Most Excitement ... Going Through Customs?

[Jacob]

Mono, what was it you didn't want your parents to see? 

Sex related products.

[jimmy olsen]

Crossing the border into Canada on my first tour to Alaska...

Me and my parents were caravaning, and we drove out past Spokane, WA into Idaho and went to cross the border from ID to Canada south of Creston, BC.  My parents cross first, and are waved through, no problems.

When I go through,

"Brings you to Canada?"
"Moving up to Alaska on behalf of the U.S. military".
"What do you do in the military?"
- I decide to be honest, "Intelligence".   
"Please pull up here to the left and come inside".

I then spend about 30 minutes being interrogated on every location I've been stationed, etc.  And they finally decide I am not a terribly dangerous operative, or vagabond, and let me proceed. 

You had military ID right? Seems bizarre they'd interrogate you over that.

[Jacob]

My favourite experience was hitchhiking from West Berlin through East Germany back to West Germany.  After hitching the ride just outside the city limits I learned why the fellow seemed so pleased to have picked me up.  About 2km from the border between West Berlin and East Germany the lineup of cars started.  It was a gradual uphill slope.  The border crossing was so slow that everyone turned off their vehicles and pushed.  In my case I pushed while the driver sat in the car.

When we finally got to the border guard neither he nor the border guard spoke much English.  The guard got quite irrate with me and kept pointing to a document I apparently didnt have which authorized transit.   But there really wasnt anything to be done.  He couldnt send me back and the driver wanted to leave so the guard just  me go through.  Three months later the wall came down.  This was my little contribution. 

Nice to get someone to push your car for you!

Was it to save gas?

[Jacob]

Crossing the border into Canada on my first tour to Alaska...

Me and my parents were caravaning, and we drove out past Spokane, WA into Idaho and went to cross the border from ID to Canada south of Creston, BC.  My parents cross first, and are waved through, no problems.

When I go through,

"Brings you to Canada?"
"Moving up to Alaska on behalf of the U.S. military".
"What do you do in the military?"
- I decide to be honest, "Intelligence".   
"Please pull up here to the left and come inside".

I then spend about 30 minutes being interrogated on every location I've been stationed, etc.  And they finally decide I am not a terribly dangerous operative, or vagabond, and let me proceed. 

That's interesting... they gave you the impression they were concerned about you spying in Canada?

[Ed Anger]

I stood in line.

[derspiess]

Nothing exciting.  I've often brought back cigars (and even Rum) from a certain country back with me and had to sweat that out.

Most embarrassing was last time I flew back from Argentina, going through Customs in Miami.  I took a late evening flight and got zero sleep on the plane.  I was so flippin' tired by the time I went through customs that it took me three attempts to correctly answer the customs agent when he asked me where I lived.

[Tonitrus]

That's interesting... they gave you the impression they were concerned about you spying in Canada?

No, just mostly very interested in where I had been stationed before.

Maybe they were bored?... it was probably a bumfuck part of BC across the border from bumfuck Idaho. 

I was just happy they didn't want to search through all my luggage/cargo.

[Barrister]

My stories are kind of week compared to some others, but here goes...

Crossing over to Alaska from Yukon, mid oughts.  It was just me in my car.  I was asked if I had a passport, and I said no, just a driver's license.  The US border guard looked at me and said "Bad Canadian!" as if he was disciplining a dog, before explaining I should have a passport, and then letting me through.

Flying back from Brazil to Canada, landing in Miami.  It was a long days flight with two little kids, and we get there facing a really, really long line-up.  Our flight, though a US carrier, had been full of Brazillian nationals.  We get to the head of the line and are asked by security "Are you US citizens?"  We reply that no, we are Canadians.  Apparently that was also the right answer, as we get waived by this huge ass line of Brazillians and into the US-only line, where we took about 5 minutes before passing customs.  I can't help but feel that was somewhat racist, but it was in our favour so I wasn't going to argue.

Mind you even when not involving customs we found that travelling with toddlers is a great way to get waived through long lines, so who knows.

Finally, spring 1999.  Me and three buddies had spent spring break touring a few American fraternity chapters.  To this day I'm glad we weren't arrested, as we were driving around with a keg of beer in the back of our mid-80s Corolla (I was anal enough to insist that the driver not be drinking... much - which led to me doing most of the driving).  On top of the keg the back seat of our car had a thick layer of beer can detritus throughout the trip, until we deposited that on an abandoned North Dakota rural road (sorry LaCroix).

Anyways, once we got back to Canadian customs, even though we had gotten rid of all our illegal goods, I was driving and I guess I was nervous.  The border guard was just about to pass us through to a secondary check when one of my buddies, who had worked for CBSA as a summer student and in fact knew the agent who was interviewing us, intervened from the back seat and we were waved through.

[jimmy olsen]

I've never had problems with customs. They just don't give a shit in Korea, I've even volunteered that I have liquor over the amount allowed and they just wave you through anyways.

Used to be a lot more difficult to get through security before the full body scanners were introduced because of the screws and metal plates in my legs. I must be one of the only people who love those things.

[Barrister]

I've never had problems with customs. They just don't give a shit in Korea, I've even volunteered that I have liquor over the amount allowed and they just wave you through anyways.

This reminds me...

Going to Skagway for a daytrip from Whitehorse.  Going through Canadian customs who ask if I have anything to declare.  I say "yes, 12 beer" and point to them in clear sight in the back of my truck.

CBSA guard goes on to say how don't I know that that's illegal, and I say "no, as long as I pay duty on it".

For some reason he then asks what we do for a living.  I of course say "Crown Prosecutor", and Mrs B says "corrections officer", and the CBSA officer, looking dejected, waves us through without insisting on paying duty.


Not to say all border guards are assholes.  One year, also going to Skagway, this time for the 4th of July, as we cross into the US the border guard takes the time to tell us of all the activities going on, and gives us a map of the area.  It was maybe my favourite time going to Skagway, which in summer is usually a huge tourist trap, but that day there were no cruise ships in town, and it was just a good old fashioned small town fourth of July.

[Monoriu]

I was once in Mainland China, going back to Hong Kong.  At that time I fell in love with a kind of almond drink, which was only available on the mainland.  So I bought a ton and put them all in the luggage.  When it was x-rayed, the officer stopped us and he wanted to check the inside.  We opened the luggage, and he exclaimed "Lulu [name of the drink]!  Lulu!  Nothing but Lulu!"

I thought the entire scene would make an excellent script for a TV advertisement for the drink. 

[Maladict]

I always get special attention when traveling alone.
When arriving in Moscow in the nineties, the woman at customs takes a long look at my passport, then pulls out a book full of mugshots and starts comparing the photos for a good 15 minutes, getting other customs officers involved and shouting at me in Russian. I wanted to turn back and go home so bad. In the end nothing happened and I could pass.
A fitting start to an interesting trip where I got harrassed by police almost daily, arrested once and shot at by some guy on a rooftop. 

After reasonably good experiences on the Greyhound in NA, I made the mistake of trying a long-distance bus in Europe. Leaving Amsterdam for Italy, the bus would pas through Switzerland and the company went out of its way to warn passengers not to take any drugs with them. Huge banners, leaflets in every possible language, the driver almost pleading on the intercom to leave all drugs behind because the Swiss will look for it. Sure enough, we get stopped on the Swiss border in the middle of the night, everyone gets out and the sniffer dogs move about. I'm close to the driver who tells me the customs officers won't stop until they find something, and they always find something eventually. After an hour of not much happening, me and the other single travelling males are lined up to go into a small office one by one, we know what's coming. Fortunately the Brazilian guy two places ahead of me was stupid enough to put some drugs in his clothes, and the Swiss are satisfied. We can continue, and when we pull out of the parking area the Brazilian guy comes running after the bus, he left his bags on board. The driver is so pissed off by now he doesn't stop.

[Syt]

Not as bad as some of the other stuff here, but tense for me: my Mom and I were flying into the US of A through Atlanta to visit my sister's family in NC in early 2002, a few months after 9/11. My Mom had two suitcases. One for clothes. One filled to the brim with German food - mustard and sauces, ready mixes, some fruit stuff, loads of sausages/bacon, obviously.

I told her that if anyone opens the suitcase I would claim to not know her and that I'd never seen her before.

Unexcitingly, we got through customs without a hitch. Even the immigrations officer was pretty laid back.

He, big black guy from Georgia, looking at our papers. "Mother - son?"
Me, "That's correct. I mean, she's a bit old to be my wife, no?"
He looks me in the eyes, grinning. "Son, I see a lot of strange things here!"

[Zanza]

I flew from Borneo to Singapore and when I picked up by bag at baggage claim in Singapore I noticed the lock was missing.
So I went to the Singapore airport police, told them my bag had been opened and asked them to scan and search it for drugs. Drug smuggling carries the death penalty in Singapore so I wanted to be sure.
They didn't find anything, but that was a tense moment for me.

Another time German customs found that I had smuggled too many clothes and stuff from the US to Germany, but they let me leave without paying customs or a fine. I mainly pretended not to ever have heard about customs limits and apparently they were in a good mood, so they let me off the hook.

[Syt]

How does it work with the clothes, anyways? Unless you leave the store labels on, how do they know you've bought them new?