Interesting to see your anxiety crossing to Canada. As a Canadian, I feel exactly the same but crossing into the US. Noting to hide but you never know who you will get as an agent. As far as crossing back to Canad, it is no stress what so ever. I know I will have pleasant entry home. All Canadian border agent care is to know if I exceeded my $800 worth of good from US.
B.C. is an RVers paradise (We have a 33ft Class A) and spend a lot of time on backcountry roads boondocking. Come back and travel through the Okanagan and Kootenays (give yourself lots of time so you can enjoy, like the whole summer)
Oh we would LOVE to spend an entire summer in Canada - thanks for the tips, we stayed in a campground in September being our first time, weren't quite sure what to expect with cell coverage, roads, places to stay, but it's great to hear the backcountry roads boondocking is an option through the Okanagan and Kootenays! Thanks!
My husband works in Mexico, and has been crossing the border daily for 3+ years. Border agents don't like sunglasses - period. Seeing your eyes is part of the passive 'examination' when people cross an international border. Also, don't be on your phone (that ticks them off as well), and turn off (or turn down) your music. ;-) And you're so right, it greatly depends on which border agent and their mood!
Thanks for sharing your (husband's) experience! Wow, daily border crossings into Mexico, that must get tiring at times...Thanks for sharing those tips - we actually mentioned all of those in our blog post too. rvlove.com/2017/10/10/tips-smooth-canadian-border-crossing-rv/ - some days it's all about having luck on your side isn't it!?
This made us sad that you're not up here any more. :( But we're so grateful to have been able to spend so much quality time with you. Safe travels heading south, and hope we catch up with you again soon.
Likewise! We too are SO happy we got to catch up not once but twice - and long catch ups, with good quality time and conversations. Thank you for everything and we'll definitely be catching up again soon. Hugs to you both!
We visited Canada this past August for the second time it two years. No problems going in, as you say no sunglasses, be respectful and answer all questions honestly. I think the white hair on my part might help :) However, coming home this past August we were stopped for an agricultural inspection and they went into the coach. I knew ahead of time about dog food so I told him we had the food under the bed but the slide had to be opened for him to access it. So I opened the slide and lifted the bed and left the coach like that. He went through and came back. He took our lemons and avocados, which my wife wasn't too happy about. He also told us that you can't bring lamb or goat based dog food of any type, including dry, into the US. He allowed us to keep the lamb based food we were carrying because it said on the bag the lamb was US sourced. He also spent a lot of time explaining the issue with citrus and avocados and provided us a complete list of problem items along with his phone number should we want to call the next time we are going to cross the border since the list can change to meet immediate needs or current agricultural issues. Overall, even though they did an inspection of the coach without us in it, they were very polite and we actually learned a few things in the process. Everyone in the station where we were waiting also came over to pet the dog and I don't look upon it as a bad experience at all.
Thanks for sharing your experience Bob. We experienced something very similar coming back into the USA - inspected for agriculture and took our lemons, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Very nice and respectful also. No issues. Just a delay. We also learned a lot.
A few years ago, I listened to a security expert talk about the layers of security around the Tel Aviv airport. At the outer perimeter, every car is stopped and asked 3 questions: Who are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you going? He said they don't care about the answers and often don't listen., instead they are looking at the person's reactions - looking at their eyes, the pulse in the jugular vein that kind of thing. He said they have never had an incident at the airport.
I found this quite interesting since we live in Abbotsford, BC and cross that border with our rig often. Except we’re heading south and enjoying the state parks! Hope you enjoyed you’re time in our part of the country!
I am so used to travel with my coach in USA that I am better with your miles by hour than kilometers by hour! I hope you will like Canada as I love USA!
Thanks so much for this very informative video about crossing the border into Canada in an RV. I am a Canadian and discovered, reading RV forums and comments on RVer videos, that many American RVers carry firearms. The conversations put me right off RVing in the US. I'm just not interested in being in a campground with a bunch of people with guns. I also hope that RVs are checked carefully coming into Canada so that I don't have to worry about people with guns in Canadian parks. I don't know how they determine whether or not to search because I'm pretty sure the people I talked to online, who were packin', looked like ordinary middle class Americans. I think the dogs are a very good idea and I'm glad the penalties are stiff. Again, thanks for an excellent vid.!
You're welcome and thanks for sharing your feelings about this. As an Australian - a country where (most) guns have been banned for 20 years - I do understand how you feel. Having lived here in the USA since 2008 and now being married to an American who was former law enforcement (Marc still has his police revolver but not in the RV) I have come to learn just how deeply guns are embedded in the American culture. It was very difficult for me to understand this for the first few years of living here... over time as I have learned more and become more educated by informed and responsible sources, I have come to understand it on a different level. Apparently something like 70% of American's DON'T own guns, so only 30% do, but with a high % of RVers being ordinary middle class Americans AND current or former military, we suspect many people in campgrounds do carry weapons, but we also believe the vast majority are responsible gun owners and store them appropriately. One of our friends once commented that he felt campgrounds were the safest place to be, as if any unstable person came in trying to cause trouble, you'd have half a dozen retired military (and carrying) RVers taking care of the situation pretty quickly! We have never felt unsafe in campgrounds on our travels so far, and we hope you will come and explore the USA by RV as there is so much beauty to see here - as there is in Canada. We meet lots of wonderful people in the RV world - some you'd truly have no idea if they have guns in their R - and we've never felt we were at risk among any of them. But maybe that's also the kinds of people we attract as well. I imagine reading some forums on this topic may be cause for concern, but it's rarely a topic of conversation in our circles.
Thanks for that well considered reply, Julie. We have a different threshold, I guess. I have visited the US many times in the past and would still fly in and out. I've also been down the Amazon in a dug out canoe and travelled in Central America, Europe, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, trekked in Thailand and Myanmar, been to Kenya, Tanzania and spent some amazing time in Zanzibar. I'm not a timid or nervous traveller, but right now, I just don't think I'd enjoy touring America in an RV. Things change and I expect this will too. The adventures of people like yourself, and others I follow, may convince me otherwise. Again, thanks for your thoughtful reply.
I should also add that there are countries I have travelled to in the past that I would not travel to today. As I'm sure you know, places change, regimes change, etc. I'm not, for a moment, suggesting that America is more dangerous than these other places. I mention them just to illustrate that my threshold for risk is pretty high.
If you all decide to start travelling East through B.C., be sure too check the BC Highways Road report if you are going too travel anywhere past Hope, BC. These are nasty times now for the winter season on the Coquihalla Highway. Road conditions there change in a blink of an eye. There is even a TV show about it called, "Highway Thru Hell" ... Hell being the Coquihalla Highway. Good luck!
Geez thanks for the heads up! But this was filmed in early September and we returned to USA by end Sept so didn't drive any further east. Will have to check out Highway through Hell another time - in the summer!
HERE ARE LINKS TO RELATED BLOG POSTS AND REVIEWS: Tips for a Smooth Canadian Border Crossing with Your RV: rvlove.com/2017/10/10/tips-smooth-canadian-border-crossing-rv Campground Review Thousand Trails Tall Chief in WA: rvlove.com/2017/10/05/review-tall-chief-rv-resort-fall-city-wa Campground Review Thousand Trails Cultus Lake, BC, Canada: rvlove.com/2017/10/11/review-cultus-lake-rv-camping-resort-bc-canada-thousand-trails
Certain types of firearms can legally be imported into Canada by Americans if they do the paperwork in advance, but they must only be used for sporting purposes or protection from wildlife in remote areas.
Yeah, that border crossing is a little tight even for my Class C. Glad you didn't have much hassles crossing. I cross all the time and rarely an issue. It was nice meeting you at TT a few weeks back. I didn't blow your cover on my channel, either! Safe travels.
Sumas, WA! My son and his fam lived there till recently. He was a US Border Patrol Officer. :) My hubby and I needed to go from Port Huron, MI to NH and ME this past summer, and back again. We’d forgotten to apply for passports early enough and thought we wouldn’t be able to cut through Canada to NY to shorten our drive considerably. I decided to call the customs office at both the Blue Water Bridge in MI and our crossing near Niagara Falls. To our delight, we were told that if we have valid US drivers licenses and original US birth certificates, we could cross the border without a passport! It worked like a charm and we went from the United States into Canada and then from Canada into the United States back-and-forth without a hitch. They never even searched our 45 foot motorhome nor asked us about food or anything like that. They did ask about firearms and if we had purchased anything. So, all this time we assumed we had to have passports when we actually did not. I know there are also three or four states that have enhanced drivers licenses which do work like passports going into and out of Canada, as well.
Cherie on the Mobile Internet Resource Center channel just announced T-Mobile was reducing Canada/ Mexico data usage to 5Gb per month on the 'cross borders' feature of the unlimited plan. Don't know if that will effect you during your Canadian visit.
I guess we timed it well then and were lucky! We didn't get affected as the change seems to have happened after our return but we'll have to update our blog post with that update - thanks for sharing! Haven't watching C&C's update on that yet. We returned to the USA a couple of weeks ago :)
Actually, you MAY take a firearm. Howevet, NOT a hangun, nor military grade. You can take a hunting rifle as well as 12 guage shotgun. However, you need to have to have a form, you can ger it off the internet and fill it out and be sure to declare it asap with your form in hand. After the normal questioning, they will direct you to the office where they will run your ID's for a more thorough check and will charge you a fee....like $25. It's best not to take ammo, tho. I'm not up to speed on the regs regarding ammo, however, even if it was allowed, i still wouldn't do it. It puts them more at ease. Always check. I would call ahead to make sure. Their website msy not be updated. But with that being ssid, it's always much better to go sans weopons. Less headache snd cost.
You've mentioned some restrictions about food you've got and shouldn't. But get care at what you'll bring back in the us because even if you bring somme citrus bought here and with the us sticker on, you won't be authorize to get it in the us. At some borders large rv could use the commercial lines, check for signs.
Yes, that is right - no citrus allowed! We actually had lemons and limes confiscated on our way back into USA 4 weeks later. Good to know some borders allow large RVs to use commercial lines, especially important for tall RVs
When I crossed, when my cousin crossed, and others that my ex roommate who is from Canada told me about, they pawed through every single belonging that we had, taking a very long time. They actually sat me down in their office and questioned me gestapo-style about a laundry list that I had of things I wanted to keep track of that was in my travel bag. An absolutely infuriating and unnecessary experience. That was three years ago and I'm just as bitter today as I was that day. I don't know if I'll ever go back to Canada. From all the stories I've heard, I suspect that Canada really doesn't want people to visit their country.
Oh dear that sounds like an awful experience! So sorry you had to go through that. Very glad we had a much easier crossing. Hopefully next time you will have an easier experience.
Hopefully T-Mobile doesn't get you deprioritized like we found Rogers, Telus and Bell did for Verizon. We would have decent speeds for 3 to 30 minutes at a time, then nothing or very slow for a while, repeat. We did a couple car day-trips into BC this summer and just spent 9 days in Ontario with the RV.
Lovely! Our T-Mobile worked fine for up to 10GB on personal hotspot connection which is all we used, just heard they have not reduced it to 5GB so we got lucky and squeaked in before the change! Didn't experience any deprioritization.
Very informative video thank you very much! So you guys probably drove right past me, where I've been stuck in the Camping World Parking lot in WA for a month and a 1/2 however tomorrow I am finally picking up my new RV an 2005 allegro Bay. I just started my RV journey August 4th when I left Texas in my 98 pounder that I thought I was going to travel the US in but it pooped out here in Washington lol Hoping I have better luck with the allegro Bay :) Hope you guys had fun in Canada :) I enjoy your videos ...
Oh no! Sorry to heat that but glad you found a new RV continue your travels with - so far our Allegro has been good to us. Safe travels to you and thanks for the well wishes!
Nice video with good information. We hope to travel through Canada to Alaska eventually and I had heard from other sources that getting an RV through the border was worse than a colonoscopy! They must have been pulling my leg because it doesn't appear to be that difficult.
Well, this is what we notice out there - a lot of people have strong opinions and/or exaggerate. And also why we try to be very balanced in our opinions and experiences. How things go also has a lot to do with one's attitude, we believe.
B.C. = "Bring CASH!" Gas here right now is the most expensive in all of Canada. You'll see at the first gas station you have to fill up at. Enjoy your trip guys.
There are few restrictions such as you must be enroute to Alaska. I dont believe you can carry a handgun. It may have to be a rifle. Just do your homework to save from going to jail.
I'm planning to cross the sweetgrass border end of may first of June wanting t been watching videos and requirements o make it as hassle free as possible
I have just come across your video, must be nice to be able to travel with an RV. Julie have you been living in America for awhile yeah just curious you obviously like it, love to hear from you both if not no sweet thanks again for your videos cheers mate
Yes, the traveling lifestyle can be a lot of fun, even while still working full time. Julie moved to America in 2009, so yes, she has been here a while. Cheers. -M
Wow to Canada. I know things out there are way more on cost then us in USA. But I will say I've watched lots of your clips. Just shocked that you got a gas powered RV. Since you went to see other places in Indiana and seen how there built myself I'll go for a pusher with a live tag axle yes they cost more and more to run them but will out last gas powered ones. Also I too live in Colorado and the law here don't take kindly to us in the RV world. Some officers are nice but you get mean ones that try to hurt you if you to them are the wrong color. I'm half Apache other half from dad side from Spain. As in some of these officers are very prejudiced even if he speak correct English LOL. Thanks on your clips. Thumbs up. Lee. indeed
Thanks Lee. We have had our gas motorhome for 3.5 years and it's served us very well for our needs and our budget. Of course, we appreciate the diesels are generally superior in many ways, but you've got to start somewhere and this was our first RV. We are still very happy with our choice but will get something different for our next (2nd) RV. Sorry to hear of the prejudice you have experienced. Enjoy beautiful Colorado. All the best to you!
RVLove | Marc & Julie Bennett just remember it always depends on where you are I'm in Alberta and it's pretty cheap compared to BC, when I was in BC this summer the gas prices were $1.33/L and right now where I live it's about 95.5
Wow, 95.5 a litre?! I look forward to those days! Lately, in Melbourne, Australia, petrol prices have been $1.37+ per litre, which is not that cheap. Today, though, the price for e10 at my local petrol station is $1.17, which is not too bad. I still hope that it'll drop some more to less than $1/L
Nice video. Just note that contrary to what you said at about 8:00 minutes into the video, you can legally have a revolver in any of the 50 United States you might travel to. At worst, in the most restrictive States you will be expected to keep it unloaded while driving and somewhere out of reach of the driver and passenger seats. And no hollowpoint ammunition is allowed in New Jersey (dumb law but it is what it is).
Hey there, we shared some tips on this here rvlove.com/2017/10/10/tips-smooth-canadian-border-crossing-rv - yes there are options for storage but do plan ahead and do your research in the area you plan to do your border crossing. There are links in the article to do a deeper dive on the rules around firearms.
We believe you can get a special license. There was a special lane for folks that have the special id, as it seems there are many people that cross frequently and would be worthwhile.
with a passport they stamp the page, using up the pages allocated to the passport. u can get a passport card or an enhanced license. same thing except there are no pages to stamp. passport cards and enhanced licenses can't be used for air travel. u show your license or passport card when driving across the border . i have a mariners document i think u can use that but don't quote me on that
Marc has one - American. Julie has two - Australian and British - as she was born in Australia and has dual citizenship as her Dad is from England. Dual citizenship is allowed, don't think 3 is though! Not quite sure ab
Hi Lee! Thanks for your patience! We posted one tonight! Next one coming much sooner :) Back to my Alaska vids :) Thanks for checking in on us - we appreciate it!
Stop saying "EH" you don't do it properly , Canadians don't think about using that phrase , it comes naturally , when Americans say it they sound dumb ...stick to uhuh ! BTW if i was a border guard and you said that to me i would turn you around right quick !
@@Rvlove Great , is is just like Canadians saying y'all , we NEVER say that , and if we did we would probably use it in the wrong context , just like American using EH at the end of every sentence , Canadians don't use it all the time just when it is proper , and like i said earlier we use it naturally and without consciously thinking of using it !
Interesting to see your anxiety crossing to Canada. As a Canadian, I feel exactly the same but crossing into the US. Noting to hide but you never know who you will get as an agent. As far as crossing back to Canad, it is no stress what so ever. I know I will have pleasant entry home. All Canadian border agent care is to know if I exceeded my $800 worth of good from US.
Yes it's now knowing what you will get with the border agent! But we always feel very welcome in Canada and the people are always super friendly :)
B.C. is an RVers paradise (We have a 33ft Class A) and spend a lot of time on backcountry roads boondocking. Come back and travel through the Okanagan and Kootenays (give yourself lots of time so you can enjoy, like the whole summer)
Oh we would LOVE to spend an entire summer in Canada - thanks for the tips, we stayed in a campground in September being our first time, weren't quite sure what to expect with cell coverage, roads, places to stay, but it's great to hear the backcountry roads boondocking is an option through the Okanagan and Kootenays! Thanks!
My husband works in Mexico, and has been crossing the border daily for 3+ years. Border agents don't like sunglasses - period. Seeing your eyes is part of the passive 'examination' when people cross an international border. Also, don't be on your phone (that ticks them off as well), and turn off (or turn down) your music. ;-) And you're so right, it greatly depends on which border agent and their mood!
Thanks for sharing your (husband's) experience! Wow, daily border crossings into Mexico, that must get tiring at times...Thanks for sharing those tips - we actually mentioned all of those in our blog post too. rvlove.com/2017/10/10/tips-smooth-canadian-border-crossing-rv/ - some days it's all about having luck on your side isn't it!?
This made us sad that you're not up here any more. :( But we're so grateful to have been able to spend so much quality time with you. Safe travels heading south, and hope we catch up with you again soon.
Likewise! We too are SO happy we got to catch up not once but twice - and long catch ups, with good quality time and conversations. Thank you for everything and we'll definitely be catching up again soon. Hugs to you both!
First!!! Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us. I'm sure it'll help me on my first crossing period
Good luck!
We visited Canada this past August for the second time it two years. No problems going in, as you say no sunglasses, be respectful and answer all questions honestly. I think the white hair on my part might help :) However, coming home this past August we were stopped for an agricultural inspection and they went into the coach. I knew ahead of time about dog food so I told him we had the food under the bed but the slide had to be opened for him to access it. So I opened the slide and lifted the bed and left the coach like that. He went through and came back. He took our lemons and avocados, which my wife wasn't too happy about. He also told us that you can't bring lamb or goat based dog food of any type, including dry, into the US. He allowed us to keep the lamb based food we were carrying because it said on the bag the lamb was US sourced. He also spent a lot of time explaining the issue with citrus and avocados and provided us a complete list of problem items along with his phone number should we want to call the next time we are going to cross the border since the list can change to meet immediate needs or current agricultural issues. Overall, even though they did an inspection of the coach without us in it, they were very polite and we actually learned a few things in the process. Everyone in the station where we were waiting also came over to pet the dog and I don't look upon it as a bad experience at all.
Thanks for sharing your experience Bob. We experienced something very similar coming back into the USA - inspected for agriculture and took our lemons, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Very nice and respectful also. No issues. Just a delay. We also learned a lot.
Must have come back through Sarnia! We had the same experience.
A few years ago, I listened to a security expert talk about the layers of security around the Tel Aviv airport. At the outer perimeter, every car is stopped and asked 3 questions: Who are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you going? He said they don't care about the answers and often don't listen., instead they are looking at the person's reactions - looking at their eyes, the pulse in the jugular vein that kind of thing. He said they have never had an incident at the airport.
Very interesting indeed. Body language speaks loudly!
Informative and fun to watch. Thanks Marc and Julie!
Thanks Marv
Amen you two are Ok and things are good for you two out there. Thanks on the reply. God bless. Lee.
Thanks Lee, just been a busy week and getting caught up on content this weekend. :)
I found this quite interesting since we live in Abbotsford, BC and cross that border with our rig often. Except we’re heading south and enjoying the state parks! Hope you enjoyed you’re time in our part of the country!
We loved our visit to BC and look forward to our next visit.
I am so used to travel with my coach in USA that I am better with your miles by hour than kilometers by hour! I hope you will like Canada as I love USA!
Thanks so much for this very informative video about crossing the border into Canada in an RV. I am a Canadian and discovered, reading RV forums and comments on RVer videos, that many American RVers carry firearms. The conversations put me right off RVing in the US. I'm just not interested in being in a campground with a bunch of people with guns. I also hope that RVs are checked carefully coming into Canada so that I don't have to worry about people with guns in Canadian parks. I don't know how they determine whether or not to search because I'm pretty sure the people I talked to online, who were packin', looked like ordinary middle class Americans. I think the dogs are a very good idea and I'm glad the penalties are stiff. Again, thanks for an excellent vid.!
You're welcome and thanks for sharing your feelings about this. As an Australian - a country where (most) guns have been banned for 20 years - I do understand how you feel. Having lived here in the USA since 2008 and now being married to an American who was former law enforcement (Marc still has his police revolver but not in the RV) I have come to learn just how deeply guns are embedded in the American culture. It was very difficult for me to understand this for the first few years of living here... over time as I have learned more and become more educated by informed and responsible sources, I have come to understand it on a different level. Apparently something like 70% of American's DON'T own guns, so only 30% do, but with a high % of RVers being ordinary middle class Americans AND current or former military, we suspect many people in campgrounds do carry weapons, but we also believe the vast majority are responsible gun owners and store them appropriately. One of our friends once commented that he felt campgrounds were the safest place to be, as if any unstable person came in trying to cause trouble, you'd have half a dozen retired military (and carrying) RVers taking care of the situation pretty quickly! We have never felt unsafe in campgrounds on our travels so far, and we hope you will come and explore the USA by RV as there is so much beauty to see here - as there is in Canada. We meet lots of wonderful people in the RV world - some you'd truly have no idea if they have guns in their R - and we've never felt we were at risk among any of them. But maybe that's also the kinds of people we attract as well. I imagine reading some forums on this topic may be cause for concern, but it's rarely a topic of conversation in our circles.
Julie .
Great and well thought out reply .
Thanks for that well considered reply, Julie. We have a different threshold, I guess. I have visited the US many times in the past and would still fly in and out. I've also been down the Amazon in a dug out canoe and travelled in Central America, Europe, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, trekked in Thailand and Myanmar, been to Kenya, Tanzania and spent some amazing time in Zanzibar. I'm not a timid or nervous traveller, but right now, I just don't think I'd enjoy touring America in an RV. Things change and I expect this will too. The adventures of people like yourself, and others I follow, may convince me otherwise. Again, thanks for your thoughtful reply.
I should also add that there are countries I have travelled to in the past that I would not travel to today. As I'm sure you know, places change, regimes change, etc. I'm not, for a moment, suggesting that America is more dangerous than these other places. I mention them just to illustrate that my threshold for risk is pretty high.
You do realize that many RVers in Canada carry firearms right? lol
If you all decide to start travelling East through B.C., be sure too check the BC Highways Road report if you are going too travel anywhere past Hope, BC. These are nasty times now for the winter season on the Coquihalla Highway. Road conditions there change in a blink of an eye. There is even a TV show about it called, "Highway Thru Hell" ... Hell being the Coquihalla Highway. Good luck!
Geez thanks for the heads up! But this was filmed in early September and we returned to USA by end Sept so didn't drive any further east. Will have to check out Highway through Hell another time - in the summer!
Love your videos and I’m kind of jealous of your life style.
I will soon be a part timer RVier.
Have fun in Canada
Thank you. Glad you enjoy our videos. hopefully you can live the lifestyle soon too.
HERE ARE LINKS TO RELATED BLOG POSTS AND REVIEWS:
Tips for a Smooth Canadian Border Crossing with Your RV: rvlove.com/2017/10/10/tips-smooth-canadian-border-crossing-rv
Campground Review Thousand Trails Tall Chief in WA: rvlove.com/2017/10/05/review-tall-chief-rv-resort-fall-city-wa
Campground Review Thousand Trails Cultus Lake, BC, Canada: rvlove.com/2017/10/11/review-cultus-lake-rv-camping-resort-bc-canada-thousand-trails
RVLove | Marc & Julie Bennett thanks for all the great info! Safe travels & fun adventures!
SUPER WICKED MEGA HAPPY ANNIVERSARY guys!!
Thanks Jim :)
Welcome to Canada! Hope you enjoy your stay with us, eh! :-)
We love Canada and Canadians! Thanks :) eh
Certain types of firearms can legally be imported into Canada by Americans if they do the paperwork in advance, but they must only be used for sporting purposes or protection from wildlife in remote areas.
Yes, but like you said, you need to be very prepared in advance. -M
Yeah, that border crossing is a little tight even for my Class C. Glad you didn't have much hassles crossing. I cross all the time and rarely an issue. It was nice meeting you at TT a few weeks back. I didn't blow your cover on my channel, either! Safe travels.
Yes it sure was a tight lane! Glad to hear you don't have issues crossing the border. Nice meeting you too! Safe travels
Thanks enjoy your Canada sites. may God look over both of you. God bless. Lee.
Thanks Lee!
Sumas, WA! My son and his fam lived there till recently. He was a US Border Patrol Officer. :)
My hubby and I needed to go from Port Huron, MI to NH and ME this past summer, and back again. We’d forgotten to apply for passports early enough and thought we wouldn’t be able to cut through Canada to NY to shorten our drive considerably. I decided to call the customs office at both the Blue Water Bridge in MI and our crossing near Niagara Falls.
To our delight, we were told that if we have valid US drivers licenses and original US birth certificates, we could cross the border without a passport! It worked like a charm and we went from the United States into Canada and then from Canada into the United States back-and-forth without a hitch. They never even searched our 45 foot motorhome nor asked us about food or anything like that. They did ask about firearms and if we had purchased anything. So, all this time we assumed we had to have passports when we actually did not. I know there are also three or four states that have enhanced drivers licenses which do work like passports going into and out of Canada, as well.
Wow that is good to know - thanks Robin for sharing! Glad you made it through without your passports!
Happy Anniversary, y'all !!
Thank you Tim
Cherie on the Mobile Internet Resource Center channel just announced T-Mobile was reducing Canada/ Mexico data usage to 5Gb per month on the 'cross borders' feature of the unlimited plan. Don't know if that will effect you during your Canadian visit.
I guess we timed it well then and were lucky! We didn't get affected as the change seems to have happened after our return but we'll have to update our blog post with that update - thanks for sharing! Haven't watching C&C's update on that yet. We returned to the USA a couple of weeks ago :)
I spent 10 days in Canada first of August in our RV with T-Mobile as my internet, working as well. No problems, no surprises - worked quite well!
Good to hear - ours did too!
I got the text yesterday, they limited my phones all to 5GB each in Mexico and Canada...so they are rolling out the change. Glad I got my trip in!
Good information in this video. Thanks guys!!
vin
Thanks Vin
Hay just came up through the border there to Abbotsford form Barstow California week ago
:)
Actually, you MAY take a firearm. Howevet, NOT a hangun, nor military grade. You can take a hunting rifle as well as 12 guage shotgun. However, you need to have to have a form, you can ger it off the internet and fill it out and be sure to declare it asap with your form in hand. After the normal questioning, they will direct you to the office where they will run your ID's for a more thorough check and will charge you a fee....like $25. It's best not to take ammo, tho. I'm not up to speed on the regs regarding ammo, however, even if it was allowed, i still wouldn't do it. It puts them more at ease. Always check. I would call ahead to make sure. Their website msy not be updated. But with that being ssid, it's always much better to go sans weopons. Less headache snd cost.
Thank you for sharing the extra information. Agreed. some are possible, but better option is to avoid the hassles and go without them.
I was just reading the rules. You can take a handgun but there was a lot of restrictions, a form that you have to fill out and a fee.
I like the answer given by Gone with the Wynns regarding firearms at Canadian border.
It was funny. Democrats also live under the 2nd amendment and many own firearms. There were comments supporting ownership.
You've mentioned some restrictions about food you've got and shouldn't. But get care at what you'll bring back in the us because even if you bring somme citrus bought here and with the us sticker on, you won't be authorize to get it in the us. At some borders large rv could use the commercial lines, check for signs.
Yes, that is right - no citrus allowed! We actually had lemons and limes confiscated on our way back into USA 4 weeks later. Good to know some borders allow large RVs to use commercial lines, especially important for tall RVs
The same does not apply when travelling into Canada, we don't have much of a citrus crop to protect from importing pests.
When I crossed, when my cousin crossed, and others that my ex roommate who is from Canada told me about, they pawed through every single belonging that we had, taking a very long time.
They actually sat me down in their office and questioned me gestapo-style about a laundry list that I had of things I wanted to keep track of that was in my travel bag. An absolutely infuriating and unnecessary experience. That was three years ago and I'm just as bitter today as I was that day. I don't know if I'll ever go back to Canada.
From all the stories I've heard, I suspect that Canada really doesn't want people to visit their country.
Oh dear that sounds like an awful experience! So sorry you had to go through that. Very glad we had a much easier crossing. Hopefully next time you will have an easier experience.
Your last two words are absolutely correct: their country. Not yours. Theirs.
Hopefully T-Mobile doesn't get you deprioritized like we found Rogers, Telus and Bell did for Verizon. We would have decent speeds for 3 to 30 minutes at a time, then nothing or very slow for a while, repeat. We did a couple car day-trips into BC this summer and just spent 9 days in Ontario with the RV.
Lovely! Our T-Mobile worked fine for up to 10GB on personal hotspot connection which is all we used, just heard they have not reduced it to 5GB so we got lucky and squeaked in before the change! Didn't experience any deprioritization.
Very informative video thank you very much! So you guys probably drove right past me, where I've been stuck in the Camping World Parking lot in WA for a month and a 1/2 however tomorrow I am finally picking up my new RV an 2005 allegro Bay. I just started my RV journey August 4th when I left Texas in my 98 pounder that I thought I was going to travel the US in but it pooped out here in Washington lol Hoping I have better luck with the allegro Bay :) Hope you guys had fun in Canada :) I enjoy your videos ...
Oh no! Sorry to heat that but glad you found a new RV continue your travels with - so far our Allegro has been good to us. Safe travels to you and thanks for the well wishes!
You should try using your British because we are a commonwealth country Canada's a commonwealth country with British rule history
With Australia and Canada both being commonwealth countries, Julie has double coverage.
We are Canadian on.the way back the US.
Nice video with good information. We hope to travel through Canada to Alaska eventually and I had heard from other sources that getting an RV through the border was worse than a colonoscopy! They must have been pulling my leg because it doesn't appear to be that difficult.
Well, this is what we notice out there - a lot of people have strong opinions and/or exaggerate. And also why we try to be very balanced in our opinions and experiences. How things go also has a lot to do with one's attitude, we believe.
As long as it's not prohibited in Canada you are allowed to bring it into Canada.
Yes, but many things are prohibited, including many foods and spices, so it is good to be prepared. -M
B.C. = "Bring CASH!" Gas here right now is the most expensive in all of Canada. You'll see at the first gas station you have to fill up at. Enjoy your trip guys.
Luckily we didn't have to fill our gas in Canada the whole time we were there - in either vehicle. Credit cards are widely accepted though. Cheers!
Happy Anniversary !!! Doug from Vegas
Thanks Doug!
Yes you can carry firearm you need a permit their fee is 25.00 ? a lot of Alaskan's carry .
Yes it requires doing some advance homework and planning, completing the relevant documentation and paying a fee.
There are few restrictions such as you must be enroute to Alaska. I dont believe you can carry a handgun. It may have to be a rifle. Just do your homework to save from going to jail.
I'm planning to cross the sweetgrass border end of may first of June wanting t been watching videos and requirements o make it as hassle free as possible
Good you are doing your research. -M
I'm going straight through Canada to alaska
Many people do. Lots of beauty on the way though. -M
I have just come across your video, must be nice to be able to travel with an RV. Julie have you been living in America for awhile
yeah just curious you obviously like it, love to hear from you both if not no sweet thanks again for your videos cheers mate
Yes, the traveling lifestyle can be a lot of fun, even while still working full time. Julie moved to America in 2009, so yes, she has been here a while. Cheers. -M
Verizon also has free calls and data in Canada.
Hey are you two OK not a word of your trip out there. Hope you guys are OK. Lee.
Thanks Lee... we are working on it! Thanks for checking in, we appreciate it! Been a lot going on behind the scenes over here but all good :)
Wow to Canada. I know things out there are way more on cost then us in USA. But I will say I've watched lots of your clips. Just shocked that you got a gas powered RV. Since you went to see other places in Indiana and seen how there built myself I'll go for a pusher with a live tag axle yes they cost more and more to run them but will out last gas powered ones. Also I too live in Colorado and the law here don't take kindly to us in the RV world. Some officers are nice but you get mean ones that try to hurt you if you to them are the wrong color. I'm half Apache other half from dad side from Spain. As in some of these officers are very prejudiced even if he speak correct English LOL. Thanks on your clips. Thumbs up. Lee. indeed
Thanks Lee. We have had our gas motorhome for 3.5 years and it's served us very well for our needs and our budget. Of course, we appreciate the diesels are generally superior in many ways, but you've got to start somewhere and this was our first RV. We are still very happy with our choice but will get something different for our next (2nd) RV. Sorry to hear of the prejudice you have experienced. Enjoy beautiful Colorado. All the best to you!
The RV returns home to Alaska!!!???
Rocky's first trip was from Texas to Alaska, we wouldn't do that to her again! She's been to every state now except Hawaii :) Well traveled bus!
So glad you had an easy entrance into the land of the free --- medical that is!
So are we! Canada is free is many ways, but inexpensive it is not! :)
RVLove | Marc & Julie Bennett just remember it always depends on where you are I'm in Alberta and it's pretty cheap compared to BC, when I was in BC this summer the gas prices were $1.33/L and right now where I live it's about 95.5
Wow, 95.5 a litre?! I look forward to those days! Lately, in Melbourne, Australia, petrol prices have been $1.37+ per litre, which is not that cheap. Today, though, the price for e10 at my local petrol station is $1.17, which is not too bad. I still hope that it'll drop some more to less than $1/L
Yikes that is a big difference! Good point!
Nice video. Just note that contrary to what you said at about 8:00 minutes into the video, you can legally have a revolver in any of the 50 United States you might travel to. At worst, in the most restrictive States you will be expected to keep it unloaded while driving and somewhere out of reach of the driver and passenger seats. And no hollowpoint ammunition is allowed in New Jersey (dumb law but it is what it is).
Do you know if there is a storage area too leave your weapons and ammo? I can't leave all my goodies behind ;)
Hey there, we shared some tips on this here rvlove.com/2017/10/10/tips-smooth-canadian-border-crossing-rv - yes there are options for storage but do plan ahead and do your research in the area you plan to do your border crossing. There are links in the article to do a deeper dive on the rules around firearms.
can u use an enhanced license instead
We believe you can get a special license. There was a special lane for folks that have the special id, as it seems there are many people that cross frequently and would be worthwhile.
with a passport they stamp the page, using up the pages allocated to the passport. u can get a passport card or an enhanced license. same thing except there are no pages to stamp. passport cards and enhanced licenses can't be used for air travel. u show your license or passport card when driving across the border . i have a mariners document i think u can use that but don't quote me on that
Thanks for the info Billy!
Nice video welcome to Canada 🇨🇦
You dual have dual citizenship ?
Thank you - yes I have dual citizenship - Australia/Britain (Julie)
delineator
Can I cross with my birth certificate and my id? I don’t have my enhanced id ☹️
We highly doubt it. We recommend getting a passport before trying to cross.
No, passports are now mandatory.
We have TMobile and had better coverage the than the US.
If you hide the weapon yes. But if you tell worst is you cant get in. No jail
Thanks for sharing.
Its not illegal to take the firearm into any state if your a retired police officer. Hr 318
Hr 218
Dont you have to qual annually. Have carry your docs.
Those are some thick accents
Interesting you think so. I feel her accent is so softened compared to others. -M
Make a sound lol. Lee.
Hi Lee! You're awesome and we appreciate you :)
We are still here and doing well, just juggling a lot... lots of videos and blog posts underway! :)
how do. You get in godsnaam 3 Paspoortstraat?
Pasport
Marc has one - American. Julie has two - Australian and British - as she was born in Australia and has dual citizenship as her Dad is from England. Dual citizenship is allowed, don't think 3 is though! Not quite sure ab
There is a new law in Canada forbiding all hand held gun. Except hunting gun furingbhunting season
Thanks for sharing.
3 weeks no sound yet hum
Hi Lee! Thanks for your patience! We posted one tonight! Next one coming much sooner :) Back to my Alaska vids :) Thanks for checking in on us - we appreciate it!
You needn't worry about bringing citrus into Canada - we don't have a citrus growing industry so border crossing is not looking for that.
Just dont bring your bazooka
You don't need a firearm until you need a firearm.
And our hope is that we never need one, despite being well trained in their use. -M
THE U.S.A of eh ! HUH????????
Safe travels.
Stop saying "EH" you don't do it properly , Canadians don't think about using that phrase , it comes naturally , when Americans say it they sound dumb ...stick to uhuh ! BTW if i was a border guard and you said that to me i would turn you around right quick !
Thanks for your feedback. This video is a couple years old now, and we don't make a practice of using 'eh' in our dialog. -M
@@Rvlove Great , is is just like Canadians saying y'all , we NEVER say that , and if we did we would probably use it in the wrong context , just like American using EH at the end of every sentence , Canadians don't use it all the time just when it is proper , and like i said earlier we use it naturally and without consciously thinking of using it !