So, Mardi and I drove to Orlando International Airport with Lois and Bob tagging along. After we got to Terminal A Departures they left with the van, to return at the end of our adventure to pick us up.
Security at the airport was slow but not severe. The sign estimating wait time of 34 - 38 minutes was pretty close.
Frontier Airlines uses Airbus 320's...no TV, no reclining seats, not even a free glass of water but, for $168 USD return, who's to complain? The flight was smooth and uneventful, and we arrived 20 minutes early.
The Hertz car rental area is located directly across from the Buffalo airport terminal exit doors, so we were on our way in minutes, upgraded from a Kia Rio to a Hyundai Accent. At this point we went incognito with Tennessee plates.
An easy ride through Canadian Customs and we headed for our first stop, a TD bank.
A short story here:
Back in November I got around to ordering cheques with our new address. The ones for my personal account arrived, but our joint account cheques did not. Blaming the Christmas mail volumes, I waited a couple of weeks before calling the cheque company. I was then told that the cheques had been mailed back in November and I should check with the bank.
There I was informed that about a dozen cheques had been cashed, the joint account had been emptied, the bank had helpfully moved all of the funds from my personal chequing account over so the fraud could continue, and had then allowed our overdraft protection to be significantly exceeded. Altogether, over $14,000 had disappeared despite signatures that did not match our own, a dozen cheques honoured over two days for an account that hardly ever has more than two transactions in a month.
So, with a week to go before we left for Florida, complicated by Christmas closings, we were left scrambling to replace rental cheques to our landlady, with no funds available to obtain additional U.S. cash, and our account access cards had been frozen.
The bank branch assured us that the bank would replace our funds in a couple of weeks after the fraud unit had done their investigation. Not completely comforting considering that we were, no doubt, considered to be suspects! (From now on, we will direct new cheques to be delivered to the bank for pickup.)
Finally, about a week ago we were able to confirm that we had been made whole again. Mardi and I were each down to our last $20 U.S. bill after crossing the border. Thus, the trip to the bank to buy some U.S. cash. Oh, what a relief it is!
We then checked into the Comfort Inn. You can see in this picture that the hotel is close to My Cousin Vinny's Italian Grill (the building on the left), the Fallsview Casino (a block away in the background), and Applebee's to the right.
A relaxed meal at Vinny's and then we strolled over to the Casino (actually we scurried and arrived breathless from the cold). Three hours at the slots resulted in Bud coming out $27 ahead and Mardi $70 ahead - yahoo! Our dinner at Vinny's was covered!
You will note in the following picture that I honoured my friend "Sven" by starting at the Nordic Spirit slot machine.
After cashing out we headed for our hotel, but it was so cold (-18F) that we had to stop partway at Applebee's for a coffee and Baileys😜.
This morning we arose to the news over a Canadian TV channel that Patrick Brown had resigned as leader of the Ontario Conservatives. Apparently, he wasn't about to be given the same "Mulligan" that the U.S. Evangelicals have admitted they have given Trump.....since he did all of those things before he became President, they have forgiven him. Hypocritical? We can only hope that the Ontario voters don't give Kathleen Wynne another Mulligan in the next election either!
Breakfast at the hotel, then a short drive to the falls for pictures.
Crossed the Rainbow Bridge, no traffic, a two minute stop at U.S. Customs, and we were on our way to the airport. Filled the car with gas and returned it to Hertz.
At the boarding gate I met Sam the therapy dog.
Then we boarded Frontier for our trip "home" to Orange Lake.
Altogether, the adventure was an unqualified success! No stress, lots of enjoyable moments.
Avoided cost of 30 day insurance extension..........$4,500 Cdn.
Less 2 X $168 return flights...$336 USD
And rental car......................77
Happy hour on return flight...20
Gasoline...............................5
438 X 1.25..$548 Cdn.
Comfort Inn, including parking...................85
Vinny's Italian Grill....................................96
Applebee's..................................................16
$745
Less winnings at Fallsview Casino................- 97
$648
Losses at golf..................................................NIL!
Net saving.................................................................$3,852
Bob and Lois picked us up as planned, and Lois had made some chili for dinner.
This idea definitely worked! It will be repeated!
Tomorrow we play that stupid game again.
It’s a great feeling when a plan comes together and this was a great one. More than a bit concerning to read about the fraudulent use of your cheques especially the part of about the bank allowing overdrafts beyond the limit not to speak of the transfers from another of your accounts. We ‘progressives’ worry about the security of e banking but it’s clear that even the old technology is vulnerable to fraud aided and abetted by a bank that obviously need a shake up. Scary stuff partner. Glad to see this saga had a happy ending
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