Flying to Vermont and driving up to Montréal Upgraded to Economy, July 13, 2024August 10, 2024 For my third trip to Montréal, I decided to try something more niche. Instead of flying directly to Montréal, why not fly to a city close to the border but still in the United States and drive up instead, crossing the border by land and not by air? Why? There were several compelling reasons for doing this: I wanted to rent a car and rental cars are cheaper to rent in the United States. With a rental car, I could more easily stay at a cheaper hotel on the outskirts of Montréal with free parking. Domestic flights within the U.S. are cheaper than flights to Canada. This is because the Canadian government charges significantly more in excise taxes than the U.S. government does for flights. I was getting tired of taking the 747 bus between the Montréal Airport and downtown Montréal. It’s both expensive and prone to overcrowding. I almost missed my flight last time because of it! I’ve done this before for Toronto Border crossing One of the biggest make-or-break moments for making this experience worth it was the border crossing. I chose to cross at the Highgate Springs port of entry on Interstate 89, both going into and coming out of Canada. (The Canadian port of entry is called St. Armand–Philipsburg.) There is no dedicated lane to get to NEXUS at either the Highgate Springs or St. Armand–Philipsburg crossing, so if the highway is backed up, you have to drive along the shoulder to skip the line. At the St. Armand NEXUS lane, you talk to a CBSA officer via a speaker and microphone. They have a camera to see you. Then they let you through remotely. Meanwhile, I couldn’t use the Highgate Springs NEXUS lane because they are only open at the bizarre hours of 6:30am-8:30am Monday through Friday, and I crossed at 10am sharp. Highway from the border to Montréal You have to drive on the local roads for a brief 15-minute segment from just north of the border to where Autoroute 35’s current southern terminus is. Hopefully, when they finish closing the gap in 2025, this will no longer be an issue, and it will be possible to drive from Burlington to Montréal fully on controlled-access highways. Even with the current small detour, the experience was not terrible. I enjoyed driving on both the smaller road and Autoroute 35. (I much prefer highways built to U.S. interstate highway standards, but I digress, as the Québec autoroutes are still very good compared to the highways in western Canada.) Would I do it again? If I’m renting a car and want to stay on the outskirts of Montréal, I’d definitely do this again. I might try crossing at Champlain instead if I want to use the NEXUS lanes though. Thankfully this time I didn’t get a very long border wait at Highgate Springs and I made it to Burlington Airport with plenty of time to spare. However, I definitely would prefer to have some more predictability in terms of timing the border crossing. Having a NEXUS lane helps with that significantly. Related Posts My crazy idea for how I'm going to Montréal this summerIf you can't tell, I am absolutely infatuated with Montréal. However, the annoyance of clearing… Why it's okay to save up credit card pointsSome websites will make you think that saving up credit card points is hoarding, which… There’s three ways to check your NEXUS application status, and only one of them is superiorDue to the lasting effects of the pandemic, processing times for new NEXUS applications currently… How I was able to earn 11,000 AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points by buying an iPad on AAdvantage eShoppingOn June 26, for one day only, the AAdvantage eShopping Mall offered a wonderful deal… Trip review (Instagram stories): American Airlines domestic first class (Seattle to Dallas) [SEA to DFW]Here’s a flight review from my Instagram! Driving Travel