My day trip to Buffalo

Yesterday we had left at 5:40am on our day trip to Buffalo, NY hoping not to get stuck for endless hours at the the U.S. border. We arrived at the border around 7am and thankfully only waited for 10-15 minutes to cross over hassle free. Since the outlets and malls did not open until 10am we had hit up Wal-mart and a grocery store called Tops. I had a blast at Wal-mart especially because they had a huge variety of flavors and snack items Canada does not have and also because it was 7am and not congested.

Check out our shopping cart.. please note that when this picture was taken only 1 item in that cart belongs to me.

We then visited the Walden Galleria Mall where I did not really see anything I haven't seen in Canada and the prices were exactly the same. The only I would have saved was a couple bucks on their reduced tax rate. Even Macy's, JC Penny and DSW did not really have anything outrageous which was sad. To top it off, their food court sucks and virtually has nothing good to offer - whomp whomp. Next stop, the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls. There were so many fellow Canadians present at this mall, when we got there it felt like they had cleared and bought out all the goods things because there wasn't much left. However, I did make 1 purchase which is worthy of it's own blog post. Overall, the shopping; right across the border sucks and is a waste of time if you are looking for deals.

Coming back we were stuck at the border for an excess of 20-30 minutes which was not so bad, all the Canadians happen to be migrating home at the same time. We also declared over $500 worth of groceries and goods after spending only 8hrs across the border and the customs officer let us pass on by without any custom, duties or taxes - what a nice man. I guess honesty pays after all.