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 p.1 #17 · General Question About Travel & Tariffs | |
snegron7 wrote:
Going about life with a "devil may care", cavalier mindset has never worked for me. Unfortunately, I'm not in "the big boys league" yet in terms of gear ownership. I can't afford an R1 with RF 1.2 glass, nor special edition Leicas to match my Patek Philippe watch collection. In my case, my R6II, R7, RF 16-28mm f2.8, RF 24-240 and Tamron RF 11-20mm f2.8 were a substantial chunk of money for my peasant bank account. So, it would actually hurt me if my gear were confiscated soley to satisfy the whim of some bitter government employee who might be having a bad day. Also, ad I mentioned before, I am more likely to be singled out and harassed based on my appearance (I have a darker shade of skin color that is being targeted more at this time). And yes, I live with it every day here in Florida. In my "what if" scenario, I'll probably be singled out yet again by ICE (as I have been in the recent past) and given the 3rd degree upon arriving from my European vacation. No matter how kind and curtious I behave, I'm at the mercy of someone who might be having a bad day. My gear could be confiscated just to mess with me. I would rather be safe than sorry, so having the proper documentation deemed acceptable by the Federal government is essential for me.
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There's no need to worry unless you do not have proper identification or you have open warrants. As a surfer who travels with large diverse groups of scruffy men, I don't think there's anyone who gets hassled more at border crossings than us. The authorities always assume surfers are going to be carrying some sort of drugs or paraphernalia, and at least one of us usually gets pulled into secondary. We have massive coffins filled with surfboards and it's common for smugglers to hide cocaine inside the foam and seal it with resin/fiberglass. From being strip-searched by the federales in remote Baja locations to being held for hours in Asia due to mini bags of creatine that looks like cocaine, it's always expected that one of us is going to get pulled aside. We are healthy athletes who travel with a lot of supplements/protein powder/creatine that we individually package in small ziplocks. It's never the 40k worth of camera gear, water housings, drones, etc that triggers the interrogations, but rather the supplements/pills that appear as drugs, or our surfboards that often get "ding repaired" while on the road. We have the whole range of skin colors in our groups and they never single us out by skin color. In fact, I have to say of all my travels I have been hassled most entering Canada from the US on our way to Whistler, BC. They have pulled me out of our group twice because I was running a very long shaggy beard and they thought I looked shady. They spend a couple hours diving into my assets, bank accounts, driving history, etc and when they find no dirt they let me go and say "have fun in Whistler". It's a hassle because it delays our plans but I've always thought they are doing it right and that's how border security should be. Also, we carry more gear than 99.9% of photographers and we've never been called out for our gear other than for bomb inspection of some lenses. Not once has anyone ever had to prove the gear is theirs, nor does anyone register their gear or carry receipts. Just be prepared with the proper documentation/ID and you will be fine. Any skin color in any Country is fair game. If you do get detained it's best to stay cool and cooperate or it will usually lengthen your interrogation. Watch this lady in Australia lose her temper as an example, they held for for a few hours:
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