Quick TorCon travel PSAs
I had several near-problems today on the way to TorCon—a whole bunch of things that came close to going seriously wrong, but worked out okay in the end. I may describe more of them later, but for now, two items that may be of particular interest to others if you haven't left yet. I just posted these to the Rumor Mill too, even though I suspect it's too late to do any good.
- If you're not from Canada, take your passport. I've seen a lot of people say all you need if you're from the US is a driver's license, but it's apparently not true, or at least often not true; they may not let you into the country if you don't have a passport. At least one American has (I've heard) already missed a flight to TorCon due to not having their passport.
- If you're flying in, be wary of the guys who stand around the baggage-claim area at the Toronto airport asking if you want a taxi. They appear to run a "taxi" service using unmarked taxis with no meter and no discernible license or other credentials, parking their cars in the regular visitor parking lot. I have no idea whether they're legitimate or not, but by the time we got to the third floor of the parking garage and there was no sign that the guy's car was actually a taxi, and rather than try to alleviate my concerns he just kept telling me to get in the car, I got kinda nervous and decided to bail. Later, I saw these quasi-taxi guys snag another new arrival, and then I saw a security guard telling the new arrival that the taxis he should take were the ones lined up at curbside outside baggage claim, the ones marked as taxis. I also don't know whether the $45Cn the quasi-taxi guy was charging was the going rate or not; I ended up taking the express bus instead, for $15Cn, a much better deal (though it may cost you up to an extra half-hour of waiting).
