net/?p=1022 http://artikles.net/?p=1022#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:23:14 +0000 Jacob Plantzos http://artikles.net/?p=1022 I played a poker tournament last night, just for a bit of fun, didn’t expect to win or come close to winning. There were 90 people in the competition and I found myself finishing 3rd which I was pretty proud of as it was my best finish in a tournament of that size.

University starts tomorrow, it is my last session at Wollongong so hopefully I’m doing a few interesting subjects this semester and that I can I stay focused, travelling was on my mind last semester and with a little under 5 months to go, I’m hoping it doesn’t get the better of my university marks…

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