Steve & Karen's Emigration Story

It's been a long time since our last entry - mainly because we've had nothing to say. We've simply been waiting for the post man. Having said that we did go to the Emigration Show at the weekend to speak to CHC as 'That Letter' which we received in December of last year said that we would hear before the end of March. And guess what was on the door-mat when we got home. Yes a request for medicals along with some extra information regarding job references and clarification about the link to Karen's Grandfather. It's still sinking in to be honest, we've spent a sleepless night worrying about getting the extra details as we had not managed to establish a formal link to Karen's grandparents. This is complicated further by the fact that Karen's Grandfather died earlier in the year.

Our frustration at getting this letter when we got back and not before we went is huge - we have a list of questions now that we would have been able to clarify directly with CHC had we known at the time. To be honest I'm thinking of going up to the other show in Glasgow this Sunday.

One good thing about all this is we have booked our medicals for this Saturday in Liverpool. Also, it's a massive co-incidence but my sister went to the Sandown show a few years ago and found the letter saying they had been accepted (the processing system was different then) waiting for her and her family when they got back as well.

March 26th 2006 (Karen writes):

Well what an eventful week trying to gather in all the extra information that CHC requires from us. I think we have pulled it off with a lot of help from family both here and in Canada so many thanks to them all.

Back tracking one day to Saturday 25^th March we all went for our medicals in Liverpool, I was pleased that we could attend on a Saturday as it did not have to interfere with Steve’s work. We firstly went to a private hospital for our x-rays the children of course did not need to be done, we were in there for all of 15 minutes very quick we thought we might be taking them back with us to the doctor who we were seeing next but the lady said that the senior radiographer needed to examine them and make a report which will then be sent to the doctor who will then include it in his final report to CHC.

We then paid £61 per adult and moved on to the next stage, this was carried out in a big old private house very nice people and very welcoming. I was first needed to give a water sample but it did not pass as I was doing the womanly thing at this time of the proceedings so I have to submit a sample next week, following that a lot of standard questions were asked for example: have you had any accidents that needed hospitalisation within the last 5 years, have you had any operations, have you ever smoked, take illegal drugs etc… then height and weight measurements (Steve was 2” shorter than what he told me!!!) then blood samples taken (full blood analysis and HIV) I then had to strip down to my underwear and examined my collar bones, breasts, hips and pelvis also checked reflexes then I had to bend down as far as I could to touch my toes and he checked my spine. Looked at my hands, feet and joints where in line. Then followed an eye test, hearing test and more questions on how much alcohol I consumed on average weekly and what was the maximum I had consumed in one go over the last two months! And basically that was that I did ask him what he thought my diagnosis was and he said fine no problems.

Steve’s was the same accept in his nether regions he had to cough loudly!

The children were also given the once over, their weight, length and head circumference was measured, checked joints, hips, spine, eyes, ears listened to their chests, checked their nether regions and that was it really with them. All in all are medicals took 45 minutes each and the children’s we were done in about 20 minutes.

So to today Steve last night drove up to Carlisle and stayed over night in a Travel lodge ready to get to Glasgow nice and early to confront CHC with all of the information we had gathered this week and ask “is this good enough to pass” the response was without having the whole file in front of me it is a bit difficult to comment but they then spent 5 minutes looking over the information. The first thing they said was that it was good news that they had asked us to go for medicals . He clarified that an up to date utility bill from relations in Canada would be a good idea, they said the new letter from my old employers was good and as we did not have a letter from my current employer a job description and letters from the company would be adequate. Regarding proof of funds all they seemed interested in was current mortgage settlement figure and current house valuation. So all in all relief that the information has come together and has sort of been okayed by CHC so it looks very promising but will not get hopes up as you never know. When the request for passports arrive that is when I will be 100% sure we have been accepted to Canada!! Until then it is still a waiting game so stayed tuned for the next up date watch this space……….

June 2006

June 5th 2006 (Steve writes):

We've been waiting now for over two months since the medicals and so we decided to mail CHC in London to ask what was happening as we are heading off to Ontario on Friday for two weeks and if at all possible we would want to 'land'. We got the reply this morning via email and basically they said they were still waiting for our updated police checks. we were a bit taken aback by this as they had not asked us for this along with the other details they asked us for at the time of the medicals.

So, we sent a reply saying are you waiting for updated police checks - please confirm and then got in the car to go and get the forms. These have now been sent along with evidence of who we are and where we live. So at least that is sorted and we have not lost any time if CHC DO want updated checks.

The wait continues .....

7th June 2006 (Steve writes):

Well we got a letter today asking for updated police checks. Not really a surprise after the last couple of days. We're off to Ontario in a couple of days - we were hoping this was going to be our Landing trip but now we're not even sure if we'll get to do that before October.

Back To Top

26th June 2006 (Steve writes):

For details of our trip to Ontario visiting Karen's family and friends please click here..

July 2006

27th July 2006 (Karen writes):

Well the police checks finally returned to us after a seven week wait!!! And they were in the house for about an hour before I got to the post office to send them back off the CHC registered post! Now the next wait starts for our passport requests to arrive from them.

Just before we went to Ontario Steve applied for a CAIPS check this basically is a company you contact and for a fee they will get a copy of your case notes from CHC for you to view…. Must add that you cannot apply for this until at least 6 weeks after you have had your medical and the information has been returned to CHC. It takes a while for it to come through it basically took as long as the police checks but when it did arrive we were interested in it’s contents, the company put it into simpleton terms for us as well in case of questions but basically our case was very straight forward in their eyes and our point score was 77!!!! They did comment that it was very rare to see such a high score with regard to the immigration process – so as you can imagine I was thrilled as I am the principle applicant swat or what!! The other thing that it did show was that files are brought up electronically for review at certain times so for example ours was reviewed on 5 June and in the notes at the bottom of the page the next requested review date was the 30 June so if the police checks had come back sooner we may have been in possession of our passport requests by now…. Never mind good things come to those who wait so they say, so our next review date is unknown to us but hopefully it wont be long.

The emotional aspect of the move is kicking in now as things start to heat up, and I have to be honest we have revisited on several occasions why we are doing this, I feel that this is not negative (although negative thoughts do come out!) it is more positive as gives you and the family involved a chance to air feelings that are being buried inside because of the roller coaster that is going on outside. We sat down one night and compiled a pro’s and con’s list for the move and when we stopped to review our positives were small compared to the negatives and we both looked at each other and initially said what are we doing, but when we looked again and analysed our list we realised that the positives that we had written were in fact far bigger than the negatives.

The negative side for us and well for all I suppose is the “leaving family & friends” scenario and I must admit I have good and bad days on this subject and this morning I was watching GMTV and there were two families on talking about Australia one family had lived there for a year and were live on a satellite link up and the other family were going in 7 weeks time and they were in the studio, the significance of this interview for me was that the presenter asked the family in Oz was there anything that they missed and the response was “no not really our only drawback is missing family and friends if we could pick them up and move them out here we would, also taking the baby away from his Grandparents at such a young age” she then carried on by saying that “they all keep in touch via phone, e-mail and web cam so that they can all see one another and how they are progressing and the communication between them all has helped them move on with their new life” I sat back and reflected on that interview as other things were discussed and thought Australia is a damn site harder to get to in a hurry than Canada and vice versa it is basically the other side of the world where as Canada is a shorter plane ride away from the UK and let’s face it if we moved to Cornwall or the south coast it would take my family just as long to get to us there on a bad day than it would to get to us in Canada! Anyhow it sort of made me feel a little more positive about it all, no doubt though there will be more up’s and down’s to come. Watch this space for the next update……

August 2006

9th August 2006 (Steve writes):

Well that day we have been waiting for has finally arrived - the passport requests arrived today.

So now it's full steam ahead on getting things sorted. The house is going on the market and we're starting to think about a 'landing' trip so that I can get a job secured and we can look at houses and other things. It looks as though Calgary has out-priced itself for us and so we're looking now at the surrounding towns especially Okotoks.

To be honest it's still sinking in.

14th August 2006 (Steve writes):

Things are progressing. We sent off the passports on Saturday. We've reviewed our options as far a estate agents are concerned and the house will hopefully be going on the market today. I'm disappointed to be honest with the price but we're above the first time buyer's market and below the second time buyer's market so we're in a bit of a whole. Still we want to price it so that it is attractive and sells quickly.

Another disappointment is the reaction from my side of the family. My parents have known for a long time of what we are thinking. When we told them that we'd been asked for our passports they insisted we tell my sisters even though we explained we have not yet 100% confirmed our decision to move.

Still, Karen is being great - she arranged all the estate agents coming round and made that whole choosing process much easier and now she is doing the same process with removal companies - we have them arranged to come out over the next couple of weeks for quotes etc.

September 2006

9th September 2006 (Steve writes):

Well it’s been a busy week. The visa arrived last Saturday but we didn’t get much of a chance to look at them as we were celebrating the boy’s first birthday in the afternoon. It was only on Sunday evening that we went through all the documents and realised there were a couple of errors. The expiry date of my passport was wrong and also they had us down as husband and wife while we are only common-law. We wouldn’t have bothered about it but the documentation said if there were any errors then they should be corrected. We’ve arranged to go out for two weeks on September 22^nd to land and to look for jobs – the last thing we wanted to do was be refused due to an error in the paperwork.

So we sent an email to CHC but we also decide that if we hadn’t had an answer by Wednesday evening then I would take all the stuff down to CHC on Thursday and ask them if it was OK. I left home after the boys had gone to bed on Wednesday evening and drove down to London. I stayed at the Premier Lodge Wembley Park (right next to the tube station). The first train left at 05:02 so I was up at 05:00 and got to CHC at 06:09 (straight down the Jubilee line). I’d heard there were big queue’s and I didn’t want to be at the back as they are only open from 08:00 to 11:00 each day. I was first to arrive. The next person arrived at about 07:00. When 08:00 came there were maybe 20 people in the queue. They let the first 5 of us in. We had to leave phones in a locker, have our bags x-rayed and do through a metal detector – you can’t be too cautious at these sort of places I suppose. Having got through that we were sent upstairs to queue (wait to be called to a window). Being first there that didn’t take too long. I explained the situation to a lady that I recognised from the CHC stand at the emigration shows. She took the paperwork and the passports, gave me a ticket and asked me to take a seat in the large waiting area.

I sat and tried to read my book but I kept getting distracted by the people at the windows talking to the CHC employees. Most people seemed to be applying for visitors visas but there were some people going through the immigration process. One guy handed in his police checks “as they’ve taken so long to arrive I thought I’d bring them in personally”.

After about an hour during which time I’d read the same page a dozen times and still didn’t know what it was all about I got called to the window and handed the paperwork back. They had update both mine and Karen’s they had also cancelled the visas in our passports ‘Without Prejudice’ and replaced them with new one’s presumably the paperwork identification is linked to the visa identification. I sat down again and checked everything extremely carefully – twice. I didn’t want to have to come back again. I found it difficult concentration as I had had so little sleep the night before and there were so many distractions. Eventually I convinced myself that all was in order and I headed out – just after 09:00. I was back in the car at 10:00 and heading north. All in all a worthwhile trip. It still isn’t clear to us if there would have been a problem if we had not had the paperwork corrected but at least now we know that it definitely won’t be a problem.

20th September 2006 (Steve writes):

In 48 hours from now we will have just landed in Calgary to declare ourselves as permanent residents.

We're over for 2 weeks doing the job hunting / house hunting thing. As usual there are good angles on this and not so good ones.... Job hunting is going OK - I've managed to line up a few meetings in the first few days of next week. Some are just for a chat and a coffee - others (especially one) are effectively second interviews with HR and also IT management.

The area that is not so hot is the house front. We had hoped to be well on the way to selling the house at this stage but have not had much interest at all. The agent says we are between markets and that things are slow generally so we just have to wait and hope. This could slow us down but we're not thinking about it at the moment. If I secure a job when we're in Calgary then we will have to see when they want me to start and just take it from there.

November 2006

3rd November 2006 (Steve writes):

Well this is embarrassing - we've been back for almost a month and we haven't posted an update since before we went to Calgary at the end of September. The main reason for this is as we announced to our families when we got back to the UK that we wanted to get married before we moved to Calgary and that the date was set at November 5th 2006.

To be honest we had done some planning before our research trip but we didn't want to announce anything as there would not be such a rush to marry (in our eyes) if we decided to delay our move to Calgary for any reason. So before we went we had booked the hotel, arranged the registrar and had the banns posted. This meant that we could 'hit the ground running' with regard to the wedding when we got back to the UK if we decided that the time for us to get to Calgary was now.

As a result of this we have been so busy - what with the house being on the market, trying to sort things out for the move and of course sorting the wedding out. It was only today when we checked one of the bulletin boards and someone was asking how we were going on and what was happening that we finally said that this posting is far overdue and we needed to get an update published.

There's so much to write.... firstly the research trip went well but you can read more about this by following the link to Research trip - September 2006. Since then so much has happened - let's take them individually.

Firstly, the house. While we were away there was still no real interest in the house and so we dropped the price again. It was disappointing to do so but while we were getting a lot of interest in the house no one was arranging viewings and clearly without viewings we weren't going to get offers. This meant that we had dropped the price in total around 5%.

When we got back home from Calgary there was a phone message from the estate agents. Someone had been in that day and wanted to arrange a viewing. The people who wanted to look around used to live opposite us in a rented house and had moved out in January. They came round on the Wednesday and offered us asking price that afternoon. Of course we were delighted to accept it. We were thinking "This is it, We're off!". All they had to do was sort their mortgage out.

The following Tuesday we got an unexpected call from the estate agents. They had received a call from the purchasers and they had pulled out of the sale as they couldn't get a mortgage. But there was also good news at the same time as another person wanted to come and look around. You can imagine how nervous we were and we asked the estate agents loads of questions about this new person so we could be reassured that this time things would go better. They told us he was a cash buyer so at least there was no problem with a mortgage this time.

Fortunately this new person also placed an offer that same day so we were on again - but feeling much more cautious this time. That was over two weeks ago. He came around yesterday to have another look around and to discuss completion dates - we've tentatively settled on mid December depending on when the removal firm can fit us in.

This brings me nicely to our choice of removal companies - we've gone with Anglo Pacific. They were not the cheapest or the most expensive but they did come across as the most professional - it was a near thing though between them and PSS. In all we had five quotes. Now we are getting to the stage where we are filling in the insurance documents and realising what we've missed off the Goods to Follow list - too late now.

Transferring money is the next thing we have had to worry about. Most of our capital is tied up in the house but we had managed to gather some savings up over the last 2 years. I'd been watching the exchange rate coming up and down over the last few months but was not in a position to do anything about it until we got back from Calgary. I'd already signed up with Hifx and Moneycorp and had trading arrangements in place. Now I had to start to understand all the different sorts of deals that could be made and what the benefits of them are as well as the draw-backs. On top of this I had to get an appreciation of the markets trends and drivers. This was not easy and I made a bit of a nussiance of myself by asking the traders all sorts of questions.

Eventually I felt like I had a grasp on what I wanted to do. A spot order to get some cash over there and a forward order based on the equity in the house. The spot order is as it sounds ... an instant sale at the quoted exchange rate. You have a few short days from then to get the cash to the trader and they will then transfer your cash to your Canadian account. You will still get the exchange rate quoted at the time you agreed the order on the phone even though the rate may well have changed.

The forward order is also quite simple. The rule is basically that you agree to buy so many dollars and must pay a 10% deposit immediately (within a few days) and the balance when the forward date arrives. Only when the full balance is paid will your cash be transferred. One important note here is that the forward exchange rate gets worse the further out you go. The reason for this (so I was told) is that the interest rates in the UK are better than those in Canada. The trading company will buy the dollars when you make the agreement with them and hold them in their own bank for you. As such if they are holding dollars they are making less interest than if they were holding pounds - thus the reducing rate as the order goes further out into the future.

There are two other points to note here ...the first is that I was carefully watching the fluctuations in the rate on the Moneycorp web site but the rates on this are higher than the exchange rates that you will be quoted. So, for example if you are looking to get a rate of $2.15 the figures on the charts would have to be a little over $2.16 for you to achieve that rate in a transaction.

The second is that we transferred the money to our trading company's bank using CHAPS (as recommended) but this cost us £18.00 for each transaction so don't forget to factor this into your calculations.

In summary on the money transfer front - I bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago when the pound was weakening against the dollar for several days on the run. I haven't looked at the rate since then so I don't know if it has continued to go in our favour or if (as I hope) I traded just as the dollar peaked. I know that if I followed it after trading as closely as I had and it was obvious I had made a bad decision I would not sleep for a week. Having said that I'll have to get back into it when we move as we'll still have some cash to transfer.

November 9th 2006 (Karen writes):

I feel like it’s ages since I’ve put an entry into our story as you are all too aware we have all the paperwork etc. we need to get into Canada. Yippee I hear you say and while there is a sense of that there is also other feelings coming to the front as well.

Every day for I don’t know how long I have been sitting with mixed emotions and feelings surrounding everything we are doing, people say to me you need to be 100% sure it is what you want and I can honestly say it is but and the but is that a lot of my concerns and upset is leaving my family behind. Everything else is OK but that is the down side of all of this and I believe that you truly don’t feel this pull until your house is being sold and you have provisionally booked a date to go and then wham it hits you like a missile that your family are not coming.

It is upsetting and you in some ways feel an emptiness creeping in and I am trying to rectify this by convincing myself that 30 years ago when my Grandparent’s emigrated to Canada the technology back then was scarce and expensive when they wanted to communicate with us which was by phone in those days, now we are setting both sets parents up with web cams and internet phones that can make things a lot cheaper for us all plus we will be able to see each other which to me is a bonus. I know it is not the same as face to face but it is as good as it gets. I want this contact if not for my sake but for my children’s I want them to have contact with their respective families so they know who they are etc. and don’t lose touch. This is very important to me and Steve.

I hope that one day when my family read this they will realise that I have not entered this whole process half-heartedly and granted I may not have truly considered the effect it would have on us all but I want them to know that I did not set out to hurt or upset anyone I just wanted to give our children and ourselves hopefully something better than what they would get here in the UK. I want so much for them to visit whenever they want and spend lots of quality time with the children and have fun.

To finish this entry all I can say to those out there reading this is hang on it is not an easy ride by any means and your emotions and strengths will be tested to the limit, but if it is truly what you wish for you will find a way to come to terms with is all. Good luck to all.

November 13th 2006 (Steve writes):

Well the tickets are bought and paid for ! We're flying out on December 27th. The house looks all set to complete on December 15th and we're moving in with family for a couple of weeks so that we can stay for Christmas. We had hoped to travel in January but we're flying on air-miles (via Frankfurt !) and so our choices are very restricted.

November 17th 2006 (Karen writes):

Well things are coming closer for us now. In a month's time the house will not be ours anymore and we will be living out of suitcases for the remainder of that month!!

I am trying so hard to be positive and I do have days where I am and I just want to get my teeth stuck into stuff and get the ball rolling but it is strange, when I come to do these things that is when all the niggles of negativity start and questioning over and over again. Is this right for us and the kids? But the answer that I come to every time is that if we don’t do it now we never will and we may live a life of regrets and that is something I do not want to do especially seeing that we have the opportunity to do it.

So I have started writing to all those catalogues, store cards etc. informing them of the move. I've also been to the bank to ask what needs to be done and contacted the doctors for copies of our medical records. But this is only the tip of the iceberg and I feel we have a lot to do and a short time to do it so a little bit of panic is setting in as I don’t really want to leave behind unfinished business for others to pick up. To add to it all we are dealing with bad colds, coughs & illness so our energy levels are low and all this is the last thing we want to do at the minute.

We have been de-cluttering and managed to make some pretty good decisions as I felt we were still hoarding stuff that we really did not need to take with us. We did a charity shop run (which felt good as if we are helping those more needy) and a tip run so we are slowly getting there. We need to knuckle down in the garage and get more cleaning done we have made a good start by doing all the tools, ladders, pots etc. but there is lots more to clean and I envisage us cleaning when the removal guys are here!

I wonder about the children as all this change that is starting to creep in will effect them in some way. I am making sure that I am telling them what is happening when we do something. Even though they don’t understand yet I feel it is necessary.

We also bought two more suitcases ready for the trip as we will need them. Got a bargain at Cheshire Oaks - 2 hard shell ultra lightweight cases for £35 each.

November 30th 2006 (Steve writes):

Well things are moving now. After two weeks of hearing nothing from solicitors we rattled a couple of cages on Monday and it was realised that the process had stalled due to misplaced mail at the buyers end. Now that has been sorted things are moving again. The SOLD sign went up on the board today.

We finished the insurance document for the Removal firm and posted that off yesterday. I wish we’d had that level of detail on the Goods to Follow List. Hopefully it won’t make a difference but I know that the insurance form is much more detailed and probably more accurate in terms of the value of the goods as well.

It looks as though we didn’t make a good decision on changing the money over to Canadian dollars. We (well I) was so worried about it dropping down to $2 to the pound again that when the upward trend faltered at $2.13 (the highest it had been for 6 months) I committed all our funds apart from a few thousand pounds. Now the exchange rate is up at $2.20. We didn’t make as much money as we could have done but we’ve still made more than we would have done if it has turned down again.

Generally things are coming together nicely. If all continues to go well with the house we will have the packers (Anglo Pacific) with us on the 13^th & 14^th December (we’re filling a 20ft container) and complete the sale on Friday December 15^th. We’re staying at Mum & Dads until December 23^rd and then moving our seven suitcases, 2 travel cots, 2 car seats and 1 double buggy to Karen’s parents where we’ll stay until the morning of 27^th December when we leave to Calgary. Karen’s arranged to sell her car to a neighbour which is great as that gives us flexibility on when we lose that.

We’re still de-cluttering. Though to be honest we’re sick of car boot sales, attic sales etc. and have started binning things or giving things to friends / charities. We’ve also started writing to everyone saying we’re moving so stop mailing us your junk.

Loads more to do but we’re getting through it slowly.

December 2006

December 9th 2006 (Karen writes):

Well the move is nearly here, the packers will arrive on Wednesday to commence with the house clearance and will be done and shipped out on Thursday I can’t believe it is here!!

I have booked the children in to the nursery for the two full days as I think it will be hectic enough and I won’t be able to concentrate on what is going where!

We will then move in to Steve’s parents till the 23^rd then on to mine. It is strange as on Thursday evening our neighbours came in for a little drink and to say goodbye as they were off on a turkey & tinsel break up in Scotland and would not be here when we go, I thought I would be so upset as I have grown very close to them whilst I have lived here and they have helped me out when Steve travelled a lot but to tell you the truth I have not shed a tear (yet) maybe the anticipation and the excitement is suppressing those feelings who knows I just hope they don’t all surface at once though when we leave the house or even the morning we leave!!!!! They were upset especially Rita she cried on the phone to us on the Wednesday as she realised that the Thursday would be goodbye for them I did feel for her and I will miss them terribly when we have gone.

As for the day itself when we depart for good we have ordered a taxi to take us to the airport as we have both agreed that we do not wish to have any family members with us hanging around waiting to say goodbye whether that is a wise choice or not that is what we feel is right for us it just takes away the wait and upset for everyone as I am sure there will be enough of that to go round.

We have also been keeping our eyes peeled on the MLS website and we have been sent listings through from Canilink our realtors in Calgary. Prices seem to be dropping a little whether it’s the time of year who knows but more of that trend will suit us fine!!!! We just want to get our teeth stuck into it now and move on to pastures new. I know that good things come to those who wait well our wait is nearly over this end and then the fun begins the other end!

12th December 2006 : (Steve writes)

Well the packers arrive tomorrow and this is our last night in this house. The actual emigrating process is really here now. We're both a bit sad and a bit nervous as we enter this new phase of our journey. We're both a bit worried about our lack of reactions to things - we are waiting for the real upset to start and worried that it will suddenly hit us both when we are least expecting it. I think that we are entering into one of the hardest periods of the whole process - that of saying Goodbye.

We've had a bit of a frantic evening going around every room confirming what is getting shipped and what is coming on the plane with us. We've tried to pack everything that is not getting shipped into suitcases ready so that there's no confusion. The last thing we want is our passports getting shipped off. An added dimension to this is that there's some stuff that we will need in the next two weeks but not after that. And then there's stuff that we still haven't moved on to people here in the UK such as the microwave which we need in the morning for the boys' milk and the last dregs of the food cupboards.

Karen's sold her car to a neighbour and we've handed that over this evening. So now we're down to mine - which is a company one so that will go back just before we fly out. Talking of work - they've asked me to stay on in my current role and work from Calgary for a few months. This is fantastic news as it allows us to have continuity of income while we're finding our feet. It also means that I'll be working early in the day (as my role is Europe based) and free to do family things from early afternoon onwards.

17th December 2006 : (Steve writes)

It's Sunday evening of our first weekend out of our home. The packing up and completion of the house sale all went well and the container went off on Thursday afternoon to Seaforth dock in Liverpool. It should arrive in Calgary on January 9th via Montreal and then take two weeks to clear customs (all being well).