HHC 2016 location and date

[sat1410]

I lived in upstate New York near the Canadian border, so have been watching with dismay as the rules for crossing have gotten stricter over the years. There has been a great reduction in the number of recreational trips across the border to Niagara Falls...

There are a handful of Trusted Traveler cards issued by DHS (Global Entry, NEXUS, and SENTRI) that allow you to cross the border by land or sea without a passport (or passport card) in hand, but you have to already have a valid passport to apply for the Trusted Traveler programs in the first place.

The other option for land/sea crossings that doesn't require a passport is an "Enhanced Driver's License," but those are only issued by a handful of states: Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington.

Other methods of entry without a passport are much more obscure and would not apply to anyone visiting a convention (Merchant Mariners traveling as crew aboard ships, soldiers traveling on military orders, et al).

Choices aside, everyone I know who still travels to Canada has purchased a passport. Making the trip to the local post office for a Passport is less of a hassle than visiting the DMV for an enhanced driver's license.