Has Anyone Ever Experienced Travel Difficulties (Crossing Borders)?

[tray999]

I've spent the past two or three days looking for a topic that addressed this issue, but haven't found one so I think this should be interesting:

I'm currently in an interesting situation, to put it nicely. As of right now, I'm about two and a half months away from getting my letter for T, according to my therapist. If all goes as planned, I should be starting in February at the latest. With that said, I was hoping to postpone changing my legal name until things..settled down a bit with my family (I'm not all the way out yet, I'm doing this unsupported with the exception of my girlfriend) and social situation. Plus, I'm attached to my name for reasons I still can't pin down, so it's going to stay until I can't stand it anymore.
Anyways, with that laid out, this summer I have a pretty much 100% confirmed trip to British Columbia planned (I'm in the United States), and have a recent (last year) passport to get across the border. My new concern is that the T will change my face so much the border patrol will think that I'm not..me in the photo, in combination with the name and gender there.

With that all said, the main question: Have you ever tried to cross borders (preferably States/Canada) with your birth name and original passport? What experiences have you had with this? Should I be concerned/rushing to get my name changed now?
Any answers anyone can provide would be awesome, since I'd rather not lose the vacation or have too much trouble with it.

[Radar]

IIRC it takes about 6-8 weeks to get your passport. You may want to get a more updated passport done before summer. If you have your name changed by then that will be put on it too.

Also, a law has passed where you can change the gender on your passport with a letter from your therapist saying you've been diagnosed with GID and are being treated. You don't even have to be on T or had any surgeries. I assume this also means the gender on your DL doesn't have to be changed either (can still be F).

From my past experiences (this was all before transition) it's easy to get into Canada but when you come back to the U.S. it's 40 questions.

[Carson]

I went from the US to the dominican republic and back again with no problems. I had been on T for 7 months and didn't have my name or gender changed on anything and I was fine. I got a few weird looks and a lot of people checked my passport but T isn't going to change your face so much that you don't look like you anymore so it was fine.

haha it was weird because pre-T everyone is hesitant to talk because their voice outs them but when i was in vacation when I was in the airport I barely talked because my voice was so deep and my passport said F.

[tray999]

First of all, thanks for your quick replies guys!

I'm not sure if I want (or can afford) to get an updated passport since I literally just got my newest one in June..plus, I'll probably want to wait on that until my face starts to change as much as it might, if that makes sense. That's a logical suggestion though. I'd heard some rumors about the new passport law, but nothing solid..so thank you again Radar. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

I'm really glad to hear about your experience Carson, thank you! I can't say for sure, but from my own experience with the Canadian border in the past (girlfriend lives up there, I go often), Canada seems to be a little easier to get into than some areas overseas, so this is reassuring. Especially considering that your time on T is so close to what mine will be.
I'll probably learn to keep my mouth shut just in case then.

[Radar]

I'd heard some rumors about the new passport law, but nothing solid..so thank you again Radar.

Yeah, Obama passed it a little while ago. Just be sure- and this is for everyone- to update it to your correct gender before the Republicans get into the White House. Because you know they'll repeal it, since we're heathen sexual perverts after all. Yes, I went there.

[sneakersjay]

I traveled by plane approx. 3 months on T, just started passing, passed everywhere at my destination.  Everyone called me sir until I had to produce my ID and credit card for car rental, hotel (all of which I had reserved under my nickname Jay, except the plane ticket in my F name) and then airport security on the way back, where one aggravating employee called my F name loudly and ma'am, ma'am, ma'am several times at me.  GRR.

In my own local airport they didn't even blink.


Jay

[tray999]

I'll be changing my passport as soon as I can afford to get another one (and after the name change) then, thanks.

Sounds like airports are more of an annoyance than a problem then. Oddly enough, that's reassuring. Thanks for your input Jay!

[Arch]

I'll be changing my passport as soon as I can afford to get another one (and after the name change) then, thanks.

This really sucks, especially with the recent fee increase. Are you sure they will not allow you to update a current passport without paying the whole fee?

[tray999]

This really sucks, especially with the recent fee increase. Are you sure they will not allow you to update a current passport without paying the whole fee?

I'm not sure..I can look into it. I know that I had to pay the entire fee last year when I needed a replacement after losing mine >.> But that's a different situation.
Honestly, I think I'd rather wait until the name change is in place, which won't be until I'm in a better situation for that as well. Hopefully everything will work out before I run into problems.
My main focus right now is affording T and therapy while going to school. I'll work on the legal side of things as soon as that's figured out.