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Certainly your experience of a journey from communist Poland to Germany was full of Brave New World experiences. Now that that regime is gone, your travel is ea

by abawany 11y ago

Certainly your experience of a journey from communist Poland to Germany was full of Brave New World experiences. Now that that regime is gone, your travel is easier. The GP is pointing out that the rest of the world appears to be adopting the tactics that you encountered 20 years ago. Traveling to the US or Israel, for example.

jwr 11y ago
Or traveling to the US, for that matter. I still don't understand why border guards ask incoming US citizens where they are going and what is the purpose of their travel.
- rorykoehler 11y ago
  I like to take things as I go (at least when planning seems like overkill, e.g. for non-critical things). This caught me by surprise the last time I flew into NYC from Europe. I had intended to get into the city and then call a friend I was staying with to meet up and go to their place from there. Naturally I didn't get the address before hand. They wouldn't let me into the country without an address on my dis-embarkment card. I had no signal so I couldn't call or look one up either. Absolutely ridiculous. Any address as long as it wasn't a fake one that they would notice to be fake once they entered it in the system would do. What an exercise in futility. It's unlikely that someone who intended to do something seriously criminal would give the correct address, therefore it is just a big waste of time and resources.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - haberman 11y ago
    The UK does the same thing when you fly there, in my experience.
    - rorykoehler 11y ago
      Yes it's not unique to the USA. Doesn't make it anymore reasonable/useful though.
    - yason 11y ago
      Flying to UK from where? When flying to the UK from Europe or USA nobody has ever asked me about the address where I would be spending the first night. USA does ask that.
      - haberman 11y ago
        Every time I've flown to the UK from the USA, the entry card has asked for an address in England. The first time (in 2005) I left it blank and they wouldn't let me pass immigration until I filled it out.
        umanwizard 11y ago
        I got in to England without listing my friend's address, but the border guard seemed extremely suspicious and really grilled me about my travel plans, etc.
        molmalo 11y ago
        Something similar happened to me when I was about to take the train from Paris to London. I didn't have a reservation because I was planning my trip on the go. The agent was not pleased at all with that, but as the train made the last call to board, he just scolded me, told me that next time I really should make a reservation before visiting England... and then let me pass.
        snori74 11y ago
        When I flew out of Chile recently they wanted to know the name and address of where I had stayed the previous night. Crazy that I may not have been able to leave if I couldn't remember that.
    - saryant 11y ago
  - iyn 11y ago
    So what did you do on the airport? Did they let you in? Every time I traveled to the US I wondered how possible it is for them to not let me in.
  - scintill76 11y ago
    You're a US citizen? Just asking because the parent comment talked about hassles entering US as a citizen, so I am wondering if they really make it that stringent yet simultaneously pointless, even for citizens.
    - rorykoehler 11y ago
      Yes
kgabis 11y ago
Communist Poland didn't exist 20 years ago, Republic of Poland was established in 1989.
gambiting 11y ago
I said 20 years ago - after the fall of communism. The situation looked like that pretty much until we entered the EU in 2001. Funnily enough, passing the border was easier during communism,because so few people did it that the guards assumed that since you are holding a passport in your hand you must have gone through a very stringent process of obtaining one, and would mostly have a look at your picture, your visa if you had one and let you go quickly(passports also had to be returned to the government upon return to Poland, you had to apply again if you wanted to leave again). Then after 1989 anyone could get a passport whenever they wanted,so border controls became a lot more strict.
- abawany 11y ago
  My mistake in misunderstanding your original point. However, my point stands in that travel within the EU, which for most countries is like traveling from one state/province to another, does not quite represent the increasing cumbersomeness of international travel to some countries.
srtjstjsj 11y ago
Israel has had military police psychologically-profiling travelers for its entire history.
- stephengillie 11y ago
  The technique described in this article - an article years ago described Israeli military using this technique to screen air travelers there.

by abawany 11y ago

jwr 11y ago

Or traveling to the US, for that matter. I still don't understand why border guards ask incoming US citizens where they are going and what is the purpose of their travel.

rorykoehler 11y ago
I like to take things as I go (at least when planning seems like overkill, e.g. for non-critical things). This caught me by surprise the last time I flew into NYC from Europe. I had intended to get into the city and then call a friend I was staying with to meet up and go to their place from there. Naturally I didn't get the address before hand. They wouldn't let me into the country without an address on my dis-embarkment card. I had no signal so I couldn't call or look one up either. Absolutely ridiculous. Any address as long as it wasn't a fake one that they would notice to be fake once they entered it in the system would do. What an exercise in futility. It's unlikely that someone who intended to do something seriously criminal would give the correct address, therefore it is just a big waste of time and resources.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- haberman 11y ago
  The UK does the same thing when you fly there, in my experience.
  - rorykoehler 11y ago
    Yes it's not unique to the USA. Doesn't make it anymore reasonable/useful though.
  - yason 11y ago
    Flying to UK from where? When flying to the UK from Europe or USA nobody has ever asked me about the address where I would be spending the first night. USA does ask that.
    - haberman 11y ago
      Every time I've flown to the UK from the USA, the entry card has asked for an address in England. The first time (in 2005) I left it blank and they wouldn't let me pass immigration until I filled it out.
      - umanwizard 11y ago
        I got in to England without listing my friend's address, but the border guard seemed extremely suspicious and really grilled me about my travel plans, etc.
        molmalo 11y ago
        Something similar happened to me when I was about to take the train from Paris to London. I didn't have a reservation because I was planning my trip on the go. The agent was not pleased at all with that, but as the train made the last call to board, he just scolded me, told me that next time I really should make a reservation before visiting England... and then let me pass.
      - snori74 11y ago
        When I flew out of Chile recently they wanted to know the name and address of where I had stayed the previous night. Crazy that I may not have been able to leave if I couldn't remember that.
  - saryant 11y ago
- iyn 11y ago
  So what did you do on the airport? Did they let you in? Every time I traveled to the US I wondered how possible it is for them to not let me in.
- scintill76 11y ago
  You're a US citizen? Just asking because the parent comment talked about hassles entering US as a citizen, so I am wondering if they really make it that stringent yet simultaneously pointless, even for citizens.
  - rorykoehler 11y ago
    Yes

kgabis 11y ago

Communist Poland didn't exist 20 years ago, Republic of Poland was established in 1989.

gambiting 11y ago

I said 20 years ago - after the fall of communism. The situation looked like that pretty much until we entered the EU in 2001. Funnily enough, passing the border was easier during communism,because so few people did it that the guards assumed that since you are holding a passport in your hand you must have gone through a very stringent process of obtaining one, and would mostly have a look at your picture, your visa if you had one and let you go quickly(passports also had to be returned to the government upon return to Poland, you had to apply again if you wanted to leave again). Then after 1989 anyone could get a passport whenever they wanted,so border controls became a lot more strict.

abawany 11y ago
My mistake in misunderstanding your original point. However, my point stands in that travel within the EU, which for most countries is like traveling from one state/province to another, does not quite represent the increasing cumbersomeness of international travel to some countries.

srtjstjsj 11y ago

Israel has had military police psychologically-profiling travelers for its entire history.

stephengillie 11y ago
The technique described in this article - an article years ago described Israeli military using this technique to screen air travelers there.