Saturday, September 01, 2007

Montreal anyone?

WorldCon 2009 is going to be in Montreal. I've always wanted to visit Quebec...maybe this would be the perfect opportunity for it. Of course, now we need a passport to get to Canada, and given how well the new passport system seems to be working, I may not get my passport in time...I do, after all, only have two years to wait...

7 comments:

Spencer said...

if you have all your paperwork in order, you can get your passport in three months or cough up the extra money to rush it and actually get it in three weeks. trust me...my mom did the former and my sister the latter. just get it and maybe i'll go with you in 2009...

Spencer said...

of course, you could save your money a little longer and go to australia in 2010 instead...

Anonymous said...

I recall watching local news footage a few months ago how people were lined up inside Canda Place here in Edmonton trying to get their US passports before the deadline. They wre literally camped inside the building waiting all day in lline.

Do Canadian customs check US passport holders for a criminal record check like US customes do for Canadians?

I've never been to Montreal either but you'd think with Vancouver's 2010 Olympics World Con should have placed it there instead a year later.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the typos above it's late.

Keith said...

You will have to get a passport or state issued standard ID soon do do anything official in the U.S. There is a move on for a federal standard Drivers License and an alternate ID. Both will look the same and will be used by the police for ID.

"Show me your papers!"

The last three jobs that I had, I had to show a passport or three forms of ID including a birth certificate.

Worldcom costs a small fortune between admission, hotel and transportation. There is a train that leaves NY and goes to Montreal and it is actually not too expensive. I might consider it if enough people that I know decide to go.

J Alan Erwine said...

Spencer-Melbourne isn't a certain thing yet. There's still a chance that other cities might bid. We won't know where the 2010 WorldCon will be until next year's WorldCon here in Denver.

Jim-The last time I went through customs from Canada to the US was when I was very young. All they asked was do you have anything to declare?

Keith-My unsderstanding of the new national ID system that they're trying to roll out is that states have to implement certain "security" measures, and if they don't, then citizens of those states will have to use passports to get on planes or to get into national parks and other such "federal" locations. It all sounds very big brotherish to me...

Anonymous said...

Might not be a bad idea just to have a passport handy even if you're not planning on leaving the country.

Going to the con in 2009 may not be doable for me. Although with two years to go you never know. Hell, maybe I'll get my act together and have something noticeable published by then. I'll be at it next year though. I can justify that much travel to a Worldcon. A ten minute drive every day is somehow reasonable.