GBAM GBAM GBAM, The Eagle has landed ;D ;D
We got to MMA at about 4.30pm FRIDAY 12th April 2013 with 7 lugagges and like 4 hand luggages(na only myself and hubby oh, we purchased 3 extra bags online).On getting to the airport, we weighed our luggages and they were all overweight so we had to start sorting out each box at the airport which was very tiring...we eventually had to prt with 40k for the extra luggage carried and i had to part with my dried tatashe and beans .I wonder how previous landed snrs managed the 23kg/bag rule.We had 7bags of 23kg each and this was still grossly insufficient for all our load..We were really stressed at the airport sha....
Naija Customs didn't bother us at all and i didnt declare any amount of money and no one asked anything concerning money at MMA except the occassional "help find something for the weekend request''.
As we embarked on boarding, a klm ground staff called our attention that they damaged one of our box when they tried loading unto the aircraft and that they needed our presence and consent to seal the bag before loading on the plane.
My hubby was so furious with them
.We asked for compensation and we were told to make the claim in calgary na so we sha enter plane oh.
Our KLM flight took off at about 9.40pm ,the food on board was not all that fantastic when compared with that of emirate and qatar. We landed schipol 6hrs 50minutes later.Our transit in amsterdam was 7hrs.Men we were tired ohhhh with the several bags(lesson- pls try to ensure your carry minimal hand luggage when travelling).During the transit we met another Naija Family of 5 and we jisted and explained our ordeal at the airport to them.They sympathized with us and said that they would have assisted us with the extra lugage as they didnt utilize all their luggage capacity as they had previosly sent most of their things through cargo(Lesson-If you have more than the stipulated kg/bag just cargo it provided you have a forwarding address we paid $160/bag for 3 bags plus the extra 40,000Naira paid at the airpot we would have saved 80,000Naira if we had gone through the cargo way ).) They eventually assisted us with our numerous hand luggage .
Anyway we started the second leg of our journey to calgary and this was the longest flight i have ever been on...9hrs ???we stretch tire for the seats and the seats weren't too comfy...
We landed Calgary airport 2.02pm canadian time.We were ushered to the first immigration point were our declaration form was looked at and the officer detached the form and collected her copy, then we proceeded to the second immigration point were we were asked for our landing addy and asked to sighn initials and signature on the COPR form.Upon signing, the lady detached the form and gave us a duplicate copy and told us that the form is the most important document we would have and that when we are 65yrs of age, we would use the form in getting our pension.Then she said Welcome to Canada
;D ;D.
We then later proceeded to custom and we already had a prefilled goods to follow list and pictures of jewelry, the lady at the custom office was impressed and said we were very organized.So if you have any goods coming at a later date pls do fill your forms in Naija to avoid unnecessary time wastage and you dont loose anything if you state you have goods to follow even if in actual sense you dont as you might need something to be sent from Naija and this would be taxed if not properly declared.
We proceeded to pick our baggages and lodge a complaint on the damaged bag.This was done and klm is to provide us with a new suitcase .Also i noticed that at calgary airpot trolleys are free so you dont need to have coins for this.Guess this is one of the perks of landing in an oil reach province.
The lady at customs asked if we have cassava tubers, beef products,pork products, wood etc.I told are we have wooded frames and she said that was okay and that the main reason she asked was that two days ago another imigrant brought a wooden product that had bee in it and that she was screaming all over the place and that if we get home and discover any insect we should just put the wood in the fridge so that the insect get killed.So i laughed and told her that this was properly checked before we packed.
She never bothered to check any of our lugages. ;D ;DAlso no one asked for our Proof of fund not even a mention....though we had the necessary landing amount.
Total amount of time to sort out every thing at the airport was about 30 - 45minutes and there were several new immigrant landing.
we left the airport and met our relatives that were excited to see us, loaded their vehicle with our luggage and off we drove to lethbridge.
Lethbrdge is about 2hrs 45min from calgary and there are about 6-8towns before lethbridge.Canada big no be small ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....It wasnt snowing yesterday though cold for a newly landed Naija. .
Today we woke up alas there is snow every where.
We went out fully kitted to see what it would feel like walking in the snow and na my face suffer am oh as the snow flakes kept falling on my face especially my eyes...and i had a heard warmer on
so i would need to purchase one that would protect my eyes....the snow no easy ohhh....
We plan going out tommorow to sort out SIN, Alberta health, bank and get a mobile phone contract free(i no wan begin dey enter gbese with all this their contract lines mbok ) ;D ;D.Plus i downloaded Fongo on my ipad as i read somewhere on this forum and i have a canadian line with free calls and to most places in canada.I just need a mobile line so recruiters can reach me when am not home plus i need to use the mobile line to build on already pre established networks
Would keep everyone updated as the story unfolds.
