On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 12:08:25 -0800, "Steve" wrote:


I'd like to do this once and for all (67yo) and get another 10 yr passport
but I don't want to bother with it right now if it's not required to enter
and leave Canada this summer..

The traffic used to be more relaxed, but based on the kind of
treatment Canadians now receive from a lot of "newly empowered" U.S.
border authorities, I would make sure your paperwork is in immaculate
order.

By way of example, if I cross the imaginary line drawn through Lake
Ontario and drift toward, say, Wilson, N.Y., I had better have my
passport, a crew manifest/I-68 form and a compelling reason to be
visiting Fortress America.

On the other hand, you can drive across the border either unmolested
or cavity-searched. It seems to depend entirely on the kind of day the
designated defender of freedom is having.

(maybe, the truth be known, I have a 10 yr passport sitting here on my desk,
that has never left the country and expires next month, while several old
passports I have here are full of stamps from cover to cover.. Somebody
needs to get moving!!)

You're right there. I had a British passport expire so long ago I
haven't yet got the new EU replacement.