Tuesday, October 16, 2007
War on terrorism, or war on tourism?
War on terrorism or, war on tourism?
At last I was able to make a boys dream come true and go and see Texas. I should say that last year we met this lovely young women that live in Austin Texas, and they let us know that we were welcome to stay at their place if we ever decided to Texas.
So this stayed in our mind and finally I decided we should go over and see them and Texas! Due to illness of my wife unfortunately we had to decide between not going or I had to go alone. My wife decided for me going alone.
I guess so far I was glad she did not come along as the flight coming in was not as good as I hoped. Not due to the fault of the carrier (Continental). No the flight to Houston was quite good. It was at Houston immigration where the problems started. In the plane they showed us a video of how we had to fill in some forms and how we had to clear through immigration. Well it wasn’t as simple as that. When our plane arrived we had to pass through immigration and our plane wasn’t the only plan to arrive.
Now of course I knew that USA is not the same since 9/11, but it seems that the war on terror, started by the Bush administration, is almost like a war on tourism to. There was a queue of at least 300 people and all waiting to get passed immigration and only 4or 5 counters where we (non Americans) could pass. And then the passengers off our plane were added to that queue. You can imagine that it took quite some time, and I had a connection plane in just over 1 hour! I waited in line for more than 2 hours before I could pass through Immigration, and all that time we all had to just wait and stand in line, no chairs, no water no nothing! And it was getting hotter all the time and one moment I even thought I was going to faint. It took at least 6 minutes for every person to get cleared. They take digital prints of both of your index fingers and also a picture with a webcam. Also you have to hand in 2 forms with all your personal information. Not real smart forms either, because on one you had to fill in your name twice. Like it would have changed after filling it in the first time!
Of course I missed my connecting plane, but I was told that they are so used to people missing planes; they would just book me to a later plane.
But the strange part is that after I finally passed through immigration, I had to collect my luggage and check it in again for the connection plane.
Now while we were waiting a thunder storm broke out and most planes were delayed, so I was booked on a plane that had 1 hour delay already, but would leave within a couple of minutes. I rushed to the plane, but I had pass through customs first! And there I had to take of my coat and even my shoes. Wondered if I was able to catch the plane, and I did just in the nick of time. As soon as I sat done they however announced that there would be another delay of 45 minutes. The folks on that pane already had been waiting for over an hour!
And then after 45 minutes we were informed that we had o wait for a tow truck and that could be some 20 to 30 minutes. And after about 40 minutes the plane finally was towed away and we proceeded to the runway. And guess what…… another announcement of delay because now the rain had stopped all planes where cuing up and we were 6th in line on this runway. So more then 4 hours later then planned I arrived at Austin international airport and waited to claim my suitcase. However when there were no more suitcases on the belt, I informed where my suitcase could be. And just as I feared, it was left behind in Houston. Even with the extra delay they had not been able to get my suitcase on the plane. So I finally arrived without luggage, but it was delivered the next day at 11:00 hours.
So Mr. Bush has to shape up immigration a bit. If you think law should be enforced more strictly, you also have to make sure that you have enough and well trained staff to do so!
Which reminds me that the visa stamp in my passport was not put on the visa page, but on the page to add my children…….. I guess the immigration officer was tired as well!
BUT after passing through all that and arriving in Austin at last my friend Anne came to pick-me up at the air-port and I was glad to see an familiar friendly face again. She had organized that we would be meeting her (and my) friend Chelsea in a Korean restaurant, which I was quite happy to do as I was having a good appetite and I had never had Korean food before.
So the evening ended well with a dinner with my dear friends!
Will write more about my Texan adventures soon!
Oh, this blog was made at Seatlle's Best Coffeeshop in Austin. They have a free WiFi internet Acces, good coffee and nice sandwiches!
At last I was able to make a boys dream come true and go and see Texas. I should say that last year we met this lovely young women that live in Austin Texas, and they let us know that we were welcome to stay at their place if we ever decided to Texas.
So this stayed in our mind and finally I decided we should go over and see them and Texas! Due to illness of my wife unfortunately we had to decide between not going or I had to go alone. My wife decided for me going alone.
I guess so far I was glad she did not come along as the flight coming in was not as good as I hoped. Not due to the fault of the carrier (Continental). No the flight to Houston was quite good. It was at Houston immigration where the problems started. In the plane they showed us a video of how we had to fill in some forms and how we had to clear through immigration. Well it wasn’t as simple as that. When our plane arrived we had to pass through immigration and our plane wasn’t the only plan to arrive.
Now of course I knew that USA is not the same since 9/11, but it seems that the war on terror, started by the Bush administration, is almost like a war on tourism to. There was a queue of at least 300 people and all waiting to get passed immigration and only 4or 5 counters where we (non Americans) could pass. And then the passengers off our plane were added to that queue. You can imagine that it took quite some time, and I had a connection plane in just over 1 hour! I waited in line for more than 2 hours before I could pass through Immigration, and all that time we all had to just wait and stand in line, no chairs, no water no nothing! And it was getting hotter all the time and one moment I even thought I was going to faint. It took at least 6 minutes for every person to get cleared. They take digital prints of both of your index fingers and also a picture with a webcam. Also you have to hand in 2 forms with all your personal information. Not real smart forms either, because on one you had to fill in your name twice. Like it would have changed after filling it in the first time!
Of course I missed my connecting plane, but I was told that they are so used to people missing planes; they would just book me to a later plane.
But the strange part is that after I finally passed through immigration, I had to collect my luggage and check it in again for the connection plane.
Now while we were waiting a thunder storm broke out and most planes were delayed, so I was booked on a plane that had 1 hour delay already, but would leave within a couple of minutes. I rushed to the plane, but I had pass through customs first! And there I had to take of my coat and even my shoes. Wondered if I was able to catch the plane, and I did just in the nick of time. As soon as I sat done they however announced that there would be another delay of 45 minutes. The folks on that pane already had been waiting for over an hour!
And then after 45 minutes we were informed that we had o wait for a tow truck and that could be some 20 to 30 minutes. And after about 40 minutes the plane finally was towed away and we proceeded to the runway. And guess what…… another announcement of delay because now the rain had stopped all planes where cuing up and we were 6th in line on this runway. So more then 4 hours later then planned I arrived at Austin international airport and waited to claim my suitcase. However when there were no more suitcases on the belt, I informed where my suitcase could be. And just as I feared, it was left behind in Houston. Even with the extra delay they had not been able to get my suitcase on the plane. So I finally arrived without luggage, but it was delivered the next day at 11:00 hours.
So Mr. Bush has to shape up immigration a bit. If you think law should be enforced more strictly, you also have to make sure that you have enough and well trained staff to do so!
Which reminds me that the visa stamp in my passport was not put on the visa page, but on the page to add my children…….. I guess the immigration officer was tired as well!
BUT after passing through all that and arriving in Austin at last my friend Anne came to pick-me up at the air-port and I was glad to see an familiar friendly face again. She had organized that we would be meeting her (and my) friend Chelsea in a Korean restaurant, which I was quite happy to do as I was having a good appetite and I had never had Korean food before.
So the evening ended well with a dinner with my dear friends!
Will write more about my Texan adventures soon!
Oh, this blog was made at Seatlle's Best Coffeeshop in Austin. They have a free WiFi internet Acces, good coffee and nice sandwiches!
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