Today I decided to head to the border. I know that in itself should be not really awkward, but wait till you hear what happened.
I have to say that I am nervous around the border patrol people. Not because I have anything to hide as I am certainly not that type of person, but because I always feel like they "think" i could be a potential criminal and its almost like "guilty until proven innocent". I have to say that my heart ALWAYS races each time I go through. Perhaps its all the horror stories I have heard when younger. Being told that at any time they can literally strip your vehicle down with any suspicion and not have to put it back together. (not sure if that is true or not!)
I went to the border today to get some paperwork I needed for my husband. I had not planned on staying anywhere else, just going into the border station and coming back to canada. I get to the booth and the officer asks me where I am going. I point to the inside and explain what I am after. He then asks where my passport is. I had completely forgotten you needed one now to go across the border! I explain I do not have one yet. He then asks me for a birth certificate, which I completely forgot at home! YIKES!. He asks me where my husband is, and then asks me who is with me. I tell him my daughter (youngest) and he wants to look inside the can. He then tells me I can go to the office, but they are keeping my documents and that they will be given to me inside. He directs me to a woman officer to park my van. I get there and shes cautious of me. She tells me to leave my van keys with her, and if I have a cell phone I need to leave it in the van. For what I have no idea, but I was too afraid to ask. Then she tells me to take the baby with me.. umm.. YEA! Why would I be leaving her in the van?
I go inside and the border officer asks me why I am there and I explain why, he chuckles a bit, tells me I could have parked on the other side and avoided the hassle I just went through, gave me the documents and I was off on my way.
I really felt like they might have thought I was a terrorist. I have no idea why my cell phone needed to be in the car, but it certainly taught me a lesson! Be prepared with documents or they think your going to do something bad! lol.
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1 comments:
This is funny. I had something like this happen to me before. I use to go to Mexico a lot and I was the only white person boarding the Mexicana airplane going to Guadalajara. Well I guess the two guys with dogs stopped me to ask me how much money I was carrying and why was I going to Mexico. So I told him. He asked me if I had I think more than 10K or 20K so I laughed and I said I wish because I was so broke that I barely had money to spend. I guess that they thought I was traficking money. I mean that was funny. I did not have where to drop dead and they stopped me for having money. They even checked my passport. Once I also got stopped because my passport said replacement for a new passport and I guess they wanted to make sure I did not sell my passport. Well my passport was hiding in a box and I could not find so I got a new one. I guess they suspect people for everything. LOL
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