bcla
On our rugged Eastern foothills.....
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
I think I mentioned that I visited British Columbia a could of times on my last trip to visit my BIL living in the Seattle area. Over the years I've crossed into BC by ferry as well as via the road border.
One of the crossings did seem to be a bit more convoluted than I remember. I was just with my wife and we left our kid with her family near Seattle. I think we were asked where we were from, where we planned on going, but this time I was asked if it was my own car. It was a rental, but I suppose the Canadian border agent couldn't see the Oregon plates or the no smoking sticker with the window rolled down. When I got back the first time into the US I was just asked where we'd been and if we were bringing back anything. It was actually kind of exotic foods, although the agent didn't even blink when I told him that we had cooked duck tongues (it's complicated). The second time there wasn't much drama getting into Canada, but returning to the US we were asked where we were from and the purpose of our visit. We indicated that we were from the San Francisco Bay Area and that were were going to BC (Richmond) for the Chinese food. She asked "Don't they have that in San Francisco?" My answer was yes, but not in Seattle where we were staying.
I remember my first visit to BC in 1986 for Expo 86. We took Black Ball Ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria. I'm not sure if this was normal (or maybe something they did around Expo 86), but our agent at the ferry terminal was an extremely pleasant RCMP officer in full ceremonial uniform. He had a mustache and was basically a Canadian tourism marketing dream. He was super nice and just a little bit silly. Since then I've never experienced any border/port of entry agent that pleasant in over 30 years.
I do remember some trips to Asia where it was kind of weird. Once (1985) I was asked where I was going to school, and the Customs agent asked if it was rough there. He seemed to have some sort of familiarity with where I lived. Another time we brought back some cooked meat pastry, and the US Customs agent started poking at one piece with a ball point pen to the point where we just tossed that piece. Another time it was really odd because the Customs agent released a woman (I think ethnic Chinese but a US citizen) and then kind of asked if anyone could get her and ask her if she even knew what she was writing on the declarations form. I know there's a basic English test for naturalization, but I've known of a few naturalized US citizens who really couldn't properly fill out a Customs form in English.
One of the crossings did seem to be a bit more convoluted than I remember. I was just with my wife and we left our kid with her family near Seattle. I think we were asked where we were from, where we planned on going, but this time I was asked if it was my own car. It was a rental, but I suppose the Canadian border agent couldn't see the Oregon plates or the no smoking sticker with the window rolled down. When I got back the first time into the US I was just asked where we'd been and if we were bringing back anything. It was actually kind of exotic foods, although the agent didn't even blink when I told him that we had cooked duck tongues (it's complicated). The second time there wasn't much drama getting into Canada, but returning to the US we were asked where we were from and the purpose of our visit. We indicated that we were from the San Francisco Bay Area and that were were going to BC (Richmond) for the Chinese food. She asked "Don't they have that in San Francisco?" My answer was yes, but not in Seattle where we were staying.
I remember my first visit to BC in 1986 for Expo 86. We took Black Ball Ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria. I'm not sure if this was normal (or maybe something they did around Expo 86), but our agent at the ferry terminal was an extremely pleasant RCMP officer in full ceremonial uniform. He had a mustache and was basically a Canadian tourism marketing dream. He was super nice and just a little bit silly. Since then I've never experienced any border/port of entry agent that pleasant in over 30 years.
I do remember some trips to Asia where it was kind of weird. Once (1985) I was asked where I was going to school, and the Customs agent asked if it was rough there. He seemed to have some sort of familiarity with where I lived. Another time we brought back some cooked meat pastry, and the US Customs agent started poking at one piece with a ball point pen to the point where we just tossed that piece. Another time it was really odd because the Customs agent released a woman (I think ethnic Chinese but a US citizen) and then kind of asked if anyone could get her and ask her if she even knew what she was writing on the declarations form. I know there's a basic English test for naturalization, but I've known of a few naturalized US citizens who really couldn't properly fill out a Customs form in English.