Monday, August 18, 2008

Back in the U.S. - soon

...unfortunately, nowhere near New York.
In order the export my car, which already is in Canada, I must return the car to the United States. Under U.S. law, it must remain in the United States for 72 business hours before I can bring it back into Canada. I must comply with this, otherwise I could be heavily fined or my car could be seized.
That means I have to drive to the Bellingham, Wash., airport and park my car. Once it has arrived in the U.S., I can apply to export it and the three-day waiting period begins.
Then I can take a bus back to Vancouver, wait the three days, and then take a bus back to the Bellingham Airport. Don't ask me to explain why it is done this way. I guess they want three days to make sure I haven't stolen the car. But if I'm already in Canada with the car, I don't see the purpose of having to bring the car back into the United States.
Anyway, I have to go the United States anyway because my desktop computer arrived last week and didn't work. Costco Canada won't fix it. They said they'll mail me an empty box to a United States address, and I can then ship it to them. Then they'll return it to a United States address. So I have to make the trip twice anyway.
Normally, Vancouverites go to Blaine, Wash., which is just minutes across the border, to accomplish their U.S.-related business. But they have no public transportation for me to return to Vancouver.
I can still drop by in Blaine on my way down to Bellingham, though. I just got a temporary address from a mailbox-type business in Blaine so I can get packages. ($5 for packages less than 20 lb, $10 over 20 lb.; half price with annual membership of $10.)
I thought of this as a great business idea but obviously many businesses beat me to the punch.
So Costco will mail the box there and I'll pick it up there. (What a pain!) That also means I have to deal with customs on both sides.
The good news on another front: I'll get a 40-percent discount on my car insurance for a good driving record. (They go back eight years.). Basic car insurance (liability) is issued by the province and purchased through private agents.
We had our first meeting regarding help with our job search. It was just filling out paperwork. Tomorrow through Thursday and then on Monday we'll get our actual training on Web sites to use, resume writing, etc.

1 comment:

squirrelmama said...

This gave me a headache just to read. This gave me a serious headache just to read. This gave me an incredibly serious headache just to read. Are you absolutely sure this isn't being engineered by someone at Tribune?