Crossing International Borders: A Top Road Trip Question

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This is actually one of the most common questions I get asked from other road trippers. For some, it may seem like a common/simple task, but if you’ve never crossed a border before, you may wonder what it`s like.

We`ve met many road trippers on the road who`ve asked us this question, we also get this question on Twitter a lot. It`s really not a daunting task. They generally ask questions about cash/drugs/firearms/alcohol/tobacco. You present your passport, and if you clear the security check, you just cross and carry on with your road trip.

What happens if you don’t clear the security check?

One of our road trip crew members gets very nervous around authority figures, and seems to let her nerves get the best of her when answering questions from the border guards. This usually raises a red flag for the border guard, and we get sent inside for secondary inspection.

Being the good friends that we are, we generally line up our road trip driving schedule so that our friend is the one driving whenever we hit a border or security check point. This always lends well to a good laugh.

Follow your road trip dreams

We met a lovely couple down in Colorado who’ve always wanted to road trip up to Alaska, but like many other road trippers we talk to, they’ve never crossed the border, and the fear of the unknown scares them. If you simply follow the rules, you’ll be fine. There’s so much to see and explore in our beautiful country, it’s worth the short wait at the border in order to get out and explore.

As a note, the only border we’ve crossed while road tripping is the Canada/US border. If you’re planning on road tripping to Alaska, you do have to cross into Canada to road trip up to Alaska. Canada has different fire arm laws. It’s helpful to know this before trying to cross the border to save time and prevent any issues that may arise.