I had a chance to visit Vancouver, BC, Canada from October 23rd to October 25th, and all I can say is that I had a lot of fun. As usual, I had a bit of perception of what Canada is supposed to be like from a viewpoint of a person who lives in the US for almost 10 years, so undoubtedly, reality is not exactly what I thought it would be.
The purpose for my trip is to go for a Nexus card interview. The Nexus program is a joint program between the Canadian government and the US government to establish expedited immigration for prescreened travelers. It's $50 cheaper than Global Entry (the same kind of program, but it's a US only program), but the caveat is that the initial interview must be done either in a US state next to Canada, or in Canada. Guess what? I chose to do an interview in Canada because the next open schedule is in October rather than some distant month in 2016 (I checked the Seattle interview center), and I also got to travel to Canada!
Read MoreBakersfield is one of the cities that I've heard my friends talk about, but I never really had a chance to visit. The closest I get to Bakersfield is seeing the sign when driving on I-5 from Los Angeles.
But I got lucky! My friend who was from Bakersfield mentioned to me that there would be a county fair in Bakersfield, and as I've never been to any country fairs, nor have I been to Bakersfield, I decided that it's a good time to visit.
Read More