Canada, By Mistake

It was our first long road trip from Detroit to Niagara Falls. We were all set for the exciting journey and hit the road early morning. It was a real smooth drive for initial fifty miles. As I was acquiring faith in hubby’s driving, my navigating skills and more over our familiarity with US routes, soon we found ourselves on a bridge to Canada. U-turn, seldom an option on a bridge.

At the other end of bridge, was Canada, somewhere close to city of Toronto. At the check post; routine security checking of vehicle and self took place. Here everything is process driven so one needs to follow the procedure. Apprehensively, waiting in queue with other fellow travelers. Entering a foreign nation without valid visa is illegal, though mistakenly. Innocence is bliss, but not always.

Once in front of the immigration officer, with driving directions in hand explaining to the best of ability, how exactly we landed up in Canada without visa. She stamped cancelled on official papers we filled impromptu. Escorted us out, telling the way to get back into the US territory; and the best thing, she acknowledged, it happens with other travelers as well.

Later we did notice Toronto mentioned in accompanying driving directions. But then Toronto can be right here itself. Believe it or not just search for Delhi in weather.com and many Delhi popup in US alone.

Mapquest.com; by default gives the shortest route, which all follow. It holds good for American citizens, who do not require visa to enter Canada. As a matter of fact, this is the beauty of American passport one can travel around the world to several countries, hassle (visa) free; no wonder people crave for the long enduring path to American citizenship.

Once back into US, one of our friends guided us to reach Niagara fall, being in US itself.