Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Olympics & Customs
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2009 10:20:35 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Eric Rachner" <eric () mostly harmless org> Date: October 5, 2009 1:54:03 AM EDT To: <dave () farber net>, "'ip'" <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: RE: [IP] Re: Olympics & CustomsI’m down to the last empty page in my barely 5-year-old US passport, which I hope qualifies me to ask Brock, as Barney Frank so incisively put it, “On what planet do you spend the majority of your time?”
In the last couple of years, I’ve entered Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, and Belgium a few dozen times in total. Although one does occasionally see armed security staff, it is worth mentioning that neither they nor their ilk have ever bothered or inconvenienced me in any way, shape or form. They have never rifled my belongings, interrogated me, taken my fingerprints, or kept me waiting in hours-long lines. Not once.
By contrast, when re-entering the US, I very often spend over an hour standing in a customs line, where I have, from time to time, had my belongings rifled. I have been sternly warned for failing to declare a Snickers bar purchased at a foreign airport. I have yet to be interrogated at any length, but I know people who have. And I am always embarrassed to know that those in the (also hours-long) line for non-citizens are required to surrender copies of their fingerprints. The fact that I have almost never seen armed security staff while enduring these many little injuries has been of no comfort.
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