Date posted: May 25, 2007

Coming To America

You are one of the first to leave the plane, but since you wanted to go to the toilet first, you end up somewhere at the end of the line at the customs checkpoint. The people who had walked straight to the customs checkpoint are not that far ahead of you. Another plane has just landed. You end up waiting for almost an hour and a half. Going to the toilet first wasn't such a bad idea after all.

All visitors now get their photo and finger prints taken, which is why it takes so excruciatingly long to get through customs.

To your surprise the customs officer requests that you take off your glasses. You're Dutch. You're stupid. You object. You say that you always wear glasses and that the photo in your passport also shows you wearing glasses. But the customs officer is unfazed and tells you that you will look different with different glasses, but the same without.

You don't know whether this is the law or just one person's interpretation. He has a point. But it's stretching it a bit too far. You think. But you shouldn't think. Not here. Not now. Just do as you're told.

Average Airport Wait Times at some major U.S. airports as measured by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.