An American woman has shared a story of her journey across the Canada-U.S. border with her Canadian fiance while it is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Splorin Lauren shared her story on TikTok, a video-sharing social networking platform, just under a week ago. In it, she notes that since her fiance, Corey, is Canadian, they can only spend six months in each county. The rest of the time they spend exploring - a lot.
"We normally bounce back and forth, and travel 24/7," explains Lauren.
Due to the pandemic, Lauren says she'd been in Canada since January. However, she ran out of days to stay in the country.
"We're going to Sandpoint, Idaho, which is only a five hour drive south of Canmore where we currently live. We heard that while Canadians can't drive into the U.S. right now, they can fly," she explains.
From there, the couple planned to drive to Vancouver, where Corey would catch a flight to Seattle. Following this, Lauren would pick him up in Seattle and drive them to Sandpoint. In total, they'd spend a whopping 17 hours driving.
@splorin.lauren the things we do for love 🥰🥺🇨🇦🇺🇸
♬ Lemons - Demo - Brye
In the second TikTok story, Lauren shows the couple embarking on the journey, which includes stops for bagels, sushi, and plenty of sunset gazing. She adds that she waited outside of Vancouver International Airport to ensure that Corey boarded his flight.
@splorin.lauren This took me 3 days, a closed border, and many sleepless nights to make - don’t let it flop 😅
♬ Say So (Instrumental Version) [Originally Performed by Doja Cat] - Elliot Van Coup
In the third and final story, Lauren shows the texts that Corey sent her after passing through security at YVR.
"Made it through. Easy peasy," texts Corey with a happy-face emoji. According to him, there were less than 200 people at the airport, and the border was, "surprisingly chill."
When it was time for Lauren to cross the border with her fiance's car, she notes that she was decidedly nervous as it has Ontario license plates. However, she notes that the crossing was, "very easy as well."
The couple finished the drive to Idaho later that night.
@splorin.lauren Part 2 did not flop 🙏🏼 so here is Part 3 😂
♬ Bella ciao - HUGEL Remix Extended - El Profesor
Although "There isn't any mandatory quarantine for entering the U.S. right now," Lauren adds that the couple will be safely quarantining for the next two weeks.
In June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada and the United States will continue to limit non-essential travel between the two countries until at least July 21.
A disturbing graphic from the Johns Hopkins University has sparked a conversation on social media about reopening the Canada-U.S. border in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In January, the John Hopkins University developed an interactive map that displays new confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world. And while the map has changed significantly across the globe since the start of the year, it shows a stark difference in numbers south of the Canadian border. Read more HERE.
