Canadian Border

Little Kopit wrote:
On the contrary, my shortest stop at the border re-entering Canada.

Customs: "How long were you over?"

Me: "51 hours"

Customs: "How much did you spend?"

Me: "$44.00"

Customs: "Have a good day."

:B
{one wonders if the computer comment re. my vehicle license gave a time of crossing, which equaled my answer}

No. Right now there is no agreement in place for the US and Canada to share this information, but it is on the way.

When talking about inspections, I agree that the border agents won't do anything themselves. I will say that in New Brunswick they may hold the vehicle and call the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement folks. They have mobile mechanics who can do a safety inspection of a vehicle right there. They may be named "Commercial" but their mandate is to enforce the motor vehicle act. In both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia they will have these folks at road side police checks and do safety inspections right there. A vehicle that is unsafe can be towed away.

I haven't heard of it happening personally, just know it would be possible for them to do that.

qtla9111 wrote:
Yikes! I think I'll have our two donkeys pull our travel trailer through the country. I'm afraid to ask, how much is hay? :)

about 16 cents a pound... :)

Repeat something like this when fuelling up:

"We are travelling across the second largest country on earth, by land, pulling a house."

"Canada has 5-1/2 time zones."

"Why is it so far?"

And so on. It helps when you are watching the $'s on the fuel pump.

Enjoy your trip it sounds like a great one.

Diesel is about US$4.30 per US gal equivalent around here right now.

I use the PenFed Cash Rewards Visa card to purchase fuel including propane and get 5% cash back and no Canadian transaction fees vs AmEx. Just a heads up.

At $5/gal that reduces the cost 25 cents/gal.

For a variety of reasons most everything in Canada is more expensive. This fuel log will allow you to estimate 2014 prices. Note that in northern Canada regular gasoline was about 20+cents/gal more than diesel.

Don't let $5/gal bother you as you can pay $6.50/gal.

I averaged $4.35/gal for diesel for the entire 9,400 mile trip.

Yikes! I think I'll have our two donkeys pull our travel trailer through the country. I'm afraid to ask, how much is hay? :)

qtla9111 wrote:
We got through the online application process. It is a laundry list of attachments that are required, scans, pictures, and on and on. We received an email that the application was approved and now we had to send the passport via courier to the Embassy in Mexico City for final approval and visa application to the passport. Included was a pre-paid return waybill. We are hoping 10 working days. I will say, that although a hairy process, they are prompt on sending updates to your email box.

Still a little concerned about crossing with our Mexican plated vehicles as I am sure we might stand out, maybe not and there is nothing that we do that would put us at risk either.

We are making a list of on board food products, but we are leaving behind meats, veggies, fruits, etc. leaving the refrigerator bare but for condiments.

We are really looking forward to know your great country of Canada as all Canadian rvers in Mexico have been great people to meet. I will update once we get the passport back with the visa.

This has been a good thread and we are glad to know most incidents are minor and people are waved through with a smile.

Have a great trip! bring beer it's expensive here. and be prepared for fuel costs of over $5/gal

On the contrary, my shortest stop at the border re-entering Canada.

Customs: "How long were you over?"

Me: "51 hours"

Customs: "How much did you spend?"

Me: "$44.00"

Customs: "Have a good day."

:B
{one wonders if the computer comment re. my vehicle license gave a time of crossing, which equaled my answer}

jamesu wrote:
For us going to Canada normally means travelling to Vancouver, BC for the day. Back in the day this was a fun outing.

Since 9/11 things have changed. Our usual experience now is that during the border crossing experience on I-5 at Sumas heading north the Canadian agents are generally professional and cordial, while heading south the American agents can be arrogant and even downright surly.

As stated previously have your passports ready, hand them to the agent, answer his questions correctly without imbellishments and hopefully you will be on your quickly, especially when heading back into the states. One time I did not hand our passports to the U.S. agent quickly enough and that did not make his day. He was not happy. I was relieved when he finally waved me "on" rather than waving me "over".

Update: Last week we camped at Birch Bay (4 miles from the Blaine border crossing). We were camped between 2 nice families from BC. Got into a conversation concerning the above subject. I was surprised that their experience was exactly reversed: whereas we experience professional Canadian customs agents and endure testy American agents, they experience professional American agents and testy Canadians ones. I guess it all depends upon where you call home and the "home" customs agents are just not thrilled to welcome you back.

Keep a smile in your heart and one on your face.

06Fargo wrote:

dieharder wrote:
To do that kind of inspection ,they would have had to have some kind of specialist come in. It's hard to believe that a border officer would have the training to know how to properly inspect a towing system.

Would they call in the rv.net weight police?

Almost assuredly!