I've been to that border crossing on the train. Barren doesn't begin to describe it: it's not near much of anything. He got turned away and left an hour away from Montreal or any transit. Rouses Point, NY (and Lacolle, Qc, on the other side) is a nasty place to be without a car.

I found an interesting response to this when I searched on the author's name. Please note that the response article is more interesting as metadata than as content.

The response has a valid point that the Dutch author's white privilege is showing. However the author's pseudo-worldliness makes him come across as a whiner. Thank goodness most of his response is a cut-and-paste of the transcript from a piece from On The Media.

The response gives away a different kind of privilege:

As a caveat, I want to make it clear that my intent is not to belittle Lohman's experience. I've not traveled outside the country since I was a small child, and our world is much different place now than it was when I was boy. I've never dealt with customs agents, and I don't know what it's like to have a broad assortment of your civil liberties flagrantly violated under the pretense of suspicion.

I think the response author may be envious of travelers.