How not to cross the border

I’m really glad I don’t have to write “how to not cross the border”, but it certainly could have gone smoother.

Now, when you plan to cross into the United States and stay for 5-6 months there are some preparations it might be wise to take. Things like passports, medical insurance, vet vaccination certificates and any official documents are rather important and high on the list of things to have.  No problem – we have those covered.

But there are a few other things which we really should have had ready.  And because we didn't, it made for a longer stop at the border than might otherwise have occurred.

Things like:

1)      What fruits/vegetables/ meat are you bringing in?  Um, a fridge full – I don’t know, uh… tomatoes, broccoli, um… are not good answers. 

Border patrol would like an itemized list, please – failure to declare all items is a $300 fine (we got off with a warning this time – oh, and for the record onions and tomatoes, along with a variety of other items are not allowed)

2)      How long are you planning to stay and where is your destination? Again, vague answers are not met with approval.  “Seattle, then California, then southern US… we’re not really sure” is not clear enough.

Now this is a tricky one for us since we don’t have an exact destination (other than our immediate one, and San Francisco for Christmas) and also don’t have an exact date to return to Canada. Most people do have set destinations and dates, and anything outside that is met with a bit of head scratching as the border guards try to figure out exactly what we are doing. I suppose the best answer for them would have been something like “We’re touring the US, starting at Seattle and then going through the western & southern states, making our way east and then north with the intention of returning to Canada on approximately April 1^st.”  Sounds pretty reasonable, right?  Too bad I didn’t have that answer ready on Wednesday.  Oh well, live and learn. 

As a result we got to pull off and have the trailer inspected – mainly for food items, but I’m sure they wanted to figure out exactly what we were doing crossing into the US.  Into the side building we went to answer more questions.  Certainly nothing difficult and nothing intimidating.  Just questions that would allow the border guards to “classify” us, and alleviate some of that head scratching on their part, but we seemed to be particularly tongue-tied that day and didn't make their job any easier. I think trying to answer questions while attempting to rein in the kids, who were running like wild banshees through the building, didn't help.

“Where do you live? Where do you work? So, what’s your budget for the trip? I personally liked “Retired! How’d you manage that?” and “So what did your work think when you told them you were quitting?”

Once the inspection was done, we were free to head into the US.  It only took about an hour extra, but it did mess up the flow of the afternoon and made the already bouncy children extra volatile. Oh yay! We did have some groceries confiscated, but nothing a grocery store visit couldn't fix.    

Since this is our first big, longer trip into the US – ever – that we can be forgiven for not knowing how to do it smoothly. (And, in many ways, our Alaskan border crossings don’t count the same – there’s not really anywhere else to go other than back to Canada via one highway through a whole lot of wilderness.)

There were two other things we really should have dealt with a bit more before heading across the border – our phones (both our Canadian cell phone plans and getting a US phone plan), and some trip planning.  Six days in and we still haven’t completely figured those out!   

Guess it’s time to go learn what it’s like to be a snowbird. I think part of the problem with us being unprepared is that I would have liked to stay in Canada longer. We all would have liked to visit Vancouver Island, but the damp and cooler temperatures are not working for us or the trailer. And so, we've headed south – without a real plan, but really, we didn't have a firm plan on where to go when we headed north towards Alaska a few months ago.  Just like then, we’ll figure it out.

Um, if anyone has some suggestions on where to go from now until mid-December, and then from January to April, send them my way.