Why am I not surprise that going through immigration and
customs in the USA was going to be a bitch. It took me a total of 2 hours just
to get out of the airport clearing all the security checks. Bad enough that we
all had to queue up waiting long times (nearly 20 minutes) before meeting the
immigration officer, he then proceed to scrutinized everything and eventually
ask me to stand aside for another officer to pick me up and usher me to a back
room.
Oh shit now I am in trouble. Into the small corridor and a
small door which opens to another room that looks like a separate immigration
office. My passport was passed around and after waiting about 5 minutes I was
called up to the counter to be question again by a different officer. More
drilling questions on where I went, how long I was going to stay, if I have a
flight ticket out of USA, if I knew exactly where I would be going and where I
would be staying, am I employed, how much money I have, how in hell did I
afford this trip … zzz … I fumble a few of the questions for I really did not
finalized my travel plans in USA but upon producing the RTW ticket I could see
the officer relax a little as if I have finally given her a reason to let me
through.
So much waiting at the counter while she typed in every
single detail of information into the computer. I decided to test the waters
and asked her if it was because I was travelling alone that they all got really
paranoid. She nicely spat me with a question.
Do you know how many single travellers come through each day?
End of my playing with fire and just kept quiet my eyes following her every action and hope went up when I saw the hand reached for the stamp. Hope it’s an entry stamp and not a rejection one. If you pass the scrutiny like I did; they generously gave me 6 months tourist entry visa although I only needed a month. Welcome to the States ….
I though the hard part was done and moved on to collect my
bag which was the few last bags lying on the conveyor belt. Inspected the bag
and all was good and reshuffle my stuff before heading towards the customs.
The nice chap immediately directed me to the full body
search section after two questions. I must look more suspicious than I thought
….
The full search section which I groaned for I saw peoples
bag in front of me totally striped open and searched by hand. A suitcase could
be packed back quite easily and fast but a backpack was going to be a pain in
the ass. When my turn came thou the officer gestured me to hold on to my bag
first while he began the process of grilling me with the same set of questions
from the 3 officers before plus now a bunch load of customs questions such as
how much money you are carrying and if you have any food or illegal stuff.
Show me the money he said …. For I could not remember
exactly how much I had on me but I knew I was below the limit. Opening my first
hiding place where all the loose change currency money was stashed …. He waves
me to stop …. Genuine backpacker …. At lease this officer had some sense …
When he was finally satisfied he then asked for the backpack
and I knew I could not avoid the repacking. Just before I opened it the officer
decided to chuck it into the scanner machine instead giving me some comfort.
All good and I was done with immigration and customs. A nice 2 hours in the
airport. If I were to have a connecting flight, I would have definitely missed
it.
For a moment I miss the efficiency of 3rd world
country such as back home. 
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