Question about driving in Vancouver and passports expiration

[halfmonkey]

Does anybody know the answers to my two questions or if not, can anybody point me to where I can find the answers?

We're traveling to Vancouver in September to cruise back down to San Diego. We'll be staying in Vancouver a few days before the cruise actually begins. I'm wondering if there is anything special I need to do in order to drive legally in Vancouver? Do I need some kind of special driver license supplement or anything like that? I plan to contact my insurance company and ask them if I need anything as well.

Second question if I've heard about some rumblings of how some places require that the passport expires 6 months or some other time frame AFTER the cruise or travel date. Does anybody know if Vancouver or the cruise down from Vancouver has a restriction like this? Also, is this restriction only for the cruise portion or does it apply to our pre-cruise vacation in Vancouver as well?

 

[squirrel]

I can only answer as a Canadian using my Canadian passport and going down to the US. I would be fine using it within the 6 month expiration date. I do not need any special drivers licence to drive in the US (I do buy extra medical insurance for going across the border).

 

[bumbershoot]

Nothing special to drive. Just pay attention. Speed is in kilometers and the roads look like us roads but they are somehow just a little bit different.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/canada.html

Just shows that it needs to be valid during the visit.

http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/travel-voyage/td-dv-eng.html#_s2a

Still nothing about expiration dates.


Your question made me remember that we have to get DS's new passport because it expires soon. Thanks!

 

[lanejudy]

No special license needed, but you might want to ask your insurance company for a Canadian Insurance Card -- it will prove that your personal automobile insurance will cover you in Canada. We get one automatically because we live near the border.

I believe as long as the passport is not expired you are fine.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[xlxo]

Some thoughts...

• is this your own car? Or a rental? Check with the rental agency if they have insurance coverage and allow drop offs in Canada? Otherwise, drop the car off in Seattle where you can bus or train your way across the border.
• have you selected a hotel? Downtown hotels can charge you $30 or more a day for parking. Richmond hotels off free parking.

 

[tinkerone]

Nothing special to drive. Just pay attention. Speed is in kilometers and the roads look like us roads but they are somehow just a little bit different.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/canada.html

Just shows that it needs to be valid during the visit.

http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/travel-voyage/td-dv-eng.html#_s2a

Still nothing about expiration dates.


Your question made me remember that we have to get DS's new passport because it expires soon. Thanks!

this is sooooo true. i love driving on u.s. highways as they seem more relaxed. canadian highways are crowded in and seem so much more 'tense'. i love driving to myrtle beach or florida but my two hour drive to toronto can set my teeth to grind.

 

[halfmonkey]

Some thoughts...

• is this your own car? Or a rental? Check with the rental agency if they have insurance coverage and allow drop offs in Canada? Otherwise, drop the car off in Seattle where you can bus or train your way across the border.
• have you selected a hotel? Downtown hotels can charge you $30 or more a day for parking. Richmond hotels off free parking.

This is a car rental. We plan on renting the car from the airport and then dropping off at the rental office closest to the terminal. We are aware of the extra fee for picking up at the airport but we're going to have to just bite the bullet because we have three young kids traveling with us and to mess around with lugging around our luggage and three young kids to save $20-$40 is just not worth my sanity. We're flying directly into Vancouver and not driving across the border from Seattle.

 

[mab2012]

this is sooooo true. i love driving on u.s. highways as they seem more relaxed. canadian highways are crowded in and seem so much more 'tense'. i love driving to myrtle beach or florida but my two hour drive to toronto can set my teeth to grind.

I really think this is more of a "big city" thing than a US/Canadian thing. Anywhere within 2 hours of Toronto, traffic is brutal. It's crowded, and it's fast, and you really have to be paying attention.

Try driving between, say, Halifax and Moncton. You can pretty much put your car on cruise control and go to sleep. I've never driven across The Prairies, but I'd wager the same to be true between Winnipeg and Regina. On the flip side, my experience of busy US cities hasn't been much different than driving in Toronto (try the San Francisco Valley, the stretch between D.C. and Baltimore, or even just the I-4 through Orlando, depending on time of day).

The difference maybe is that the US builds a lot more big, empty highways in sparsely populated areas. For example, the I-81 between Alexandria Bay and Syracuse: most of the time you barely see another car until you're within half an hour of Syracuse (Watertown excepted), but it's four lanes the whole way.

Sorry, a bit off topic now.

 

[bumbershoot]

The only tense part I notice is going through the delta between the border and Vancouver. Fast, always construction, and that underground (tunnel) part. And it just seems narrower than a US highway. Once you get more into town it just looks a teensy bit, indefinably so , different. Just enough to throw me off.

Put me in England or Ireland and it's hugely different. But Canada is just enough the same that I want to really relax but I can't.

Our insurance companies have told us repeatedly they we need nothing special from them to prove anything in Canada. They sent me something once upon request but said it showed nothing different. I've stopped asking.

We haven't rented in Canada but I now believe in getting the extra insurance when outside the US. (Especially in Ireland with the speeds so high and the lanes so narrow lol) so I'd consider that, if only to help you not worry about dings and dents, let alone that "loss of use" charge normal car insurance wouldn't cover in case of an accident.

 

[scm]

Just to add my 2 cents in support of comments above, after driving in Florida (where locals complain bitterly about traffic 'in season') I find driving in the Vancouver core claustrophobic. Somehow the car seems wider and the streets narrower.

 

[bcwife76]

Driving in downtown Vancouver is a PITA, I avoid downtown as much as possible lol

Everyone above has answered your questions so I don't have much to add except to say we are on the same cruise as you And we live in Vancouver ;-)

 

[bumbershoot]

And I will do anything to avoid a left turn, especially if it's a left turn that has a timing sign, like "no left turns between 4:45 and 5:15pm". Even if it's 7 and a turn is totally legal, I won't do it. Or I'll try not to.


I want to mention that I LOVE Vancouver and would become a resident of Canada if they'd let me (and if I had the money to live in Vancouver). And after years and years it would feel normal and the US would feel weird to drive in. That's just not the way it is now.

 

[scm]

And after years and years it would feel normal and the US would feel weird to drive in

Being a snowbird, years and years haven't helped me. LOL

 

[bumbershoot]

Being a snowbird, years and years haven't helped me. LOL

Well there goes that idea.

 

[Debbie]

Nothing special to drive. Just pay attention. Speed is in kilometers and the roads look like us roads but they are somehow just a little bit different.

That's how I feel about roads in the US (not the Interstates). Look similar, just feel a little different.

this is sooooo true. i love driving on u.s. highways as they seem more relaxed. canadian highways are crowded in and seem so much more 'tense'. i love driving to myrtle beach or florida but my two hour drive to toronto can set my teeth to grind.

Lordy, Toronto is enough to set anyone's teeth on edge!

I really think this is more of a "big city" thing than a US/Canadian thing. Anywhere within 2 hours of Toronto, traffic is brutal. It's crowded, and it's fast, and you really have to be paying attention.

And I will do anything to avoid a left turn, especially if it's a left turn that has a timing sign, like "no left turns between 4:45 and 5:15pm". Even if it's 7 and a turn is totally legal, I won't do it. Or I'll try not to.


I want to mention that I LOVE Vancouver and would become a resident of Canada if they'd let me (and if I had the money to live in Vancouver). And after years and years it would feel normal and the US would feel weird to drive in. That's just not the way it is now.

I find the placement of the traffic lights in the States challenging. I like my lights across the intersection so I can enter the intersection to make my left hand turn.

To the original poster, I was on a cruise last July with a passport that expired in October. No problems whatsoever from Canadian or US border agencies. Enjoy your cruise!

 

[jtkboston]

Second question if I've heard about some rumblings of how some places require that the passport expires 6 months or some other time frame AFTER the cruise or travel date. Does anybody know if Vancouver or the cruise down from Vancouver has a restriction like this? Also, is this restriction only for the cruise portion or does it apply to our pre-cruise vacation in Vancouver as well?

In July 2015 2014 I flew to Vancouver, visited for a few days, cruised on the Wonder to Alaska, and returned to US via a flight. My US passport at the time expired in August 2015 2014. No problems from any border officials.

 

[bumbershoot]

I find the placement of the traffic lights in the States challenging.

Oh you shouldn't visit my town. We have the weirdest lights. Not necessarily where they are but how many there are on each lane. We have an intersection where a "right turn only" lane appears, and the rest of it is one big blobby lane. There is a left turn signal AND a plain green/yellow/red light on one light...rectangle, and then to the right of it there's another green/yellow/red rectangle. There is NO reason for this.

There's another area with 2 lanes and THREE light boxes (having a hard time working out what to call them). Why? There are only two lanes.

The one use I could get out of a gopro would be to strap it to my forehead and film the traffic light insanity I deal with on my daily "commute".


Anyway, it's funny how different another country can feel.

 

[xlxo]

This is a car rental. We plan on renting the car from the airport and then dropping off at the rental office closest to the terminal. We are aware of the extra fee for picking up at the airport but we're going to have to just bite the bullet because we have three young kids traveling with us and to mess around with lugging around our luggage and three young kids to save $20-$40 is just not worth my sanity. We're flying directly into Vancouver and not driving across the border from Seattle.

OK... I thought you were driving from California... some thoughts....

• look to Alamo or National... you can drop the rental INSIDE the cruise terminal. So convenient, so popular.
• book NOW to secure those luggage friendly minivans!
• which hotel are you staying at? I like Richmond hotels because parking is cheaper or complimentary. Expect up to $30 a day to park downtown.
• a rental? Be aware of the 17.5% surcharge. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=a1aeb1ee-0289-4c57-8c3f-6a17b8c5aa07

 

[squirrel]

One more thing you may not be use to- in Downtown Vancouver there are quite a few one way streets. I grew up in North Vancouver and rarely ever went downtown!

 

[jtba]

In July 2015 I flew to Vancouver, visited for a few days, cruised on the Wonder to Alaska, and returned to US via a flight. My US passport at the time expired in August 2015. No problems from any border officials.

did you find a time machine?