If you ever need to cross the Canadian-USA border with ten kilos of drugs, a couple of guns or a dead body in the trunk, I have a tip for you.
Do as we did.
There was a long line for the border crossing, apparently we weren’t the only Canadians who thought that spending the Canada Day long weekend in the US was an excellent plan. The line in front of the customs stretched out all the way to the toll bridge. So since the road was on an incline I turned off the engine and when the cars in front of us moved I just pressed the clutch down and let the car move by gravity. This went on for more than an hour, but the final part of the line was on flat terrain so I had to start the engine in between the long periods of waiting.
Just when we were the first in line and it was finally our turn to approach the booth I tried starting the engine but it didn’t do a thing. The battery was completely flat. O shit, I forgot to turn off the lights and we were listening to the iPod so the lights had completely drained the battery.
I stepped out of the car, and started pushing. Immediately four US Immigration officers ran towards me. O shit, I though again. But they didn’t jump on me but instead went to the back of the car and started pushing until it was in front of the little booth. Four officers! No wonder those lines are so long.
Arrived at the booth the immigration officer refrained from all the questioning and the “trying-to-make-you-nervous”-spiel (that usually works with me) and just asked us where we were going and after we answered we could go. The same four officers gave us a push to a parking space a bit further along the road, I went inside to get my visa and to be fingerprinted (foreigners are all criminals) and that was it. That was by far my easiest border crossing ever.
After I received my visa, Alison single-handedly pushed the car (Okay, it helped that the road went down a little), I kick-started it into gear and we went on with our journey.
Please take advantage of this tip while you still can. I’m sure that when the US authorities read this loglog entry they will close this loophole immediately.
Jun 30 2007
Crossing
If you ever need to cross the Canadian-USA border with ten kilos of drugs, a couple of guns or a dead body in the trunk, I have a tip for you.
Do as we did.
There was a long line for the border crossing, apparently we weren’t the only Canadians who thought that spending the Canada Day long weekend in the US was an excellent plan. The line in front of the customs stretched out all the way to the toll bridge. So since the road was on an incline I turned off the engine and when the cars in front of us moved I just pressed the clutch down and let the car move by gravity. This went on for more than an hour, but the final part of the line was on flat terrain so I had to start the engine in between the long periods of waiting.
Just when we were the first in line and it was finally our turn to approach the booth I tried starting the engine but it didn’t do a thing. The battery was completely flat. O shit, I forgot to turn off the lights and we were listening to the iPod so the lights had completely drained the battery.
I stepped out of the car, and started pushing. Immediately four US Immigration officers ran towards me. O shit, I though again. But they didn’t jump on me but instead went to the back of the car and started pushing until it was in front of the little booth. Four officers! No wonder those lines are so long.
Arrived at the booth the immigration officer refrained from all the questioning and the “trying-to-make-you-nervous”-spiel (that usually works with me) and just asked us where we were going and after we answered we could go. The same four officers gave us a push to a parking space a bit further along the road, I went inside to get my visa and to be fingerprinted (foreigners are all criminals) and that was it. That was by far my easiest border crossing ever.
After I received my visa, Alison single-handedly pushed the car (Okay, it helped that the road went down a little), I kick-started it into gear and we went on with our journey.
Please take advantage of this tip while you still can. I’m sure that when the US authorities read this loglog entry they will close this loophole immediately.
By mare • canada, english, travel, usa •