# How Many National Borders Have You Walked Across? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2019, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727 "2019-08-16T08:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/41 "2019-08-16T19:52:01Z")
A lot of repeats to those above: Canada-U.S. Mexico-U.S. \ Republic and Northern Ireland Italy-Vatican France-Switzerland Germany-Switzerland Malawi-Zambia Kenya-Tanzania ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/42 "2019-08-16T19:58:22Z")
US / Mexico, mostly at TJ, but once at El Paso West Berlin / East Berlin - once at Checkpoint Charlie, earlier in the day at another point. The East Germans made that one quite a head game of making the pedestrians walk across a wide green-space where the exit gate was not quite visible from the entry gate, so the first many steps were, um, tentative. This probably doesn’t count per the rules of the OP, but earlier this summer, I took the ferry from Newfoundland, Canada to the French island of Saint Pierre. In defence, though, it was a passenger-only ferry. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/43 "2019-08-16T20:00:27Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Traveling by bus in Africa, you often have to disembark at a border crossing, walk across the line, and then get back on the bus. No idea why. I had thought I haven’t walked across any borders until I remembered that one. I have definitely walked across the Kenya-Tanzania border. The way it worked there is you get off the bus and go over to the Kenyan immigration office and get your exit stamp. Then you walk across the border to the Tanzanian immigration office, show your passport and visa and get your entry stamp, then get back on the bus. Uganda-Kenya was a little different. There both countries have immigration offices in the same building. You go to the Ugandan immigration desk and get your exit stamp, then walk over to the other side of the building and show your documents to the Kenyan immigration official and get your entry stamp. I don’t recall which side of the border I exited and reentered the bus on or if I crossed the actual border at any point during that process, so I’m not sure if I actually walked across the Uganda-Kenya border or rode across it on the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/44 "2019-08-16T20:16:26Z")
Just the US and Mexico myself. I’m surprised, having grown up a couple dozen miles from the Canadian border, that I’ve never walked across it but I can’t remember doing so, only driving. The weird thing is, since we walked across the Rio Grande to visit Juarez, it’s the deepest I’ve gone into a border after walking across even compared to two American _States_. I’ve never walked more than a few hundred feet inside another state’s border that I had just walked into. Twice I’ve walked into another state just to say I’ve crossed the border and then just walked back, and the other times has been walking parts of the Appalachian Trail where it straddles the border of two states. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/45 "2019-08-16T20:17:23Z")
So how does the bus driver get across the border there? EDIT: **Ludovic** , US-Mexico is probably also my deepest border-crossing-by-foot, even including states. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/46 "2019-08-16T20:29:09Z")
US-Mexico (El Paso-Juarez) and (Agua Prieta-Douglas AZ.) ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/47 "2019-08-16T20:29:10Z")
Only once, Paraguay to Brazil and back. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/48 "2019-08-16T20:31:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So how does the bus driver get across the border there? He drove the bus across the border and was waiting for us in front of Tanzanian immigration office, IIRC. I don’t know how all that works legally, but maybe he had a different type of visa that allowed that? ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/49 "2019-08-16T20:49:08Z")
Mexico USA Thailand Cambodia Paraguay Brazil Brazil Argentina Brazil Columbia Columbia Peru Czech Republic Slovakia Rwanda Uganda ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/50 "2019-08-16T22:01:30Z")
Pretty sure every border crossing has been in an RV, bus, train, ferry or airplane. Except one: during my year-in-Europe in college, one of our field trips was to West Berlin, and from there we had an excursion to East Berlin where we crossed via Checkpoint Charlie. That was on November 8, 1989. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/51 "2019-08-16T22:27:37Z")
Are we just counting formal “papers please” crossings? If so, none, they’ve all been car, air, or cruise ship. But I have hung out in the Peace Arch park on the border between Washington and British Columbia and wandered in and out of Canada and the US a number of times (we took a novelty picture of our kids on the other side of the arch entitled “The time we let the kids go to Canada by themselves”). Of course we always ended those wanderings the same side we started. I always wondered how well they monitored that. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/52 "2019-08-16T22:28:31Z")
I walked from San Diego to Tijuana, spent a half hour there and walked back. I may have walked on the France Germany border. From Strassbourg, I wanted to get a record of the fact that I was importing a bike into Germany. Stopped and parked at the border and then went off to find a customs agent to do this. The many, many times I have crossed the Canada/US border were never on foot. Thinking about it, I doubt I have ever crossed a state or provincial border on foot. Only time I can think of is walking about halfway across the Delaware River (now the Ben Franklin) Bridge and then back. I conceivably crossed into NJ, but there is no way of knowing. I once stood in the observatory at Greenwich with one foot on each side of the prime meridian. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/53 "2019-08-16T23:06:24Z")
USA — Mexico Japan — mmmmm. Guess not, it’s pretty hard to walk to anywhere from there. Same as Taiwan. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/54 "2019-08-17T00:37:54Z")
Does it count if you walk into an embassy? ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/55 "2019-08-17T01:32:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Although I’ve flown or driven over international borders in several places, I think the only place where I’ve _walked_ across an international border was at the Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge between Niagara Falls, NY and Niagara Falls, Ontario. > > [Rainbow Bridge (Niagara Falls) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_(Niagara_Falls)) > … This one. One of two times I’ve left the US. Other time I drove across the [Soo Locks.](https://www.saultstemarie.com/attractions/soo-locks/) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/56 "2019-08-17T01:32:51Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > Does it count if you walk into an embassy? Not really. Contrary to popular belief embassies are not \*really \*sovereign soil of the other nation. In my case internationally @ Niagara Falls (Slowly I turned!!), and interstate at Lake Meade (AZ-NV) and between the District of Columbia and Maryland. Otherwise always on some sort of transport conveyance at all times the actual crossing took place. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/57 "2019-08-17T04:51:22Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Walked. Not driven over, ridden in a train, bicycled etc. Myself, I can think of four: > > US-Mexico (El Paso-Juarez and San Diego-Tijuana) > Thailand-Laos (Nong Khai-Vientiane) > Thailand-Cambodia (Aranyaprathet-Poipet and Trat-Koh Kong) > West Germany-East Germany (Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin) > > The wife and I almost walked into India from Nepal 21 years ago. We were staying in a Nepalese border town and checking out the border crossing, peering into India, when an official told us to go ahead and go through the wide-open gate. But we had both left our passports in our hotel and did not feel like chancing the crossing without them, although locals were walking between the two countries without so much as a glance at any officials, who were few to be seen anyway. Then we saw a Westerner coming back from India, and he told us he didn’t even realize he had left Nepal. And I remembered a fifth crossing by foot: Thailand-Malaysia. In 1996, we took a train from Bangkok all the way down the peninsula to Malaysia. I said in my OP that trains did not count, but we did not cross the border on the train. As I now remember and the wife confirms, we got off the train on the Thai side of the border to go through Thai Customs and Immigration, then walked across the border into Malaysia for Malaysian Customs and Immigration. Then we reboarded the train in Malaysia. (We flew back to Bangkok later on from Kuala Lumpur. That was a long train ride, and one way was enough.) So five national borders. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/58 "2019-08-17T05:11:20Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Zero. Yup. Me too. Haven’t read the whole thread yet and I wonder how many ‘nones’ there are? I had to think about it and the answer surprised me. I consider myself somewhat well-traveled… I guess one can still be that even if they haven’t crossed borders on foot. I wonder how many on-foot border-crossings have been achieved by a super-duper, PremiereDiamondPlatinumGod Frequent Flyer traveler like, e.g., a long-time Dept. of State diplomat or globe-trotting evangelist. I would guess not many at all unless some type of ceremonial crossings were involved. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/59 "2019-08-17T06:40:06Z")
I’ve certainly walked into the USA across the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls on many occasions. I’ve also walked into Vatican City from Rome at least once. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727/60 "2019-08-17T08:39:53Z")
Israel-Lebanon, in the army in the mid-90s. Our base was on the “blue” (Israeli) side of the fence, and we’d cross over all the time for patrols and ambushes. I’ve crossed the Israeli-Egypt border, at the Taba Crossing, at least twice, although the last time was in 1991. I’ve also visited Monaco and the Vatican, but I don’t really think those count. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-national-borders-have-you-walked-across/838727.md?page=4)