Dec
4
2008
Advice to Passengers
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The customs officer stopped me as I was wheeling my luggage out of baggage reclaim.
Recommendation #1: Do not make eye contact with customs officials.
-Can I see your passport?
I handed it over, along with the customs declaration form. The man was stocky, thick-necked, and sporting a buzz cut.
-What’s your profession?
-Journalist. Well, writer. Novelist. Actually aspiring novelist to be precise because I haven’t yet—
-Please step over there, he said, while writing down the misspelling “aspiaring novelist’ on the form.
Recommendation #2: If possible, avoid telling a customs official that you are a writer or journalist. Above all, never say you are aspiring to anything. Keep reading…
