I’d like to share my landing and self-isolation experience during COVID-19. Perhaps it will be helpful to someone who will try to come here during this time.
1. On our AirCanada flight to Toronto, we were provided with cold snacks, all vegan. So, there were no question like “fish” or “chicken”, everyone got the same.
2. I thought there would be some kind of medical check on arrival, but at the airport we only needed to fill in and sign a few forms regarding our health and self-isolation.
3. We passed through immigration rather quickly - there were no queues. Everyone was super friendly and nice.
4. The airport was quite empty. We tried to buy local SIM cards there, but everywhere they told us that SIM cards are sold out. We arrived on Monday. They told us that on mondays they expect delivery, but right now they have no SIM cards.
5. We decided to follow the rules and directly went to the place we rented by the cab. So, we didn’t have the chance to buy SIM cards, had to order them online. Unfortunately, the delivery is 5 business days with Canadian Post...
6. At the condo we found out that the internet is not working. It was fixed the next day, but for the first day we had to use our Russian SIM cards to get online.
7. In self-isolation we can’t go out to buy groceries, but to order them online from the stores you have to have a Canadian phone number. You can order Uber Eats, but our first experience with it was really bad. Then, my friend, who lives in Toronto, saw my post on Facebook and offered help with ordering food.
8. We also found a Chinese store (there are several of them here), where you can order food. You can provide some random phone number (with +1) and mention in the description that you prefer to be contacted via WeChat. Speaking Chinese is preferred but I don’t think it is necessary (they should be able to speak English).
Overall, our landing experience was not that bad. We have food to eat, we already started scheduling some appointments (e.g. to open a bank account). Having a local friend can really help, but it is also survivable if you have no one here.
1. On our AirCanada flight to Toronto, we were provided with cold snacks, all vegan. So, there were no question like “fish” or “chicken”, everyone got the same.
2. I thought there would be some kind of medical check on arrival, but at the airport we only needed to fill in and sign a few forms regarding our health and self-isolation.
3. We passed through immigration rather quickly - there were no queues. Everyone was super friendly and nice.
4. The airport was quite empty. We tried to buy local SIM cards there, but everywhere they told us that SIM cards are sold out. We arrived on Monday. They told us that on mondays they expect delivery, but right now they have no SIM cards.
5. We decided to follow the rules and directly went to the place we rented by the cab. So, we didn’t have the chance to buy SIM cards, had to order them online. Unfortunately, the delivery is 5 business days with Canadian Post...
6. At the condo we found out that the internet is not working. It was fixed the next day, but for the first day we had to use our Russian SIM cards to get online.
7. In self-isolation we can’t go out to buy groceries, but to order them online from the stores you have to have a Canadian phone number. You can order Uber Eats, but our first experience with it was really bad. Then, my friend, who lives in Toronto, saw my post on Facebook and offered help with ordering food.
8. We also found a Chinese store (there are several of them here), where you can order food. You can provide some random phone number (with +1) and mention in the description that you prefer to be contacted via WeChat. Speaking Chinese is preferred but I don’t think it is necessary (they should be able to speak English).
Overall, our landing experience was not that bad. We have food to eat, we already started scheduling some appointments (e.g. to open a bank account). Having a local friend can really help, but it is also survivable if you have no one here.
