Everyone tells horror stories about long lines and long questioning at the border, for both visitors and US citizens, so I was ready for the worst. My flight was somehow delayed for 1 hour and 40 minutes. I am saying “somehow” because there was absolutely no reason. Boarding started on time. Since I was in Group 1, I sat down, opened a Kindle book and didn’t pay attention to anything. I heard “Boarding completed,” and this announcement was made ten minutes before scheduled departure. I am not sure what happened next, because there were no more announcements, and I was still reading a book. Then, it was “Boarding completed” again, and I looked at the screen and saw that the arrival time had been changed to an hour later than it should have been. And we didn’t gain the lost time during the flight; in fact, we were delayed for forty more minutes!
But then, when we left the aircraft, we were immediately “pre-sorted” for the citizens and visitors, but both lines were moving without stopping, and in five minutes, everyone was in the arrival hall. There were several border control officers, and one of them was outside her booth with a camera placed on a tripod. I approached, and she took my picture, and asked what I am bringing back, but it was absolutely “as usual.” Then I stepped into the booth and saw that there was no officer there. I stopped, puzzled, and another officer turned to me and told me: You can exit!
I am not sure whether my readers had a chance to register “what’s wrong with that picture,” so I am saying it explicitly: nobody looked at my passport! Yes, I get it—this passport has more electronics than my Apple Watch, and there is a passenger’s manifest on the aircraft—but still!!!
Hettie's Reflections 