Crazy Customs Stories

[lyra]

Pretty sure I'd end up in jail if security attempted an internal on me. No way in hell I'd be able to allow that.

 

[arkieb1]

@arkieb1 Almost all the Chinese women in Malaysia do not change their name to the husband's when they get married so I am puzzled by this.

No clue either it was a Muslim run hotel and about 17 years ago.... I had it happen more than once and the guy that my husband was going to see had more than one wife, so I assume they would be totally used to different surnames. I'd guess because he is a white Westerner and 10 years older than I am that is why a lot of judgement was going on.

 

[distracts]

@arkieb1 Almost all the Chinese women in Malaysia do not change their name to the husband's when they get married so I am puzzled by this.

I'm puzzled by this too bc none of the Muslims I know either in the US or abroad change their name - at least in the countries they are in/from it is just not done. I'm not sure I know any Muslim married couples with the same last name.

 

[chrono]

I'd guess because he is a white Westerner and 10 years older than I am that is why a lot of judgement was going on.

This is most likely the reason.

 

[qubitasaurus]

The worst one I remember was my husband. He was travelling Singapore --> San francisco, and somehow he got the date of his flight wrong by 24 hours (he came 1 day early). They let him through immigration into the airport without mentioning the fact that it was the wrong day to him -- probably as he is some kind of super frequent flyer and the desk didnt want to say anything to suggest he had no idea what he was doing (lol -- he had no clue).

He had just renewed his passport so his old passport was no longer valid. However his old passport was linked to his permanent residency, and he had not bothered to notify anyone in Singapore that it was no longer valid. So he decided to exit Singapore on the invalid passport. He got all the way through the lounges, down the gang way to the flight before someone pointed out it was the wrong flight. Then he tried to re-enter Singapore and come home. But he had no last port of embarkation, and had been travelling on illegal redacted documents. Lol that was 12 hours of fun. I was stuck at home, as I was pregnant and the trip was supposed to involve spending a week in Cancun which had a Zika outbreak at the time, so I remember trying to hang on the phone in the middle of the night as some very confused customs officials tried to sort the mess out.

Now we are flying Singapore --> San francisco in 2 weeks time and it is like de ja vue. The trip is heavily stuffed up. Half our flights got booked, then the rest of us could not get on the plane. Then the whole flight path disappeared all together cancelled by coronavirus and the association of the route with stop overs in Hong Kong. I have been sitting in the middle of nowhere Australia (where I am supposed to be working) ringing singaporeairlines at 1 am trying to understand what is happening.

 

[MarionC]

The worst one I remember was my husband. He was travelling Singapore --> San francisco, and somehow he got the date of his flight wrong by 24 hours (he came 1 day early). They let him through immigration into the airport without mentioning the fact that it was the wrong day to him -- probably as he is some kind of super frequent flyer and the desk didnt want to say anything to suggest he had no idea what he was doing (lol -- he had no clue).

He had just renewed his passport so his old passport was no longer valid. However his old passport was linked to his permanent residency, and he had not bothered to notify anyone in Singapore that it was no longer valid. So he decided to exit Singapore on the invalid passport. He got all the way through the lounges, down the gang way to the flight before someone pointed out it was the wrong flight. Then he tried to re-enter Singapore and come home. But he had no last port of embarkation, and had been travelling on illegal redacted documents. Lol that was 12 hours of fun. I was stuck at home, as I was pregnant and the trip was supposed to involve spending a week in Cancun which had a Zika outbreak at the time, so I remember trying to hang on the phone in the middle of the night as some very confused customs officials tried to sort the mess out.

Now we are flying Singapore --> San francisco in 2 weeks time and it is like de ja vue. The trip is heavily stuffed up. Half our flights got booked, then the rest of us could not get on the plane. Then the whole flight path disappeared all together cancelled by coronavirus and the association of the route with stop overs in Hong Kong. I have been sitting in the middle of nowhere Australia (where I am supposed to be working) ringing singaporeairlines at 1 am trying to understand what is happening.

Ugh. Good luck and all the best to you!