12-hour trip to Canada

US-Canada border

We went from New Jersey --> Ithaca, NY --> Niagara Falls --> Toronto. If you subtract the breaks and rest stops though, it was about 9 hours to get there. We stayed with my mother’s uncle in Toronto, Ontario in their beautiful three-story home. I met a few cousins that I've never met before, relaxed and hung out a lot with my parents and younger brother, and learned a few new things about the nation of Canada.



At the US-Canada Border
As we drove through customs to be checked before entering the country, I jumped to the back of the van to grab my passport from my suitcase. My parents and brother already had theirs out, including their NJ licenses in case an alternative form of ID was requested.

“Deborah, you found it?” my Dad asked me as he drove up to the customs window.

The back of the van was a mess. I’d pulled out all of my clothes and toiletries in a frantic attempt to find my big brown wallet that I put my passport in. When I found it, I breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you G…” I froze when I opened the wallet. There was no passport inside.

“Deborah, honey, did you find it?!” my mom was sitting up front in the passenger’s seat, and she was turned around, her left hand holding the back of my dad’s seat. She was looking at me with concern.

I didn’t respond. I just buried my head in my hands. I completely forgot that I recently applied for a passport renewal and had to submit my old one with the application. Now I had no passport, and I didn’t think I was going to be let into Canada. I couldn’t even look at my parents. I was embarrassed. Before we left for the drive up, my Dad asked me a couple of times if I had my passport, and assuming it was in my big brown wallet, I said I did.

The man at the window asked my Dad, “How many people are in the vehicle?”

"Four."

“I need a form of ID for the fourth person please.”

I grabbed  my NJ license and Cornell student ID from another wallet and handed it over.

Long story short, the man ended up letting us through. Our names on all IDs matched (which proved that we were family) and thankfully, he believed that we were indeed going to visit extended family in Toronto for the week.

Never let this happen to you. There are plenty of scary stories out there where people forget their passports for international flights and don’t realize it until it’s too late (once they reach the airport). Always check to make sure you have your passport on you before you leave for the airport, or in this case, before you cross the border into Canada (unless you have an enhanced driver's license or some other "approved secure document").

Our first stop was Niagara Falls, and we spent the rest of our time in Toronto with family :)