Anyone here ever been detained by Customs?

[Poohbearsbong**]

yeah a couple of times when i was moving house from England to Poland and was driving a van full of my possessions to Poland,

On both occasions the custom/border guys took one look inside and obviously decided it wasn't worth the hassle to bother with any in depth investigation and moved me on after a couple of minutes.

 

[SevenSamurai]

yeah a couple of times when i was moving house from England to Poland and was driving a van full of my possessions to Poland,

On both occasions the custom/border guys took one look inside and obviously decided it wasn't worth the hassle to bother with any in depth investigation and moved me on after a couple of minutes.

Has the EU formation mostly ended those hassles or not?

 

[Poohbearsbong**]

Has the EU formation mostly ended those hassles or not?

yeah pretty much totally, I was stopped once at the channel crossing between the UK and france, and probably because i was one of the only large / commercial vehicles on that train.
The second time was because i pulled in at the border between germany and poland to use the reststop and the police/patrol flagged me down, but they wheren't pulling people off the road, just those who already pulled in.

 

[Loiosh]

Has the EU formation mostly ended those hassles or not?

I'm Canadian and used to have to spend a lot of time in Dublin on business.

I would have killed for an EU passport, those lines flew at customs.

 

[Poohbearsbong**]

I'm Canadian and used to have to spend a lot of time in Dublin on business.

I would have killed for an EU passport, those lines flew at customs.

Speaking of which i just got a new microchipped passport, so apparently now i don't even need to queue to be checked i can go through an automated gate.

will be interested to see how that works the first tme i use it.

 

[chaosclown17]

Oh, 3 years ago I went to Tijauna -simply because people said it was too dangerous -so I had to go see it.

everything was mostly boarded up/closed on Revolution and I was the only Gringo there except for some fat white chicks from Portland and LA who were there for Lapband surgery that I met in a bar.

It got sketchy for certain -especially at night but I was there for a purpose (no,..not pills or the donky show...lulz) to score deals on classical guitars.


I bought 3 guitars and a bunch of bullshit trinkets for the family and coworkers and then proceeded through the American checkpoint back into the US> It was total joke -no dogs, no search, no questions, and I was carrying 3 trash bags of stuff (a guitar in each). I just had to present my passport and put my trash bags through the metal detector.

I can't believe how easy it was to get back in.

I went to TJ about 5 years ago. Right before everything started blowing up. You could get a buy on just about everything, and the people were real friendly.

Two things stuck out though. One, there was a street blocked off by several officers. When we tried to walk down it (there was no other way to get where we were going) they told us gringos weren't allowed. We had to get a cab to get past it. It was like 10$ for 8 people. In a five seater.

Two, the customs agent kept asking my mom a lot of questions. Like where she was born and stuff. Mind you, my entire family is just about as pale as they come, and my mom was born on an air force base.

Otherwise, it was pretty fun. I'd like to go back once shit calms down. We started booking when the sun went down though.

 

[SevenSamurai]

I'm Canadian and used to have to spend a lot of time in Dublin on business.

I would have killed for an EU passport, those lines flew at customs.

Flying into Aruba 3 weeks ago -I was pulled out of the general customs line and whisked away to an expedite line for Americans (because we have a customs treaty and facility there) which was awesome -saved me hours.

However the US government shut down while in Aruba and coming back was a complete nightmare...lulz.

 

[SevenSamurai]

I went to TJ about 5 years ago. Right before everything started blowing up. You could get a buy on just about everything, and the people were real friendly.

Two things stuck out though. One, there was a street blocked off by several officers. When we tried to walk down it (there was no other way to get where we were going) they told us gringos weren't allowed. We had to get a cab to get past it. It was like 10$ for 8 people. In a five seater.

Two, the customs agent kept asking my mom a lot of questions. Like where she was born and stuff. Mind you, my entire family is just about as pale as they come, and my mom was born on an air force base.

Otherwise, it was pretty fun. I'd like to go back once shit calms down. We started booking when the sun went down though.

Did you buy a sweet Pancho Villa Tshirt? I did...lulz.

That place is a ghost town now. I heard the casino is gone and they had a drug cartel shoot out in there at some point.

I really enjoy the people of Mexico -it's a shame that country is so fucked up -one of the biggest economy in the world -and the money is in the hands of so few people.

That country is still run secretly by European Expats and European bloods who treat the rest like slaves.

 

[Loiosh]

Flying into Aruba 3 weeks ago -I was pulled out of the general customs line and whisked away to an expedite line for Americans (because we have a customs treaty and facility there) which was awesome -saved me hours.

However the US government shut down while in Aruba and coming back was a complete nightmare...lulz.

It used to be so frustrating seeing how fast those lines moved I used to imagine they actually led to a room filled with rotating knives.

I'm the first generation of my family born in Canada, I could easily have had an Italian (my father) dual citizenship and ultimately EU. Not German though, that's my mother's side and the Germans don't give citizenships unless you have a German last name, at least they didn't thirty years ago when I checked.

 

[chaosclown17]

Did you buy a sweet Pancho Villa Tshirt? I did...lulz.

That place is a ghost town now. I heard the casino is gone and they had a drug cartel shoot out in there at some point.

I really enjoy the people of Mexico -it's a shame that country is so fucked up -one of the biggest economy in the world -and the money is in the hands of so few people.

That country is still run secretly by European Expats and European bloods who treat the rest like slaves.

Nah, just a bunch of trinkets.

The people were amazing. Real shame how the country is though.

One guy was trying to sale me a wallet, told me it was good leather and if you bent or twisted it there would be no cracks in the leather.

He started twisting and bending it and the thing started cracking like crazy. All the time he was trying to tell me how good it was and there were no cracks.

He also said god damn it after everything. "We will find you a good wallet, god damn it."

Looking back I regret not buying something from him. Even if he was trying to cheat me, lol.

 

[SevenSamurai]

It used to be so frustrating seeing how fast those lines moved I used to imagine they actually led to a room filled with rotating knives.

I'm the first generation of my family born in Canada, I could easily have had an Italian (my father) dual citizenship and ultimately EU. Not German though, that's my mother's side and the Germans don't give citizenships unless you have a German last name, at least they didn't thirty years ago when I checked.

As fucked up as America is -Canada has some very strange immigration and naturalization laws.


although I have a few great Pakistani doctors who wouldn't be in the US at all if it weren't for the good people of Canada,....lulz.

One of my doctors told me that his family donkey was shot by Russians at a kid (probably Rusk's dad lulz) and his family said fuck it we are leaving and worked for year to get to Canada.

I have no idea if he was joking or not -I guess they lived in the tribal areas on the border or something

 

[cwingwvwc]

My wife who is from Poland got detained on re-entry for 4 hours one time. I was so confused waiting for her. After waiting a while I asked around and was informed that she and several others from the flight were detained and questioned. She got searched every time she flew until she joined the Air Force, they have since stopped flagging her.

 

[Misfit23]

I flew into Thailand from Bali on a one way ticket and was in pretty much in backpacker mode with long ass hair and a huge beard. My passport photo was at the time about 6 years old where I was baby faced with short hair. When I got to the immigration desk my passport wasn't scanning. I got taken to the back for an hour, bag searched, and questioned who I really was and where I was going. They made me buy a return ticket on the spot for later date and let me on my merry way after awhile. Probably wasn't a big deal but I've read a bit about Thai prisons and I was shitting myself.

 

[Loiosh]

As fucked up as America is -Canada has some very strange immigration and naturalization laws.

Such as?

although I have a few great Pakistani doctors who wouldn't be in the US at all if it weren't for the good people of Canadag

Why's that? I can't imagine a doctor who can be in the US would ever choose to be in Canada instead.

 

[SevenSamurai]

Such as?.

It's easier for the third world to work in and immigrate to Canada than it is for me (at least initially). Canada has a hard on for Americans doing business, vacationing, and living in America -but Americans welcome Canadians in such a more welcoming and simple manner. not sure what the deal is really but dealing with Canada (business wise) is a nightmare.

Why's that? I can't imagine a doctor who can be in the US would ever choose to be in Canada instead.

I think (I could be wrong) that Canada provided some pretty nice medical educational opportunities for applicants -once these doctors fulfilled their obligation -they headed to the US to try and make the big money. Someone else on here may know the reason better -but in the US a larger and larger percentage of doctors are from India, Maylasia, and Pakistan and came through Canada for education or continuing education or certification before coming to America.

3 of my 6 doctors currently are Indo/Paki Candian and the rest are Jews....lulz on purpose.

 

[Loiosh]

It's easier for the third world to work in and immigrate to Canada than it is for me (at least initially). Canada has a hard on for Americans doing business, vacationing, and living in America -but Americans welcome Canadians in such a more welcoming and simple manner. not sure what the deal is really but dealing with Canada (business wise) is a nightmare.

When I visit the US by car I am invariably asked if I'm looking for a job and I was once told preemptively that I couldn't visit the US to look for a job.

(I have never sought employment in the US, too many family responsibilities in Canada)