Getting A COVID Test At A Drive-Thru
#rvlife #travel #covid
2021-12-16
Getting A COVID Test At A Drive-Thru
Our travel day back to Canada was a bit of an adventure in itself. It started two days prior when we had to have our covid PCR test done. This (at the time of writing this) is a requirement of the Canadian government and border officials in order to enter Canada.
We had actually scheduled the appointment to have these done before we even left Canada in the first place. Since we were only going to be in the US for a few days, we wanted to make sure we would get an appointment.
The drive-thru covid test experience was interesting. We drove up, the lady at the window verified who we were, and then handed us the tests and watched us complete them. We had visions of having to stick the swab really far into our nasal passages, but in fact it only had to go in about an inch. Not so bad at all. We received our results by email after 48 hours of anxiously waiting and just in time for our travel day home. Then we entered that information into the ArriveCAN app on our phones and we were ready to go.
Crossing the Canadian Border With Our RV
Once to the border, we answered the usual border crossing questions about where we had been and what we were bringing into Canada. Of course, we also had to show our passports. Most of the information regarding our vaccine status, covid test results, and quarantine plan was already available to the border guard through the ArriveCAN app that we had to submit before getting to the border, but we also provided our federally issued vaccine record.
Is It Worth It?
So, is crossing the border during covid worth it? Well that all depends on you. There are definitely more hoops to jump through, the possibility that you will be told to quarantine, take a second covid test, or even be turned away entirely. Those are risks only you can evaluate for yourself.
We found that a trip across the border definitely required us to be much more organized than we used to have to be. We had to plan ahead so that the timing of our re-entry covid tests and border arrival time would meet official requirements. Our test needed to be performed within 72 hours of arriving at the Canadian border, but the results could also take up to 72 hours to receive. We also had to submit our ArriveCan application within 72 hours of arrival to the border and we had to provide an estimated time of arrival for our Canadian border crossing.
In contrast, for our entry from Canada into the US all we had to show was our passport (as usual) and our vaccine records while answering their questions. No test, no extra app to download and fill out, nada.
For us, being able to travel internationally again was worth it. It’s not something we want to have to do forever, though, and we are hopeful that these extra requirements will end with the pandemic.
Until next time, keep on living the life you’ve imagined!
Mel, Jay & Benny