What Happened to "the True North Strong and Free?” Part II
An Israeli-Canadian recounts her adrenaline-filled adventure of leaving Canada during the Covid mandates
Buenos días, amigos 😎
This post is the continuation of the story of my courageous Israeli-Canadian friend “Hadasa” and how she escaped from Canada during Covid in late 2021.
If you haven’t yet read part I of her story…here is the link.
What was leaving Canada like for you?
Hadasa: On the morning of October 27, 2021, I hugged my friend goodbye. She had stayed the night to help me with some last-minute packing. I told her, “I might see you back tonight if they won’t let me cross the border, but I’m d*mn sure going to try each and every border crossing until someone will let me into the United States!”
I started driving to the border, and as I made the turn towards the border crossing—it’s a three-lane road in each direction—I was the ONLY car on that road. A thought crossed my mind, “I am the only crazy person who THINKS they’re gonna let me in!!” but I kept on driving…
As I reached the border, a young officer greeted me with a smile, asking me “What are you doing here?” I gave him a reason that luckily sounded reasonable to him. The past two weeks it had been ALL I could think about: “What would be a good enough reason to give the US border control…?”
He said, “OK we’re going to ask you a few more questions and you’ll be on your way.”
My heart was pounding out of my chest, but 15 minutes later they just let me go on through! I pressed the gas pedal as hard as I could, and kept driving until I couldn’t see the border crossing in my rear view mirror anymore. I then found a little town and stopped to call my friend in Canada. I was sobbing so much that she was worried about me. “What happened to you??” she asked.
“I made it!!! Can you believe it?! I’m in the United States!!!”
How did it feel to have “escaped” Canada, and how was it different in the United States?
After a short while, I caught my breath again, and the realization came through that I really had ESCAPED from Canada. Now came the question, “Where do I go from here?” and the first thought on my mind was: “Florida! Ron DeSantis is a pretty good governor, and Florida is wide open with no restrictions!”
I decided to head that way, so I just put Florida on my GPS and started driving. I had no idea what I would do once I got there, so on the first day of driving I thought to myself, “Nobody’s waiting for you there, and nobody’s chasing you, so why rush it? Have a road trip and just enjoy the ride.”
And so I did 😃
I happened to catch a Halloween party in one of the towns I passed through along my way…
I stopped at different places along the way, I drove calmly, and I really enjoyed the ride. It took me five days to get to Florida, and to my surprise nowhere and no one along the way asked me to put on a mask…except for Pizza Hut which used to be my favourite place for pizza. I never stepped foot in there again.
As I reached Florida, I started driving along the coast line, and when I saw the ocean, a song was playing on the radio by a band called Whitesnake and the song went:
“Here I go again, on my own, going down the only road I’ve ever known, like a drifter... I was born to walk alone, but I made up my mind—I ain’t wasting no more time…here I go again…”
I was overwhelmed with emotion. Good emotion! Like I did something right. That I’m going my own way. I just started crying so much that I had to stop the car and take a break.
I am a very spiritual person, and I believe that God is there to guide and protect you. And when you’re taking a step in the right direction, God will give you a “back wind” to help you out, and that’s exactly what happened! As soon as I reached Florida, my friend called to say her brother is visiting Florida, and he can connect me to some people he knows there. Then another friend called to say her condo is vacant for a month, if I want to use it. And soon another friend called to introduce me to a friend of hers who lives in Florida.
I signed up online to various meet-ups in every place I went, just to meet more people. Things started to work out. I was surrounded by good people, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
After a couple of months of living in different areas (in AirBnbs), I felt that living on the west coast of Florida was more appealing to me. I liked the vibe there, because it wasn’t as busy and hectic as the Miami area. In one of the meet-ups I went to, I met a wonderful German lady who offered me to rent a “granny’s apartment” at her private estate that was located on a beautiful river. The view from my balcony was mesmerizing! Every morning I woke up, and thanked God for leading me in this direction.
Time flew by, and my visitor’s visa to the United States was about to expire. One evening I went to a meet-up that I was already a regular in. I came a few minutes early, and as I was walking through the lobby in the shared office building, I saw a man sitting on the sofa and talking on his phone…in Hebrew. I smiled to myself, as you don’t often hear Hebrew in that area. He lifted his eyes and smiled back. I said, “Shalom,” and he was shocked. “Do you speak Hebrew?” he asked. “Yes I do,” I replied, and so we started talking and after a few minutes, he offered me a job!
It turned out that I was exactly the person he was looking for at that specific time, and that job was exactly suited to my profession and experience. Coincidence?!
I don’t believe in coincidences.
Living in Florida was wonderful. I met great people, everything was open to everybody with or without masks, and with or without vaccines. Shopping, dining, going out, interacting with others, and literally dancing in the streets without masks (photo below). I mean, whoever wanted to wear a mask did, but nobody looked at the other person with a crooked eye.
Freedom of choice was king. It felt like such a relief after all the restrictions and lock-downs in Canada. But, I felt like I had a sort of PTSD that no one understood over there. I was still panicking from what I’d gone through in Canada! I was trying to shine a light on what was going on across the border, and the Floridians had no idea what I was talking about. They couldn’t relate, because Florida had remained open for most of that time.
After about a year in Florida, I flew back to visit my parents in Israel. While I was there, a hurricane of “once in 500 years” hit the town I was living in, flooding the house and my car! My friends in Florida told me, “Don’t come back now, it’s a war zone!”
I didn’t want to stay in Israel, but I definitely didn’t want to go back to Canada, so I was thinking: “When life gives you lemons…it’s an opportunity to visit El Salvador!”
I’d heard about Bitcoin Beach and I wanted to check it out…
In Part III, which I’ll post next week, Hadasa will describe coming to El Salvador 🇸🇻 for the first time, why she decided to stay and make it her new home…and our “chance meeting” on the beach.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thanks for reading, friends 😃
It has now been 2 whole years of documenting this journey and sharing it with you, my dear readers. And to think it all started with wanting to be more transparent about our crazy adventures—telling both the good and the bad—of our family’s journey and our new life outside of Canada 🇨🇦
Reading her story, with compassion and tears of connection... whilst cranking the classic 80s White Snake, Here I Go Again...
Thanks for that!
That 'getting-out-of-Canada PTSD' feeling is a real thing... and can still give me chills... Remembering landing in Mexico with that sense of "I did it, holy S--t!". Shortly after a 'refugee" from Argentinian reminded me that I still had my backpack and bank accounts... I should consider myself lucky. And this day, I do.
As crazy as that feels, being Canadian.
It's tricky; that sense of deep loss beside the sense of appreciation for everything that has come because of that loss.
Wow, what a story!! Truth is stranger than fiction. I don't believe in coincidences either..
God is good.