RAILforum: Crossing International Border

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Posted by Tigger (Member # 2455) on :

I will be taking the Empire Builder with connecting Thruway bus service to Vancouver. Can anyone tell me how checked baggage is handled at the border? Will I be able to check it through to Vancouver? We have very tight connections in Seattle.

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Cindy

Posted by wiking2 (Member # 2239) on :

I would think about staying the night and the taking the cascade train to vancouver at 7:45 which will get you in at 11:40. This is what i am doing next month.

Posted by Mike Smith (Member # 447) on :

When we traveled to Vancouver, via Empire Builder and bus, our bags were put into the bus's storage area. When we arrived at the border, everyone had to take their bags from the bus, through customs, then back to the bus (both ways).

Oddly enough, both coming and going our bus had 1 each person that was refused entrance (Canada & ths USA).

As far as you tight connection, ignore it. That bus is there solely for the people transfering from the Empire Builder to Vancouver. It will not leave without you. (Assuming you go to the bus in a reasonable amount of time after de-training) They usually park to the left and in front of the Seattle station (as you get off the train).

Posted by Tigger (Member # 2455) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mikesmith:
When we arrived at the border, everyone had to take their bags from the bus, through customs, then back to the bus (both ways).

Are there any carts available at the border crossing? I will be travelling with lots of luggage and a three year-old.

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Cindy

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

Cindy, I'm glad you found this board. It looks like Mike has provided the best answer about customs. That one had many of us on the AOL board stumped. Thanks, Mike.

I am also wondering how customs works if one takes the Cascades train instead of the bus. (I'm not sure Cindy's schedule will allow the Cascades alternative, however.)

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The Del Monte Club Car

Posted by Mike Smith (Member # 447) on :

Cindy, I don't remember any carts at the border crossing, however the bus driver did help several people with their luggage.

My best guess is that a woman traveling with a three year old won't have to worry about luggage, especially if you have a "I need some help" expression.

I'd recommend standing in the middle of your pile of luggage, looking at your 3 year old, then looking at your luggage. A solution will materialize. :-)

Don't worry about it. Enjoy your trip.

Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :

Mr. Toy - I took the Cascade from Vancouver to Seattle in 1999. You need to check in at some kind of customs inspection in Vancouver, but all they do there is look at your ticket and give you the declarations form. On the train, a customs agent boards at White Rock, B.C., on the border (NOT a station stop), does the customs inspection while the train is enroute to Bellingham, then he gets off in Bellingham -- I guess if there are any problesm, they can detrain people at Bellingham and send them back across the border if needed.

Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :

Like others on this board, I would strongly recommend that you stay overnight in Seattle and take the 7:45 am Cascade to Vancouver. I have used this train many times, and on the n/b run all customs and immigration is done in Vancouver's Pacific Central station. If you spend an extra $11.00 for business class, you are given priority in getting off the train first. If you check your baggage, you must go to the baggage car to retrieve it and take it to the customs examiner. At Vancouver station there are a limited number of free luggage carts.

Posted by Charles Reuben (Member # 2263) on :

I also recently took the Cascades from Vancouver to Seattle and initially found the customs officer to be anything but casual. This was post 9/11 however and, quite frankly, I was relieved to find some semblance of security on Amtrak, for a change.

As I recall, the customs official went through most of my luggage until, in the course of our conversation, it came up that I was from Albuquerque. Turns out he was also from New Mexico and that seemed to make me somewhat less of a suspicious person.

My real problem occurred when I was going from Seattle to Vancouver via the bus. My connections were tight because I had to get on a cruise ship the next day. Regrettably, I had sampled a bit of the Cabernet on the Coast Starlight prior to detraining and the Canadian bus driver accused me of being drunk. For a few tense minutes I thought I was not going to be able to get on the bus. Fortunately he backed off and in time we became the best of friends.

Posted by Charles Reuben (Member # 2263) on :

In answer to your question however, those of us on the bus connection from Seattle to Vancouver definitely did have to deal with customs. Sometime during the bus ride, the driver pull over to a customs inspection building and we were required to remove all of our bags. Every single bit of luggage had to come off the bus.

We then had to carry our luggage into the building and stand in line and answer all sorts of questions posed to us by some very severe looking officials. Although I had nothing to hide, I remember feeling guilty about having a bag of peanuts in my pocket and gulped down a large volume of them and threw out the rest. This action probably worked against me because I was singled out and a motherly-looking agent went through every inch of my luggage.

I stumbled on my words, I stammered, I just could not get the information out correctly. Finally I said, "Look, I've got to be on a cruise ship tomorrow with my 86-year-old mother. Do you want to see the ticket?"

She wanted to see the ticket. Only after seeing the ticket did she let me get back on the bus. As we were driving away, somebody on the bus realized that she had left her passport at Customs and you better believe that the bus driver was not going to turn around. Looking back, I must admit it was a pretty tense affair getting into Canada.

Getting back to the US on the train was also a bit tense. The customs guards were bickering at each other and one of them looked like he hadn't had a shave in days. And the German Shepard they brought through the train was really scary.