QUOTE(Butch @ Aug 30 2009, 08:24 PM) [snapback]18688[/snapback] We are currently on Prince Edward Island in Canada, and will be leaving PEI for New Brunswick tomorrow and will be making a border crossing at St. Stephens, NB and Calais, Maine. Our crossing into Canada at the same crossing point was not uneventful, they, Canadian Border Guards checked our motorhome and our tow vehicle and held us up about 45 minutes to an hour. Now I would like to know what in heck are they looking for !!! We have the new "enhanced" drive licenses and do not need passports. Had all important paperwork, and was very aware of the Canadian rules governing entrance, but were still held for an inspection. Myself at 70 years old and my wife in her 60's, I repeat, what could they be looking for ???? I guess we look guilty or something. As we will be crossing back into our own country tomorrow.....this should be an enlightening experience. This same thing happened a few years back and vowed to never cross out of the USA again. But we wanted to go to PEI, and we are certainly not getting any younger, so this was the year.... Will give an update on the crossing into the USA........ great fun...... If anyone gives a hoot, We did cross back into the USA at Calais Maine on Aug. 31st and the USA Border Officer was very professional and polite. A few questions, asked to come aboard the RV, checked refrigerator for citrus, checked one closet, and stated, "okay to go, have a nice vacation". Was very interested in our NYS "enhanced" driver licences, gave us the impression he had not seen one before, but he did know exactly what they are...........off we went to finish our vacation on the Maine Coast at Acadia Park area, our favorite spot............
For years I traveled for business to Canada via plane. The airport customs tend to be much tougher than the border guards I've had when crossing by car. As someone who has traveled worldwide and has dealt with truly difficult border crossings (such as the old USSR) the Canadians are a pleasure to work with. I find that most people say WAAAAYYY too much to the border guard. When you are crossing answer ONLY the question they ask, do not elaborate, do not explain, answer YES/NO or the briefest answer possible. They really, really do not care about your grandkids or your fishing trip or your new rigs refrigerator, etc., etc. Always, always, always be extremely polite and respectful. I married a Canadian 3 years ago and until we started crossing together she would often get stopped and inspected. During our first crossing I told her I would handle everything and not to say a word. She did tried to interrupt and "explain" things to the guard when he asked certain questions. With a smile to the guard I cut her off. She was shocked that instead of reacting he waved us through. Now I always handle all the crossing for us and we've never been inpected or held up. My record of dozens of border crossings with no inspections over two decades remains unblemished to date (knock on wood).
Interesting to read all the border crossing vignettes since I posted in August after having some unpleasant Canadian border guards at different locations. Just for the record, we didn't talk too much, had our paperwork ready and were respectful. I know there's bigshot types everywhere who like to act up when in uniform. Just reporting to the RV community that there were several negative experiences without provocation, leading me to presume there has been an attitude change. We met several German families while travelling and the consistent message there was they were relieved we had a new president. Seems to me we have some baggage to pay for for the past several years. I think our national image has been harmed and it is showing up in dribs and drabs in other places. I, for one, will not assume again that other countries are thrilled with the Americans. Note: Not asking for a firestorm of political comment. Just wanting to post my conclusions.
QUOTE(Bearii @ Sep 14 2009, 11:34 PM) [snapback]18941[/snapback] For years I traveled for business to Canada via plane. The airport customs tend to be much tougher than the border guards I've had when crossing by car. As someone who has traveled worldwide and has dealt with truly difficult border crossings (such as the old USSR) the Canadians are a pleasure to work with. I find that most people say WAAAAYYY too much to the border guard. When you are crossing answer ONLY the question they ask, do not elaborate, do not explain, answer YES/NO or the briefest answer possible. They really, really do not care about your grandkids or your fishing trip or your new rigs refrigerator, etc., etc. Always, always, always be extremely polite and respectful. I married a Canadian 3 years ago and until we started crossing together she would often get stopped and inspected. During our first crossing I told her I would handle everything and not to say a word. She did tried to interrupt and "explain" things to the guard when he asked certain questions. With a smile to the guard I cut her off. She was shocked that instead of reacting he waved us through. Now I always handle all the crossing for us and we've never been inpected or held up. My record of dozens of border crossings with no inspections over two decades remains unblemished to date (knock on wood). Have crossed the Canadian border twice in the last fifteen years and have had an inspection both times by Candian Border Officers.........must have a guilty look or something. More than likely will not cross again for another fifteen years because of the treatment as in relation to inspections....
Hello all, we have been crossing the American/Canadian border for over 38 years and have never in all that time ever had a bad experience. Whether it is to cross the US border just for the day or in the last few years for months at a time..whether it be in our car or pulling our 5th wheel. It IS a serious and dangerous world we live in these days. Terrorists aside we must protect the border on both sides. It is hard to see these things when in general we are the honest ones. The guards in mostly are good but some ...give them a uniform and any authority and it goes to their heads. Whether it is in their character to be in a bad mood everyday or just because of that particular day. When someone gets across and causes a problem or threat to either side then what do we have to say? On the Canadian defense...since I am and can only voice for us. Yes we are gun free here. It does creep me out to know how many actually carry in the US. Guards ask questions in a border crossing conversation several times to see if they can trip you up. Age doesn't have anything to do with the questions ...there are some elders that are dishonest too ya know! In general I feel that when you cross back to your own side it is always a more pleasant experience. I sincerely hope a bad experience at the border won't stop Americans from visiting our beautiful country and vice versa. Happy Trails
We were in a Class C RV and crossed from Montana into Alberta at Sweet Grass recently on May 20 and the questions were brief and most reasonable. There was no delay for us but we did not use the truck line. Last June there were many more questions asked of us when we crossed into Canada at Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls.
The trouble with crossing the Canada USA border is there is no consistency with the way the border agents handle their job. Most agents are business like and efficient and I usually am on my way quickly, but there are some agents out there who surely got out of the wrong side of the bed and take it out on poor us. My worst scenario was when border agents on the Canada side were giving on the job training to a new agent recruit and held us up for 45 minutes. The most annoying thing seems to be when department of agriculture agents on the US side take our fruit or cat food. Don't take the labels off any fruit prior to crossing the border. As far as the gun issue, that's a pretty touchy subject in Canada still. I have talked to Canadian customs agents who have siezed handguns from Americans. However, that agent who commented on the number of gun shops in Texas was out of line. My last experience was in Montana where the lady agent was efficient and cheerful, even when she took my apples!
We just got back about a week ago. We crossed twice; Once in Surrey BC and again at Anacortes going to Victoria,via the car ferry. Both times, the Canadian agents went completely through our motorhome, taking about an hour. One guard did find a bottle of Sheridans, we forgot to claim. He left us keep it and told us he could have had us pay a $60 duty charge, but gave us a warning. Both US agents, all but waved us through. So much for US border security. All the guards we encountered were friendly.
ok i will try to keep this short but i get long winded in 2008 we were traveling cross country (texas) to visit family in nova scotia. keep in mind we have only lived in texas 6 months or so st this point. so when we were crossing in to canada agents were nice and friendly. i offered to open all compartments at will to try and help out they searched and searched and searched. and while searching i was asked about 6 times if i had any weapons. everytime i told them no!! so finally as we were just about done i asked do ya'll have a problem with guns ??? you seem pretty worried about that. his comment was well your from texas - everybody from texas has guns!!!! oookkkk just a little profiling are we??? so as i was getting in my truck to leave - i told him well if it is any consolation, i am not originally from texas lol.
I just got back into Canada and the customs agent seemed more interested if I was bringing back cigarettes or booze than anything else. Didn't ask me about our cat or what food we brought back with us. She did ask me for my plate number so i would hazard that customs knew exactly how many days we had been down in the States. In any case it didn't take more than a few minutes to get through customs. I extend my heartfelt sympathy to all you Texans out there. To be profiled as armed to the teeth is a bit much. I heard that some counties in Georgia almost demand you possess a gun to maintain a residence. Oops, now customs will pick on you too!
I've crossed a number of times, without issue. Most of the customs agents have been nice; overall I've found the Canadian ones a bit more polite than the U.S. agents (and I'm from USA). I was only inspected once, returning to the U.S., and the person seemed most interested in my refrigerator. One of the questions was if I had any meats. I was thinking of steaks, hamburger etc and said no. A couple minutes later I heard a yell "what the hell is this?" and went back to see what he meant. He was swinging a half package of salami in the air. I apologized and then told him actually it was bought in the U.S.A. He asked if I could prove it, then apologized himself, and said "oh that's okay, I see it says Spokane WA right on the label" and ended the inspection. So save your lunch meat receipts too! Other than that I have not had any problems.
QUOTE(Glenn Norton @ Jun 25 2010, 08:03 PM) [snapback]22720[/snapback] I heard that some counties in Georgia almost demand you possess a gun to maintain a residence. Oops, now customs will pick on you too! Counties? It's TOWNS! When I lived in Georgia (1980's-1990's) the city of Kennesaw passed an ordinance REQUIRING all households to have a gun. JJ
Crossing back into the US from Vancouver to Washington after the Olympics in February, we were asked if we had any fruit. My sister answered "just some apples and oranges which I brought from Washington". The agent then promptly took our passports, directed us to a parking area and told us to leave "everything" in the camper and go into the building. We sat there for about 30 minutes, then were sternly but politely lectured that the apples were OK because they had the country of origin stickers on them, but that the oranges were definitely NOT OK, NOT OK AT ALL. We were obviously undermining the entire welfare of the agricultural business on the West Coast by repatriating undocumented American oranges to their homeland. At that point, I was nervous enough to have probably confessed to knowing where Jimmy Hoffa was buried, but we apparantly looked chastened and sorry enough, so we were allowed to go slink down the highway, minus the offending oranges and a package of sausage in the freezer that was missing a label. The interesting part was that when we got back to Seattle, there was still an orange in the refrig. I was looking over my shoulder for a week, waiting for the Feds to come for me....haha.....I haven't been able to pick up an orange in the grocery store since without breaking out in a sweat.
We have had very pleasant experiences crossing the border in the last 30 years except for a couple of incidents, one my error. Anyway, recently we are starting to question whether we want to cross into the US. Customs isn't our problem. They are friendly, ask the questions, try to trip us up, but when you are honest, no problem. Then we get to "pull over and let the Ag officers check out your rig". We know not to bring fruit to the US and don't. We know not to bring dog food in, but try anyway. Potatoes were another item. They had a bit of "scabies?" on them so couldn't be commercial!!!??? The ones I bought in WA to replace the confiscated ones were worse than the Canadian ones. The AG agent acted like a real know-it-all and then decided after lecturing us that she should pet our dog for 5 minutes before letting us go on our way. Lady ... we don't care if you like our dog, especially after taking the dog food away and the potatoes, and lecturing us! I find Customs does their job. Agricultural agents seem to need a reason to be there. We actually had 2 agents in our trailer this last time(21 feet) one being about 350 lbs. How they moved around in there I don't know!?
QUOTE(jamarynn1 @ Jul 21 2010, 01:27 AM) [snapback]23095[/snapback] Crossing back into the US from Vancouver to Washington after the Olympics in February, we were asked if we had any fruit...... but that the oranges were definitely NOT OK, NOT OK AT ALL. We were obviously undermining the entire welfare of the agricultural business on the West Coast by repatriating undocumented American oranges to their homeland. At that point, I was nervous enough to have probably confessed to knowing where Jimmy Hoffa was buried, but we apparantly looked chastened and sorry enough, so we were allowed to go slink down the highway, minus the offending oranges Thanks for the big laugh over your orange story! We frequently cross the border as we camp in Washington state a lot. Years ago on one trip I had plucked some plums out of our kids uneaten lunchbags and put them in the trailer fridge so they wouldn't go bad while we were away for spring break. A very big NO NO! I was lectured and I very politely answered, "yes, sir, no sir, I was very ignorant, sir" in hopes of avoiding the $50 fine that the people in the line ahead of me had to pay. Luckily, he accepted my meek apologies and I left with a written warning. Meanwhile, my husband was chatting with the US border guard while I was inside being grilled. He learned that the agirculture folks had not been brought to the table when the first 'fast-pass' program was worked out between the US and Canada. The agriculture guys reacted by being overly strict. My own family branded me a plum-smuggler! :blink: Since then we never take any food product (except staples like spices, flour, sugar) across and buy fresh when we get to the US side. Since we are frequent border crossers, we have signed up for the Nexus program and that generally cuts down on the questions and the time spent in crossing. However, there will always be the occasional overly officious/cranky guard both sides. As a Canadian, I would hope that all Americans would feel welcome here and enjoy their visit despite their border crossing experience!
I was born in England, grew up in Canada and have lived in the States for about 45 years. I'm married to an American. We have crossed borders all over the place. We have crossed in Alaska, Mexico, numerous east and west coast ports of entry. It's taken and hour on occasion and 5 min. on others. It doesn't matter where you're from or which way you're going! Border guards are overworked, underpaid and stand all day. Like everyone else they have good and bad days and like everyone else some are idiots, some aren't. Since 9/11 the world has become a more treacherous place. We need to adjust. My point is, travel is wonderful. There are amazing things to do and see in the world. You can't let one hour of inconvenience ruin your vacation or stop you from going again. You can't tell me these things don't happen on your home turf. A rude store clerk, angry traffic cop. Toughen up people! Don't take it personally! Get out there and have fun!
