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These passport stamps, spotted here and here, made me laugh. Partly because they’re so cheeky, but also because they reminded me of the terror I experienced at the hands of an immigration officer the first time I traveled internationally.
I was twenty-four and heading to Austria for the Special Olympics World Winter Games. The other staffers and I had flown into Munich and made our way through the starkly modern airport to the customs desk.
The guard at the desk, a tall blond fellow, looked at my brand-new passport and then at me. He looked at my passport again and then said in heavily-accented English, “This is not good.”
I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. He shook his head and said again, “This is not good.”
I must have looked utterly panic-stricken. My mind raced as I tried to think of what could possibly be wrong and what they were going to do to me.
But then he started laughing. “Just joking,” he said. He handed me my passport and waved me on, still chuckling.
I mean, really.
Later, when I told Tim what happened, he said, “I think he was flirting with you.” I guess I didn’t pick up on that.
After that experience, I can’t imagine intentionally tweaking an immigration officer! But how about you? Would you dare?
P.S. Have you ever run into trouble at customs? What’s your most harrowing airport experience?
Sometimes it’s prudent if the power differential trumps the urge. Kind of like how physical laws generally trump civil laws when questions of right-of-way with respect to cars arise when riding a bicycle.
So true, J. P. Plus, it’s possible that these poor people suffer enough.
I was stopped at the Canadian border for a full car and suit case search. The funniest thing was that I had packed a rolled up baggie of powdered coffee creamer in my suitcase( I liked to travel with my own creamer). Imagine the border cop’s eyes pulling that out of my socks!
How did you ever explain your way out of that one, Mary Jo?!?