21 July 2010
Well, I just had that feeling. And it was right.
After spending the last three months living it up in New York City, it was time for me to say goodbye today. I boarded the 8:15 am Adirondack train at Penn Station, destination: Montreal.
I had already done some research on what to expect in terms of scenery – through the scenic Hudson Valley and the Adirondack Mountains if you sit on the right side of the train — but I wasn’t prepared for what awaited me at the border crossing to Canada.
Carlo and I had joked when we arrived in NYC that we would try and avoid US immigration officers from now on, even going so far as to say that we’re never coming back to the USA. It can be such a traumatizing event. But what happened to me just now at the Canadian border is my latest horror story. I hope that nothing tops this.
The story
Photo: chrisforsyth
With no announcement, we stop in no-mans land, right near a lonely trailer structure out in the bushes. Everyone is waiting patiently. I look up from my book towards two armed border officers walking up the aisle. I make the mistake of locking eyes with one of them.
I don’t know why but I knew, at that instant, that I was in trouble. They start at the back of my train car. Very slowly they question every individual behind me. I’m astonished at the questions they ask the passengers in front of everyone else, forcing them to reveal very personal details.
In my experience, whenever I’ve crossed the border into Canada by car, I’ve only had to answer a couple of questions and am waved through. Sometimes they don’t even check my ID. This was more the experience I was expecting.
The officers move in on my neighbour and me slowly; they look mean. The guy beside me also has a German passport; this does not help matters. Straight away I need to point out that I don’t actually know the dude and that we are not traveling together. They take my passport and my Canadian Permanent Resident (PR) card and use the name on the card to find my train reservation on their list.
This is bad, as I booked my train ticket with my passport, which is in my married name. My PR card is still in my maiden name. They don’t like this very much and start firing questions at me:
- Where do you come from?
- How long have you been gone?
- Where do you work?
- Where do you come from (again)?
- When did you leave Canada?
- And so on.
I’ve always preached to Carlo the importance of having a rock-solid story ready when you cross any border. This time I’m not following my own advice, and now I’m getting burned for it. After question time they say they have to check my PR card and would get back to me. Off they go with my documents.
Photo: Trevor H
I wait patiently in my seat. I don’t bother preparing a story because surely they will come right back with my documents, I think. After all, I am a permanent resident of Canada.
Last time I checked, I have the exact same rights as a Canadian citizen, I just can’t vote. I’ve lived there for over six years, paid taxes, and celebrate Canada Day. And we’re talking about Canada for Christ’s sake. How wrong I was.
After 20 minutes of waiting, two different officers come back and ask me to take my luggage and to follow them into the little wooden trailer. Was I really that surprised? In hindsight, no.
There I was, with five officers (one female), a big table in the middle of the room and some plastic chairs. Through the windows I can see the waiting train, already behind schedule. I am officially frightened.
Two of them start to unpack my backpack and my carry bag, rummaging through everything including the pictures on my camera. The lone female officer comes back with my passport and asks me again what I’ve been doing since I got my PR card in 2007. I know I’m safe because I know my obligations to remain a PR.
As long as I am with my Canadian-born husband while abroad, I don’t need to actually reside in Canada to keep my status. And she knows it too.
But this doesn’t stop the next guy from picking up my passport and firing random questions about my travels. “What did you do in Mongolia? How do you support yourself? Did you work in the US? What are your plans in Canada”? He goes on and on.
At one point I almost lose it as they are really getting on my nerves. How hard is it to understand? For some people there is more to life than mortgages, babies, cars, and soulless jobs where you can harass the innocent. But I don’t, of course.
Photo: Barbara L. Hanson
The officer I first locked eyes with so many minutes ago in the train finds something incriminating. Or so he thinks. He finds my stack of Vagabonderz.com business cards and swiftly goes off to use the Internet. This is good, as it finally convinces them that I just like to roam the world.
They pack up my stuff and send me back to the waiting train. I was the only person pulled off. “Welcome back young lady,” a fellow passenger says to me as I board the car.
How this story can help you
- Try to mentally prepare yourself when face to face with immigration officers.
- When you pack your bags be very mindful of what you put in.
- Every little piece of paper I had was searched. I even got a raised eyebrow for my Stumbling on Happiness
book. (I guess as border guards you cannot fathom that there is actually happiness in this world?)
- Think of your camera. You might want to download and delete the nude pictures you took of your beach romance.
- Think about your hard drive on your laptop or portable device. Is there anything they can suspect you of wrongdoing (pirated movies)?
- While you travel, take notes when and where you have been and try to always remember the dates, at least vaguely.
- Or have a quick check of all your visas before you cross boarder. I was asked when and how long I was in Mongolia and what direction I traveled in Vietnam from my travels over two years ago. Good thing I have a sharp memory.
- Always keep your cool, getting angry doesn’t get you anywhere.
As we cross the St. Lawrance River and pull into Montreal the sky has changed from a blue with billowy white clouds to dark gray with rain and thunder. Bonjour Canada…
[Top photo: cuttlefish / Flickr]
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Great narrative!
As a Canadian Citizen/US Permanent Resident, I get the occasional situation like this too, and it never fails to unnerve me. You gave VERY good advice! I’m sorry you went through this – it would’ve been very scary to be hauled off the train. Like something out of a Cold War/WW2 movie. 
Glad you’re back safe and sound in Canada. 
Great tips, Yvonne!
It’s funny, my worst Canadian homecoming (and among my worst border experiences ever, anywhere) was on the same train a couple years back. I wonder if I caught the same guys? They made me recite my five days in New York hour-by-hour: “And then I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge… And then I ate dumplings in Chinatown…”
I came dangerously close to yelling something like: “I am a Goddamn Canadian citizen! Either charge me with something or let me go home!”
(Which would have been a bad idea, I’m pretty sure.)
Wow, that’s crap. In my experience crossing the border on public transport (both ways), they seem to have a policy of choosing one poor person to pull off and give a hard time to. Sounds like you won the lottery this time. Terrible.
I always get nervous going through customs or border crossings. Even though I know I’ve done nothing wrong and the questions are pretty standard, I feel like they’re trick questions and I’m going to mess up. My worst border crossing was going from Canada into the U.S. My husband and I were stopped for close to four hours while our car was torn apart by the authorities. It’s scary. It really is.
Thank you for the tips on how to handle these encounters. I’m glad you made it into Canada safely.
Man, totally did not expect Canadian immigration officers to be so scary, hahaha. Yikes!
As a Muslim tourist under 45 crossing the border from Egypt into Israel, I was naturally detained and interrogated. That was the most terrifying moment of my life; but your experience was way worse than mine…not in a hurry to visit Canada!
@Eva that’s crazy. I’m crossing the border Saturday morning on a bus from NY to Toronto, so will update with my experience!
Good info. Think I’d find some other way to sneak into Canada.
I feel your pain, with an Indian passport immigration/boarder control tends to be painful more often than not. You tips are spot on, especially with regard to hard drives. At times they may just need to make up the numbers, and pirated movies are as good a reason as any.
Great post! I know *exactly* how you must have felt. I’ve often wondered if other people have these experiences in Canada as so many people have expressed doubt when I told them about an experience we had. (They assume these things only happen in the US). 17 years ago my husband Terence and I travelled from Sydney via Tokyo and Vancouver to Mexico City with JAL. The only reason we went via Tokyo and Vancouver was because it was the cheapest ticket. At Vancouver we were in transit for one hour and were the only white Western people waiting. Everyone else was Mexican or Japanese.
To cut a long story short, we were separated and interrogated, asked why on earth we would fly to Canada via “Asia” – “um, we weren’t, we’re going to Mexico, we’re not *in* Canada, we’re in-transit.” Their assumption was we were running drugs *from* Australia, via “Asia” (“We’ve been to Japan people, not Thailand!”) *to* Mexico. Makes no sense, I know, but neither of them were very bright people. I was working as the executive officer to the Speaker of a state parliament in Australia, was almost 7 years in the job, working my way up from media/research officer, to put myself through uni – my ID card should have been enough to let me go. Instead, they continued questioning us for an hour, the woman threatened to strip search me, and we almost missed our flight. Have had no desire to return to Canada since.
Ironically, we were in-transit at the same airport recently – in fact I swear it was the same lounge, coming from Bali on our way to New York. The officers passed through but we were completely ignored this time. I find humor in the fact that now I am a freelance travel writer, I no longer hold an upstanding full-time job, I’ve been living in the Middle East since 1998, and we were in *Indonesia*!
Wow Lara. That’s crazy!
Lara – first off, lots of drugs come from Japan. Have you ever heard of the organized crime group called Yakuza? Believe it or not, most drugs don’t even come from Thailand anymore. Regardless of if you are in transit or entering Canada, you are still obliged to answer questions as Canadian Immigration can refuse you entry for not answering all questions truthfully.
Hi Sarah – I haven’t kept tabs on the Yakuza’s recent Japan-Mexico drug trafficking activities, but 17 years ago they certainly were not known for drug-trafficking from Australia via Japan and Canada to Mexico, which was the suggestion. At the time, there were immense problems with drugs being transported between Australia and Asia (esp. Thailand & Indonesia) and then obviously between North America and Mexico.
If you’re talking about drugs going into Canada from Japan back then, you may well be right – Canada was not a country on my radar then – but it was pretty obvious that we weren’t drug traffickers and not in a million years would we have ever fit a drug trafficking profile (my Parliament House ID being a giveaway – would they have suspected a White House official of being a drug trafficker). And, had we have been, we were in a secure transit area. Obviously, we did answer their questions cooperatively (had I not been employed by the Speaker of the parliament I might not have been so obliging), but I still call 1-hour’s worth of aggressive questioning, on personal issues that weren’t warranted, and a threat to strip search an interrogation.
I was pleased to read the story here because the US seems to have the reputation for having tough border control, but we’ve only ever encountered the friendliest and most professional staff at US borders, no matter where we were coming from, even this trip – and we have 100s of Middle East stamps in our passports!
November 18th, 2010. Great Advice! Last night two of my staff attempted to enter Canada in Ontario to provide FREE training to a major Canadian state owned company. After a humiliating strip search, no joy from the LA Canadian Consular office who were downright rude when we called for assistance, my fellows were in effect deported today, with their passports defiled with entries stating they had been rejected. And, the officials went through the contents of their cellphones and laptops, everything. NAFTA? Ha Ha.
Wow, I too have had similar experiences, and I’m a born and raised Canadian with a Canadian passport. It’s gotten to the point where I wonder if I’m on some list in some data base. I can’t leave the country without returning and being pulled aside for questioning. It’s actually gotten quite disheartening
Very little good advice here, I’m afraid. About the only one worth remembering is “Always keep your cool, getting angry doesn’t get you anywhere.”.
There is no need to prepare for any questions you may be asked or rehearse the answers if you have nothing to hide. Just take a deep breath, think and answer truthfully. If you are not lying it doesn’t matter how many times they ask you the same (often just rephrased) question as you are not making up the answer.
Making eye contact with officials is no problem either, as long as you relax, nod or smile politely. They are people too and they appreciate nice gestures as much as they hate the evil eye.
The hardest part is to never allow yourself to feel intimidated. Just remember that these people have been trained to upset your balance in hope you will reveal something incriminating. There’s nothing personal about it, so don’t think they are out to get you. Be patient, obey orders and answer questions truthfully and respectfully.
If you have something to hide however, you should plan and rehearse your lies and evasive techniques and most of all try to stay under the radar. Good luck.
Thanks for the comment Vlad. I do think it’s important to anticipate the questions and have an idea of what you’re going to say. I don’t mean that things necessarily need to be hidden, but if you want to avoid painful interrogation, sometimes it’s best to go with answers that they want to hear (that aren’t really lies either but maybe the truth a little stretched). For example, I worked in IT for a long time and only recently made the switch to full time writing/editing. It’s better to say “IT professional” and that I’m just traveling, than trying to explain myself. I made the mistake of saying “travel writer” once when entering the US and somewhere in there he asked how much I made, and I truthfully said what I made…which isn’t much relative to most professionals. Most people can’t fathom that you can travel and live on such little money, so suspicions can get raised in this situation. Luckily he was fairly nice and didn’t hassle me too much, although he did rib me a little. Should have just said “I’m in IT”. Easy for them to understand.
Our friends up north sometimes forget Canada is just an extension of the US. I used to travel there frequently for business and often was asked what type of work I did (with a slightly different angle to try and catch me). So I’d just get into very technical detail about the US tax consequences of the discharge of indebtedness in bankruptcy by a multinational corporation and it was enough to make the little squirt realize I’m alot smarter than he.
I’ve crossed into Canada by ferry into Victoria, BC, and on the highway north of Seattle, Washington. Each time the crossing guards were stern to the point of rude. They must be taught not to smile at all–why is that?
Excuse me Rob but an extension of the US? I really hope that is simply a joke. Nafta has made it easy for travel between the 2 countries (typically) but in no way does it mean Canada is an extension of the US. It is a very typical American attitude to know nothing about a country and just assume it is exactly the same as their own. I’m sure you will argue that you travel there so you know a lot about Canada but if that was the case you would realize the policies and attitudes in the 2 countries are completely different. Would you also like me to remind you of the recession and who came out of it much faster due to having completely different banking policies in place. That is such a despicable view and one of the reasons Canadians have a hard time not thinking of Americans as nothing more than ignorant and pompous.
Very interesting article…
It sounds like you may have been flagged in their computer as a possible drug smuggler based on your travel history. I had a similar experience happen to me in Orlando airport on my way from the Caribbean a few years ago – was taken to the back room, they went through every piece of paper in my luggage, did a detailed pat-down of me, questioned me in depth, etc. In my case, the thing that got me off the hook was a corporate credit card I had in my wallet – the only thing I had with me to prove where I worked, and something a drug mule wouldn’t normally have.
If your case is anything like mine was, the officer may have known they were going to pull you off the train before they’d even gotten to your seat, which might have been why he made eye contact with you.
I think you’re very right that people should have some basic answers prepared when they’re crossing an international border: where are you going, why are you going there, when are you going home, what company do you work for, what kind of work do you do, where do you live, why did you go to (name any other stamp in your passport), etc. Having proof of some of these things (business cards, etc.) can help too. Most of the time you don’t need any of those things, but occasionally you do.
Heather, Rob was just trying to get a rise out of people, especially Canadians. No need to take a troll’s bait.
Customs and immigration officers, like everyone else, tend to have different personalities. In my experience, U.S. officers are generally friendlier than others.
Thanks. I will certainly never even consider visiting Canada now. Been to Europe about 20 times, as a foreigner, and never had this nonsense even once. Guess they just don’t want my tourist money up north… fine by me.
Sorry to hear of the painful re-entry. I am Canadian and got similar treatment last year because I work in Europe. But nothing tops the redneck border crossing I did going into the US (North Dakota)…rubber gloves!!
@Nick Don’t be silly.
@Doogle Ouch.
While not to the extent of the author, I too had a bit of a hassle entering Canada. I was on my way to Alaska, touring on my motorcycle.
Border lady: What is your purpose for coming to Canada and how long will you be here.
Me: I’m on my way to Alaska. I guess I will be in Canada for a couple weeks. (*I guess* was the wrong answer!)
Border lady: Do you know how long it takes to get to Alaska?
Me: A couple weeks by motorcycle traveling slowly?
Border lady: It takes exactly XX days.
Me: OK. I really am not working on a fixed itinerary and want to so a bit of sightseeing on the way (i.e. I am not gonna ride my motorcycle through a rainstorm just to be on schedule.)
Border lady: Pull in over at that building for an extended interview.
As I quickly try to come up with a more solid story, the other officers decided I was of less of a risk that that guy they were hassling for crossing over on foot at the peace arch with no ID at all and send me on my way.
Moral of the story is to have some sort of plan even if you have no intention to follow it!
Chris, exactly. This is the point of the “have a solid story” ready…not that it’s a lie, but they want to hear that you know what you’re doing. Traveling without a set itinerary for some reason is unusual to them.
@Carlo Alcos
There’s nothing silly about choosing not to subject oneself to needless harassment. A lot of people won’t visit the US for that same reason (unfortunately, I live there, so not much choice). But if insulting me makes you feel better…
Nick, I didn’t mean that in an insulting way at all. Of course the choice is yours, I would just hope that your choice to not visit some spectacular landscape isn’t based solely on this one bad experience (how many people cross daily without problem?). The point of this wasn’t to scare people away from crossing the border, just to help people prepare on crossing borders (this also applies to any border, not just US-Canada).
Wow! What a story! I’m not an experienced overseas traveler, but I will certainly make note of this advice for ANY border corssing.
My own experience with Canadian customs was about five years ago, and was a bit more pleasant. I am a US citizen, and I was attending a wedding in Buffalo. While the family was doing wedding stuff I got in my rental car and went to Niagara Falls. I arrived at the border late morning and pulled up to the booth. I handed over my passport, my birth certificate, AND my driver’s license just to be sure! Questions – how long are you going to stay? (Look at the Falls, have lunch, return to Buffalo.) Is this your car? (No, sir – would you like to see the rental agreement? – no. Do you know anyone in Canada? (No, I don’t.) Do you have US cash, or Canadian? Several more minutes of questioning along the same lines. I never felt threatened or harassed, but I was really puzzled about all these questions. SUDDENLY it dawned on me – this fellow just wanted to hear me talk! I am from North Carolina. (And NO, I do not talk like Dolly Parton or Paula Deen!) He kept asking me questions to hear my accent! Obviously the border gets a LOT of visitors, but probably not too many Southerners. The fellow handed all my documents back to me, told me to enjoy myself, and sent me on my way. (The US guy on the return trip side just sort of glanced at my passport waved me through.)
I’m glad my country keeps the borders safe. Do you think people that are doing anything wrong look like it on plain sight? That would surely make things easy. The interrogate plenty of people. They see hundreds, thousands of people. It’s not personal, its about protecting. For the Americans poking fun at Canada – guess what? The same thing happens to Canadians going to the US. One of my friends was asked at the US border to disclose how much money was in her bank account. She asked why she was being asked the question and her name is now flagged. I was detained at the border….illegally. I’ve had US immigration officers make racist comments to me. I’ve been pulled aside many times because I’m American Indian and I have special immigration status in the US…though US immigration seems to think I’m too fair to really be American Indian. ha! Sure there are immigration officers that are jerks…just like there are store clerks who are jerks. What I’ve learned from travelling around the world…if you’re not doing anything wrong, just answer the questions truthfully and usually all will be fine. I find it very odd that people would not visit a country because they find the questions at the border too invasive.
Why on earth the governments don’t want to fix the drug problems?
If you are a trafficker you will get the death penalty. Go and do it. Nobody kills you. You do it all by yourself. Look at Singapore. No drug problem.
@Heather
Curiously, you’ve done the exact same thing you accuse Rob of doing, which is, of course, generalizing based off of a small sample. You seem quite easily to justify your close-minded, ignorant view of Americans with limited data, yet you consider Rob’s similar behaviour (though he did not directly criticize Canadians, whilst you unfairly considered his views ‘typically American’) to be much more egregious. That the thought of being compared to the US (which, compared to most of the countries of the world, has very much in similar with Canada) frustrates you to such a great extent sufficiently underlines your gross prejudice. Will I assume you’re Canadian because of this and extrapolate that all Canadians are angry and quick to judge? No. I can only criticize you and your actions, and I understand that assuming 30+ million Canadians are similar to the behaviour you’ve exhibited here would be a serious breach of intellectual fairness.
Get NEXUS. If you are a citizen of either US or Canada and have no police record you should have no problem getting the card that will eliminate or drastically reduce all questioning and searches. On land, you’ll be crossing the border through a dedicated lane or even a dedicated border crossing. You’ll be entering the plane like the plane crews do. You won’t need the passport any more. Also, by being approved for NEXUS you’ll make sure that you are not on anyone’s **it list. The flip side is that you’ll have to provide a lot of personal information to both governments, including all your fingerprints and retina scans.
I had a similar experience years ago at the Niagara Falls border. It was shortly after Canada began to require a driver’s license to walk over to the Canadian side of the falls. I hadn’t brought mine although I did have photo ID and proof of U.S. citizenship. Now, I’m a Sunday school teacher, an education editor, and the worst police trouble I have ever been in in my life is that speeding ticket I got 30 years ago for going 42 miles an hour in a 30 mile an hour zone. I expected to be handed a booklet about the rules having changed and then sent on my way back over the bridge. The Canadian border people held me and my seven-year-old granddaughter for over an hour in a room that smelled like urine. Apparently, one corner of the room was being used as a bathroom. There was another United States family without their driver’s licenses and a group of about 20 illegal men who had just been unloaded from a truck. We were guarded by patrol officers with rifles. The woman patrol agent who questioned me was rude, and she was just enjoying being nasty. She said she had never heard of Albany, NY, which, frankly, I found pretty hard to believe. Albany is the capital of New York and only 200 miles from Niagara Falls. It would be like me claiming I had never heard of Quebec. Either she was very stupid or she was lying. She threatened to strip search my granddaughter, something I was never going to allow without an American lawyer. That guard was some piece of work. I don’t think she was wrapped too tightly – certainly not the kind of person you want carrying a gun. I wondered if I had gotten the worst of the lot or if this is the way the Canadians treat everyone crossing the border. In any event, this type of behavior should not be tolerated. There is a proper way to interrogate people, and it should be done with common sense and courtesy.
I’ve found that the U.S. customs officials are much nicer and much more on the ball than any of the Canadian customs police.
I am rather surprised to hear about the problems crossing into Canada. I have been up many times, mostly with my Australian passport and I have NEVER had the slightest issue getting into Canada. On the flip side, getting BACK into the US has often been a less than pleasant experience. I actually ended up getting my US citizenship and one of the primary reasons was to make traveling between the two countries easier. Despite me having an Oregon drivers license, as well as Permanent resident alien card, with very similar photos I may add, I have been treated very rudely on several occasions. I have had my car searched on a couple of occasions, asked a series of stupid questions, and other than some past speeding tickets (all paid up) I have no criminal record and I drive an expensive foreign car. But I still get treated like a criminal, although it has been easier with a US passport. However, I have flown into the US from both Australia and Canada about 10 times and I have ALWAYS been treated fairly and with respect by US customs and immigration at the airports. I have lived in the US more than 2 decades and have found the Canadians very pleasant and the US border guards between Washington and BC to be, for the most part, little Napoleons with a huge chip on their shoulder.
I traveled to Canada a year ago.I flew from Iran and landed at Vancouver airport.Actually i was born in Iran and have Iranian/British citizenship.My mothers British so i came with a British passport.I arrived at around 6pm but came out of the airport at 12 or past that.My question is what is wrong with these border officials and why do they ask so many questions and why do they think I’m lying .I mean i came with my bicycle to cycle all the way to Alaska and I got treated like a prince At the Alaskan border by American border inspectors and we had a laugh but these Canadians officials are a different matter.Why do they call that part of the country British Colombia if they don’t even respect a queens subject with a passport that states on the front page that her majesty the queen of England and gov request that the bearer of this passport to pass freely without any let or hindrance at borders.If you look at the time that a British subject can remain in Canada it’s 6 months on wikipedia.Unfortunately i got 2 months to live my dream and plan of reaching Alaska in a rush.Thank you USA for giving me my full amount of the 3 months stated without any hindrance.Don’t get me wrong i met loads of lovely Canadians.But these Officials just take advantage of that uniform and give their country a bad rep let alone bothering a tired passenger that just wants to ride his bike in nature and follow his goal.I’m glad i was tough enough to keep my cool and get out of the airport without causing a scene but have to admit they were down my throat and i felt kind of boxed in and unable to breath even though i wasn’t hiding anything or lying.Shame on them and making me feel so hurt to write this long comment and yet still after a year.I had sweet memories in Alaska and even the wolf that chased my bike was had more character than you know who.lol
Kam
I find this funny. It shows the majority of people have poor critical thinking skills. The reason all these posts are either negative of Canada customs or similar customs nightmares is because this is a post about a negative, nightmare scenario and thus attracts those with similar stories. If a person had a positive experience, what reason would they have to be here and post ?
It boggles the mind when correlation and causation get confused to the point that people state that because of the story they won’t visit a country.
If taken on a percentage basis, this would be approximately the same for any developed country. ex. I had problems when I was in Australia flying to NZ and back again only to fly out three days later. It proves nothing except that customs is a job where they deal with constant stress and it affects them. They’re only human and everyone has bad days.
I am very sad that people have to endure this, when they are following the rules! Let me share, In 2000 I rode into Toronto on a CP Freight Train (HoBO) with only a Back Pack & a old Guitar. I had lost my Wallet, so I had no ID. I stayed several months, played music about the City, and was very much impressed with the Grandness of Canadians. I purchased Greyhound Tickets on Canadian Thanksgiving day, 2000, at the US Border I delayed to be last. I told the (Very Surly & Mean) (looking!) customs Officer “I Lost My ID, I rode into Canada on a Freight Train, I’m a Poor Old Arkansas Hillbelly, and all I have is this old Guitar. He Laughed, and said “Go on back to Arkansas, Hobo!” I still get Happy Bumps thinking about that! Unless you are not knowledgeable, Riding a Freight Train is Illegal. I have been jailed in America for that. I now am a senior & book by Internet on AMTRAK, I am leaving Oklahoma Wednesday to Los Angeles, Lower Level, $153.00 One Way. I cannot imagine the Discomfort of riding Greyhound, at a cost twice as much!
Hello Yvonne,
great story. I hope you remember me. I`m still working for Avery Dennison in Eching (near Munich) Germany
Pls. send me a mail to get again in contact with you.
lovely greetings Elke
I wonder if while being harassed if you have the right at any time to say “forget it I don’t even want to come to your stupid unwelcoming country any more or spend money in it.”
It amazes me that customs officers can get away with being so rude and disrespectful. My boyfriend, who is a citizen of the US, flew into Canada recently. His major setback was the fact that he didn’t have a return ticket. A fault on our part, really, but it didn’t cross my mind as being necessary. Boy, was I wrong and it made going through customs Hell for him. He spent two hours being humiliated by the customs officer he was interrogated by, as well as the other officers that she brought into the situation. After being ridiculed and called a loser and squeegee boy, as well as missing his flight, the woman stapled a paper to his passport saying he has to leave by X date, and that he cannot work or go to school in Canada. I suppose he’s at least somewhat lucky that I live a two hour drive away from Alaska. But still, what a nightmare. Now I’m worried about the “not allowed to work in Canada” thing, because that was one of the reasons for him coming here.
I think he should avoid landing in Toronto whenever he flies. The first time he went through Toronto, most of his valuables were stolen from him (Air Canada was his airline). And now this.
Sorry to hear about your experience. I’ve never experienced anything like that coming into Canada, but I believe that it happens to many people. I’ve experienced many humiliating, degrading experiences with US customs. I’m middle aged and they treat me like a child sometimes, it’s like they want me to get angry so they can have an excuse to reject me.
I wonder what kind of training they go through. It must be the opposite of sensitivity training. I always thought that the best approach for a customs officer would be to be friendly, that way they’d get people to open up and be honest. When they start with the interrogation, all it does is make me want to clam up.
The friendliest border crossing I ever had was in Germany, an ocean away. Yet our “friendly” neighbor’s customs officers In North America treat each others’ citizens and their own like dirt.
Would it help, if stood there (and if the border police fellows happen to have those tight black leather boots, way up above the knee, like those guys in Second World War Germay, with matching gloves, one of which the interoggating officer removes while leaning in, squinting one eye half shut at the same moment he purses the left-hand side of his chafed, blizzard-hit lip and in obligatory-deal-fashion, offers: “Vaiting for ze bus?” his comrade elbowing him in the side, he comes around, after having been in his hut watching war films for hours) to say wait a sec, and then do your best Monty Python imitation, that bit with the song about suspender-wearing mounties and lumberjacks hangin’ around in bars?