Wet weather and Tim Horton's

[selenay]

I am sitting in my aunt's little house with a cup of Tim Horton's coffee, listening to the rain beating down outside. Considering we've been driving through that rain for most of the day, it feels pretty good here right now.

I'm back in Halifax after a week of travelling and looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for a few nights in a row. Travelling is great, but this is probably the most travelling we've done on a holiday and there was only one time where we stayed in the same place for two nights running. I'm not sure when my next trip over will be, but I'm definitely planning on doing a little less road time and a little more relaxing. We managed to cover most of New Brunswick over the last week and even spend an afternoon in Maine. St. Stephen is a town on the border (it was our two night location) so my father and I decided that we needed to walk over the border just to say that we'd been to the USA. Mom did it dozens of times when she was a kid but it was a first for us.

We do not feel the need to do that again :-) How do you folks who visit the USA regularly (or, heaven forbid, live there) manage it? Those border guards and Scary. Seriously Scary. We got fingerprinted and photographed and I was half afraid that they'd declare us terrorists and lock us up! There was something in their manner that just made them really scary. So, America is cool and all but probably not somewhere that I'll be visiting frequently.

The Canadian border guards were much nicer.

I've been buzzing around, looking at the news (watched the BBC World on the TV earlier, too) to catch up. And checking out the LJ news, too, although I doubt there's much hope of catching up with that :-) Although I do notice that they've now released an official LJ Talk client that I may be trying out when I get home - particularly if I can get cheap calls to the US and Canada through it. Of course, first I need to buy myself a microphone...

Comments

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

Hee! It seems that it depends which country you're from as to which border guards are nicer. The first time I crossed into Canada a few years ago, the guy was really gruff and scary. He made me come inside and empty my pockets and answer a bunch of questions while he dug all through my purse and everything. For a little while, I was afraid he wasn't going to let me through. Last year, he searched all my stuff and ran a computer check on me. This year he waved me through after looking at my passport.

The US guards have always just waved me through, or done a super quick check of my bags - but they are always much more pleasant about it.

[wadjet-theperv.livejournal.com]

So glad you're having a good time, honey. You're right about the border guards though. In my experience of the west coast border, they're equally scary. I suppose because they're more afraid *shrug*.

[selenay]

Huh. I guess the border guards do vary :-) I've had the odd grouchy guy at airports, but this was my first time over to the States and the guards there were truly terrifying. The Canadian guards when I came back were much easier - they just waved us through.

It also probably depends on your nationality. My Mom had no problems - they just waved her through - but she's Canadian. My father and I both have British passports and that seems to have caused part of the problem. If I ever do the border crossing again, I'll make sure that I'm using my Canadian passport.

[selenay]

There just seems to be a thing for Americans to have really scary officials. Even the ones who weren't dealing with us were pretty terrifying! Makes me nervous about what their customs guys at the airports are like. I may not be a frequent visitor to the States even when I live here :-)