American adventures - part 2

Eight years ago this month I got married. We went to Canada for our honeymoon. We had four weeks travelling around and exploring that wonderful country. We started our travels in the east and made our way slowly west ending up in British Columbia. When we were at Niagara Falls we decided it would be nice to walk across the falls into America and have lunch. When we got to the other side of the bridge we showed our passports and had our fingerprints taken. We hadn't planned a trip to America so hadn't got a visa so we were told we had to pay some dollars to get one. Sadly they didn't take Canadian dollars, we didn't have any American dollars and if we wanted to pay by credit card they was an extra charge. We had a think about it and decided our lunch would be a very expensive one if we paid so we decided to turn back to Canada.
It wasn't that simple though. We were told we were now "illegal aliens" and needed a special paper to leave and get back into Canada. We hadn't even stepped into the US! We waited 20 minutes and got the necessary paperwork and walked back to Canada. We couldn't believe it really but we didn't let it spoil our honeymoon. We could never have known how important that day would become.
Last year hubby and I had an invitation to go to America to visit my cousin. My mum travelled with us. Anyone who has ever travelled to the US will know that once you have flown there, the process of going through customs and immigration is not a quick process.
Once we had stood in the queue hubby and I ended up being taken to a waiting room with several other people. We waited for over an hour. We didn't know why and the reply from the officers when asked was a standard' I don't know'.
They asked us about our last trip to America and then we slowly realised they were interested in our entry during our honeymoon. On their records it stated we had been excluded/expelled from America. After we had explained what had happened they stamped our passports and let us through.
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American adventure

My family is spread all over the world. Like in many families it's not often we all get to meet up except on special occasions like weddings or funerals.
One of my cousins lives in New York and has lived and worked there for many years. I have been to visit him a few times over the times he has lived there. He is getting married again so we all got an invite.
After a long flight from Heathrow to JFK airport we were first faced with a long long queue to go through immigration. An hour and a half we stood, shuffling just a few paces forward every few minutes. As you do in these situations you speak with complete strangers about how ridiculous it is to be waiting so long. We were chatting with a couple from Scotland who were here to visit their grandson.
We finally got to the front of the queue and got the nod to come forward. The nice young man at the counter got our fingerprints and photos taken. he asked us where we were going to be staying and for how long. then he looked at our customs forms. Finally he stamped my parents passports and handed them back. Then he got a yellow highlighter pen and drew a big yellow line through mine, " come with me" he said and led me away to another room..............( to be continued)


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