Thanks, Sally, for the 'heads up.'
                       Bruce
At 07:36 AM 8/10/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>I thought the following information might be of use to those of you
>driving and flying to Canada.
>
>For everyone, however you are arriving, the best is to bring your
>passport. For kids, provided you are either a US or Canadian citizen,
>photo ID is obviously good enough (even here, we travelled to and from
>the US by air in the last few days with a child and an expired passport
>with baby photo plus birth certificate ie no current photo, and had no
>problems in either country). I have heard that Canadian
>customs/immigration are on a periodic "go slow" but we experienced no
>problems yesterday at all at the Toronto airport.
>
>For those driving, check out the following web site for border crossing
>times:
>
>http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/times/menu-e.html
>
>Some driving tips -- we have found that the lines were enormous coming
>into Canada from the Detroit area on Friday afternoon-evening and going
>back to the US on Sunday afternoon-evening. I would avoid those times
>like the plague if you can. Going in the opposite directions each time,
>there was no trouble at all. If you are coming at Niagara from the
>Buffalo New York area, sometimes you can simply see the traffic on the
>bridges and adjust where you cross.
>
>One last thing, if you are travelling to the US from Toronto (I can't
>speak to the other airports) allow a TON of time. You pre-clear US
>customs and immigration and it is very, very slow. You will need a
>minimum of two hours. Air Canada will likely make sure you make your
>flight (they pull out those on near to leave flights) but other airlines
>I have heard do not necessarily accommodate. So allow yourself plenty of
>time and you will be able to relax and laugh at all the twitches.
>
>Basically, the rule of thumb is that most of us aren't very familiar
>with our own country's custom/immigration hiccoughs but acutely aware of
>others. What I mean by that is, you might think that Canada officials
>are sticklers but that is likely because you are seldom, if ever, come
>to the US as a non-US citizen.  If you assume crossing the border will
>be something of a pain, you will be just fine and probably whip thru' in
>record time!!
>
>Sally
>