Before you cross

Before you travel

• Read the page for your specific crossing, and check the sample size. A crossing with two reports tells you almost nothing.
• Look at the direction filter. Entering and leaving are frequently not the same experience at the same checkpoint.
• Check the median and the 90th-percentile wait. The tail is what strands people overnight.

On devices

Device inspection is the single most reported change at these crossings. What reporters describe most often is being asked to unlock a phone so an officer can scroll photos, open messengers and look at channel subscriptions. Some describe the phone being taken out of sight; a smaller number describe it being connected to equipment.

Decisions about what to carry are yours and depend on your own legal exposure. What the reports here can tell you is how likely an inspection is at a given crossing, and what form it usually takes.

Questions people report being asked

The recurring topics are the purpose of the trip, military service, relatives in Ukraine, employment, money carried, previous travel and social media. Checkpoint pages break these down by frequency.

If you write a report afterwards

• Leave out names — yours, your travelling companions', and the officers'.
• Leave out document numbers, phone numbers, plate numbers and flight numbers.
• Be careful with unusual combinations of details. "Cyclist, 3am, alone, carrying a cello" is identifying even with no name attached.
• Consider waiting until you are somewhere you are comfortable before submitting. The report is more useful than it is urgent.