First Page
Posted 01/13/2020 1:53 pm
Hello everyone.
I After a really crappy trip, I finally made it back home.
The easiest parts of the trip was surprisingly security and customs.
Late planes, missed connections cause me to have to stop in the USA on my way to Canada.
In USA
Customs in the USA. I checked the box "have more than $10,000". The officer asked me how much money I carry, I told him about 100 euro, $200 CND, and an unknown value of coins. I proceeded to explain that I didn't want to try to sneak something across and rather talk to one of them. That changed his attitude from professional friendly, to super friendly. Secondary screening, after explaining what is in my carry on, they had a blank stare. they looked at each other "well that's no big deal, you go to the exit over there, or do you want to look at it...?" other officer: "ya we don't need to check something like that, you can go if you want... I kind of want to see it tho, I'm curious."
So I showed then second officer my coins, he was pretty excited when he saw the dates on some of the coins, we joked around a bit. He mentioned he is going to look out for me when he watches Pawn Stars.
In Canada
Did the same thing "i have more than $10,000"
The first officer almost had a visible question mark appear over her head, she was so confused
. But friendly, she told me to go to secondary screening.
First officer asked again how much money I have, I told her the money and the coins. she send me to the next officer. This officer had a confused and slightly annoyed look as in "why are you making a big fuss about coins"
He asked about the value, I told him I didn't know. the he said: "let me refraise this, how much money would I need to offer you for you to sell these coins to me?" I replied "i don't want to sell it" "so value is zero, so go ahead, get out of here" every body there had a good laugh about it.
Security screening in the USA and Germany was very similar, they asked to open the bag because the scanner couldn't see anything but a big chunk of metal. The guy in germany just had a quick glance, the lady in the USA was a bit more thorough.
Here is a pic of what my carry on looked like, the empty spots where filled with teddy bears so things don't rattle around.
I After a really crappy trip, I finally made it back home.
The easiest parts of the trip was surprisingly security and customs.
Late planes, missed connections cause me to have to stop in the USA on my way to Canada.
In USA
Customs in the USA. I checked the box "have more than $10,000". The officer asked me how much money I carry, I told him about 100 euro, $200 CND, and an unknown value of coins. I proceeded to explain that I didn't want to try to sneak something across and rather talk to one of them. That changed his attitude from professional friendly, to super friendly. Secondary screening, after explaining what is in my carry on, they had a blank stare. they looked at each other "well that's no big deal, you go to the exit over there, or do you want to look at it...?" other officer: "ya we don't need to check something like that, you can go if you want... I kind of want to see it tho, I'm curious."
So I showed then second officer my coins, he was pretty excited when he saw the dates on some of the coins, we joked around a bit. He mentioned he is going to look out for me when he watches Pawn Stars.
In Canada
Did the same thing "i have more than $10,000"
The first officer almost had a visible question mark appear over her head, she was so confused
. But friendly, she told me to go to secondary screening. First officer asked again how much money I have, I told her the money and the coins. she send me to the next officer. This officer had a confused and slightly annoyed look as in "why are you making a big fuss about coins"
He asked about the value, I told him I didn't know. the he said: "let me refraise this, how much money would I need to offer you for you to sell these coins to me?" I replied "i don't want to sell it" "so value is zero, so go ahead, get out of here" every body there had a good laugh about it.
Security screening in the USA and Germany was very similar, they asked to open the bag because the scanner couldn't see anything but a big chunk of metal. The guy in germany just had a quick glance, the lady in the USA was a bit more thorough.
Here is a pic of what my carry on looked like, the empty spots where filled with teddy bears so things don't rattle around.
