Tips for American Guests
Here are a few tips for folks traveling from the States.
- Get your Passport - while you can technically still cross with a license and birth certificate, it just simplifies things if you have your passport handy.
- Cash Money - The USD (US Dollar) is just about the same as the CAD - thanks to President Bush’s economic policy. You should use ATM’s in Canada to withdraw money, it is the best way to exchange. If you are a Bank of America customer, you can bank in Canada at ScotiaBank without incurring any ATM fees. Check your bank, they also may have a sister bank in Canada you can use for free.
- Phone Home - Your cell phones should work in Canada, I know first-hand that most major types: GSM (ATT, T-Mobile, etc.), CDMA (Verizon), and Sprint/Nextel get signals. However, unless you have a calling plan that covers Canada, it is expensive. So be careful. If you want to save and anticipate talking a bunch, look at buying a phone card.
- Look to fly in to Buffalo if you are traveling from Boston - It is pricey to fly to Toronto, with the weak dollar and the extra fees for Homeland Security and Canadian taxes. Sarah and I are flying in to Buffalo on JetBlue. JetBlue has direct flights to Buffalo for as little as $64 each way, and you can rent a car at the airport and drive to Toronto - it’s a bit over an hour drive (unless there is a backup at the border crossing).
- Limits on what you can bring - Don’t try to enter with more than the following per person, or you will have to declare it (and possibly pay a duty tax):
- 200 cigarettes -or- 50 cigars -or- 7 ounces of tobacco
- 1.1 liters of wine or liquor -or- 24×12-ounce bottles of beer
- Gifts valued more than $60 CDN
- Shop the Duty-Free - That said, if you purchase things under these limits, you can get some good deals at the duty-free shops near the border crossing. You don’t pay US or Canadian taxes, so booze and cigarettes are pretty cheap.