Crossing From Canada into the US

One of the stops my son and I made on our 2 week roadtrip a couple weeks ago was in Ontario, Canada. I had never crossed the border before by car so I was a little nervous just because I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Well, our first crossing into Canada was pretty easy (but that’s a different blog post). But then came our trip back to the US. That’s not to say it was difficult, but it was definitely different.

To start with, we were crossing in a much busier area. This time, we were crossing at Niagara Falls. It was bound to be busy. That being said, it was a beautiful sight crossing the bridge and seeing the falls. It was one good reason to hang out in the right lane while you’re on the bridge. But once those 2 lanes go into the lanes where you talk to border control, it’s a free for all. Seriously, it went from 2 lanes to something like 12 lanes. And it was chaos. Some lines seemed to move faster than others so you really had no idea how long it was going to take. While we were in line, there was an officer walking around with a dog, sniffing cars. He ended up circling our car multiple times, which made me a little uncomfortable, but he soon moved on. I wasn’t concerned because we were hiding anything. I was more concerned that we would have to get our car searched.

When we got to the front of the line and it was our turn, I was ready. I had our passports out, a list of all the things we were bringing back that we bought while in Canada, our itinerary from Canada, and all our other travel documents. I rolled down my window and my son’s window in the backseat. The man asked for our passports, which I gave him. This time, unlike when going into Canada, we were asked many more questions. He asked what kinds of things we bought while we were there. What kind of things did we do? How long were we there? He asked my son how he knew me. And when he answered that I was his mom, the man asked him if he was sure.

While the experience wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, it did feel slightly more hostile than when we arrived in Canada.

Overall, it was a fairly simple process. It just might take a while depending on when you go. Hopefully, it’s not too difficult for you if you choose to cross here!