**If I stay in the US I will add @ 1hour 45 min. drive time. **
If you want to go to Toronto, the border crossing is well worth it. Plus you get to legally drive 80 (km/h that is).
LOL…when was the last time you drove on the 401? They don’t call it the North American Autobahn for nothing. Although they have been trying to crack down. The normal speed is at least 120 km/h.
Dawn…that highway is insane. I never drive the 401 during daylight hours. My poor girlfriend has to get up at 4am anytime we drive through TO.
If you have been following the discussions around Toronto traffic, let me propose a middle aleternative. Route yourself to go through either Queenston/Lewiston, or Buffalo Fort Erie. Spend the night and see Niagara Falls - it is about 7.5 hour drive excluding the border crossing time, puts you onto the 403/QEW which is lighter traffic. Personally, I would stay up in NIagara on the Lake and drop down to the falls for a bit of a nice visit, then cross at Queenston rather than Buffalo. This would add about an hour total drive time.
Just another thought. God’s I feel like Murch in Westlake’s Dortmunder novels.
Absolutely concur on the speed, it is even worse down around Windsor where I grew up and my family still lives. And as to TO trafiic on the 401 - the beltway in DC is about the only thing I have hit that is worse, but I haven’t tried to put a car in Boston or New York yet. One accident and it is brutal, to say nothing for new drivers figuring out the collector vs through lanes.
And to think I used to morotorcyle on those roads - how do we ever live past our 20s?
Having brand new, unopened, packages of Infinit and whatever else you are carrying makes it look a little less like you are a smuggler or drug dealer if you end up getting one of those random searches that are far more intensive than the normal searches. Definitely don’t take powdered drinks in ziplock baggies instead of the original packages to save a little weight and space. Also, wouldn’t hurt to have your passport with you even though I think that the new regs requiring you to have a passport to re-enter the US are not yet in effect. Just try to think about what makes a bureaucrat’s job as easy as possible when you are packing for the trip.
"the bridge in Detroit is the busiest border crossing in the US and Port Huron is not far behind. "
The busiest border crossing in the US is San Ysidro/Tijuana crossing. Forty five minutes, try three to four hours waiting time to cross. And that is with two other border crossings within 40 miles.
