[Bury Zenek]

Today they're called Customs, not that long ago we called them Gestapo.

[RichieP]

Are you guys getting pulled up walking in like scruffy backpackers or something? As a rule in life I find dressing well gets you treated better when dealing with any officials. Also shows respect for them. I get the vibe many people here have disdain for them, maybe that's coming across and getting you singled out. Give respect and you tend to get it back, even if they're having a bad day etc.

[Soothesayer]

Few years back there was a guy stopped at the Falls border crossing between Niagara Falls, Canada and New York. They confiscated his, I kid you not, COMICS.

Japanese manga or some such depicting underage girls. Drawings of teen/prepub girls with cat ears, tail and the like, tentacles, aliens, etc. The bulldykes that work at that border station call anyone with such drawings a pervert and are summarily arrested. No idea if he was put on the sex offenders registry but it wouldn't surprise me.

Canada is ten times worse than the USA when it comes to feminism. It's quite a few notches higher here.

[Mushroom]

(09-07-2016 12:34 PM)Soothesayer Wrote:  

Few years back there was a guy stopped at the Falls border crossing between Niagara Falls, Canada and New York. They confiscated his, I kid you not, COMICS.

Japanese manga or some such depicting underage girls. Drawings of teen/prepub girls with cat ears, tail and the like, tentacles, aliens, etc. The bulldykes that work at that border station call anyone with such drawings a pervert and are summarily arrested. No idea if he was put on the sex offenders registry but it wouldn't surprise me.

Canada is ten times worse than the USA when it comes to feminism. It's quite a few notches higher here.

I'd label that dude a pervert too. That's creepy shit.

I got stopped at the border going into Canada, I was actually dressed very professionally in slacks and a button down shirt tucked in, I think I was even wearing a tie... they thought it was suspicious I was only staying for 3 days and all I had for my trip was a gym bag full of clothes. No computer, just my phone.

The first agent I dealt with was a total asshole that was accusing me of being a criminal -- I didn't get it. I'm as white as they come, was clean shaven at the time, shorthair, zero criminal record, not even a traffic ticket.

I was sent off to the interview area and I was surrounded by shady looking people, including some Chinese women that were obviously trying to sneak into Canada to live, they were told they would not be let in, and would be sent back.

The second agent that interviewed me was initially a really cool guy and was nice and friendly, I believe he didn't see me as a threat but knew he had to follow the process...He asked me a bunch of questions and then told me he needed to see my phone. I told him I wasn't comfortable with that and felt like it was an invasion of privacy. He got very stern and told me if I didn't hand over my phone unlocked to him that I would not be allowed into Canada.

I *had* to be there for a meeting with a huge client, if I wanted the business, I had to do it. I unlocked my phone and handed it over. That fucker disappeared into a room down the hall for 15 minutes. Must have looked through everything on my phone... I had a ton of nude photos on my phone of the girl I was hooking up. They were body shots only though, she never sent me nudes with her face in the shot...

He didn't say a word about the photos at all, he handed me my phone and let me move on. And yes, the deal with client worked out, it was worth it.

Every since then when I travel, I put everything in iCloud or DropBox and then unlink those accounts on all my devices. When I arrive at my destination, I just sign back into all my services. It takes DropBox an hour or so to resync everything, but I don't mind and I have a lot more peace of mind. I figure if I'm every in the situation again and an agent says they think it's weird that I don't have photos on my phone, I'll just say I always sync my photos to my home computer to save space on my phone.

[TravelerKai]

(09-07-2016 11:59 AM)RichieP Wrote:  

Are you guys getting pulled up walking in like scruffy backpackers or something? As a rule in life I find dressing well gets you treated better when dealing with any officials. Also shows respect for them. I get the vibe many people here have disdain for them, maybe that's coming across and getting you singled out. Give respect and you tend to get it back, even if they're having a bad day etc.

I had a horrific experience in LAX for allegedly having "bomb residue" on my neck pillow. I was on my way to my wedding. I almost got detained and I got surrounded by several of them. You really do not need to be white to catch hell from airport trash. TSA, Customs, all of them suck. Wearing a suit might help, but not every flight calls for wearing one. If your name comes up for random extra checks, it's worse.

The only thing I do differently now since that bad experience, is just wear suits when going to NYC/NJ and I avoid LAX completely. I pony up the extra money for direct flights because no one at my home airport gives me shit except the once snarky immigration officer, who would not let me translate for my wife. I get it, but he did not have to be a dick about it.

Other than that, customs and TSA in Texas are cool. They did not even give me shit when I forgot my carry knife in one of my bags, I ended up throwing it in the trash (and I cried the whole trip ;_; ), but at least they let me decide and they did not panic or make a scene at all, unlike LAX. I think they were just glad it wasn't a pistol

I also second what others have said, once you pass the passport check, you are in no man's land. No joking around, no unnecessary smiling, just relax and do your best. Most places will leave you alone but some will check extra hard, look back at you, check your documents, look for more shit, then look at you again with a scowl. You know right there they wish you had something illegal just play it straight, be polite, and give yes or no answers.

The Beast had a awesome piece of advice about having dummy login profiles for PCs and phones. That is a must.

[debeguiled]

(09-07-2016 03:25 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

I had a horrific experience in LAX for allegedly having "bomb residue" on my neck pillow. I was on my way to my wedding.

Did you ever find out what this even means? Seems like this residue gambit is a loophole that could justify detaining anyone.

They make bombs out of fertilizer. If you were gardening before travelling, and had fertilizer on your shoes, could you be detained?

Nicotine is a poison. If your clothes smell smokey, is that poison residue that can be evidence of an assasination attempt?

I don't think I should go to airports then, since I am sure the expression on my face has clear residue of homicidal ideation.

Happy travelling everyone.

[TravelerKai]

(09-07-2016 03:51 PM)debeguiled Wrote:  

(09-07-2016 03:25 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

I had a horrific experience in LAX for allegedly having "bomb residue" on my neck pillow. I was on my way to my wedding.

Did you ever find out what this even means? Seems like this residue gambit is a loophole that could justify detaining anyone.

They make bombs out of fertilizer. If you were gardening before travelling, and had fertilizer on your shoes, could you be detained?

Nicotine is a poison. If your clothes smell smokey, is that poison residue that can be evidence of an assasination attempt?

I don't think I should go to airports then, since I am sure the expression on my face has clear residue of homicidal ideation.

Happy travelling everyone.

It was pure bullshit. They probably had a random extra check in their system. No telling. My mother bought the damn thing from a Marshalls and gave it to me a week prior. When the guy who looked like he had down syndrome or something made me give up the pillow, he tried testing it with a test paper. I said, "Dude, your hands are bare, shouldn't you use a pair of gloves?" That's when he said, "GET BACK SIR." I got surrounded and his boss radioed for a guy. Then a guy with "Bomb Expert" on the back of his shirt, who looked like a BlackWater reject from Iraq, put on some gloves checked it in 20 seconds and said, "It's fine." Took him almost an hour to show up though. During that time they tried their hardest to piss me off so I could get arrested.

The entire plane was waiting on me because they forced them to stay too. So that makes me wonder if that was a random extra check.

After a while I realized it was just LAX for the most part. TSA as a whole is a pain in the ass but, certain airports are far worse than others. If you read the filed complaints, etc. available online, you will find out that certain ones have pulled stunts like this on many others.

I don't think there is anything anyone can do to avoid it really, other than avoiding certain airports or flying out at late hours. One difference between that time I had the trouble in LAX and prior trips, was that it was like 9AM compared to the previous times it was either 11pm-4AM. The airport was crowded and there were many times more agents.

Flying in the wee hours of the morning or late at night in general can be VERY beneficial! Less crowds, less stress, less annoying staff, less hassle, easy to find help, and catch the connecting flight faster are just a few good things. I once caught hate for being with my wife by jealous black women working at baggage claim. That's another story I'll spare you but once again, it was in the middle of the daytime....

[Que enspastic]

Australia has its own TV show where people around the world watch our muscular but borderline retarded hilly billy immigration force pick on Chinese kids and tell Indian grandmas to forget their curry paste or fuck off.

[bumborass]

I'd like to think that me getting stopped in foreign airport security isn't because I'm a young black guy with an afro, but because they actually are random stops and searches...

I dress nice when I travel, because most of the time I'm either flying business class and/or flying for work, or flying using a family member's companion tickets. Boat shoes button down and jeans, which is what I get away with at work for "business casual".

never got stopped in Australia surprisingly, and I've flown internationally to and from Aus and domestically within Aus more than once

[Mekorig]

(09-07-2016 04:33 PM)Que enspastic Wrote:  

Australia has its own TV show where people around the world watch our muscular but borderline retarded hilly billy immigration force pick on Chinese kids and tell Indian grandmas to forget their curry paste or fuck off.

There is a Canadian version too. Also bordeline retarded.

[Malo]

Wow, amazed that this is legal but apparently it is:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smartphone-...ow-rights/

Just make sure you stand next to them while the search your data or your luggage for that matter, so they won't plant something in there.

[Brother Abdul Majeed]

(09-07-2016 04:21 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

Flying in the wee hours of the morning or late at night in general can be VERY beneficial! Less crowds, less stress, less annoying staff, less hassle, easy to find help, and catch the connecting flight faster are just a few good things. I once caught hate for being with my wife by jealous black women working at baggage claim. That's another story I'll spare you but once again, it was in the middle of the daytime....

Not necessarily. I recently arrived in Toronto very late at night on a flight from Miami which had been delayed. The airport was almost empty when the plane got in. The powers-that-be decided to do a physical inspection of all the baggage on the aircraft, so all the passengers had to mill around the carousel area for an extra hour, and when the conveyor got moving the bags came out very slowly. I suspect a bored crew of security personnel can find ways to keep busy.

[mogsy]

Well I think that has just been crossed off on my to visit list now!

-If iphone backup before leaving and then factory reset it and add a couple of numbers, restore when needed (backup encrypted file somewhere if needed)
-We can't expect the people to be too tech savvy so just leave a couple of usual pictures in the obvious folders if your taking a laptop, the best one is to just back it up before hand and take a blank laptop with you, then work from a backup if needed.

I would always be suspicious that the staff will question you so ensure that you travel light wherever possible and don't take unnecessary questionable things with you, like delete your fetish stuff!

[Malo]

I'm going to stack my laptop with granny porn next time I'm going to Australia.