Ooh, well I’ve had a day and a half.\u00a0 I didn’t want to talk about my plans ahead of time for fear of jinxing them. But now that I’m here, I’m happy to say that I managed to cross over into the US for an extended vacation with my rig!<\/p>\n
As I said to US customs, quite some time into my interview, I picked northern Washington because a) the cost of living is much cheaper than in Canada and b) I’m still close to the border in case of a medical emergency (I did take out some supplemental coverage, just in case). Now, I’m well situated to visit with blog readers in the area, tour around, and perhaps even do a bit of shopping.<\/p>\n
I didn’t expect the border crossing to be easy, so I’m surprised that it went as smoothly as it did, all things considered. I think I was there about an hour and a half. It took all of thirty seconds for them to pull me over and tell me to go inside.<\/p>\n
The American customs officials were very decent. They treated me with respect and asked only relevant questions, but there was one huge issue that I hadn’t even though about: the leftover CDs from the RV show! I had them out in plain sight because, to me, they are essentially useless. Who wants to pay shipping on a disc for a file you can download?<\/p>\n
The American officials said that because I’m selling the book online, the discs have value in their eyes and that thus I was importing a commercial product, and well over the legal limit. Until this point, I was sure I was going to be allowed in once they were done playing hardball with me regarding confirming that I could support myself and that I would be returning to Canada in April. Soon as they said this, my heart sank. I figured that they were going to say I was trying to do fraud or something and I actually got a little scared. I was completely unprepared for this scenario!<\/p>\n
The supervisor and a subordinate talked a bit more to me, to understand why I’m on the road, what I left behind, how I support myself, and why I had all those discs on board. Their tone went from being hostile\/cynical to being very friendly, but I didn’t let me guard down and watched what I said, but I got the impression that I was in a situation where more info was better than too little. Remember, I used to process security clearances, so I’ve had intensive training conducting these same types of interviews.<\/p>\n
The supervisor finally\u00a0 looked at his subordinate who nodded, then said “From an immigration point of view, we’re satisfied. But from a commercial point of view, we can’t let you in. Are you willing to go back to Canada and dispose of the discs?”<\/p>\n
I’d already made back more than what the discs cost me and didn’t expect to sell more, so I didn’t have a dilemma there. They talked some more and told me I could leave the rig in the US customs parking lot, walk back to Canada, get rid of the discs, and come back. I said I would go straight to the dumpster of the duty free store and the subordinate actually looked pained. “Isn’t there anyone you could leave them with?” I said “No, they really don’t mean anything to me, ma’am, and I feel stupid for being in this situation.”<\/p>\n
She gave me a piece of paper to show to Canadian customs so they would know I hadn’t come into the US and thus had nothing to declare. I walked into the Canadian office and was greeted, as always, like a criminal. The woman told me that I’d better not dump the discs on their property, such as the bathrooms! I acquiesced and walked across the street to the duty free, dumped the discs, and headed back to US customs.<\/p>\n
At this point, I thought that they would have to do a more thorough inspection of the rig and ask more questions and I was really getting worn down, but, again, I feel that the Americans were doing their job well within reason and that all the questions were completely justified. I also had a feeling that this first time was going to be the hardest and that I might as well play this to the end so that I would know what to expect next time. I still didn’t think I was home free at this point, but I was optimistic. After all, they had let me to leave the rig while I walked to Canada and back.<\/p>\n
I went back into the customs office and the lady was waiting for me. She smiled brightly and said “You made it! Have a great trip!” without making me hand my passport back. I headed back to the rig feeling a bit stunned, and drained, but I’d been allowed in!<\/p>\n
For the next time, I will make sure to print out all my financial info. They wanted to see bank, credit, and investment statements, plus proof of the money I’d made in the last year. I had all of that on my computer, but that wasn’t good enough. They did let me through without having to produce anything.<\/p>\n
So, now I’m okay to be in the US until April 8th! I might go back a bit earlier than that, as a good will gesture, but I paid rent at this RV park till March 8th. It cost me half of what it would have cost me to stay in a much less nice place in the Vancouver region!<\/p>\n
I’m really feeling drained and will be taking at least the next couple of days off, but I have to share one last anecdote that made this day completely surreal. I arrived at the RV park and left the rig to check out the sites. I met a couple and the lady said to me “Hey, I saw you on TV last week!”<\/p>\n
So much for coming to the US for a bit of anonymity…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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