New York to Canada Border Crossing
 

Hello All,

I am traveling with a friend of mine from Albany, NY to Ottawa, ON, CA, leaving Albany around 7:30pm. Since we are two young females, we are worried about the security surround border crossing. What should our worries be? What should we be prepared for? And is it HIGHLY recommended that we not travel at that hour to Ottawa? Also, leaving Albany at 7:30pm, what time should we expect to arrive at the border crossing?

Thank you very much for helping two gals out!

You should be at Champlain border crossing around 10 pm and it is still about 3-4 hours drive to Ottawa. Do not carry any drugs, firearms, have all needed documents and you will be fine. Don't make any jokes about being terrorist or carring a bomb. They do take this very seriously.
I wouldn't travel this late all the way to Ottawa. I would stay in Lake Placid for one night then in the morning I would drive through Malone on route 30 and Indian reservation to the border. It is much easier crossing here and you could still get an inexpensive gas.

Just as an alternate (and since you're coming from Albany, you might wnat to consider taking the Thruway west to Interstate 81. Then north to the Thousand Islands crossing for entrance into Canada.

You could overnight in Kingston, Ontario (very charming and very picturesque - you might want to spend a day there - it's "the gateway to the Thousand Islands" w/river cruises and other sightseeing". (BTW, if you do, try the Kingston Brewing Co. for alfresco dining at reasonable prices.

Ottawa's about 2 - 2 1/2 hours from there (at least in our experience.)

If you have all your documents, if you're are not smuggling cigarettes or other contrabands, and if you're not carrying any firearms, I don't see what you need to worry about.

Usually, the only thing the Canadian officer asks is whether you are carrying firearms, as that's often legal in the US, and most likely not in Canada. I'm often asked more questions coming back to the US, even though I'm a US citizen.

The fact that you are crossing the border really should not be a factor in the safety of your trip, assuming that you are not carrying drugs or weapons, as the previous posters noted. We live in upstate NY and cross frequently - it's quite routine, usually they only ask a few quick questions and rarely ask to see any papers of US citizens, but you should ALWAYS have proof of citizenship anyway (you may need it to get back more than going into Canada). The only safety issue I see is how late you want to be driving and some of the previous ideas for stopping are good ones.