• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

My Fellow Canadians

wecm31

Luddite Looney
Getting me and my posse geared up for the ride to the rally in Bloomsburg and a question has come up.

There will be three of us, each on our own bikes. This will be my first two wheeled border crossing, none of us have any serious issues with legality of the border, but long hair and radical ideas can be problem enough:brow

The question is, do we process through customs one at a time and regroup on the other side? Or given that we are travelling together for a common purpose, do we ride up together and face the man as a team?? Whats the norm?
 
Not a Canadian but have crossed the border many times. When traveling with a group I've never been allowed to the checkpoint as a group. One vehicle at a time; the others stay back several meters until told to advance one at a time.

And officers on the Canadian side are much more human. Ours are required to have no sense of humor, and to express no emotion.
 
I've crossed many times. In groups and alone. Either way is OK. DON'T FORGET YOUR PASSPORT.
You are riding BMWs, right?
Give strait, truthful (as much as possible), direct answers (Yes SIR/MAM, No SIR/MAM). Keep your 'radical ideas' to yourself. Know where you are going and when you will return (very common questions).
When asked something like, 'how much cash do you have on you?', the correct answer is NOT, 'None of your business!' I've heard that answer and it cost the whole group 1/2hr wait while the idiot went through secondary inspection. By the way, it is their business.
Leave any recreational phamarceuticals at home.
Any prescriptrion drugs should be in original bottle, not five days supply thrown into a zip-lock.
Borders always stress me out a bit, but keep in mind that the border agents are just doing their jobs and they actaully want you to enter their country and spend money.
speed safely...see you in Bloomsburg!
:ca
 
Oh yeah...
Remove helmet or flip up chin guard so they can see your face.
Remove sunglasses.
 
WE live only 15 miles from the Border so we cross many times a year.

Be carefull of programed responses.

I have been asked many strange things, pay attention!

They will try to trip you up to see if you are hiding something.

Turn the bike off they like that!
 
Last edited:
You definitely have to go through one by one. They want the passport and want to ask you some questions. I have never had any issue crossing either way on trips which I did four times last year. I don't know which way you are going but they it took more time at the smaller check points. They have less traffic or no traffic and have more time. Niagara Falls they waived me through immediately. When I crossed out of Quebec into Vermont they had lots of time to talk, same with the ferry crossing at Walpole Algonac. You can tell they are trained to to take everything you say and question it further, just forget the small talk as it just makes them ask more questions.
 
I've crossed a few times in various locations. Always travelling with my hubby. We usually pull up together unless one of us is directed otherwise. I've been asked to remove my sunglasses and asked a few mundane questions but have had no problems.

During the Vermont rally a few years back, a few of us took a ride and crossed at a rather obscure point. As we pulled up, the officer stopped us to say that the border was closed to BMW's as they've already reached their quota for the day. Love a guy with a sense of humor! :brow
 
In my experiences crossing with a group, usually the lead bike will proceed alone at first. Sometimes the border guard will have each bike proceed in turn, other times they will wave the group up together with the first. Basically I figure you may upset them if you assume all should move up in a group, but less likely to do so if you assume to proceed one at a time and let them make the call.

I've never had any problems, never been searched or grilled in depth. I have had a few odd questions posed to me, likely to test my reactions. All in all, if you should not have any problems as long as you don't go creating them.
 
I highly recommend approaching the primary inspection booth one bike at a time.

There are plate reading cameras at work and having more than one bike in frame at a time causes issues so the plate numbers have to be entered manually.

It's actually faster to go through one at a time and the officers prefer it that way.
 
angysdad said:
Any prescriptrion drugs should be in original bottle, not five days supply thrown into a zip-lock.

This has always been a challenge for me. I take four meds: baby aspirin and three prescriptions; none of the prescriptions is even a scheduled drug. The pills are small, but they come in large bottles. The labels wouldn't fit on something smaller, and would be destroyed in any event if I tried to remove them. Carrying the bottles would double the size of my shaving kit - and that's significant, as my wife and I like to travel very light, often multiple-week trips carrying only daypacks.

In the past, I've just decanted the pills all together into a single, smaller bottle. I've flown a lot, including month-long international trips, and haven't had an ICE or TSI person even open the shaving kit.

Any other ideas? How do others deal with this issue?
 
Last edited:
I live in a small town so things might be different here, but I simply ask my neighborhood pharmacist to put copies of my prescription labels on a smaller bottle. Then I decant a few day's worth of meds from the large bottles to the smaller.

Not sure if a chain pharmacy would be receptive, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Pete
 
Thanks for the responses, one at a time it is!!

I am otherwise okay with the border process, I fly/drive in/out of the US several times a year. Customs is not something to fool with, they are by far the most powerful officals in our world. They don't need rhyme or reason to ruin your trip!! I have stamps from both Cuba and Vietnam in my passport, always wondered if I would be identified as a commie! (I'll leave the NDP membership card at home)

Good tip on the meds; I do haul vitamins and aspirin around. But they aren't prescription so hopefully its not an issue.

Tuck in the pony tail, flip the lid, pull the sunglasses off, shut 'er down and don't forget to SMILE!!:lol
 
I find Canadian Customs more inquisitive than US Customs. Probably because we all have guns and are rude. I am heading up to Sault Ste Marie Friday to start my trip across Canada to Nova Scotia. I find the Canadian people generally more friendly and considerate. I cannot wait to see new parts of the country as well as some of our favorites. Quebec is just the best. I can't help but feel I am in Europe when there and the ride along the St. Lawrence is simply great and never ending. Not enough of us on this side of the border travel there or know anything about Canada. Maybe that is best as I see what we did to Niagara Falls.
 
Probably because we all have guns and are rude.


A current issue in Canada is arming the customs agents. Never mind that the US Customs carry guns, like many of their citizens, in Canada not even the border guards have guns.
 
Different Experiences in U.S and Canada

Canadian customs are much more human. Going through Canadian Customs at Sault Ste Marie last summer my buddy and I rode up individually. We each had two questions posed to us. Mine were: 1) Where are you going? and 2) Where are you from? My buddy who rode through next was asked: 1) Are you with him (me)? and 2) Do you have any weapons? The whole process for both of us combined took maybe two minutes max.

Coming back into the U.S in NE Minnesota (Hwy 21 revisited), the U.S. customs officer was much more inquisitive. Didn't ask what my favorite color was but asked dang near everything else. It took at least 10 minutes. I guess two old guys on motorcycles in full ATGATT look suspicous.

So yes, ride up individually and just answer the questions. I do not think they would appreciate any attempt at humor.
 
So yes, ride up individually and just answer the questions. I do not think they would appreciate any attempt at humor.

Have to share a border crossing story...

Was coming back from a week in Nova Scotia, crossing back into the states at Calais, Maine. The US Customs agent was a drop dead gorgeous blonde, tall, slim, bright blue eyes and oh-so sexy in her olive drab jumpsuit with paratrooper boots.

She was absolutely stone-faced. Not one shred of any emotion aside from a bit of annoyance at finding me in front of her. "Take off those sunglasses!" she barked, and I was embarrassed that I'd forgotten to do that. "Where are you from? Where did you go? What are you bringing back with you?"

Rapid fire questions, and I had difficulty hearing her because of the straight-piped Harley blipping his throttle impatiently fifty feet behind me. She pointed to the Harley rider. "Is he with you?"

I looked in my mirror at the other rider. He was in full pirate regalia: leather vest with patches, earrings, chaps, full beard, Yoko Ono sunglasses. He was also perhaps the most filthy human being I'd ever seen. "No, ma'am," I responded. "I ride a Beemer and he's on a Harley."

She looked puzzled and asked, "Aren't all you biker types brothers?"

"Yes, ma'am. But some of us bathe!"

For just a micro-second a delighted smile flitted across her face. Then the stone returned and she waved me on.
 
Boarder

My story from last summer. Buddy and I crossed from Alexandria Bay, NY into Canada. When we crossed back we were on a very small road and they did spend more time asking questions. How hard can the answers be if you are legal. We went single file. 60 miles latter on small 2 lane road in upstate NY came over a rise and there is a 3 or 4 car Boarder Patrol road block. I went through first and was asked three questions that I had the same one word answer.
1. Are you a US citizen? Yes
2. Do you know the biker behind you? Yes
3. Is he a US citizen? Yes
Waved us both through
 
I have crossed the US/Canadian border many times. It is my observation that the Canadian guards look more closely at returning Canadian citizens and that the US guards do likewise for returning US citizens. Most days they are just looking to make sure you declare any thing you have bought across the border.

The two exceptions I have encountered are:

1) When traveling to Canada for work, I have been closely questioned as to the nature of the work, although this was only somewhat testy on one occasion.

2) When returning to the US on September 20, 2001, the heavily armed US guards were very interested in everyone.
 
Crossing north at Buffalo in +95 degree in a two hour traffic jam, the RT was over heating we had pull off twice. When we finally pulled up to the Canadian Guard we gave him the passports and started to take off the hemlets and he said "Roadcrafters hot Eh" YES we replied in two part harmony. He handed us back the passports and waved us on. Best break of the day.
A couple of times we have been asked to dismount the bike and read the plate to them. I did not ask why.
I consider boarder crossing stops has dangerous has toll booths. The lanes are covered auto fuilds that one can easily slip and fall. How come those lanes are never cleaned?
Love Canada and have always had a great time with great food. It is nice not to hear the F word for a entire week.
Tony
 
Voni and I go into Canada once or twice a year typically. One of us rides to the entry. The other stops back at the stop sign. Sometimes the first one is asked if we are together and then the second of us is motioned forward. Sometimes they act as if the second bike is not even there until they are done with the first one. It depends on the person at the gate I guess.
 
Back
Top