Express Lanes Cut Wait at Canadian Borders

To help cut down on border congestion, special clearance lanes have been opened at selected crossings for U.S. tourists entering Canada and for returning Canadians with nothing to declare. The new express lanes are aimed at trimming waiting time for visitors entering the country.

A strong Canadian dollar and U.S. gas prices that are substantially lower than Canada’s have been luring Canadians to the United States to shop. On their return, they are clogging up the border so that Americans can’t get in, said Dale Colter, spokesman for Canada’s Travelers Directorate of Customs and Excise. The express lanes, which are already open at several locations, including Osoyoos, British Columbia, across from Oroville, Wash., are expected to be instituted in other spots, including other crossings serving the Western United States.

Travel Quiz: Name nine U.S. state capitals that are composed of more than one word.

Paris Passes: For museum-goers on a budget, there are now one-, three- and five-day French passes that give unlimited access to about 64 places, including most of the bigger museums and monuments such as the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay.

On sale in musems, major subway stations and tourism offices in Paris, including the one at 127 Champs Elysees, “la carte” passes are good for one, three or five consecutive days. They also can be purchased before leaving the United States through Marketing Challenges International Inc., 10 East 21st St., Suite 600, New York 10010, (212) 529-8484.

Museum passes start at $15.50 if purchased in the United States, slightly less in Paris. The entry fee for the Louvre alone is $4.50 (on Sundays, however, entry to all government-run museums is free). Also available are three-day metro passes that cost $20 (without the pass, a one-way ride is $1) and “telecart” cards that can be used on public telephones, many of which no longer take change.

Japan’s Fast Track: A new train that runs from Narita Airport to the downtown Tokyo Station, takes about an hour and costs about $22 economy and $37 first-class, is a bargain in both time and money. A 90-minute taxi ride can cost as much as $140. A bus ride, which costs about the same as the train, can take two hours or more in traffic. In addition to speed and bargain prices, the train offers special amenities such as private compartments, a self-service bar in first-class, large restrooms and announcements in English. Reservations are required.

More Passport Pages: Travelers will no longer be able to drop by a U.S. Passport Office and have extra visa pages added to their books on the spot. (With the 10-year passports now in effect, more people are running out of visa pages.) After a policy change goes into effect later this year, the process for adding pages will take up to 10 working days, the same length of time it takes to get a passport.

The change is an effort by the State Department to reduce the risk of fraud and terrorism by making requests for additional pages subject to the same computer name-checks that passports are.

Application for additional pages can be made through the mail by sending the passport along with a letter of request. Or requests can be made in person at any passport office. There is no fee for the service.

Quick Fact: State that has seen the greatest increase (213%) during the last five years in number of foreign visitors: Kansas. Sites most often visited by foreign travelers: Dodge City, Cowtown and Ft. Scott. (Sources: U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration and Kansas Travel and Tourism.)

Comparatively Speaking: Cost of a beer in Beijing: $8.53. In Paris: $7.97. In Cologne, Germany: $4.19. In Hong Kong: $2.62. (Source: Runzheimer International.)

Fair Warning: Homemade blackberry pie with ice cream, early morning nature walks through Anderson Marsh State Historic Park and a day of lively history will be part of the seventh annual Blackberry Festival Aug. 10 in Northern California at Lower Lake, inland from Mendocino.

Also, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., there will be demonstrations of turn-of-the-century tasks such as whittling, saddle making, weaving and spinning. And visitors will have the opportunity to view 150 species of birds and explore rich American Indian history on 500 acres of archeological sites. Admission is free. For more information: (800) 525-3743.

Quiz Answer: Baton Rouge, Carson City, Des Moines, Jefferson City, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe.