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BGonline.org Forums
Airport Story - OT
Posted By: Strato In Response To: BG Board Aboard Diverts Flight (mamabear)
Date: Thursday, 15 September 2011, at 1:43 a.m.
Talk about getting checked in an airport, Joe Azaria, who was the owner of a Montreal newspaper that I worked for in the 1970s, and who a few of you may remember as a winner of backgammon tournaments around Fort Lauderdale back then, invited me to come to Costa Rica in November of 1976.
I was there for a week, in the wildest, virgin jungle you could ever imagine checking out some land he was going to develop to grow black pepper and vanilla. Anyway, the land was very fertile and Joe had this great garden there. He was showing off some humongous tomatoes and vegetables he had grown, including a large type of Italian squash that I remember was great in soups.
The night before I was to leave Costa Rica (and return home via Miami), Joe insisted I should bring back to Montreal one of those big squashes he was so proud of, and give it his Mom. I looked at the thing - it was like more than two feet long and more than three inches in diametre. I apologized to Joe, saying my sleeping bag was taking up most of the room it in my suitcase and I could not take it, plus it could be a problem in customs being vegetable matter from a farm in Costa Rica.
When I get to Miami, I had to switch flights and make immigration and customs there. When I get to the customs officer, he asks me if I have anything to claim and I replied "Nothing." He then opens my suitcase, and without any hesitation at all, yanks out my sleeping bag, undoes its strings, and with one brisk movement of his arm, sends the sleeping bag rolling down the counter and when it finishes unravelling, out pops the darn squash!
The customs officer says, “So what’s this?” and I reply, “I swear to you, I don’t know how it got there.” Now, I am thinking sneaky Joe has put me into some kind of trouble - I am going to get questioned, arrested, or who knows what... and I am going to miss my flight to Montreal.
But then, the officer picks up the squash, waves it high in the air and yells out to all the other customs officers (attending dozens of other passengers - who are now all staring at me), “Anyone know what this is?”
I thanked my lucky stars when one of the officers replied, “Oh, that’s just a type of squash”.
The customs guy says, “Sorry, I have to confiscate this.” And I replied “Please do.” and I was on my way with no delay.
Since security was quite lax back then and I doubt they X-rayed every suitcase, I have always wondered how the customs officer knew exactly where the squash was.
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