"Sign here and we will destroy them. If you don't sign we will hold them as evidence."

All over a few dozen fake Rolexes.

HNL-ORD-YUL-EWR-HKG-ORD-YUL... one of my first mileage runs. Was feeling proud of that many hours in economy, that many timezones crossed, and very very frazzled. The poor Quebecois CBP agent couldn't make sense of my explanation that yes I was gainfully employed, and yes this was all I was traveling with, and yes this was my second time entering in as many days. Five nerve-wracking minutes later, the grunt of entry!

And all this time I'd thought the hard part of a MR was surviving the transit!

The same happened to us - twice with the same agent - entering one of the smaller border crossings into Washington State from British Columbia in our brand-new 2006 Toyota RAV4 with the V6 engine. He was interested in buying one. The second time he asked us to pop the hood so he could see the engine compartment, and I have no doubt the people behind us in line thought he was looking for something devious. ;)

he's not being paid to car shop and was wasting everyone's time. :td:

That goes without saying, yet I decided not to reprimand him, nor to bring this to his attention in any way. :p

Flying Sydney to New Zealand to attend an Bledisloe Rugby final (Aussies V All Blacks). Tickets sold out, 98% All Black crowd to a tiny 2% aussie crowd (us).

Agent: Purpose for your visit?
Us: Going to the game tomorrow night.
Agent: Your tickets please
Me: (hand over eticket & boarding passes)
Agent: No. Your All Blacks ticket please. For the game
Us: What?
Agent: Well, it was worth a try (and he smiles)


The next day at the domestic security gates (private charter flight from Auckland to Dunedin for the game, 170 AB fans and only us 2 aussies), the security staff tried a similar thing and the pilot said over the loud speaker that we were to be served only water.

And that's something wrong on their part?

I certainly felt so at the time. ;)

A few dozen fake Rolexes? Were you dealing counterfeit goods?

I used to bring 50 or so every couple of months to Angola back in the 90s. Mostly as gifts for local tribal leaders. So I guess you could say I was dealing in them, after a fashion.

Tsk tsk. You should have bought them real ones!

One counterfeit for personal use is one thing, a bunch is quite another--I would expect customs to be upset at such a find.

Agreed. It is after all their job to prevent the importation of illegal goods. I'd be surprised if they got upset about a single counterfeit brand-name item, but "a couple of dozen" suggests they're being imported for resale.

That's what they told me. They allowed me to keep one and destroyed the others. It was the first time I'd had a problem in Customs and the next few times in I was a little concerned that I might be on a "List" and be subjected to extra scrutiny. I wasn't.

I was In Tijuana for a birthday party of a friend.

I told the USCBP guy at San Ysidro I went to a mexican birthday party for the first time and he asked how I liked the part, what I thought of it, whether or not I hit the pinata (I mentioned there was a pinata)

When Entering Tijuana by foot through the new customs and immigration inspection building on the Mexican side, the INM women thought P was part of my last name, since she saw the field Type=P (document type field in american passports)

I thought it was funny she didn't know what the type field was.

At the same time, there was a group of chinese tourists entering Tijuana by foot; the mexican immigration officials took their passports to one desk, filled out their immigration forms, called people up, and said in broken chinese, Qian Ming (Sign your name)

It was a funny process.