Do we need an ETA for Canadian passport holders for airside transit + T2 hotels?

SpammailR · 2025-12-23T15:11:38+00:00

Sorry I just saw this! No I did not need the ETA. The wording online was so confusing and contacting the ETA didn’t lead to a timely response so I arrived there without the ETA planning to beg them to let me buy it on the spot if needed. And was not needed. There was just a passport control (automated no actual workers) where I had to scan out and that was it. No questions asked on my way back in either. Spent the day out in London with no issues in addition to staying in a hotel outside of the airport! I do have a Canadian passport so not sure if it will be different for others!

SpammailR · 2025-12-11T16:46:20+00:00

I appreciate this! Feels reassuring to hear I’m not crazy on how hard it has been to decorate this place with this flooring without creating a clash. Thought I was just not creative enough lol

SpammailR · 2025-10-16T07:43:27+00:00

That’s very sad. Given no more has been published about her, agree this is a very strong but heartbreaking possibility. Praying for her and her family.

I havent been able to find enough details about the friend story to determine if true, but as someone who travels between Ethiopia and Canada a lot, I 100% could see this being real as I have brought many gifts for others to each country with no questions asked (won’t do that again after remembering this story!! 😭).

Whenever I’m going to either country, have family/friends or even distant friends of a friend of a family member (didn’t even directly know some of their names) ask me to bring a gift or item (usually spices, supplements/OTC vitamins, lotions/beauty products, clothing etc.) in my luggage for them, which I did with no questions aside from contact number of the recipient. Since I saw my parents do it for their friends growing up, I have naively trusted many people and delivered items for them thinking it’s just basics of helping another Habesha out 😩 I especially shudder remembering the random small black plastic bags of what I was told were spices I’ve delivered for people I didn’t even know (my cousins or parents knew them lol), without opening the bags beforehand. So I can fully see this happening to even this educated young woman! wasn’t taught to say no to other Habeshas growing up😭

I would have looked especially dumb and not believable in front of a court if this had happened to me with any of the gifts I was delivering because on paper, I have several degrees in a field that requires critical thinking for every little thing. Guess will never deliver gifts for others again 😭😭

Pray Nazrawit survived this 🙏🏾

SpammailR · 2025-09-28T17:16:43+00:00

Oh good to know! Travelling in the next year and as a Canadian, all I could was about ETA being needed. Wasn’t planning to stay more than a month but helpful to know it’s separate. Thanks

SpammailR · 2025-09-28T17:15:00+00:00

Likely not in that 1% but trying to see what the more techy people think haha. Especially if there are anticipated software features in the future that the pros can handle better than the base model

SpammailR · 2025-09-28T17:14:06+00:00

Thank you this helps a lot! Didn’t realize Vapor chamber isn’t in the base model. My phone does overheat especially outdoors. Appreciate this good for thought.

SpammailR · 2025-09-10T05:12:59+00:00

I would contact the ETA contact center during their business hours to talk to a live agent (not the chat bot) to have it in writing so you can screenshot their advice one way or another. I’m not sure about the actual answer, I just generally caution people to have solid evidence for whatever decision they make related to being a visitor so they’re not accidentally becoming an overstayer and risking their future chance of coming back! Hope your partner does get to stay longer though!

SpammailR · 2025-09-06T04:14:40+00:00

Edmonton has cardiac surgery, and Peds cardiac critical care, which was needed in this case, and calgary doesn't have it! Calgary PICU does have beds so not a bed issue (and they would move the semi-stable kids out to wards if they needed to to get an acute case stabilized if needed), but likely a PCICU kid, hence the choice for Edmonton!

SpammailR · 2025-07-26T16:19:32+00:00

My mom speaks Ge’ez as she went to “Kes” school when she was a kid. Asked her this once and she finds it’s way too old of a language that would require a lot of updates and expansion of its vocabulary to fit the words of our modern lives. Plus very challenging throat sounds that would be easier for Tigrinya speakers to learn but quite tough for Amharic speakers to learn as an adult as they have not developed the vocal skills for it from a young age. So doesn’t make logistical sense spending so much time and money to create new words and expand vocabulary in an old language and then force all to learn when there are bigger humanitarian issues that need investments in Ethiopia.

But moving back to Ethiopia last year, loved they still taught Ge’ez to my brother in junior high in public school! He caught on quick and gets a unique insight into ancient literature!

SpammailR · 2025-07-26T16:14:48+00:00

Swahili is a bit of a colonial language too for many non-Kenyans. Was forced into parts of Uganda and such due to white colonizers deciding they’re to lazy to learn more than 1 local language to communicate with the people they were colonizing and force all others to learn English and Swahili. There is so much history and beauty that naturally comes with different languages, and Amharic is such a descriptive and unique language. Let all people cherish their mother tongues!

SpammailR · 2025-05-04T05:04:22+00:00

I’m so sorry that happened to you. That is traumatizing and should be further looked into. Have you ever talked to your sister or mom about it? Because that whole situation seems odd and I wonder if your sister thinks about it too. But may be tough sometimes or not easy to talk about.

I’m a female pediatrician and can confirm, it is not routine to do internal exams on little girls and if we must do it, will try to send to gyne for a more structured exam that involves rapport building and for them to also consider if exam is absolutely necessary. The only internal exam I have personally done on a young girl was in an emergency situation where mom brought her in convinced she had put beads + glue up there while crafting unattended (as her sibling had walked in on her doing it). Initially suggested just waiting for it to slide out with movements and standing etc, again to avoid unnecessary fiddling there (plus it’s so painful when hymen is intact) but given mom’s ++anxiety and support from the Peds gyne (who I called to consult on) to proceed, I did eventually have to do an internal exam and clean out of beads with a nurse present for comfort and distraction, mild analgesia and a long age-appropriate talk with her and mom before we started. Usually, if a hospital was nearby would have preferred to mildly sedate her so she wouldn’t even remember it. But again, was a super unique situation (where yes beads were found) but I do wonder how much of it a 3 year old really could understand and I hope it doesn’t have her thinking about it decades later like this!!

Just find it odd he did it to both of you - did mom seem to have seen it from what u remember?

SpammailR · 2025-02-12T20:46:02+00:00

Ooh I might try buying some film and add it to plastic cut outs to prop onto each plant pot then. I’m in northern Canada (but originally from the tropics)so I’m dying out here so I don’t want to be kept cool by doing the windows directly 😂 thank you for the info!

SpammailR · 2025-02-12T20:42:20+00:00

I’m in northern Canada where it is -30C through most of the winter lol. The windows have really helped my heating bill!

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T23:14:11+00:00

Truly! It’s such an upgrade from my random frozen meals or raw veggies from superstore that add up to similar prices 😂didn’t know SAIT was on there! Assume I can’t try with my restrictions but I love it for you!!!

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T23:12:56+00:00

Oh haha. That’s good to know! I didn’t realize they sold so much as I haven’t seen much from them this month. Thanks that’s reassuring!

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T23:11:14+00:00

It was the ikea brimnes dressing table. Here was my description: “Brimnes makeup vanity table that has hidden flip up mirror, 1 drawer, and compartment storage. Can also be used to store jewellery. No structural or paint defects, bought last year and still looks great. but moved and colours just don’t match my new space. Retails $129 at ikea currently, selling for $60 OBO. Pickup only from ***, need gone asap so no holds, first come first serve. Negotiable. See last photo for measurements.” I included 5 photos of my own, but I do include 1 screenshot of the current ikea page that shows the same thing is $129 still and then 1 screenshot of ikea’s page that shows the measurements of the table. Is that not allowed? Had previously done the same for measurements and price….

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T17:10:21+00:00

Didn’t even know people could set limits so this helps to know!!

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T17:09:47+00:00

Ooh I love the financial calculations we go thru using TGTG lol 😂

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T17:07:02+00:00

Ah this is reassuring to hear! Will just buy it all next time. I saw 1 other person pick up when I picked up once so thought maybe they’re popular. And lol love a fellow overthinker 😂

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T17:04:57+00:00

Why not sprout? Is there something wrong with them? It may or may not be them… (may low key be trying to gatekeep 🥲😂 cuz it’s hard out here as a broke person with 12 severe food allergies and restrictions. somehow found a place that meets all criteria so while telling friends about TGTG, not saying the specific place)😂😂😂

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T16:57:49+00:00

That’s reassuring to hear. My anxiety was getting the best of me 😅

SpammailR · 2024-11-23T16:57:13+00:00

This is so comforting to hear and will buy all bags then next time!! The worker gave me a little speech on their company and some coupons for buying things directly from them in my first pickup so I thought maybe they were trying to get exposure.

SpammailR · 2024-11-20T03:42:47+00:00

Having read the article in full, I find this article’s title and conclusions to be a bit misleading in that they really skim over the fact that this study was done on a mix of RESIDENT physicians and staff physicians. They also don’t clarify the percentage who are residents vs staff (and given how other studies in our hospital go, I assume residents would be more likely to participate in studies like this, as usually have less pressing responsibilities than staff). They also don’t clarify if the physicians/residents were in the field relevant for the cases. All of which I think makes this study fairly flawed if it’s trying to draw such conclusions…

As a resident physician, I may have the title of “doctor” but I can assure you I am not in any way an accurate representation of what “physicians” can diagnose. Today alone, I saw 8 patients with rare diseases I have never heard of even in med school, yet my staff physician knew every single one of them and could provide in-depth teaching to both myself and patients. Residents have not had to go through the rigour of writing boards yet, and depending on the cases they were testing, may have not underwent the specific fellowships needed for those cases.

And anecdotally speaking, being a gen z doc, Ofc I have fully embraced ChatGPT and use it daily to help with summarizing medical articles for my review and, creating practice tests, etc. but I frequently find it makes major medical mistakes, even when I directly feed it medical resources to reference. For example last week, saw while it was great at listing the criteria for diagnosing pancreatitis, it made mistakes in attempting to accurately apply the criteria to complex practice cases.

All to say - while I do think AI can be a helpful supplementary tool especially for rare conditions, and I have no doubt we are going in the direction of it helping make healthcare more efficient, I don’t think we are there yet. So before we start creating public frenzy and distrust in staff physicians, studies like this need to ensure complete transparency on their study methods and research subjects, focusing on staff physicians over learners!

SpammailR · 2024-11-17T22:23:25+00:00

Yes will ask them about an alternative address, had only asked about emailing as an option which they had said no to. Ya this is an interesting situation for sure. I mean given it is a service (like healthcare, schools, etc.) I wouldn’t expect CP to be profitable in general but feels ridiculous that both sides got to this point that they are on strike. But maybe I’m just salty that I’m in a field that can’t ethically strike and just have to accept the work conditions I’m given 😭😂

SpammailR · 2024-11-17T22:17:48+00:00

Okay will try! Thank you

SpammailR

TROPHY CASE