More Than Points

I only quote “International” because I just returned from a trip to Canada just across the border, but I think the experience will apply leaving to/from the United States to anywhere in the world.

I had traveled to Montreal last year and there was a very noticeable difference in my travel experience. It was definitely much more time-consuming.

Here’s a few of the lines I had to deal with:

• Check-in line, not for baggage, just actually printing out my ticket (20 minutes)
• Baggage line for getting my baggage tagged (50 minutes)
• Customs line for declaring items (15 minutes)
• Security line for carry-on luggage (10 minutes)
• Boarding line waiting for the plane to being boarding (40 minutes due to delay)

This doesn’t include the time involved in driving to the airport and returning a car rental. Wow - that is a LOT of time spent working through the process of just trying to fly between Canada and the States. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

If you want to make your life easier when traveling internationally then make sure of the following:

• You have your passport (you’ll need your passport number for customs as well)
• You’ve filled out your customs declaration form in advance (save your ticket stub so you can fill in the flight information)
• Be prepared to explain why you are entering a particular country (I was receiving training for a particular industry-specific application)
• Know in advance which terminal you need to go to before you goto the airport – some countries like Canada have a special terminal for all international travel to the United States; If you have a layover in another city within the same country, you’ll need to goto a domestic terminal
• Print out your boarding pass in advance
• If you can travel without check-in baggage, then do so – check-in baggage is a huge headache these days
• And most importantly, if you aren’t sure about something, then ask about it before you go waiting in a line

It’s all about getting home safely and on time.