I have nexus. It’s a wonderful thing, I’m pre-screened which means most of the time I don’t get many questions, I breeze right through border line ups and it’s all good. This weekend, I went down with someone who doesn’t have nexus. So we went through the regular line up. I’ve had my trunk checked a number of times going into the USA, that doesn’t surprise me. What surprised me was when they opened up my spare tire well and looked in there.  The many odd questions were strange too.
On the way home, though, it was worse.  We had to pull over, we got grilled and they ripped my car apart.  They made me feel violated and guilty of something. Anything. I didn’t know what. I am always scrupulously honest about any declarations so I wasn’t concerned about things when they said they were sending us in to verify my declaration. But then to be told that they were doing drug checks??? WHAT??? Why not just use drug dogs, at least it would give them a good idea that there’s no drugs on my car.  But they tore my car apart, they searched my purse, opened my toiletries — and now know my preferences about personal items I carry with me. I felt dirty, like I was believed to be a criminal.  Perhaps the young girl who was working as a border guard didn’t believe that two women could go to the states overnight and not spend more than $50 between the two of us. Perhaps they were confused that a person with a nexus pass was not in the nexus lane (which seems weird since I’m not supposed to go in the nexus lane with a non-nexus person). Perhaps my friend, who is very well traveled, had some unique enough visas in her passport that it was flagged.
Who knows. All I know is that it made for a frustrating end to a drawn out weekend. It was a fun weekend, a good blues party, not epic, and made me miss my favourite leads.  But, I must say, this border crossing experience put a damper on my travel plans. I think I may end up traveling alone more to the USA. Friends are more than welcome to meet me in Blaine if they want to ride with me, but really, I don’t want to deal with this #$@# anymore when crossing the border. Which is unfortunate since I’m traveling more and more.  But if people aren’t willing to go through the process of getting security checked they can deal with this crap at the border. I’d rather not.  Sigh. For now, though, I’m going to sleep. Blissful sleep in my own bed.