mmkiwis

Hi! I hope someone can help me. We (2 adults & 1 child) will be in Vancouver early in July. We are keen to visit the Boeing factory in Seattle as a day trip from Vancouver. Is there a way to do this apart from flying. Is it possible. i believe the Boeing tour is at 1pm and the factory is on the northern side of Seattle. I am in New Zealand and this is our first trip to Canada.
Thanks in advance
Marilyn

LordBalfor

Are you saying that you have a reservation for a 1 PM tour - or that you think there is only one tour and it is at 1 PM?

If you already have reservations fot a 1 PM tour (if you don't, you will need to get them), you should easily be able to drive down from Vancouver in time. Just be sure you leave enough time to get through the border crossing and deal with any traffic in the Vancouver metro area. It's about a 2 hour drive (not factoring in the above complications). You will want to have AT LEAST an hour buffer - I would actually have at least 2. If you get there early, you can always take the short drive down to the Edmonds waterfront for some lunch.

Note that there is no tour on Monday, July 5th, that cameras, purses etc are not allowed and that children are required to be a certain minimum height.

Link to tour website:

http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/tours/

Ken

Judy_in_Calgary

Hello Marilyn,

I don't know if that will be your only foray into the U.S. during your trip, or if you will be going back and forth across the U.S.-Canadian border at other points.

Anyway, just in case that will be your only entry into the U.S., and just in case you overlook this point, be sure to have some U.S. cash on you. (I don't know how much U.S. cash you'd need to satisfy U.S. customs and immigration officials, but you'd need some. If they knew you were just going for the day, I don't imagine they'd require you to have a lot.)

Australian friends of ours who were driving through Waterton Lakes National Park on Alberta's southern border decided to go into Glacier National Park on the Montana side on the spur of the moment. But because it was an impulsive decision and they in any case intended to be in Glacier for only a few hours, it hadn't occurred to them to get U.S. cash. The U.S. customs and immigration officials turned them away, and they had to drive some way back to the town of Waterton to get U.S. money.

Waterton is a much more remote and more sparsely populated place than British Columbia's Lower Mainland so, even if you did forget to stock up with U.S. money ahead of time, it would be easier for you to find a place to get it than it was for our friends.

All the same, this tip might save you or someone else a few minutes.

BAK

Thanks for posting the Boeing web site info.

I think a tour would be great, and this info will be useful for lots of tourists.

There are many tours each day; the web site warns that tickets go quickly in the summer.

As for driving down from Vancouver; once the tour is over, you can enjoy a leisurely drive back to Vancouver. Depending on your plans, you might want to go closer to the Washington State coast and then take the ferry to Victoria, and spend some time there before returning to Vancouver.
BAK

RickGib

Recommendation: Take Chuckanut Drive north, instead of Interstate 5 north, when you head back to Vancouver. Check it out at Chuckanutdrive.com. It is one of America's most spectacular rides. PS. The Boeing plant is amazing.

dwoodliff

My family is doing the reverse of yours, but at the same time! We will be spending a week in Seattle, and want to take a day trip to Vancouver. We have decided to book a trip on the Amtrak Cascades train. The trip is supposed to be 4 hours each way, but should give us some time to relax and enjoy the scenery, amidst a hectic vacation. You wouldn't have the hassle of sitting in line at the border, and it is cheap -- I believe something like $22 per adult round-trip! Check it out.

Retired_teacher

Your schedule might enable you to take the Quick Coach (bus) from Vancouver to Seattle... Check out its website at www.quickcoach.com

Here's another website with more transportation options in the Vancouver area... http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure...r/bustrans.htm

MD

Things to ponder -

I don't know the area but I thought the factory in in their private big airfield in the southwest area of Seattle? If so, the you have to go through downtown Seattle on the I5 which I understand is famous for being plugged solid. You should miss rush hour if you're aiming for 1PM, so that should be OK.

Other posters are correct - The crossing south of Vancouver is the busiest one across the border; if it's a speacial occasion - like Saturday, or a long weekend, etc. you may run into delays.

I've never heard of the "cash" thing, but I'm Canadian. I have heard stories they will start charging a tax ($10?) to cross the border. I can't imagine they wouldn't accept Canadian cash for that, or VISA, bu who knows. If you have a functioning bank machine card it should work here in Canada and in the USA - mine worked in Australia and NZ.

Leave yourself lotsa time. It'll be more than the 3(?) hours it looks on the map.

I believe there's an air museum at the boeing airfield too.

Too bad you're not going another 5 hours south - the Spruce Goose is about 30 min. southwest of Portland. Oh well...

rkkwan

Boeing Field and the musuem is just south of Downtown. However, the factory to visit is the widebody plant that assembles 747/767/777, and that's in Everett, north of Seattle.