Really strange. My impression of Germany and german people is that they do everything by the book.


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You should take in to consideration that the uk is leaving eu so even if you get yourself and your bike to the uk you will have a real border crossing to get to the continent. When you are inside eu you don't even notice the border crossings.


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The UK was never in the Schengen region and there has always been passport control, as the OP is an American Brexit will make no difference at all.

The UK was not in Schengen but was in a customs union and single market. There was always passport control, but not restrictions on movement of goods; if a vehicle had been legally brought into the UK and legal to drive on UK public roads, it could be equivalently driven on any EU/EEA public roads.

Now there will be a customs border between the UK and EU, possibly with separate TIPs.

Don't tell me we're going to have to put those beam diverters back on our headlights - the ones no one's bothered with for years despite the best efforts of the ferry companies to flog them to us on the quayside.

And a GB plate as presumably the old EU ones on the numberplate will no longer be good enough. Maybe some tape over the EU flag bit might do it

Lynden ground Tranport will get your stuff to Seattle fast

Disregarding the current COVID-19 restrictions that apply to the Canada-US border, it's really a non-event for an American citizen to enter Canada with a vehicle.

Just tell the border guard that you are riding to Montreal (or Toronto, or wherever) to drop the motorcycle off at Air Canada, and then you and the motorcycle will travel to Europe. The border staff won't have any further interest in you.

Another forum member mentioned concerns such as criminal records, etc. in a previous post. If that might apply to you, do some investigation ahead of time to see what if any other actions you might need to take prior to crossing the border.

An American can enter Canada without a passport, but an American can't get back into the USA from Canada without a passport. Obviously, you'll need the passport for Europe.

Don't bring any guns, or more than one bottle of alcohol or one carton of 200 cigarettes. That's pretty much it.

Michael

That's pretty much our experience when we travelled around Canada from the US a couple of years ago. Five minutes (most which was queuing) and only a few brief questions on the way into Canada (at Niagara) but the best part of an hour and a complete life history to get back into the US at a border post in Maine. The guard was friendly enough but he obviously had a checklist of suspicion to get through. The issue of explaining why two Brits were riding a New Jersey registered bike definately raised the alert level.

Uh... How does that work?

It's more complicated than that. Each of the two countries makes their own rules, so there have been times when Canada didn't require a passport but the US did for re-entry. At the moment, I believe that so-called trusted traveler ID is accepted in both directions (Nexus, enhanced drivers licenses, etc.) for overland travel, but passports are required for air crossings. But I might be out of date already.

Note that land and air journeys have different requirements. For all I know, sea journeys might be different from either of the above. There's almost no concern in either direction when it comes to vehicles; if it's legal in one country, it's legal for use in the other. Of course this applies to temporary, not permanent imports.

Note also that even if you follow all the rules, each country can refuse entry for whatever reason they want, whenever they choose. The US in particular is perfectly capable of putting you through all sorts of indignities at the border, even if you're a citizen.

In any case, none of this applies at the moment unless you can satisfy some pretty strict restrictions. I have this idea that I may be able to cross the border to spread my mother's ashes by summertime 2021, but I had the identical idea prior to summer 2020, so we'll see.

I think it's the overland version of having to live in the airport

Re asymmetric borders, I've gone into France from the UK several times without anybody being bothered whether I have a passport or not. You turn up and they wave you through all the 'checkpoints', often without even looking at you. But in 51 yrs of going to France I've never got back into the UK like that. In recent years, with the ramping up of the 'illegal immigration crisis', the miles of razor wire fencing and armed French soldiers strip searching your car when you arrive in Calais makes it feels more like North Korea (or 70's Albania at least) than a liberal western democracy. It may be at 'something must be done' Defcon 1 level at present but to a greater or lesser extent there's always been an element similar to cold war paranoia on the British side. Since Schengen especially the French have been far more relaxed.

I suspect that the rules regarding UK citizens staying only up to 90 days in 180 may be applied quite rigorously in Spain and France come 1 January 2021 so they may be much more interested in our passports all of a sudden.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.