Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped doing business in the US

Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by gaius on Friday February 18, 2011 @05:27AM (#2234955)

Try Sea-Tac airport. 20 lanes at the border, 17 reserved for American citizens, of whom there are probably about 20 on a 400-seater plane.

I've traveled all over the world, US borders are the most unpleasant. I'v had border guards in FSRs point guns at me but hey, those guys are just doing their jobs. In the US they go out of their way to be rude, lazy, incompetent and just plain obnoxious.

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by jasonkester on Friday February 18, 2011 @07:51AM (#2235202)

Or PDX, where Immigrations was so hostile that demand dropped to zero on direct flights from Asia and the airlines had to pull the routes.

Evidently it was better to simply book your flight to SEA, wait for those 3 lanes, then catch a separate flight south to avoid the pain and suffering at the hands of the PDX border guards.

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by steveklabnik on Friday February 18, 2011 @08:42AM (#2235340)

Ugh, PDX. They treat Americans like crap on flights back from Asia, too. At least that was my one time leaving the country...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1682004

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by miked on Friday February 18, 2011 @07:56AM (#2235210)

I'v had border guards in FSRs point guns at me but hey, those guys are just doing their jobs.

No one should ever, EVER, point a gun at someone unless they are prepared to shoot.

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by gaius on Friday February 18, 2011 @08:16AM (#2235263)

When a man with a swarthy complexion and a huge beard wearing faded camo gear shows up at your border and shuffles through a selection of passports before deciding which one to try, then hands you one that looks nothing like him, you can be a little suspicious ;-)

Then again at another FSR border I was extremely drunk and insisting to the guard that despite what my passport says I was in fact Dutch and they just rolled their eyes and waved me through... I later bought a passport in that same country.

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by Luc on Friday February 18, 2011 @08:55AM (#2235378)

Is my imagination running wild, or did you just say you bought a fake passport in Mexico?

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by gaius on Friday February 18, 2011 @09:27AM (#2235479)

FSR == Former Soviet Republic

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Re:Why I stopped travelling to the US and largely stopped do... by Luc on Friday February 18, 2011 @09:43AM (#2235543)

Ah, that makes more sense now (I thought 'Four State Region'). So, what's up with all the passports? I wonder if I'm missing out (mainly because it could be handy to have a backup in cases where one has to mail a passport to an embassy to get a visa).

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