~~~Crossing the Canadian Border with Ease~~~

Knowing that a lot of my RVing friends will be heading to Canada & Alaska this summer I wanted to help them NOT go through what we did... "STRESS"



Last year we took off heading for the Alaskan territory and knowing we had to cross over the Canadian border in our motorhome right away started giving us all a great deal of stress & worry... We looked up many sites on the internet checking out what we could and could not take over the border. Many of them had different do's & don'ts. Finally after much research, help from my Canadian friends & actually contacting the customs border here is what we came up with...

We crossed the border 4 times and never had any problems!

The most important things to remember are:

 When you pull up to the border patrol turn off your engine
 Remove your sunglasses
 Only answer the questions they ask…
 Do NOT offer any additional information .... repeat this advice again
 I made an inventory list of all the food I had in the coach but they never asked for it. (Thanks Sue for this advice)
 Have all shot records updated & current for your pets
 Passports up to date, signed and ready to hand to them
 Insurance card from your insurance company for Canada travel (yellow card) Ask your agent about it.
 They will ask where you worked and what you did

Weapons:

 We carry a hand gun with us... we pretty much already knew this was a big no no so we left it with our daughter in their gun safe. You can take rifles with some kind of permit but we were not hunting so this didn't apply to us.
 We also had a BB gun which if under a certain pressure could go. I think over 500 pounds of pressure but not sure... Ours was too strong so we gave it away to a lady in the last RV Park that we stayed in before entering Canada.

Liquor:

This was my greatest worry.... LOL LOL
 I have several bottles in a cabinet and just knew they were going to confiscate them... but guess what. If it is for personal consumption you have no worries... make sure they are open and at least 1 drink out of them. Now I did have a few new ones but I broke the seal I just told them they were all for personal use.
 Beer… I believe is 24 bottles or cans… we don’t drink beer so it didn’t apply to us.

Food:

 You can NOT take any food over the border with a pit in it….Period!
 I had a freezer outside full of meat … they never asked but from what I understood was if it was for personal use it was ok to have
 The fridge was stocked with milk, eggs, butter, everyday foods, some fresh veggies, potatoes and onions… I never offered info and only answered their questions.
 Pet food is ok... the dry food we kept the bag just in case they asked what brand it was but they didn't... we also took canned food.

NOTE: remember I did have a full inventory list of all the food & liquor in the coach in case they wanted more detail

Telephone: Just for your info ...

 Turn off your AT&T... they do not have a great Canada coverage and it cost to much to add it. BUT with Verizon for $20 dollars you can add Canada coverage to your plan & then cancel it when you come back out!

Don’t be afraid… This is what worked for us. Neither our friends nor us were ever searched but another friend kidded around about how much beer he had and they search his rig… Hench do not offer info!!! Because they'll tear it apart BUT you have to put everything back… & they do not allow you in the coach when they are searching it which I wouldn't like….

I sure hope this might have helped someone... and I hope I didn't miss something! Just contact me if you have questions

Have Fun, Travel Safe & Stay Healthy!!!