Road trips can be fun when you travel with friends and family, but there are always times during every road trip where you can find yourself thinking “I wish I were on a plane” One of the most frustrating things about cross-border road trips for me is the wait at the border. The lineups at the border can be quite unpredictable and depend on what events, shows or holidays are coming up that cause people to travel over the border.

While there is no way to by-pass the long wait without a Nexus pass, there is some information available to better prepare you for the wait ahead.

The Canadian Border officials have a Twitter account. The account was created to provide an hourly update on the border wait times. Each Canadian Border Service Agency has its own twitter account to allow users to follow the borders closest to them. A full list of the Canadian Border Service Agency Twitter accounts can be found at https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/new-neuf/twitter-eng.html.

The United States Customs Border Patrol also has a Twitter account (@CustomsBorder); however, it does not provide up to date border times for travelling back into the US. They do offer a mobile friendly website that provides up-to-date information on border wait times. This can be found at:  https://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/.

So, next time you take a road trip to Canada or Mexico, check out the CBSA twitter account and CBP mobile website to help plan your drive.