My first experiences of crossing an international border involved trips to Canada. Growing up in Montana, Canada wasn’t all that far away, but Montana is a big state and we lived in the south and it was more than 300 miles to the border. However, there were reasons to go to Canada. The Calgary Stampede was a big rodeo and one of my sisters was married to a rodeo rider. We occasionally did business across the border. When I was in college, my father’s company purchased a trailer in Canada and we made a quick trip to pick up the new trailer. Crossing the border was no big deal in those days. Often they didn’t even ask to see your ID. They would ask where your home was, whether or not you had firearms or alcohol, and the purpose of your trip. There were rarely lines at the border crossings.

We began our ministry by serving congregations in North Dakota for seven years. Our conference camp was on a lake that spanned the border with Canada. We would take the camp pontoon boat across the lake to purchase snacks at a store. There was no official border crossing involved. Near the camp the International Peace Gardens were a local attraction and we visited them when we were in the area. The gardens were officially available to both countries. The entrance to Canada was on the other side of the park. Upon leaving the park you did pass through the US entry, but if you said you’d only been in the park no further questions were asked.

I made a lot of border crossings without having an enhanced ID or a passport.

Then 911 occurred and things changed dramatically. Now we need a passport to cross the border.The agents serving at the border crossings seem to be a bit more gruff as well. When we say that our home is in a border town they usually soften a bit, but we have learned to be careful in answering their questions to avoid more questions.

If the purpose of our trip is to pick up someone at the airport, we don’t say, “We’re meeting a plane.” That will require more explanation. If we answer, “We’re going to the airport to pick up a family member,” things go a bit more smoothly. We occasionally are asked questions about firearms and alcohol. A lot of US citizens carry firearms wherever they go, but we do not and usually the agents simply take our word for it. Of course they have the authority to search our vehicle, but that hasn’t ever happened to us.

Border crossing is on my mind this morning because we came to Canada last night and are spending a rather short night in a hotel before catching an early shuttle to the airport. Our destination is Columbia, South Carolina. Flying out of Vancouver is a lot more convenient for us than Seattle and for this trip it is less expansive as well. So passports in hand we crossed the border last night and will fly back across the border today, traveling to Salt Lake City and Atlanta on our way to Columbia.

Canada has been the departure point for several International Adventures for us. Our first trip to Europe started with a flight from Calgary to Amsterdam. We flew from Vancouver to London when our daughter lived in England and from Vancouver to Tokyo on one of the trips we made to visit her in Japan. Vancouver International Airport is a somewhat familiar place for us.

Of course an International flight means we have to arrive at the airport earlier than were we flying to a destination in Canada. It all works out pretty smoothly, however. And when it comes to time, we’ll be traveling three time zones east, so we need to begin to adjust our clocks to the new time zone anyway.

Catching a 3:50 am shuttle at the hotel, we know it will be almost 7 am in South Carolina. And tomorrow, we’ll need to be able to get up and get going in South Carolina because it is grandparents’ day at our grandson’s school and being able to participate in that is a special treat for us that doesn’t come every year. I think grandparents’ day is a pretty big deal for a kindergartener. I know it is a big deal for his grandpa.

I think that I get tired a bit easier than was the case when I was younger. I’m less able to get by on short amounts of sleep than once was the case. Fortunately for me, I’m pretty good at taking naps and I don’t have trouble sleeping on airplanes. That is probably the product of being the child of pilots. I’ve been sleeping on airplanes since before I can remember. My plan is to catch a few winks on the various flights and to be tired enough to go right to sleep as soon as I hit the bed tonight. The result may be that my journal entries are published at unusual times of the day for a few days as I adjust to the change in time zones.

Learning to deal with changes in time and disruptions in schedule is part of travel and I love travel more than I love routine even now that I am in my 70s. I feel so lucky to be able to board an airplane and travel across the continent to be with our daughter and her family. Because they have lived in several interesting places on three continents, we have had some wonderful adventures visiting them.

I know that as I grow older, the time will come when I will not be as able to travel or at least travel will be a bigger challenge for me. Maybe I’ll have to accept that others need to come to visit me more than I go to visit them. I’m not ready for that yet, however. Today is an adventure I’ve been anticipating for quite a while and I’m grateful for the adventure. Onward!