Canadians Traveling to the USA in 2025

[deanimal]

Regarding Florida, the key development will be if Canadian snowbirds fail to return to Florida in late 2025 / early 2026. All the reports I have read indicate that not only are many snowbirds saying they won't return, they have put their properties up for sale.

I suspect the money a typical Canadian tourist family spends during a one-week trip to (say) Disney World is insignificant compared to the money a wealthy snowbird couple spends during a 4-month winter stay in (say) Fort Lauderdale.

This will certainly be the big question in the months coming up.

We recently visited some relatives who spend 4-5 months of every year in Florida, and have for the past 20 years. They are well off retirees, which means that a good chunk of their Canadian pensions and investment income goes straight into the American economy every winter. They had every intention of going down every year for the rest of their lives.

Now that plan has gone out the window, at least for the foreseeable future. They plan to go down for one week in January this winter for a family event and to use up the points they can't carry over on their timeshare (not really sure how that works but they are very happy they never bought property in Florida) and they are re-planning their whole retirement around finding a winter base somewhere else. And they are not even "political" types, if anything they are extremely conservative by Canadian standards!

So yeah, I think the real impact of the Canadian boycott is yet to be felt. A cancelled trip or weekend away here and there does make a difference, but thousands of snowbirds and their money will be felt much more keenly.

 

[CanucksRock]

I have Nexus, going thru customs - where are you going? Orlando. Thank you have a good flight. That’s it. That’s all. I love Nexus.

 

[Reepicheep]

I have Nexus, going thru customs - where are you going? Orlando. Thank you have a good flight. That’s it. That’s all. I love Nexus.

I have mixed feelings about Nexus. I remember, during our first post-COVID trip to Orlando via Toronto (when masks were required during flights, what a horrible time that was), the lineup at customs was almost 90 minutes long. We didn't clear customs until 60 minutes after our West Jet flight was scheduled to leave. While in line, we approached employees a couple of times to ask if we could go to the front of the line, but they said "no", and assured us we would have no trouble catching our flight.

When we cleared customs, my wife and daughter ran to the gate while I lumbered along as best I could. Our plane was still there, and the West Jet employee at the gate explained that there were so many travellers caught in the customs lineup that they delayed the plane departure by an hour. We boarded the plane, and over the next ten minutes the last few stragglers (maybe, 15 total) arrived and the plane then took off.

So, in this case, Nexus would have saved us 90 minutes in the customs lineup, although the time saved would have still been "wasted" by us sitting on the plane awaiting takeoff.

In the August trip we just completed, there was no line-up at customs on either our outgoing or incoming flights, so Nexus would not have been an advantage.

So, while I understand that Nexus, at times, can be a blessing and time saver, I'll probably continue to be a cheapskate and continue to rely on the stars aligning during our travels and us never missing a connection (or, more accurately, never missing a connection where Nexus would have allowed us to catch the flight).

 

[ronandannette]

I have mixed feelings about Nexus. I remember, during our first post-COVID trip to Orlando via Toronto (when masks were required during flights, what a horrible time that was), the lineup at customs was almost 90 minutes long. We didn't clear customs until 60 minutes after our West Jet flight was scheduled to leave. While in line, we approached employees a couple of times to ask if we could go to the front of the line, but they said "no", and assured us we would have no trouble catching our flight.

When we cleared customs, my wife and daughter ran to the gate while I lumbered along as best I could. Our plane was still there, and the West Jet employee at the gate explained that there were so many travellers caught in the customs lineup that they delayed the plane departure by an hour. We boarded the plane, and over the next ten minutes the last few stragglers (maybe, 15 total) arrived and the plane then took off.

So, in this case, Nexus would have saved us 90 minutes in the customs lineup, although the time saved would have still been "wasted" by us sitting on the plane awaiting takeoff.

In the August trip we just completed, there was no line-up at customs on either our outgoing or incoming flights, so Nexus would not have been an advantage.

So, while I understand that Nexus, at times, can be a blessing and time saver, I'll probably continue to be a cheapskate and continue to rely on the stars aligning during our travels and us never missing a connection (or, more accurately, never missing a connection where Nexus would have allowed us to catch the flight).

Agree. There’s a little bit if FOMO involved in not having it but in reality, we’ve never come close to actually needing it. And with only taking one or two US trips a year, the expense isn’t justified.

 

[SirDuff]

Agree. There’s a little bit if FOMO involved in not having it but in reality, we’ve never come close to actually needing it. And with only taking one or two US trips a year, the expense isn’t justified.

It is useful for any international trip as you can use it when clearing Canadian immigration on your return. It also gives you access to TSA pre check and some Canadian airports now have expedited NEXUS lanes for security.

Might still not be worth it for you, but it is used beyond trips to the US.

 

[bankr63]

I don't participate in social media except the DIS and there are some craaaazy threads over on the Controversy Board (although I rarely post) - will that be enough of a trigger? Being honest, my YouTube algorithms are pretty religion/politics heavy, but I never access YouTube on either my phone or iPad. Am I probably good?

I an NOT a CBP agent, so I am not certain what their procedures are. Just speaking generally here.
You say you don't access YouTube from your phone or iPad, but do you have the app installed? If they open the app, it will likely pick up exactly where you left off on your desktop at home, and your history will all be there. I would deinstall the app to be sure if you are concerned.
For DIS, I don't think it will be as easy to see if you have been browsing controversial content on your phone, but it will be obvious if you have posted, yes. Some of the conversations you hit "may" be cached locally, that could depend on the whether you are using an app like tapatalk or which browser you use.
Also be aware that if you use Chrome or Edge and have set to share settings across platforms (that the default), then all of your history from home will be available as soon as you open the browser on your phone.
All of this is very hypothetical though - just pointing out what is possible with very little effort if they cared to look.
I used to have a girl on my IT team who liked grossing herself out snooping at what the users of the laptops dropped for service had been browsing. Some pretty disturbing stuff and not hard to find at all!

 

[Reepicheep]

I won't be surprised if, sometime in the future, all people entering the US will have to sign a document acknowledging that bacteria and viruses don't cause disease, and instead declare that all disease is caused by evil demons entering people's noses when they sneeze.

The problem with trying to mock That Man's government is that the truth can be just as ridiculous as the mockery.

Two recent vaccination developments in the US:

- RFK Jr appeared before the US Senate today, where he defended his anti-vaccination policies

- yesterday, Doctor Joseph Ladapo, the Surgeon General of Florida, said "The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida Law" (he is talking specifically about childhood vaccine mandates).

In response, infectious diseases expert Michael Osterholm said that he "wouldn't want my kids going to Florida in the years ahead, to go to Walt Disney World or any place like that".

If the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota (Osterholm) says he doesn't consider Disney World to be safe for his children, we've got to take him seriously. Osterman certainly has more credibility than do the anti-vaxxers RFK and Ladapo.

I'll provide a link to the CNN interview with Michael Osterholm:

Infectious Diseases Expert Sounds Alarm On Disney Vacations Amid Florida Vaccine Move

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

I have been back and forth about going to the US, but I have just retired from 33 years of teaching and really want to get doing things. We do love traveling Canada, but since Covid, we have done it a lot!
So this week my 82 year old father and I drove to Cooperstown NY (we live just North East of Toronto) for the Baseball Hall of Fame. We have been several times before, but not for almost 20 years, and he has been wanting to go back for a long time, so we went on the first day of school (September 2nd here). We came back home today. We were only away two nights/three days in the Cooperstown / Syracuse / Watertown area (did some shopping despite the poor dollar) but we NEVER saw one Ontario license plate. While at the Baseball Hall of Fame we ran into a couple wearing Blue Jay shirts who were from Toronto, but that was it. It was shocking to not see any Ontario cars at all. We were the only car crossing into the US (at Gananoque) and on our way home, there were about a half dozen cars going into Ontario (but none of them had Ontario plates). I think it shows that there are definitely less Canadians traveling there (probably a combination of dollar / political views). The border police were super friendly and it was a quick / smooth interaction on both sides. We didn't encounter any problems at all and had a fantastic time at the Hall of Fame.