Sue, I have to admit that I have always been told "Welcome Home" at MIA, too (as much as I hate going thru that airport). Since I live overseas, it's always a nice feeling that puts a smile on my face.

I have to add that in all my travels, I have mostly come across very nice and courteous customs agents. I only told my stories about the rude ones due to the thread title. For the most part, they're all nice.

Statia: now, how is that you call living in the Caribbean "living overseas"? I mean, when I think overseas-I'm thinking transatlantic/pacific-THAT's overseas-you're no further from the N.A. from MIA than someone in JAX is from MIA!

Spygirl, I'm actually closer to South America than I am to the US, and I'm living in a Dutch country on an EU passport. It's a full day for me just to get to MIA, and longer if I have to go farther. It's overseas in my opinion, but feel free to call it what you like. I'm certainly not in any US territory, but I do see where you are coming from. :)

All of the expats who live in this area consider themselves "overseas." Guess it's 'cause we cross an awful lot of "sea" to get home.

Well, for sure it may take a while to get down there with connections through SJU and taking LIAT and whatnot-I'm not, by any means, unfamiliar with the N.A.- I guess I'm surprised you're on an EU passport when you're from the States.

May I inquire-(and obviously you don't have to answer if you don't want) do you and your husband have a business in Statia, or, are just retired and livin' in paradise?

They have a very difficult job-especially now. Be patient. They deal with a lot of people, some of whom (not anyone on this board) are complete jerks and feel that they are better than anyone else. Working with the public is no treat, and is especially difficult now. Give them some slack....how would you like be in their shoes for an eight or a twelve hour shift? And yes, I feel that I have been slighted from time to time but it was not the end of the world for me.

Lucy-are you talking about Canadian Immigration and Border Patrol Agts.? (it wouldn't be customs-they deal with your liquor intake, meats, and other contraband items)

If so, then I so TOTALLY agree with you. If you're talking US -then I so DON'T. US Immigration Agts. are, if not the nicest and friendliest in the world, then pretty close to it!

allanc, I agree with you that they have a tough job in trying to keep the borders of the US secure these days, so we have do be patient with them. I also agree that the nicest agents I've come across has been in the US. But, then again, it might be different for foreign citizens entering. I don't really know.

Spygirl, don't mind you asking. We have dual citizenship. DH has been working down here for eleven years, I was retired for nine, and started working again two years ago. Gotta pay for that travel fever somehow!

DH likes to put it this way...."we are living in paraidse interrupted by occassional work." However, I think that he sometimes forgets how much work that can be at times. :)

It would seem hard to find work on Statia, no? Unless you and the Hub were working in the same business.

The only time I even encountered a snippy customs agent was when some friends and I were crossing the border from Detroit to Canada - not long after we went to war with Iraq. I had my passport, but one of my friends only had a driver's license. The Canadian customs agent gave him a hard time about not having another form of ID and said "Your country's at war you know." I felt like saying "yeah, but not with Canada!" but I held my tongue. She did let us in, though. :)

Spygirl, we work in the same business....so to speak. I take it you've been down this way. Perhaps to Saba? :)

Maybe to Saba, Statia, and last but not least, St. Maarten!

What sort of business are you in, Statia? (I'm not nosy, am I?) And I ask only because I always find it interesting to hear the stories of Americans who wash up in the Caribbean-I'm thinking of a particularly infamous lawyer in the Islands, originally from Texas, who lives and practices in St. Croix!

I don't want to hijack lucy's thread, Spygirl, so feel free to email me at [email protected] to continue our conversation.

So, what other rude customs agent stories are there out there?

I've traveled all over the world, but the rudest border agent I ever ran into was in Victoria, British Columbia. A petite woman with a great, big mouth -- she really unloaded all her anti-American attitude on me and my wife. She demanded to know where I had hidden my guns because I entered Victoria on the Port Angeles ferry driving my pickup truck. It was her conviction that all Americans driving pickup trucks and having a black Labrador retriever in the back were there to shoot everything in sight, a la Rambo. I told this lady that (l) I had never owned a gun, (2) that I had no gun with me then, and (3) I had no intention of ever owning a gun. But, seeing as how she was so rude to me, I might change my mind. I looked this tough little cookie straight in the eye when I said what I had to say slowly and very distinctly. She backed off, waved us on, and that was the end of it. I, for one, am not about to take guff off public servants who wish to vent their puny prejudices on me when I come into their country to vacation, abide by the law, and spend money. And that goes especially for Canadians, attitudes and all.

Here's an interesting story by a British journalist detained and deported by the INS at LAX

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/...231089,00.html