Canadian RV Travel Book

[JackLClark]

We will be traveling into and through Canada next year. We plan to travel west to east, reentering the United States after visiting Quebec. With all your experience, folks, can you recommend a good book that covers RV travel for beginners to Canada?

Thanks, in advance.

[tbutler]

Welcome Jack,

I can't give you a book but there are numerous resources on the web. There are web sites for the border services for Canada and the US. Look at the discussion under this forum titled: Border Crossing web sites... There is also information on documentation required for the border crossing to Canada and the return to the US. You will also find sites for each province and many of the cities in Canada.

We have traveled through all of Canada with the exception of Newfoundland. You will find the campground facilities similar to the US for the most part. You will find almost no campgrounds with 50A service as the cooler weather and the native clientele simply don't demand it. Also you'll find that the Canadians call full hookups three way hookups. Just a little different terminology. Canadian campgrounds are listed in both the major campground directories and I would recommend that you get current copies of both before going to Canada.

You will find the best roads in Canada to be similar to good roads in the US. Secondary roads are another matter. You don't have to get far off the traveled path to find narrow, rough roads. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take them, just be prepared for their condition and travel accordingly. A toad is useful for getting to the remote areas that are very interesting to visit.

We seldom use phone service in Canada as the roaming rates for cell phones are so expensive. We use Wi-Fi when we can. Most campgrounds along the routes to Alaska have good Wi-Fi. We found good Wi-Fi service more rare in eastern Canada. Many campgrounds there charge for service.

The exchange rate for the US and Canada fluctuate constantly. Currently the rate is in our favor but that may change by next year. We were getting about a 10% break in our favor this past summer. We charge many of our expenses on a credit card which has a small exchange charge. We always get Canadian money after we have crossed the border. We use an ATM and get the cash we expect to need. Putting most major charges, campground fees, etc. on the credit card we find an amount near 300 dollars to be sufficient for a month of cash expenditures. Visa and MasterCard are welcome throughout Canada but you will find few if any places that accept Discover cards.

Canadian fuel prices tend to be about 25 to 40% higher than in the US so be sure to take a full tank across the border! We have on several occasions returned to the US from Canada to get mail, shop and refuel. This only pays if you are close to the border and the fuel stop is conveniently close also. Sometimes as we travel in Canada we just need to get back "home" for a little while. We enjoy having our phone and cell internet service working. It gives us a good feeling to have all our regular services available.

I have blogged our most recent trip through Quebec province into Ontario here on the FMCA site. Share a little more specific information with us, where do you plan to start, when will you be traveling? What are your interests? We have many Canadian members who can add information and make suggestions for things to do and see.

[JackLClark]

Welcome Jack,

I can't give you a book but there are numerous resources on the web. There are web sites for the border services for Canada and the US. Look at the discussion under this forum titled: Border Crossing web sites... There is also information on documentation required for the border crossing to Canada and the return to the US. You will also find sites for each province and many of the cities in Canada.

We have traveled through all of Canada with the exception of Newfoundland. You will find the campground facilities similar to the US for the most part. You will find almost no campgrounds with 50A service as the cooler weather and the native clientele simply don't demand it. Also you'll find that the Canadians call full hookups three way hookups. Just a little different terminology. Canadian campgrounds are listed in both the major campground directories and I would recommend that you get current copies of both before going to Canada.

You will find the best roads in Canada to be similar to good roads in the US. Secondary roads are another matter. You don't have to get far off the traveled path to find narrow, rough roads. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take them, just be prepared for their condition and travel accordingly. A toad is useful for getting to the remote areas that are very interesting to visit.

We seldom use phone service in Canada as the roaming rates for cell phones are so expensive. We use Wi-Fi when we can. Most campgrounds along the routes to Alaska have good Wi-Fi. We found good Wi-Fi service more rare in eastern Canada. Many campgrounds there charge for service.

The exchange rate for the US and Canada fluctuate constantly. Currently the rate is in our favor but that may change by next year. We were getting about a 10% break in our favor this past summer. We charge many of our expenses on a credit card which has a small exchange charge. We always get Canadian money after we have crossed the border. We use an ATM and get the cash we expect to need. Putting most major charges, campground fees, etc. on the credit card we find an amount near 300 dollars to be sufficient for a month of cash expenditures. Visa and MasterCard are welcome throughout Canada but you will find few if any places that accept Discover cards.

Canadian fuel prices tend to be about 25 to 40% higher than in the US so be sure to take a full tank across the border! We have on several occasions returned to the US from Canada to get mail, shop and refuel. This only pays if you are close to the border and the fuel stop is conveniently close also. Sometimes as we travel in Canada we just need to get back "home" for a little while. We enjoy having our phone and cell internet service working. It gives us a good feeling to have all our regular services available.

I have blogged our most recent trip through Quebec province into Ontario here on the FMCA site. Share a little more specific information with us, where do you plan to start, when will you be traveling? What are your interests? We have many Canadian members who can add information and make suggestions for things to do and see.

[JackLClark]

Mr. Butler, Thanks for the reply. Have found a couple of books (not the RVing kind) in a used book store that will be handy. The Mile Post covers only the western part of Canada for entry to AK, but has some good info.

I've tried everything to delete my post that re-copied your input to my question. I just can't get rid of it. Hopefully other will figure it out to be a mistake.

Thanks again.