I'm Dreaming of Traveling the World

Don and I took a road trip that will likely go down in our family history as one of the craziest adventures we have ever had. We left New Jersey at 5 AM. Met up with friends outside Montreal for the afternoon. Had dinner with other friends that night. Stayed overnight in Canada. Met with immigration at 9:45 AM the next day. Drove home in time for dinner in New Jersey the next day.

Rather than being exhausting (easy for me to say as I napped in the car), it was exhilarating! It reminded me just how much I enjoy traveling as COVID restrictions (including the ArriveCAN app) are fading away.

Quick Trip Recap:

Visiting with Chris and Trena at their home. Chris and Don used to work together at Comcast. Chris would travel down about every other week for work. After Don left Comcast, we still got together monthly for dinner at Mastoris. The border being closed changed that. Then Mastoris closed. He comes down less frequently and when he does, he is working 12-14 hour days without any break for dinner. Though we only managed to squeeze in an afternoon visit, we finally saw the Tiki Shed he build during COVID. We also saw snow for perhaps our only time this winter. 

We then had dinner with Marlene and her new beau, James. Marlene was my "big sister" when I was a high school exchange student. She is one of several friends I managed to keep in touch with over the decades. We always fall into an easy conversation. She believes I am the friend who has known her the longest. James was a treat to get to know. I wish they lived closer, but as it turns out, James has friends he wants to visit in Philadelphia so we might be seeing each other sooner than usual. Or maybe we'll connect in Ohio when she visits her family this summer.

Our hotel was lovely, yet odd. On the surface it seemed elegant, but on closer look it seemed the elegance was in its past. There were two king-sized beds in our room (which I knew, but still seemed weird) and a steady stream of people leaving the hotel on foot to go to the buildings behind it. Don asked and they said it was a college. Does this mean the hotel is really an elegant college dorm? Even so, it was cheap with a terrific breakfast, and convenient to the highway. I'd stay there again.
 

The real purpose of the trip was to have our Global Entry interview. For as excited as I was about going on this interview, most people have no idea what it is or why bother. A quick explanation: for $100 we have a fast pass through airport security, including customs once we get home. The pass is good for five years from our birthday (a strange timeline, making it worthy of applying right after your birthday so you get nearly six years instead of five). The options were to schedule an appointment or stop by their office after we land in the United States. I wanted it before our trip to Italy so we could benefit from having TSA Pre-Check.

Though we allowed 45 minutes to make a 15-minute drive we were late for Don's appointment because there was only one lane open at the crossing. From my vantage point I could see people were being pulled aside for extra questioning. Finally it is our time. The guard was making all sorts of small talk -- we were talking about Ashley being away at college -- which college (McGill? Rutgers like my license plate?). How I should get the car fixed because the muffler is so loud. Finally I explained we were late to our Global Entry appointment and he offered directions. We were late for Don's appointment (early for mine). Fortunately for both of us, they let us go together. I tend to be better at answering the questions because I don't overthink the replies. The joint appointment was only 10-minutes long including taking a picture and capturing our fingerprints. 

Suddenly it was 10:10 and we had no plans for the rest of the day. Drive back to Montreal or press forward? We pressed forward. Stopped for lunch in Ballston Spa (home to Ashley's friend Greg's family). 

I napped some more and we decided to detour to Poughkeepsie/Highland, NY to Walk Across the Hudson. A few years ago Don took this bridge as part of a 100-mile bike ride, but I'd never been. He did admit the experience was a little different  since we practically had the bridge to ourselves and it was snow covered (thank goodness Marlene warned me that it snowed in Montreal so I wore my snow boots that weekend). The bridge closes at a set time, and the people who work there want to go home so they bring out the sweeper vehicle to make sure you leave on time. Though a gray day, it was lovely. It even snowed a little for us, making it even more magical.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful. Once we reached the New Jersey border, it suddenly felt long. New Jersey is a small state -- but it still 90 minutes from Ramapo to home, and feels even longer.

Home sweet home, and back to reality after much too quick of a trip. A couple of weeks later our Global Entry cards arrived in the mail. Let's go see the world!