Likely outcome for being rude to a passport control man
Discussion
isee said:
I know it's annoying...
My X and I were stood in a ATM queue once, and she commented in another language how s
t the guy's in front hair looked. The guy took his cash, walked about 50 yards then returned and with a sincere interest and concern looked her in the eye, then said "Is it really that bad?"
I could not stop laughing at her for at least half an hour.
I also had the pleasure of attending a meeting between my company and representatives of a another, very wealthy company. Who did not realise I speak their language. After they had finished talking amongst themselves about how can they extract the info from us without promising us any busines or in fact making us cotton on to the fact that they are there for a purpose that would more appropriately be described as competition, I politely asked the interpreter to stop wasting his time and addressed the representatives directly... I cannot begin to explain how entertained i was watching their faces and the body language from that moment on...
haha good stuff! My X and I were stood in a ATM queue once, and she commented in another language how s
t the guy's in front hair looked. The guy took his cash, walked about 50 yards then returned and with a sincere interest and concern looked her in the eye, then said "Is it really that bad?"I could not stop laughing at her for at least half an hour.
I also had the pleasure of attending a meeting between my company and representatives of a another, very wealthy company. Who did not realise I speak their language. After they had finished talking amongst themselves about how can they extract the info from us without promising us any busines or in fact making us cotton on to the fact that they are there for a purpose that would more appropriately be described as competition, I politely asked the interpreter to stop wasting his time and addressed the representatives directly... I cannot begin to explain how entertained i was watching their faces and the body language from that moment on...
I actually managed to do what I suggested at an airport once, but only after I'd had the airport staff help me arrange onward transport (Ryanair had decided to change destination airports at short notice and not tell all the passengers). After they had done that and were making comments about me I thanked them and wished them a pleasant evening in their language - I wish I'd had the camera handy!
PS anyone questioning why I did ask them to help me in their language is that I'm not fluent enough explain what had occurred.
Edited by SirTainly on Tuesday 3rd March 13:59
215cu said:
Get over it, that's nothing, a mere walk in the park.
Worst one I had at passport control was ...
OuchWorst one I had at passport control was ...
I realise it could have been much worse (hence me biting my lip at the time
I was just wondering what can they really do if the get a needle with someone and whether they have to justfy their actions
I am satisfied that what I did was the best course of action: go wth the flow, remain polite, erduce the exposure to humiliation to a minimum..
Gylen said:
I'm confused. You were 'abroad' and the customs man spoke to you in 'abroad', initially?
Seems normal, I would expect the onus to be on me to speak the basics of his language but I suppose he would have seen your passport etc.
But if you couldn't understand what he said, how do you know it was rude? He may have been complimenting you, passing comment to one of the colleagues about something entirely different or neither of the above? You may have just mis-interpreted his tone due to not speaking the language (like how all Italians sound like they're arguing to Brits).
Perhaps an over-reaction?
Only perhaps?Seems normal, I would expect the onus to be on me to speak the basics of his language but I suppose he would have seen your passport etc.
But if you couldn't understand what he said, how do you know it was rude? He may have been complimenting you, passing comment to one of the colleagues about something entirely different or neither of the above? You may have just mis-interpreted his tone due to not speaking the language (like how all Italians sound like they're arguing to Brits).
Perhaps an over-reaction?
I think the OP might be a bit too highly strung. I mean, if that sort of episode can seriously ruin your day then you've got to have have issues, surely?
SGirl said:
Scandinavia and Germany are great for this!! Many a happy hour was spent chatting to my English-speaking friends in Sweden and earwigging on Swedish conversations when they started talking about us. It's brilliant to turn around, address them in their own language and watch them blush. 
I was in a pub (well, Kneipe) in Germany with a gang of Swedish girls once and the only space free was at a table already occupied by four German guys. They indicated that we should sit there with them, we didn't address them at all. We were all sitting and chatting in Swedish when we overheard the German guys going on about "that blonde one there's fit, bet she goes like a ferret" and all that stuff. All of us spoke German, so we kept straight faces and just carried on our conversation. But then the waitress came over to tell us one of the wines we'd ordered had run out, and to ask us what we'd like instead - and at that point we switched our conversation to German and discussed which of the wines we'd like.
I've never seen four blokes exit a pub so fast in my life.
Nice I was in a pub (well, Kneipe) in Germany with a gang of Swedish girls once and the only space free was at a table already occupied by four German guys. They indicated that we should sit there with them, we didn't address them at all. We were all sitting and chatting in Swedish when we overheard the German guys going on about "that blonde one there's fit, bet she goes like a ferret" and all that stuff. All of us spoke German, so we kept straight faces and just carried on our conversation. But then the waitress came over to tell us one of the wines we'd ordered had run out, and to ask us what we'd like instead - and at that point we switched our conversation to German and discussed which of the wines we'd like.
I've never seen four blokes exit a pub so fast in my life.
Beats my tale from Sweden, getting lambasted at tram stop for "coming here and not learning the language" from some old chap also waiting for a tram. I didn't know the Swedes had such high expectations of people visiting for a weekend!
It's not worth giving any airport staff the hump really. Once you've got past the bird on the check-in desk virtually anyone with a name badge or a clipboard has the ability to make you miss your flight with little fear of recrimination.
My old man managed to get arrested (along with half a dozen work colleagues) after grabbing the name tag of a french BA gate jockey so he could send a complaint. The bloke had shut the gate, literally as they walked up, 15 minutes early and refused to let them on, even though there were passengers still queued up to board in the jet way.
The guy had tucked his tag into his jumper and the moment Dad saw his name the bloke went ballistic and made sure the local plod held them all until the last flight to any London airport had gone. They then found they were bounced off of the flight the next morning too!
My old man managed to get arrested (along with half a dozen work colleagues) after grabbing the name tag of a french BA gate jockey so he could send a complaint. The bloke had shut the gate, literally as they walked up, 15 minutes early and refused to let them on, even though there were passengers still queued up to board in the jet way.
The guy had tucked his tag into his jumper and the moment Dad saw his name the bloke went ballistic and made sure the local plod held them all until the last flight to any London airport had gone. They then found they were bounced off of the flight the next morning too!
mouseymousey said:
Gylen said:
I'm confused. You were 'abroad' and the customs man spoke to you in 'abroad', initially?
Seems normal, I would expect the onus to be on me to speak the basics of his language but I suppose he would have seen your passport etc.
But if you couldn't understand what he said, how do you know it was rude? He may have been complimenting you, passing comment to one of the colleagues about something entirely different or neither of the above? You may have just mis-interpreted his tone due to not speaking the language (like how all Italians sound like they're arguing to Brits).
Perhaps an over-reaction?
Only perhaps?Seems normal, I would expect the onus to be on me to speak the basics of his language but I suppose he would have seen your passport etc.
But if you couldn't understand what he said, how do you know it was rude? He may have been complimenting you, passing comment to one of the colleagues about something entirely different or neither of the above? You may have just mis-interpreted his tone due to not speaking the language (like how all Italians sound like they're arguing to Brits).
Perhaps an over-reaction?
I think the OP might be a bit too highly strung. I mean, if that sort of episode can seriously ruin your day then you've got to have have issues, surely?
I still think that it was extrememly unprofessional and antisocial coming from a worker that deal with general public. I also had done nothing to provoke that kind of behaviour.
I've taken worse s
t and shrugged it off in the past though.RDMcG said:
I travel a huge amount, (100k airmiles a year), and my basic rule is to be boringly polite,zero small talk , and never react to these folks anywhere.They have a lot of power to detain you, and its not worth the aggro.
+1In my youth (and to paraphrase Dylan Moran, it is "stupidity that propells you along when you are young") I had a run-in with officials at Chicago O'Hare.
I'd filled out a little immigration 'card' thingy on the plane - as requested - and, when I arrived at pasport control, I asked the (surly cow of a) passport inspector whether it was she who I should give the card to. She merely lowered here eyes nodded towards a huge pile of these things on her desk, to which I duly added my card.
I set off toward baggage reclaim and some stick-up-his-arse official pulls me to one side and asks for 'a card'. There is some confusion along the lines of "no, I don't have any card" and "SIR! you do have a card." I then put two and two together and ask that he looks at the huge piles of these 'cards' stacking up on evey passport inspectors desk - "is that the sort of card you mean?".
I go and fetch my 'card' and offer the polite suggestion that the inspectors should perhaps not allow people to leave the cards at their desk if they're not supposed to etc. etc. a piont which fails to make any impact on the asshole. As an aside - I'm pissed off by now and not long out of my 'beer 'n' fighting years' - I remark that the US is one of the most unpleasant and unwelcmoning places to visit and immediately I know I've overstepped the mark.
The guys face turns to thunder, I briefly fancy he's pondering whether he'll pull a sidearm on me or take me to have my 'luggage inspected' but instead he throws my passport straight at me and tells me to get "out of his sight". On reflection, I was lucky and no, I would not do this again.
Years ago, my wife and I arrived back at Heathrow after returning from Japan. My wife is Japanese but holds UK permanent residence, so rather than having her queue up at the 'rest of the world' desk, I wondered if it would be okay for her to pass through the UK/EU passport holders section, along with me, for a nice smooth and speedy Heathrow exit. We asked politely and they very kindly let her pass through, which saved us some time, and was appreciated as we were tired from out long flight.
Behind us was an American man and, I kid you not, he tossed his passport onto the officers desk and expected to be let through. The officer reminded him that this section was for UK/EU citizens only and he must join another queue. He response was "But I am American" to which the officer replied "That may be, sir, but you still have to join the queue for non EU/UK blah, blah, blah," He shuffled off, no doubt grumbling about the fact that nobody cared whether he was American or not.
A little kindness goes a long way, so there are some nice ones at Heathrow and other airports I am sure. Of course there are some prize pricks too.
Behind us was an American man and, I kid you not, he tossed his passport onto the officers desk and expected to be let through. The officer reminded him that this section was for UK/EU citizens only and he must join another queue. He response was "But I am American" to which the officer replied "That may be, sir, but you still have to join the queue for non EU/UK blah, blah, blah," He shuffled off, no doubt grumbling about the fact that nobody cared whether he was American or not.
A little kindness goes a long way, so there are some nice ones at Heathrow and other airports I am sure. Of course there are some prize pricks too.
Edited by Richard.John on Tuesday 3rd March 14:16
SirTainly said:
Nice
Beats my tale from Sweden, getting lambasted at tram stop for "coming here and not learning the language" from some old chap also waiting for a tram. I didn't know the Swedes had such high expectations of people visiting for a weekend!
I got a "reverse" one of these too:Beats my tale from Sweden, getting lambasted at tram stop for "coming here and not learning the language" from some old chap also waiting for a tram. I didn't know the Swedes had such high expectations of people visiting for a weekend!
In a club, walked up to 5 or so gorgeous blondes sitting on a couch and started chatting them up in what I thought was their language. I'v enever felt myself blush so much once it has transpired that they were not even close to the country I thought they were from...
SirTainly said:
Beats my tale from Sweden, getting lambasted at tram stop for "coming here and not learning the language" from some old chap also waiting for a tram. I didn't know the Swedes had such high expectations of people visiting for a weekend!
Seriously?! The only language problem I've ever had in Sweden is finding someone to speak Swedish to me. Once they know you're British, you have a hell of a time persuading them not to practise their English on you. Although that said, many of the older generation don't speak English - or at least, not well enough to even get by. But mad Swedes are mad Swedes. Anyone who knows mad Swedes will know what I mean.
Digga said:
RDMcG said:
I travel a huge amount, (100k airmiles a year), and my basic rule is to be boringly polite,zero small talk , and never react to these folks anywhere.They have a lot of power to detain you, and its not worth the aggro.
+1In my youth (and to paraphrase Dylan Moran, it is "stupidity that propells you along when you are young") I had a run-in with officials at Chicago O'Hare.
I'd filled out a little immigration 'card' thingy on the plane - as requested - and, when I arrived at pasport control, I asked the (surly cow of a) passport inspector whether it was she who I should give the card to. She merely lowered here eyes nodded towards a huge pile of these things on her desk, to which I duly added my card.
I set off toward baggage reclaim and some stick-up-his-arse official pulls me to one side and asks for 'a card'. There is some confusion along the lines of "no, I don't have any card" and "SIR! you do have a card." I then put two and two together and ask that he looks at the huge piles of these 'cards' stacking up on evey passport inspectors desk - "is that the sort of card you mean?".
I go and fetch my 'card' and offer the polite suggestion that the inspectors should perhaps not allow people to leave the cards at their desk if they're not supposed to etc. etc. a piont which fails to make any impact on the asshole. As an aside - I'm pissed off by now and not long out of my 'beer 'n' fighting years' - I remark that the US is one of the most unpleasant and unwelcmoning places to visit and immediately I know I've overstepped the mark.
The guys face turns to thunder, I briefly fancy he's pondering whether he'll pull a sidearm on me or take me to have my 'luggage inspected' but instead he throws my passport straight at me and tells me to get "out of his sight". On reflection, I was lucky and no, I would not do this again.
If it wasn't that, thanks to previous visits to Syria & Jordan (both on business with very pretty Arabic visas in my passport) and some moderate Arab countries (Morocco, Egypt and Turkey) for hols, I guess I'm a one man walking axis of evil
Christ, that didn't go down well as he flicked through my passport (there a stamp for Slovenia did fox him - I had to remind him it was part of the former Yugoslavia and that went down really well). He even called me a Limey, f
k I was that close to recanting every single US fk up since the Boston Tea party for that.I smiled wryily, thanked him for checking my passport, wishing him a 'havva nice day' and carried on.
Saying that, on a recent holiday to Cuba, they are the security staff you really don't f
k with, it makes Russia look positively liberal. I asked the lady (a real Latina hottie in uniform - be still my aching hard on) very nicely if she would stamp my passport. She smiled very sweetly and delivered a whacking huge red stamp proudly stating "Cuba".So next time I visit the US (unlikely in the near future) my new passport has a stamp in it that will really get their security hot under the collar.
Viva la Revolucion.
I had a "slight" problem at San Francisco, I arrived with 4 days left on a one year entry visa.
He kept asking why I had come today after I had repeatedly told him I have an appointment on Tuesday at Newark (Newark is a regional immig center).
I'm not the "I'm better than you" type traveller but being reapeatedly asked the same question doesn't bring out the best in me. I asked to be either be admitted or shown to an airline desk where I could get a flight out. Visa is valid or not etc.
The guy could not "get" I was not a tourist.
It escalated to the point that you guys probably woudn't believe.
I would have been very happy with the usual "Why you my country come" look followed by a "thank you" from me.
Unrelated.
A few days later at Newark my lawyer overheard in Spanish how they were going to "XXXX me" by losing some papers needed for my green card. She let fly at them, my Spanish is not so good, but I did catch a couple of bad words
She had them jumping. The interveiw was actually with a civilised human who was on first name terms with my lawyer. Sanity prevailed.
In fairness the American immigration service has improved tremendously since, as has their beer.
He kept asking why I had come today after I had repeatedly told him I have an appointment on Tuesday at Newark (Newark is a regional immig center).
I'm not the "I'm better than you" type traveller but being reapeatedly asked the same question doesn't bring out the best in me. I asked to be either be admitted or shown to an airline desk where I could get a flight out. Visa is valid or not etc.
The guy could not "get" I was not a tourist.
It escalated to the point that you guys probably woudn't believe.
I would have been very happy with the usual "Why you my country come" look followed by a "thank you" from me.
Unrelated.
A few days later at Newark my lawyer overheard in Spanish how they were going to "XXXX me" by losing some papers needed for my green card. She let fly at them, my Spanish is not so good, but I did catch a couple of bad words
She had them jumping. The interveiw was actually with a civilised human who was on first name terms with my lawyer. Sanity prevailed.
In fairness the American immigration service has improved tremendously since, as has their beer.
215cu said:
Digga said:
RDMcG said:
I travel a huge amount, (100k airmiles a year), and my basic rule is to be boringly polite,zero small talk , and never react to these folks anywhere.They have a lot of power to detain you, and its not worth the aggro.
+1In my youth (and to paraphrase Dylan Moran, it is "stupidity that propells you along when you are young") I had a run-in with officials at Chicago O'Hare.
I'd filled out a little immigration 'card' thingy on the plane - as requested - and, when I arrived at pasport control, I asked the (surly cow of a) passport inspector whether it was she who I should give the card to. She merely lowered here eyes nodded towards a huge pile of these things on her desk, to which I duly added my card.
I set off toward baggage reclaim and some stick-up-his-arse official pulls me to one side and asks for 'a card'. There is some confusion along the lines of "no, I don't have any card" and "SIR! you do have a card." I then put two and two together and ask that he looks at the huge piles of these 'cards' stacking up on evey passport inspectors desk - "is that the sort of card you mean?".
I go and fetch my 'card' and offer the polite suggestion that the inspectors should perhaps not allow people to leave the cards at their desk if they're not supposed to etc. etc. a piont which fails to make any impact on the asshole. As an aside - I'm pissed off by now and not long out of my 'beer 'n' fighting years' - I remark that the US is one of the most unpleasant and unwelcmoning places to visit and immediately I know I've overstepped the mark.
The guys face turns to thunder, I briefly fancy he's pondering whether he'll pull a sidearm on me or take me to have my 'luggage inspected' but instead he throws my passport straight at me and tells me to get "out of his sight". On reflection, I was lucky and no, I would not do this again.
If it wasn't that, thanks to previous visits to Syria & Jordan (both on business with very pretty Arabic visas in my passport) and some moderate Arab countries (Morocco, Egypt and Turkey) for hols, I guess I'm a one man walking axis of evil
Christ, that didn't go down well as he flicked through my passport (there a stamp for Slovenia did fox him - I had to remind him it was part of the former Yugoslavia and that went down really well). He even called me a Limey, f
k I was that close to recanting every single US fk up since the Boston Tea party for that.I smiled wryily, thanked him for checking my passport, wishing him a 'havva nice day' and carried on.
Saying that, on a recent holiday to Cuba, they are the security staff you really don't f
k with, it makes Russia look positively liberal. I asked the lady (a real Latina hottie in uniform - be still my aching hard on) very nicely if she would stamp my passport. She smiled very sweetly and delivered a whacking huge red stamp proudly stating "Cuba".So next time I visit the US (unlikely in the near future) my new passport has a stamp in it that will really get their security hot under the collar.
Viva la Revolucion.
isee said:
215cu said:
Digga said:
RDMcG said:
I travel a huge amount, (100k airmiles a year), and my basic rule is to be boringly polite,zero small talk , and never react to these folks anywhere.They have a lot of power to detain you, and its not worth the aggro.
+1In my youth (and to paraphrase Dylan Moran, it is "stupidity that propells you along when you are young") I had a run-in with officials at Chicago O'Hare.
I'd filled out a little immigration 'card' thingy on the plane - as requested - and, when I arrived at pasport control, I asked the (surly cow of a) passport inspector whether it was she who I should give the card to. She merely lowered here eyes nodded towards a huge pile of these things on her desk, to which I duly added my card.
I set off toward baggage reclaim and some stick-up-his-arse official pulls me to one side and asks for 'a card'. There is some confusion along the lines of "no, I don't have any card" and "SIR! you do have a card." I then put two and two together and ask that he looks at the huge piles of these 'cards' stacking up on evey passport inspectors desk - "is that the sort of card you mean?".
I go and fetch my 'card' and offer the polite suggestion that the inspectors should perhaps not allow people to leave the cards at their desk if they're not supposed to etc. etc. a piont which fails to make any impact on the asshole. As an aside - I'm pissed off by now and not long out of my 'beer 'n' fighting years' - I remark that the US is one of the most unpleasant and unwelcmoning places to visit and immediately I know I've overstepped the mark.
The guys face turns to thunder, I briefly fancy he's pondering whether he'll pull a sidearm on me or take me to have my 'luggage inspected' but instead he throws my passport straight at me and tells me to get "out of his sight". On reflection, I was lucky and no, I would not do this again.
If it wasn't that, thanks to previous visits to Syria & Jordan (both on business with very pretty Arabic visas in my passport) and some moderate Arab countries (Morocco, Egypt and Turkey) for hols, I guess I'm a one man walking axis of evil
Christ, that didn't go down well as he flicked through my passport (there a stamp for Slovenia did fox him - I had to remind him it was part of the former Yugoslavia and that went down really well). He even called me a Limey, f
k I was that close to recanting every single US fk up since the Boston Tea party for that.I smiled wryily, thanked him for checking my passport, wishing him a 'havva nice day' and carried on.
Saying that, on a recent holiday to Cuba, they are the security staff you really don't f
k with, it makes Russia look positively liberal. I asked the lady (a real Latina hottie in uniform - be still my aching hard on) very nicely if she would stamp my passport. She smiled very sweetly and delivered a whacking huge red stamp proudly stating "Cuba".So next time I visit the US (unlikely in the near future) my new passport has a stamp in it that will really get their security hot under the collar.
Viva la Revolucion.
Richard.John said:
Behind us was an American man and, I kid you not, he tossed his passport onto the officers desk and expected to be let through. The officer reminded him that this section was for UK/EU citizens only and he must join another queue. He response was "But I am American" to which the officer replied "That may be, sir, but you still have to join the queue for non EU/UK blah, blah, blah," He shuffled off, no doubt grumbling about the fact that nobody cared whether he was American or not.
He has got too used to American airports where they have 17 desks for US Passport Holders (average queuing time 4 minutes) and 2 for the rest of the World (average queuing time 4 hours).TOENHEEL said:
isee said:
215cu said:
Digga said:
RDMcG said:
I travel a huge amount, (100k airmiles a year), and my basic rule is to be boringly polite,zero small talk , and never react to these folks anywhere.They have a lot of power to detain you, and its not worth the aggro.
+1In my youth (and to paraphrase Dylan Moran, it is "stupidity that propells you along when you are young") I had a run-in with officials at Chicago O'Hare.
I'd filled out a little immigration 'card' thingy on the plane - as requested - and, when I arrived at pasport control, I asked the (surly cow of a) passport inspector whether it was she who I should give the card to. She merely lowered here eyes nodded towards a huge pile of these things on her desk, to which I duly added my card.
I set off toward baggage reclaim and some stick-up-his-arse official pulls me to one side and asks for 'a card'. There is some confusion along the lines of "no, I don't have any card" and "SIR! you do have a card." I then put two and two together and ask that he looks at the huge piles of these 'cards' stacking up on evey passport inspectors desk - "is that the sort of card you mean?".
I go and fetch my 'card' and offer the polite suggestion that the inspectors should perhaps not allow people to leave the cards at their desk if they're not supposed to etc. etc. a piont which fails to make any impact on the asshole. As an aside - I'm pissed off by now and not long out of my 'beer 'n' fighting years' - I remark that the US is one of the most unpleasant and unwelcmoning places to visit and immediately I know I've overstepped the mark.
The guys face turns to thunder, I briefly fancy he's pondering whether he'll pull a sidearm on me or take me to have my 'luggage inspected' but instead he throws my passport straight at me and tells me to get "out of his sight". On reflection, I was lucky and no, I would not do this again.
If it wasn't that, thanks to previous visits to Syria & Jordan (both on business with very pretty Arabic visas in my passport) and some moderate Arab countries (Morocco, Egypt and Turkey) for hols, I guess I'm a one man walking axis of evil
Christ, that didn't go down well as he flicked through my passport (there a stamp for Slovenia did fox him - I had to remind him it was part of the former Yugoslavia and that went down really well). He even called me a Limey, f
k I was that close to recanting every single US fk up since the Boston Tea party for that.I smiled wryily, thanked him for checking my passport, wishing him a 'havva nice day' and carried on.
Saying that, on a recent holiday to Cuba, they are the security staff you really don't f
k with, it makes Russia look positively liberal. I asked the lady (a real Latina hottie in uniform - be still my aching hard on) very nicely if she would stamp my passport. She smiled very sweetly and delivered a whacking huge red stamp proudly stating "Cuba".So next time I visit the US (unlikely in the near future) my new passport has a stamp in it that will really get their security hot under the collar.
Viva la Revolucion.
TOENHEEL said:
isee said:
215cu said:
Digga said:
RDMcG said:
I travel a huge amount, (100k airmiles a year), and my basic rule is to be boringly polite,zero small talk , and never react to these folks anywhere.They have a lot of power to detain you, and its not worth the aggro.
+1In my youth (and to paraphrase Dylan Moran, it is "stupidity that propells you along when you are young") I had a run-in with officials at Chicago O'Hare.
I'd filled out a little immigration 'card' thingy on the plane - as requested - and, when I arrived at pasport control, I asked the (surly cow of a) passport inspector whether it was she who I should give the card to. She merely lowered here eyes nodded towards a huge pile of these things on her desk, to which I duly added my card.
I set off toward baggage reclaim and some stick-up-his-arse official pulls me to one side and asks for 'a card'. There is some confusion along the lines of "no, I don't have any card" and "SIR! you do have a card." I then put two and two together and ask that he looks at the huge piles of these 'cards' stacking up on evey passport inspectors desk - "is that the sort of card you mean?".
I go and fetch my 'card' and offer the polite suggestion that the inspectors should perhaps not allow people to leave the cards at their desk if they're not supposed to etc. etc. a piont which fails to make any impact on the asshole. As an aside - I'm pissed off by now and not long out of my 'beer 'n' fighting years' - I remark that the US is one of the most unpleasant and unwelcmoning places to visit and immediately I know I've overstepped the mark.
The guys face turns to thunder, I briefly fancy he's pondering whether he'll pull a sidearm on me or take me to have my 'luggage inspected' but instead he throws my passport straight at me and tells me to get "out of his sight". On reflection, I was lucky and no, I would not do this again.
If it wasn't that, thanks to previous visits to Syria & Jordan (both on business with very pretty Arabic visas in my passport) and some moderate Arab countries (Morocco, Egypt and Turkey) for hols, I guess I'm a one man walking axis of evil
Christ, that didn't go down well as he flicked through my passport (there a stamp for Slovenia did fox him - I had to remind him it was part of the former Yugoslavia and that went down really well). He even called me a Limey, f
k I was that close to recanting every single US fk up since the Boston Tea party for that.I smiled wryily, thanked him for checking my passport, wishing him a 'havva nice day' and carried on.
Saying that, on a recent holiday to Cuba, they are the security staff you really don't f
k with, it makes Russia look positively liberal. I asked the lady (a real Latina hottie in uniform - be still my aching hard on) very nicely if she would stamp my passport. She smiled very sweetly and delivered a whacking huge red stamp proudly stating "Cuba".So next time I visit the US (unlikely in the near future) my new passport has a stamp in it that will really get their security hot under the collar.
Viva la Revolucion.
PAradisus Rio de oro is the best resort in cuba (according to the locals and trip advisor) in Varadero
Also try out their skydiving offers. I wasn't sure if I had the guts to jump out of the plane, but having gone up in a 60 year old Antonov 2 I was convinced that it was safer jumping out with a parachute than landing in that plane
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