Border Adventure

I’m so excited to blog today because I actually have something meaningful to share!

No, I’m not preggers, yet, thanks for your interest but I will share with you all when that happens :)

So, I went back to YVR for the Easter-long and a short trip to Bellingham was planned with the gals from BBBS before I left. I reminded myself to bring passport about 10000X times when I packed. But I must have been possessed because I DID forget to bring my passport at the end. Don’t ask me how that happened; at least I remember to bring my bras and undies, right?!?

After a brief discussion with the Gals, reading up on people’s experience crossing the border without proper documents (have to say, not much details), and official websites like this one, I was pretty sure that I would be alright since I have my driver’s license and citizenship card. Besides, my AB DL looks kinda like the Enhanced DL that BC offers now for people who do not want to bring their passport when crossing the US border by land and air. I was gonna be a-o-k, nothing to worry about!

When I told H and M (two other galfriends) about this, they were convinced that I would not be able to go. They even had that officer “NO” look on their face which got me quite worried. Man, did they ever scared me, I couldn’t sleep well the night leading to our trip. The entire night I rehearsed a speech in my head to tell the officer how sorry I was that I forgot my passport at home, and swear I would never ever forget it again. Not to mention telling the officer that I live in Calgary now and imply how stupid I am…also planning to throw in a few teardrops at the right moments when it comes…

Anyhoo, what actually happened was, we got through! Well, after a few hassles, but yes, all of us in the car got through with no problem and I would say the overall experience was not traumatic at all. We did have to wait in the queue (in person, not in the car) for about 40 minutes because many other people, like me, did not have proper documents, but there was no queue when driving to the border kiosk, so I would say the overall wait was reasonable. Four of us had a great time catching up too so we weren’t bothered by the wait at all. Lastly, some of the officers who worked in the office were kinda cute and so it made it an even more enjoyable experience!

Here’s what happened step by step:

• Our car pulled up at the US border entry kiosk…our hearts pounded…



• The (young) officer asked for our documents, we presented 3 PP and my ABDL and my citizenship car. We kept a nervous smile on our face to greet officer



• Officer asked where we lived, driver said Vancouver and one person in Calgary



• Officer asked who did not have PP, I raised my hand and said it was me…keep nervous smile, trying to look innocent



• Officer asked why I don’t have my PP, I said I forgot to bring it, apologetically



• Officer gave us an orange slip, kept our documents and asked us to drive to the office for further instruction



• We pulled over, went in to the office and waited in a bank-like queue for about 40 minutes…chat quiety, laugh loud amongst ourselves



• The (hunky) Latino officer greeted us…Good sign



• He then and asked if all of us had PP. Our driver accidentally responded “Yes”, I mean, we do, but I just forgot to bring it! So I added “I forgot to bring it”. Hunky officer said jokingly “Oh good, you scared me”…atmosphere relaxed further, even better sign!



• He retrieved our documents and joked about how awful I looked in my citizenship card, “Is this you?”…nervous laugh, but hey, also a good sign!



• He asked a couple of close-ended questions like “So was this not a planned trip so you didn’t bring your passport?” and then let us go!!!



• He did say at the end “don’t forget to bring your passport next time” though. I was ready to give him a handshake, but I don’t think the feelings were mutual...

That concludes my border crossing adventure!!

I should also give the Canadian border officer some points too because he also did his duty and asked me why I didn’t have my passport when we returned to Vancouver the end of the day. Have to say though, most points for looking cute! He went very very close to our Driver which made her quite happy because she claimed that he looked like Tom Cruise.

The moral of this story is that border officers are not all mean people! Just make sure you’re not doing anything truly illegal and you’ll be alright J Now I can check “leaving the country without my passport” off as one adventurous risk I’ve taken. I do not recommend that you try what I did though, because I was so so so so afraid that I might not get through and ruin the day for everyone!