The Pan American Highway

[kphoger]

I'm guessing you'll need gas/EV charging too.

Some gas stations offer full-serve.  In Mexico, I think there's no such thing as self-serve (at least not that I've ever seen).

But, regardless, just take a passenger with you and have him pump the gas (and dump out the chamber pot) instead.

[vdeane]

Will I ever be able to drive from Alaska to Argentina without ever leaving a road?

Even if they finish the Gap, you'd still need to get out and walk into several immigration offices along the way.

They don't have on-road inspection booths like we do on the US/Canada border?

[kphoger]

They don't have on-road inspection booths like we do on the US/Canada border?

In order to drive more than 26 km south of the Mexican border, you have to...

1.  Stop at the US border patrol checkpoint, if any is active.  I suppose this could involve getting out of the vehicle and opening your luggage, though I've never had to do that.  CBP officers are usually pretty friendly.

2.  Stop at a military checkpoint in the no-man's land of the border crossing, if any is active.  This could involve exiting your vehicle and letting them search through your luggage.  Most times I've crossed, there has not been a military checkpoint, but I do remember once having to shut off the car and get out for a Mexican soldier who was dressed in full camo with body armor and face mask and rifle.  They're the good guys, but not as chipper as CBP.

3.  Park at the immigration office.  Depending on the border crossing, this could be at the border itself or at a location farther south.  Before parking, you may be asked by a guard to do anything from just proceeding ahead to the parking lot, to getting out and letting them rifle through all of your belongings, or anything in between.  (There exists the possibility of such a search both at the border itself and at the immigration office farther south—if any—as well as any police or military checkpoint anywhere in the country.)

4.  Obtain a tourist card (FMM) for each person entering Mexico, which involves a face-to-face conversation with an immigration officer inside and handing over your passport.  If you didn't fill out the application ahead of time, it also requires filling out the form.  Any stay longer than 7 days also requires payment;  depending on the border crossing, this may require going to another window and paying for it, then returning with the receipt.

5.  Import your vehicle.  This includes handing over the tourist card you just obtained, your driver's license and photocopy, your vehicle's title or registration receipt and photocopy, and your passport and photocopy.  It also requires payment of a deposit, based on the model year of your vehicle, as a guarantee that you will return your vehicle within the specified timeframe, as well as payment of a non-refundable processing fee.  (Much of this process can be done online ahead of time by mailing your documents etc, but I don't know what in-person steps are still required.)

6.  Keep the vehicle importation permit with you at all times while driving in the country.

Where I cross the border, steps 1-5 usually take me about an hour or a little more if there's not much of a line.  When I last crossed, I got there shortly after the border crossing opened for the day, and then I had to wait an extra 35 minutes or so while they figured out why the printer wouldn't connect to the computer at the vehicle importation counter.  When my friends recently drove down two Saturdays before Christmas, it took them six hours because of the lines.

Then, upon exiting the country, into Belize or Guatemala, park at the immigration office to cancel both your tourist card and vehicle importation permit.  Both of these cancelations are done in-person inside the office, handing over various ID and documents to each of the agents.  If retrieving your deposit in cash, handing over another photocopy of your driver's license may be required.

And that's just to drive through the first country.  Each country along the way from there will have similar steps to follow, and some (most?) will also require having your vehicle fumigated—which, do I have to mention, you don't stay in the vehicle for.

[vdeane]

Where I cross the border, steps 1-5 usually take me about an hour or a little more if there's not much of a line.  When I last crossed, I got there shortly after the border crossing opened for the day, and then I had to wait an extra 35 minutes or so while they figured out why the printer wouldn't connect to the computer at the vehicle importation counter.  When my friends recently drove down two Saturdays before Christmas, it took them six hours because of the lines.

Wow.  On the Canadian border, an hour in either direction is considered an extremely long wait, not best case scenario.  I think everything over 15 minutes is at the top of my "longest times spent at the border" list, and I don't even have NEXUS!

[Rothman]

Hm.  Makes we think about my father's train trip into Mexico City in the late 1960s or 1970s.  Probably less of a hassle.

[kphoger]

Hm.  Makes we think about my father's train trip into Mexico City in the late 1960s or 1970s.  Probably less of a hassle.

Less legal hassle, surely.  But I wonder if ANY of the route north of Querétaro was even more than two lanes.

[kkt]

Where I cross the border, steps 1-5 usually take me about an hour or a little more if there's not much of a line.  When I last crossed, I got there shortly after the border crossing opened for the day, and then I had to wait an extra 35 minutes or so while they figured out why the printer wouldn't connect to the computer at the vehicle importation counter.  When my friends recently drove down two Saturdays before Christmas, it took them six hours because of the lines.

Wow.  On the Canadian border, an hour in either direction is considered an extremely long wait, not best case scenario.  I think everything over 15 minutes is at the top of my "longest times spent at the border" list, and I don't even have NEXUS!

Wow.  We (me, wife, and my mom) had to wait over three hours once, to return to Washington after spending the day in B.C.  It was the day after U.S. Thanksgiving and the delay was on the U.S. side.  Lots of people were running in to the Duty Free Shop on the Canadian side to use their bathroom and get snacks or stretch their legs, so many that their bathrooms were a terrible mess.  This was about 1999 or 2000.

[vdeane]

Where I cross the border, steps 1-5 usually take me about an hour or a little more if there's not much of a line.  When I last crossed, I got there shortly after the border crossing opened for the day, and then I had to wait an extra 35 minutes or so while they figured out why the printer wouldn't connect to the computer at the vehicle importation counter.  When my friends recently drove down two Saturdays before Christmas, it took them six hours because of the lines.

Wow.  On the Canadian border, an hour in either direction is considered an extremely long wait, not best case scenario.  I think everything over 15 minutes is at the top of my "longest times spent at the border" list, and I don't even have NEXUS!

Wow.  We (me, wife, and my mom) had to wait over three hours once, to return to Washington after spending the day in B.C.  It was the day after U.S. Thanksgiving and the delay was on the U.S. side.  Lots of people were running in to the Duty Free Shop on the Canadian side to use their bathroom and get snacks or stretch their legs, so many that their bathrooms were a terrible mess.  This was about 1999 or 2000.

Holiday + Black Friday traffic?  Although I've heard that the Washington/BC crossings have a reputation for long waits.  The NY/ON crossings can get busy on summer travel days, but the NY/QC crossings tend to be fairly quiet.  I usually avoid traveling on peak holiday travel days anyway.  I think my two longest for traveling on my own were around half an hour, both returning to the US, one on I-87 in Columbus Day weekend (it being the Sunday not making the border quiet), and the other on a summer Thursday at the Blue Water Bridge (where CBP was being extra thorough for some reason).

[kkt]

I guess.  I would have thought more Americans would go for the weekend and come back and Saturday or Sunday, rather than Friday.

We just didn't expect it, or we might have tried crossing at Lynden.  Which, of course, might or might not have been an improvement.

[MikeTheActuary]

Holiday + Black Friday traffic?  Although I've heard that the Washington/BC crossings have a reputation for long waits.  The NY/ON crossings can get busy on summer travel days, but the NY/QC crossings tend to be fairly quiet.

Pre-pandemic, I had three years where I commuted to/from Montréal monthly for work.

Two times when I crossed southbound, (once at the I-89 crossing, and once at the I-91 crossing (coming back from a conference in Charlevoix)) the Nexus lanes were not available, and it took about an hour to get across the border, between the queue and the guards being thorough.   One was a Friday mid-morning crossing, and the other was a Friday mid-afternoon crossing.  Neither was a holiday (US or Québec) weekend, but they were on the shoulders of standard vacation time (but not the construction holiday).

The experience at the I-89 crossing was the reason why, when coming home, I typically used the I-87 crossing if I wasn't engaged in my quest to collect other crossings.  (The Nexus lane southbound at I-89 is only open for weekday morning commute hours.)

My crossing at Highgate Springs northbound, to interview, also took a while ... maybe a half-hour? ... because I didn't yet have a Nexus card.  With Nexus, many crossings I've been almost waved through the border.

In a couple of months, I'll be making my first trek into my new office.  However, coming from the US, I doubt I'll have to sit in a long line of cars at the UK border. 

[vdeane]

Pre-pandemic, I had three years where I commuted to/from Montréal monthly for work.

Two times when I crossed southbound, (once at the I-89 crossing, and once at the I-91 crossing (coming back from a conference in Charlevoix)) the Nexus lanes were not available, and it took about an hour to get across the border, between the queue and the guards being thorough.   One was a Friday mid-morning crossing, and the other was a Friday mid-afternoon crossing.  Neither was a holiday (US or Québec) weekend, but they were on the shoulders of standard vacation time (but not the construction holiday).

Wow.  Did traffic never recover from the pandemic, or is there that much of a difference between Tuesday and Friday?  My last time entering on I-87 was late morning on a Tuesday in May, and it was practically dead.  I think I only had a car or two ahead of me in line (if that) and only got asked a couple questions by the guard.

[kkt]

Last time I entered the U.S. at Sumas there was no line at all.  The U.S. border guard had to put down his newspaper and ask us questions.  This was June 11, 2012, give or take a day or so.