I was thinking of taking a holiday later this year in a part of the USA I know little starting at Detroit and going north to Duluth then crossing the border with Canada several times travelling west to visit national parks and cities as far as Winnipeg and Regina in Canada and the border cities of the USA.

With the current difficulties of getting into the US, would this crossing and recrossing the Canadian border idea be more hassle than it is worth? Any opinions gratefully received.

If you want to go, I'd go now. Did a few math calculations and due to the current weak dollar, what would have cost me £700 in the US (a pound comparison) only cost me £530 this time round. Quite a nice money saving without laundering

As far as I'm aware though, the transistion from US to Canada is relatively painless (you stay in your car). This is from experience from a visit to Niagra Falls 4 years ago, however, and could have changed since 9/11.

Probably shouldn't be too bad a problem. Last time I went to Canada (a few years ago, before the security increase) it was just a bit of paperwork, and a bit of line standing. Not really any worse than the average plane trip's waiting.

It shouldn't be too much worse even now... your biggest problem will probably be the traffic delays from the stricter checks. I've seen lines for some of the border crossings that you'd spend hours sitting in your car waiting to get through. I'd suggest taking one of the less popular ones to dodge the traffic, and check the traffic reports before you leave.

For a US Citizen to get into Canada these days, you need a birth certificate and photo ID. For a non-citizen, a passport or visitors visa works fine. Folks go from here (North Dakota) to Winnipeg all the time, and don't have a problem. There can be a wait occasionally, but I haven't seen/heard of a long one.