A man’s plan to travel 600 kilometres by plane and rental car to winterize his trailer just over the U.S. border went off without a hitch.
The Richmond News reported earlier this week how Sean Palmer hatched the plot to get around the land border restrictions by flying from YVR to Seattle, renting a car, driving to his trailer near Burlington, then driving back into Canada and finally to YVR.
Palmer, a Richmond hotel food and beverage manager, told the News on Thursday that it all went to plan and he’s now in day two of a 14-day quarantine at home.
And it was just as well, as he said the freezer in his trailer had broken, causing the meat inside to fester with maggots.
“I got YVR at 5 a.m.; security doesn’t open till 5:30 a.m.; went through security, no issues, even got my temperature taken,” Palmer said via email.
“Then off to US customs, again no issues. No issues at SeaTac; got the rental car and drove up to Burlington. Got to the trailer around 10: 30 a.m.; looked good.
“Only one issue, the freezer crapped out at some point, so the meat had gone bad. [Had to clean] it out with Lysol and bleach.”
Palmer said he did everything else he needed to do at the trailer, then headed the half-hour or so north to the Canadian border.
He said waited for around 15 minutes in his rental car before filling out his “Arrive Can App” that is needed to cross home and declare where you will be staying.
“At the end, it gives you a number to give to the border agent. It must match the number (as) he has to prove it is you.”
One tip Palmer did have for anyone thinking of doing the same thing is to rent the vehicle at SeaTac from Budget, as he said it’s “the only company that’s allowed a border crossing, but only airport to airport.”
“So if you fly out of YVR and make it one way, then when you drop off the (rental) vehicle, yours is there waiting at YVR.”
Palmer said he’s had several people reach out to him who are in a similar situation.
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