border crossing

[Westinghouse]

I agree--it sounds like you have a story to tell.

I doubt that the location of the crossing makes that much of a difference. The difference is most likely the personality and mood of the agent you encounter. I've crossed a number of times on a bicycle. Some agents were friendly and chatty, but most were very stern and business-like. Some ask questions that sound accusing and skeptical, but I figure they're just doing their job.

What happened, exactly?

[pmhayden]

To be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience going over a border. But I always look like a boring middle class nerd. The first time I went into Canada alone, I was a 16-year-old kid on a bicycle. I had a pencil note from my father othat it was OK for you to travel over the border written on a half sheet of paper. I was told enjoyed my stay in Canada. The most recent time I went into Canada, I accidentally carried a box of 22 shells from a previous day of shooting. I declared them, assuming my truck would be search completely. The young lady in the booth told me to enjoy my stay in Canada. Coming back into the US has been the same experience. One guy asked if I knew my small town wrestling coach, who is a friend of his. But despite all that, I’m prepared to have my truck taken apart, and my bicycle handlebar search. Border patrol people are trained police officers, and they will write down every word you say, everything you do, in preparation for the court case. In addition, you are probably on camera the entire time they talk to you, even inside your car. Your best defense is to be exceedingly polite, called them sir or ma’am, and smile.


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[fcoulter]

The only issue I had on the Canadian border (other than horrible infrastructure and horrible lines crossing over in Detroit) was back in the 1980's, when my wife and I couldn't get across the border to play music at a science fiction convention in Canada.  This was during the free trade negotiations, and I suspect we ran into a Canadian border guard who was unhappy about the politics.

The next day we tried again at a different crossing, where we were met by a member of the convention committee.  He brought a copy of the program, which included a letter from the mayor of Ottawa welcoming all the fans to the convention, including those from across the border.  That crossing was uneventful.

(The original border crossing took several hours to convince immigration that playing for free as guests of a science fiction convention wasn't taking jobs away from Canadians.  Once we convinced them of that, they wanted us to bond our instruments.  The issue was the bond wouldn't be refunded until six months after we returned to the states.  My wife was a graduate student and I had my first "real" job, so lending the Canadian government over a thousand dollars for six months wasn't high on our list of things to do.  At the second border crossing, the guard looked at our instruments, said "there aren't two of anything, you're not planning on selling them" and let us through.)