Silly Visas and a Short Trip Home

Hello from Australia!

I am sitting in the deliciously warm sun in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia as I write this update. I am thoroughly enjoying the feeling of warmth and heat while I can! So how did I come to be back in Australia??? Well the answer is… silly, weird visa waiver rules…let me explain.

In my last update I was so excited to share that I got all my food prep done, ahead of schedule! I didn’t know how long the food prep would take, but I was super stoked to have prepped all my food in two weeks. After getting in touch with the post offices where I was sending my resupplies and knowing that they would hold them for me indefinitely, I was keen to send them off ASAP. Allowing me to continue on with some fun travels and know that the biggest job (food resupplies) was done.

I had two resupplies to send to Alaska. Now if I sent them from Vancouver where I did my food prep, it would be very expensive, as I would have to pay international shipping. So (as we did last time) my plan was to head down to Washington State, just over the border and send my resupplies via the United States Postal Service, much cheaper! I could also fit in a short visit to meet Susan Conrad – a fellow amazing paddler.

So off I went! I have an ESTA visa waiver, which gives me 90 days of travel in the USA with multiple entries over 2 years. The 90 days are cumulative across the trips. So I thought, 2 days in Mt Vernon, Washington, and then I still have 88 days left when I go back in to the USA in Alaska. However, when I was crossing the border I took the opportunity to ask about my Alaskan border crossing on the Yukon (sometimes asking the border police in person you get clearer answers). As I shared my travel plans, I learned that leaving the USA into Canada doesn’t pause your 90 days on the visa waiver. Meaning that everyday in Canada after I left Washington and before I entered Alaska, would still count as one of my 90 days in the USA. I had planned to have a fair bit of fun travel in Canada before starting my paddle and a month later entering Alaska. As a result, I wouldn’t have enough days left on my visa to complete the canoe journey. The worst thing was that none of this info was available online, had I known, I probably wouldn’t have gone to Washington!

After two days of calling the USA visa waiver info line and a lot of conversations I figured things out, but it was a roller coaster. At first I was told I should get a tourist visa. Then I was told it was a two year wait for a tourist visa. Then I was told I wouldn’t be able to do my trip at all. Then after a call with a friend, I figured out that it would likely be fine if I left continental North America. So here is the outcome. Ultimately, the decision about your 90 days and what has or hasn’t been used, and whether or not your days in Canada count on your visa waiver is up to the Customs and Border Protection Officer who processes you when you cross the border. They have feel that your travels genuinely align with the purpose of the visa waiver program, and that you’re not somehow taking advantage of it to stay in the USA longer than permitted. At the moment, the USA has a laser focus on border protection. So I didn’t want to take any chances. For a bunch of different reasons, including reducing costs and doing some other fun things back home, I decided to head home for just over a month and return closer to my start date. I will fly directly back to Canada in late May and start my trip almost immediately.

In many ways it’s the best possible outcome. It would have been much worse if I hadn’t known about this rule and accidentally overstayed my visa waiver. It was an expensive mistake, but in the long run I still get to do my trip, on schedule and I had managed to get all my preparation done before I left!

The team at Clipper Canoes are house with Western Canoe and Kayak in Abbotsford, just outside of Vancouver. Everyone there has been so welcoming, encouraging and time generous. When you embark on an adventure like this, it is so important to have those people in your corner, who are excited for you to succeed. From watching the team work, I can see this excitement supports everyone from a day tripper to an expeditioner!

While I am back here in Australia, I will be in Brisbane, where I have family that I can spend time with. Alongside that, I am so excited to be going on some climbing adventures with my friends back here, planting trees, helping out in the community organisations I believe in and enjoying the warm temperatures.

Expeditions are all about rising to the challenges. They are almost never the challenges you expect, and I certainly didn’t expect to be back in Australia for this time, but I will be making the most of it while I am here!