Travel 2022 by land - what do you think?

[mshanson3121]

The most recent info I found for Canada for vaccines for children under 12 is this article from mid-August: https://globalnews.ca/news/8106569/pfizer-covid-vaccine-children-trial/ "Pfizer intends to submit data to Health Canada on trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in children under 12 by the end of the year, the company told Global News...." and "“If safety and immunogenicity is confirmed, we plan on filing the data to Health Canada before the end of the year to support a potential authorization in children 5 to 11 years of age, and soon after for 6 months to 5 years,” wrote the company." Phase 1 trial complete, Phase 2 and 3 still underway.

Regarding just turning 12 year olds... check with your province, as some are allowing some 11 year olds to receive the vaccine now: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/vaccination-11-year-old-pfizer-1.6147318 I don't know if they will have a rolling age date going forward while waiting for <12 approval or will wait to see if the approval comes through for under-12's by the end of the year, but something to pay attention to if you are in one of the provinces allowing it.

Travel restrictions are complicated and many factors come into play, some of which are not always obvious. One example: customs halls at international airports. At the best of times they can be crowded with sometimes lengthy waits. Right now, there are media reports out of the UK of crowded customs halls with waits sometimes exceeding FOUR HOURS. In Toronto, at times they are holding passengers on planes and letting them off in groups of 50 to limit the number of people in the customs hall at a time, but the result is instead you could wait on the plane for hours. Many years ago when I visited the UK, the passport control line was a 2 hour wait at Heathrow. A few years ago, the only time I have flown into Washington's Dulles airport from Toronto's Island airport, so no pre-clearing US Customs, the US Customs line for non-citizens/PRs was 3 hours long - I was fortunate that I have dual citizenship so I got to use the US citizen line, which had no wait at all. Both the fact of having large numbers of people congregating together for a long period of time in a confined space, as well as the realities of processing them through whatever protocols, will both have an influence on decisions made about travel restrictions for international travel by any given country; and, over time and things change -- eg what a country could manage with a relative small number of travelers may not be managable with a much larger number of travelers, so they may also have to change strategies in part due to a sheer logistics problem.

SW

Yes - and it's the waits that concern me more than anything. Our daughter has ASD - there's not a chance in you-know-where she would be able to cope with those.

Are you in Ontario? If so, this was announced on Aug 17th on Global News and it seems some provinces will be following suit:

"The Ontario government says 11-year-old children who will turn 12 years old by the end of 2021 will be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot earlier, starting Wednesday.

The government announced effective Wednesday, Aug. 18, those children — born anytime on or before Dec. 31, 2009 — will be able to book an appointment for a shot.
Prior to this change, those with late year birthdays had to wait until they turned 12 in order to be eligible to get a vaccine."

No, we're in NB, but they're doing the same thing. So, I suppose maybe after January perhaps they'll do the same - anyone turning 12 within 2022.

 

[Starwind]

Yes - and it's the waits that concern me more than anything. Our daughter has ASD - there's not a chance in you-know-where she would be able to cope with those.

Consider looking into a NEXUS card. In normal times, the NEXUS/Global Entry customs lanes, when open, usually have low to no waits, and the Nexus/TSA Precheck lanes are also usually shorter. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/nexus/menu-eng.html

Nexus is US$50 for five years and I have found it money well spent even if we use it once a year or less just due to time saved in being able to bypass the long lines in normal times (eg December 2019 at Pearson, flying into the US: the normal line for pre-clearance security was at least an hour, the Nexus line was <10 minutes; the US Customs line was over an hour, the Global Entry kiosks had no line, so it was walk up to the kiosk and however long it took you to get through the process, then walk to the US official, clear them, and then out).

SW

 

[mshanson3121]

Consider looking into a NEXUS card. In normal times, the NEXUS/Global Entry customs lanes, when open, usually have low to no waits, and the Nexus/TSA Precheck lanes are also usually shorter. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/nexus/menu-eng.html

Nexus is US$50 for five years and I have found it money well spent even if we use it once a year or less just due to time saved in being able to bypass the long lines in normal times (eg December 2019 at Pearson, flying into the US: the normal line for pre-clearance security was at least an hour, the Nexus line was <10 minutes; the US Customs line was over an hour, the Global Entry kiosks had no line, so it was walk up to the kiosk and however long it took you to get through the process, then walk to the US official, clear them, and then out).

SW

Yes! We have Nexus. However, our land border doesn't have a Nexus lane, so doesn't actually do us any good, LOL. And we will be driving into the US to fly, so again, Nexus will be moot, since we won't be international flyers.

 

[Starwind]

Yes! We have Nexus. However, our land border doesn't have a Nexus lane, so doesn't actually do us any good, LOL. And we will be driving into the US to fly, so again, Nexus will be moot, since we won't be international flyers.

Our closest land border crossing also doesn't have a NEXUS lane, but because it is a smaller crossing point the lines are usually not bad pre-covid if you timed things right.

NEXUS will still help you in the US as it makes you eligible for TSA PreCheck. Make sure you check with your US airline to find out how to add your known traveller numbers to your reservation - different airlines do it differently.

SW

 

[MamaLema]

My last vacation week of the year is end of October and while I don’t have a good feeling the land border will open, I am really hoping it will.

I prefer driving over flying and I want to go on a road trip so bad! We are not cottage people and haven’t been anywhere since 2019

 

[mshanson3121]

Our closest land border crossing also doesn't have a NEXUS lane, but because it is a smaller crossing point the lines are usually not bad pre-covid if you timed things right.

NEXUS will still help you in the US as it makes you eligible for TSA PreCheck. Make sure you check with your US airline to find out how to add your known traveller numbers to your reservation - different airlines do it differently.

SW

I forgot about the pre-check! We did that last time!

 

[hdrolfe]

I see BioNTech is looking for approval on ages 5 - 11, I think that's Pfizer? hopefully within a few weeks. Should be good news for parents who have been waiting.

 

[DanielleOG]

I have a cruise booked for Oct 10 out of NJ and was only ever planning on driving over. Now i doubt it's going to happen. Planning for a May 2022 trip to disney, also driving (i have a fear of flying) and hoping it will happen!