Most Excitement ... Going Through Customs?

[Viking]

Icelandic customs at Seyðusfjörður  (where the ferry from denmark docks), our car got taken aside for a check, the dog marked something, I got threatened with a body cavity scan and my friend had a catatonic episode.

Bizzarely enough as soon as my friend had his fit all the large "scary" customs officers disappeared, only the skinny girl remained and the local doctor had to drive over the mountain. After this I will never fear customs officers again.

[Warspite]

It was 1991 and we had just celebrated our first Christmas in Israel - my dad was working for the British Council and we had just moved there.

My brothers and sister had just started university or were finishing off at boarding school in the UK, and this being the early nineties everyone in Britain was a little bit poor.

So being the relatively well off expatriates we were, my mother decided to put lots of goodies into their luggage for back in Britain. After dropping them off at Ben Gurion airport, we say our goodbyes and await the phone calls to let us know they've all landed safely. (You will remember that in the 90s the risk of planes blowing up in mid air was not theoretical.)

Three very angry phone calls from UK payphones followed.

It turns out that along with things like bread and biscuits, my mother had decided that something they really shouldn't be paying for if she could help it was laundry detergent. However, in the spirit of equity, she couldn't just give one of them the whole box of washing powder. No - her wisdom of Saul compelled her to divided the pure, white powder equally. And what better to put it in than transparent plastic ziplock bags?

EDIT: I forgot to add, my mother had of course packed these items without telling them. So when asked the question, "What is this?", they each replied with the worst possible response, "I've never seen that before!"

You can imagine that Israel security was less than amused...

[Tamas]

There were a few years in the late 80s when you could go over the border to Austria, but with severely limited cash allowances, and big restrictions on what you can bring back through customs (and for how much tariff).

But of course you could only get decent stuff there, so EVERYONE was smuggling. When I was taken with my parents IIRC I had one pair of shoes bought there which I just put on in Austria, with my old shoes landing in some ditch next to the road, and another pair of shoes (IIRC) going under the back seat.
Fun times.

BTW the whole border crossing thing was such a big deal back then, I still get a weird feeling when crossing a (now empty) border.

And lets not forget friendly east European relations pre-Schengen. The Slovakian border with a bus of tourists? A bottle or two of booze prepared just in case, and the friendly border guards were "trigger happy" to delay you or investigate your bus on the slightest excuse. Having a Hungarian license plates comes with perks like that in that part of the world.

[Syt]

In the 80s, a popular way to spend a day were the "Butterfahrten". For 1 German Mark (or 2?), you could take a bus to a local harbor, where a small boat would take you outside of the customs border, so that you could do duty free shopping - spirits, cigarettes, chocolates etc. Think the basics of duty free at an airport. Also, lots of drinks to and cheap greasy food to pass the time.

The bus would pick people up in Denmark, and on the way back you would have to pass German/Danish customs. Allowed amounts of cigarettes, booze and so on were very limited back in the day (and on board there was advise on what the legal amounts were). People would swap ("I carry your booze if you carry my smokes.") to even things out, but even then some stuff needed to be hidden in umbrellas etc.

The customs guys knew, of course, what was going on, and they normally turned a blind eye, contenting themselves to teasing/scaring folks. It was rare that they actually singled someone out (usually if someone misbehaved or was too rowdy a drunk).

[Maladict]

Just remembered another one.
Visiting the US with a friend and going through the metal detector at the White House (pre 9/11). We were 18 and traveling on the  cheap, bought some bread and some strawberry jam to have lunch in a park and put the remains back in my friend's bag. The metal detector goes off, security guy asks my friend if he's got a knife in there. Friend looks puzzled, then realizes it's pretty stupid to bring a knife and while laughing goes 'oh yeah, sure' and pulls out a fairly large knife in a plastic bag covered in what looks like blood. All security guards take a step back, hands on holster. Really tense moment until my friend gets it and starts screaming IT'S JAM, IT'S JAM.

[Brazen]

I had one pair of shoes

Some things don't change

[Tamas]

I had one pair of shoes

Some things don't change

If you read the story we bought two pairs just that day

[Brazen]

1. Just wed a couple of days before, my new husband and I were separated at Kingston, Jamaica airport where I had to take off one shoe and was thoroughly patted down by a female security guard, and the coffee we bought for presents was opened.

2. I got taken aside by immigration in Chicago, held for about an hour and questioned about why the hell I wanted to go to Kansas, nearly missing my connecting flight.

3. A weapons guidance system aboard a Danish Navy vessel (Absalon-class frigate) failed to work in demonstration so the Captain circled round three times to try again, making us very late taking the RIB back onshore. Our minibus driver hurtled back to the airport down twisty country roads in sleet at breakneck speeds to get us three 10 minutes before the flight departed, and we literally sprinted all the way through check-in and customs. I just didn't wait to help the journos who couldn't get their self check-in to work, sorry!

[Grey Fox]

Man, nothing even remotely weird or hard ever happened to me crossing borders.

The worse was when coming back from a NYC weekend trip, the Airport agents didn't believe someone could go to NYC and not buy anything.

[Malthus]

2. I got taken aside by immigration in Chicago, held for about an hour and questioned about why the hell I wanted to go to Kansas, nearly missing my connecting flight.

To be honest, wanting to go to Kansas does raise suspicions. 

[Zanza]

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

The burden of proof where you bought something is with you, not with the customs agency. They can just assume that everything you bring into Germany was bought abroad unless you can show them that isn't case and you or someone else already paid duty for it. They furthermore can just estimate prices if you don't have any price documentation. And they'll estimate a German price, not a foreign price...

That's why it makes sense to keep the price tags on stuff you buy abroad. Just buy less than the 430 Euro customs limit (these days, back then it was 175 Euro). If you buy more, just keep the tags on stuff that is worth about 430 Euro. 

[DontSayBanana]

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

I assume after they ask about length of stay, it raises a red flag if you've got an excessive amount of clothing for the time you would have been travelling.

[garbon]

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

I assume after they ask about length of stay, it raises a red flag if you've got an excessive amount of clothing for the time you would have been travelling.

Bit rude. Every good traveler has enough clothes for a few costume changes a day.

[derspiess]

"Butterfahrten"

Sounds like something Ed gets after breakfast.

[Ed Anger]

"Butterfahrten"

Sounds like something Ed gets after breakfast.

Heil!