[Doc Wu]

I'm with a team that was at GTR two years ago (1507) and and formerly with a team that won GTR back closer to 2000 (378).

We'd like to attend Toronto's regional more, but so far the main issues have been the border requirements and the shipping.

When we attended last, students and for that matter adults, could return to the US with only basic proof of citizenship (birth certificate, draft card, etc.) along with a photo ID. Carrying tools, trailers, etc. should still be unchanged. Just have a detailed list of what you bring and - this is important - stop on the way out and have the list filed with the US border people. They will give you a form that proves what you're carrying back in came with you.

The shipping was a big added cost. I'm not involved in the shipping end of things, so I don't know all the details, but I was under the impression that the customs brokering was an added fee and that we couldn't use one of the "free" FedEx shipments across the border. We still managed to do it the one year, though. Bag and tag might alleviate that.

As for the bag and tag, I see no problem with breaking the seal for a customs inspection. They do it all the time for tractor trailers and they just reseal them. I'm sure there can be some provision for this made in FIRST's rules. I don't know what kind of seal a bag and tagged bot gets, but I'm sure something could be done, even if an additional seal had to be issued for border crossings.

The main problem now is the passport requirement. It may be more of a perceived problem and fade away as more and more people get them on their own.

I don't want to get all political, but I'm a bit irritated that I have to pay for some paperwork to get back into my own country, when the country I'm visiting is perfectly happy with only basic proof of identity, such as a drivers license. I'm over 50 and have lived within 20 miles of the Canadian border all my life and have gone there frequently without any hassles. I volunteered at marathons that crossed the border and have ridden across the border on a bicycle many times. I've skied all over Western Canada. But not any more. The cost of a passport is too high and takes too long to get to consider it anything but an added fee and inconvenience. I'll probably get an enhanced drivers license next time I renew my license, but they bumped that up to 8 years in a money grab a while back, so that's a while off. My drivers license is 6 years old and barely readable. They'd love to have me renew it two years early and pay an extra $65 for the enhanced version.

So that's what I see as a major problem with getting US teams to come to Canadian Regionals. It's not that we don't like them (Actually, we love Canada! I can see the Toronto skyline across the lake from less than a mile from my home. I watch Canadian TV over the air all the time.) it's the hassle our own country puts us through, treating us like we're some kind of "terrorists."

As I said, it probably all perception, but the perception might be slow to fade...