Interacting with Border Patrol when going to an Oppo Meet

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678) 05/15/2019 at 12:03 • Filed to: None

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As part of CoFL’s #content for the recent PNW Oppo meet in B.C I figured I would tell the story of my interaction with Border Patrol going from the US to Canada. When crossing the border, there is an officer in a booth that you have a quick interaction with before being allowed into the country. Depending on the security/threat level at the time, you might get more or fewer questions. In this instance there were just a few but it was funny considering the circumstances.

BP: Where do you live?

Me: Los Angeles, California.

BP: Where did you come from today?

Me: Seattle.

BP: Where are you going?

Me: Vancouver and then to Whistler for the weekend.

BP: When are you leaving?

Me: Sunday.

BP: Who are you meeting with?

Me: (INTERNAL PANIC) Friends.

BP: Where did you meet these friends?

Me: (MORE INTERNAL PANIC) On an internet forum. (This sounded super sketchy to me and I wondered if I was about to be strip searched and deported)

BP: Have you ever met these friends in real life?

Me: (DOES HE THINK IM A TERRORIST GOING TO A BOMB CONVENTION??) Yes, in Seattle a few months ago (I’ve met CoFL before in Seattle so it was true!)

BP: What kind of internet forum?

Me: For cars.

BP: What kind of cars?

Me: Weird cars I guess?

BP: Uhh okay, have a nice stay then!

Me: Thanks.

...

It was much more benign than my internal thoughts were saying of course but it was still a funny interaction to me. Explaining to border patrol that I am meeting with random internet strangers that I share memes and stories and pictures with. Thankfully I didnt get murdered by internet strangers and it turned out to be a great group of fellow enthusiasts. Maybe next time at the border I should worry less since it really wasnt as stressful as I was making it out to be haha.

For Sweden > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:08

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Are weird cars less dangerous than not-weird cars?

Dogsatemypants > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:09

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A mountie always gets his man!

RallyWrench > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:12

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Going to Canada for some french fries and gravy, sir...

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:13

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When I visited in 2011, I guess the threat level was higher and two brothers in a vw beetle looked intimidating LOL

We were asked pretty thorough questions, and the immigration lady asked us a few questions multiple times. I’m guessing she was making sure we answered the same way to see if we were lying.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:13

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Me: Weird cars I guess?

fintail > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:15

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Having Nexus is worth it, I effectively get waved through.  My grandfatherly cars might help with that, now that I think about it.

facw > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:19

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I got a customs person mad at me at YVR once. Had told them I was travelling alone, so then they felt they had caught me in a lie when I told them I was there for a ski trip with friends. She was only partially satisfied when I told her I had flown in by myself and was meeting with the rest later. Never had any other trouble crossing into Canada, including the time I went with two young children who didn’t share a last name with any of the adults in the car .

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:19

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I had to get a Canadian work visa for a job I was doing in Halifax from late 2016 through mid 2017. My first trip up there I get off the plane, it’s like 10 PM, and head to the Customs counter with a huge packet of paperwork. The custom s officers were as friendly and helpful as every Canadian stereotype had led me to believe they would be, but I learned several key things.

DO NOT TELL THEM YOU ARE FLEEING THE U.S. TO GET AWAY FROM TRUMP. One young lady from our company said this with a chuckle. The Canadian Customs officers laughed. She laughed. Then they put her on the very next flight back to the US and told her not to come back. She was not laughing.

DISCLOSE EVERYTHING. IF YOU HAVE DIRT, THEY WILL FIND IT. Another coworker had some issue (a DUI, I think) from like 8 years prior that he didn’t disclose on his investigation. They found out about it and much like the young lady above, was put on the next plane back to the US and told he would not be working in Canada. 

OPPOsaurus WRX > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:23

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BP: What kind of cars?

you should have responded with something saying that manuals are the superior race.  

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:23

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I crossed once at night to get gas in my truck and the US border guard asked “are you leaving anything behind?”

and I answered “only pollution”

she did not enjoy that answer

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor 05/15/2019 at 12:25

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I was glad to get none of that in either direction. Going back into the US the agent only questioned that I was there for only 2 days. Apparently that was super short and weird. But other than just giving me a strange look, it was fine. Ive had much more trouble going back into the US before, but the last time I did that I was driving a Miata with NJ plates and a giant suitcase strapped to the trunk. 

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/15/2019 at 12:26

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Well yeah honesty is certainly key. I could have certainly gotten away with not talking about the “random internet strangers” part. But its just easier to be truthful even if its awkward. 

Milky > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:27

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From my many crossings while dating a Canadian, their side never gave me problems. U.S. border patrol on the other hand searched my car a few times and could be super picky about how you worded things. Catching you in a “lie” is their fun hobby.

On the other hand I had one exchange go like: “what were you doing in Canada?”

“Went on a date last night. ”

*hands passport back* “nice.”

That was the entire conversation.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > For Sweden 05/15/2019 at 12:28

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I mean I suppose since I was showing up in a MURICAN Dodge Charger, I didnt want to be like “I AM HERE TO BREAK ALL OF YOUR SPEED LAWS AND GENERALLY BE A HOOLIGAN”. I figure focusing on the brown station wagon part is more friendly sounding. 

For Sweden > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/15/2019 at 12:30

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Trudeau’s Canada is cruely  turning back refugees and political prisoners smh

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Milky 05/15/2019 at 12:31

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Yeah, returning was actually even fewer questions surprisingly. I’ve found going into the US, even at the airport, is generally always more of an interrogation. It is certainly part of why it takes so damn long to get through customs when returning home from a flight. I can never understand why it takes 5-10 minutes tops to get through in European countries but the US often takes 45min to an hour. 

For Sweden > fintail 05/15/2019 at 12:38

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If you register your large Japanese sedan with the program, you would have a Lexus Nexus.

someoneatacura > For Sweden 05/15/2019 at 12:38

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yeah but at least we can get high

For Sweden > someoneatacura 05/15/2019 at 12:39

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Makes living in Canada more bearable.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:40

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I think you were fine. My cousin is in the US Border Patrol and wow, the things they hear and see. The internet strangers thing is a little eyebrow raising, but you clarified that it’s a car blog, so he probably assumed you were going to like a cruise in or car show or something. It’s not that weird.  

someoneatacura > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:43

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I remember an interesting cross through the BC/Washinton board a few years back (heading to W ashington). My sister-in-law is loves to be in these high stakes/tension situations so she can try to talk even more than what the board agent requires, but in a way that wouldn’t get you in trouble. We were heading to a AirBnB in Birch Bay for the weekend and we were asked the routine questions where are you going, how long etc etc. The agent asked me (I was driving) where it is, and after telling them the address she asked “is it nice there?”. Boarder agent played it perfectly, with a sarcastic “I don’t know I’ve never stayed at that AirBnB before”.

Fun times.

functionoverfashion > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:46

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Almost 10 years ago now I drove into Canada via Maine overnight to pick up a car that a friend had imported from Germany. I thought crossing the border was going to be dicey because I discovered - while waiting in line at customs on the way up - that my passport expired the next day.

Amazingly, we got the car and squeaked through the border at 8:00pm with no issues with my passport expiration OR the imported car. It was one of the first things I ever wrote about on Oppo and the pics are gone, but the post is still up:

https://functionoverfashion.kinja.com/how-not-to-import-an-e30-wagon-1522870824

Fast forward a decade and the car sits in a garage, status unknown beyond “ran when parked.” 

fintail > For Sweden 05/15/2019 at 12:49

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I remember that was a thing back in the day:

https://www.apnews.com/84c39afcb1a5a5e74c216995741338f2

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/15/2019 at 12:50

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Well yeah I didnt say “internet strangers” haha. Thats why I just said “friends”. But being asked where I met the friends through off my plan of just not disclosing the internet part. I mean I wonder what it would be like if you were meeting up with people you met on Grindr or something haha. I mean I suppose they are used to worse though like you said.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:52

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Single male, driving a rental car, only out of the country for a short period of time. That is pretty much the exact profile for trafficking drugs. I don’t know what people bring in from Canada, though. Drugs, inc. said a lot of Molly comes thru Detroit via Canada. Maybe weed? I don’t know much about any of that haha

lone_liberal > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:54

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I drove a friend of mine home to Calgary from Spokane one time. He had flown to Spokane from Singapore for a quick college reunion after spending a year teaching English so the border crossing was not routine. I think we were there an hour before they decided he wasn’t an international drug smuggler and let us through to enjoy the wonders of Canadia.

McMike > For Sweden 05/15/2019 at 12:55

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Mustangs aren’t weird, so yes ?

benn454 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:59

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When I was 5, I went with my aunt and grandmother to visit some family friends in Maine. We lived in the Midwest, so my aunt thought it would be fun to drive through Ontario and visit Canada instead of going up the Eastern Seaboard.

I don’t really remember much, but I do recall us being directed to get out of the car and go into the border station. Apparently, the Mounties were concerned that I may have been kidnapped. I was asked to identify my grandmother. It went something like this:

Mountie: What is your name?

5 year old me: *I tell him my name”

Mountie: *points at my grandmother* Who is this?

Me: Grandma

Mountie: What’s her name?

Me: Grandma

So, after more questioning and a long distance phone call to my mother in Illinois, the Mounties were satisfied that I was not, in fact, kidnapped by my own grandmother and aunt and we were allowed to enter the country.

Party-vi > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 12:59

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BP: What kind of cars?

Me: Weird cars I guess?

Like an angel getting their wings, somewhere a Mod got their banhammer.

Aremmes > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 13:12

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Canadian border agents super nice and very professional. One would be hard-pressed to spend more than five minutes at the border post if they don’t find anything suspicious.

US border agents, OTOH, seem to default to guilty-until-proven-innocent mode, and will stall you on purpose to see if you break down. Except the one border agent on the Detroit side of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel one day, who saw my driver’s license and said “H ey, I used to live there! How are things over there nowadays?”, and after a little bit of conversation let me go through.

diplodicus forgot his password > Snuze: Needs another Swede 05/15/2019 at 13:18

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They probably would have turned your coworker with the dui away even if it was previously disclosed. They take that seriously.

TorqueToYield > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 13:20

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A Canadian border guard (jokingly) yelled at me because I didn’t know it was Canada Day (July 1st). Frankly I didn’t even know what Canada Day was at the time and he got even madder and started saying how everybody knows July 4th but Americans don’t know about Canada Day. He was nice but the US border guards are just dicks.

simonkhtse > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 13:29

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“Weird cars I guess?”

Thanks. I am stealing that line for my next trip down to Seattle when I go there for a meet.

No joke though, some people just can’t comp rehend driving just for the sake of driving.

5-6 years ago I drove my car down to Olympia, WA for a FinalGear cruise around the Olympic National Park, and told the border guard that I was just going down to cruise with a bunch of random people for essentially the entire day. 

He looked extremely confused until he looked in my backseat where my camera gear was.

“Oh! You are going down there to take photos!”

“... Yes, I am taking photos down there!”

“Okay you can go now.”

TheRealBicycleBuck > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 13:31

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I have a similar issue any time I want to share information or stories I found on Oppo.

Me: Let me tell you about this great thing!

Other Person: Neat, where did you hear about it?

Me: Uhhhh, well there’s this great group of people I hang out with online....

It’s happened often enough with my wife and a few friends that Oppo is now known to them as the “forum”. That’s really the best way to refer to Oppo without going into any details.

smobgirl > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 13:53

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Hahaha, I had a similar panic reaction the last time I drove out of Montreal. We had stopped at Walmart and gotten a bunch of candy that the US doesn’t sell and border patrol  were grilling us about it. In hindsight, I think we were on the verge of getting searched for Kinder Eggs but I didn’t understand what was going on at the time!

Nick Has an Exocet > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 13:57

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Border protection exchanges can be funny on occasion. I once crossed through Ireland on my way to the UK for work.

Dublin agent: Where are you headed?

Me: Glasgow.

Dublin agent laughs.

Dublin agent: Enjoy the weather.

Dublin agent laughs somewhat maniacally and hands me back my passport.

Glasgow is known for having the worst  weather anywhere.

RPM esq. > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor 05/15/2019 at 14:01

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Prescription drugs. And n ot necessarily for recreational abuse, often medicine for people who can’t afford to buy their prescriptions in the U.S . I’m not joking.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 14:09

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Similar situation going to the uk. As I’m answering it suddenly occurs, this kinda sounds like I’m joining isis

Guy” why do you have 5 locations for your place to sta6y”

“Where are these friends from”

“Oh UK, Germany, Belgium, France, “ guys eyes just start to widen..

“How many”

“Uh I think about 16 folks”

So why are you nervous?

Uh never traveled internationally before alone

Mid Engine > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 14:11

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I live in Seattle and until recently was a Canadian citizen (I now have dual). All the border people ask me a bout is guns, and what goods I’m bringing with me into the country that they can tax me on. Anything I leave behind in the country, even gifts, are taxed. That’s pretty much all they care about, how much they can tax me.  

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > RPM esq. 05/15/2019 at 14:21

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Sadly, this makes a lot of sense.

DC3 LS, Fuck Hyundai, now and forever > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 14:33

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I’ll start posting various terrorist manif estos here to make your next crossing more interesting :^)

His Stigness > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 14:33

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You’re meeting random internet strangers on Sunday too, and this time you won’t be in Canada, so you may get murdered.

But seriously, it’s always funny to explain where we all meet.

“Just some random dudes I met on an obscure car blog. Yeah, it’s totally cool and I won’t die.” 

Chariotoflove > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 14:42

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My interaction on the bridge leaving Detroit.

Him: Do you have anything to declare?

Me: Just these doughnuts. Want one?

Him.  Move along.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/15/2019 at 14:57

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Well yeah I said “internet forum” more speci fically since that would make the most sense.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > simonkhtse 05/15/2019 at 15:03

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Considering I’ve seen signs like this in LA:

It seems that people are sometimes very against this concept for whatever reason. There was a new one put up at “the snake” on mulholland highway near home. The road hasnt been open for months but im sure once its open if that sign is enforced, it will be a shit show. 

simonkhtse > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 15:07

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This is entirely new to me. How does this even get enforced? 6 hours is also such a long period I just don’t understand lol

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 16:22

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On the way back into the US, they asked if we were bringing anything back with us. We neglected to mention Tim-Tam. We're probably fugitives now.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > simonkhtse 05/15/2019 at 16:39

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yeah im not really sure. The article I found that image in was referencing some outdated law about gays cruising the streets looking for hookups or something crazy. But it has been reapplied in the canyons, at least at that particular spot. I have witnessed a guy in a rental miata doing donuts in the middle of the street there sooo its not super surprising that there is an attempt at cracking down on people being there.

Shit like this:

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/15/2019 at 19:27

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Reminds me of the time I went on a 9 day 7,600 km road trip (from Canada, down the California coast line). When we got down to San Diego we seriously debated on driving into Mexico, just for the sake of saying that I have driven to Mexico. It didn’t feel like the right thing to do. On our way back into Canada, the exchange with the border crossing agent went something like:

Agent: Did you go to Mexico?
Me: No.
Agent: Did you modify your car in any way?
Me: I had to replace a burned out headlight. It’s a stock part.
Agent: Are you sure you didn’t go to Mexico?
Me: No.
Agent: Alright. Go ahead.

Good thing they didn’t ask anything about the 9 cases of various flavours of Mountain Dew we had in the trunk.

ranwhenparked > Milky 05/15/2019 at 20:44

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That’s usually been the case with me, except one time they pulled me over for enhanced screening - took my laptop in the back for awhile, took everything out of the car and spread it on the ground, wanted confirmation that I had a hotel reservation, wanted to know how much exactly I had in my checking account, etc. I think it was probably because I was going through Ogdensburg solo at like 2am.

Every time before and since I’ve breezed right thorough. 

Milky > ranwhenparked 05/16/2019 at 09:21

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Went through your laptop? No shit, that sounds intense.

Couple of the times they just went through my bags, not weird. Once though I was actually pulled over “randomly”, not even at the crossing   and they had a dog smell it’s way through my entire car.

ranwhenparked > Milky 05/16/2019 at 11:04

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yeah, it’s never happened before or since. It was a company-issued laptop in one of those aluminum cases with a combo lock, which I guess could have factored in. They took it in back, then came back out and asked for my login Id and password, then went in back again for about 30 minutes, gave everything back and I was free to go.