6:40 PM, in Vancouver BC, waiting for my flight to PDX at 8:30. Thought I would write some and upload a blog entry,
Arrived in Vancouver around 5:00 PM after an 11.5 hour flight from Hong Kong. I looked at the flight board......and saw a flight to PDX departing at 6:10 with the same carrier. 'Great', I thought, 'I may be able to get home several hours early.'
US Customs and Immigration has a checkpoint here in Vancouver. Oddly......it is in a foreign country that you clear US Customs and Immigration.
I was targeted as my passport was clearing Customs and Immigration. I might have been stopped because I had 4.5 hrs to make my connecting flight and they had no one else to send their message to. I told them I could not find my baggage claim ticket. . Maybe it was the travel in Turkey and the fact that it is a gateway to Syria and ISIS ......or maybe 5 weeks in Nepal and two entry VISAs. Nepal...or Tibet. ...or communist Lao.
Maybe it was my ponytail. Maybe it was my look....tired, road weary.......or the baseball hat I was wearing.......with the Communist red star.......
Either way, I qualified for closer scrutiny. "Come this way with your carryon bags and sit here......."
I politely and honestly nswered the 30 questions - Traveling where? Alone? How long? Why? Did you meet or stay with friends? When? Are you now working?? What DID you do when you were working? For what companies? Where?
"Is this your bag?" I nodded in the affirmative. "Any guns, needles, knives or anything that will harm me?" I scowled at the Officer and dryly replied "No, of course not."
He did not ask me if my bags contained any drugs, which they did. I was hoping he would ask so I could say 'Yes!!' Then after the 'What kind of drugs?' question, I would reply Malaria pills, diaherea pills, Motrin, Rx eye drops, etc.
He X rayed both my carry on bags, put on rubber gloves then dug through both my carried on bags.
There was a SNAFU over my checked bag as I was unable to locate the baggage claim tag that I was given when It was checked in BKK. But they had a picture of it. That was good news......my bag was in Vancouver. I wanted to get my jacket for when I get to PDX - it is about 45 there.
After 1.5 hrs of scrutiny, I was sent on my way. I was unable to remove my jacket from my bag until I arrived in PDX.
I raced to the gate for the earlier flight to PDX. There were seats available, but due to "Security Precautions" I was unable to fly at the last minute due to the requirement to have my checked baggage on the plane prior to my boarding.
It made no difference that everything I owned had just been riffled through by US Customs. So I sat for 2.5 hours and listened to music before departing to PDX.
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