Tips on Traveling Abroad

With the latest couple of trips, I have gained a little more exposure to heading through customs and the best ways to get around with as few issues as possible. First off, I'm going to provide everyone with the link to the Homeland Security Customs tips.

Now, on to the tips that I have gathered on my own.

First, no offense ladies, but the male customs officials tend to be a little more understanding and less likely to forward you over to immigration. And getting forwarded over to immigration, especially if you are trying to make a connecting flight, can put serious strain on your travel plans.

Second, the use of the space bags (the ones that you can compact your clothes with) will help you to organize your bags and keep everything in place if you need to open for customs agents.

Traveling for business or pleasure, you need to make sure that you keep things simple and precise when addressing the customs agent. The more details to your story, the more items that the customs agent needs to check. And when your job is to move people through as quickly and efficiently as possible, you won't spend a lot of time on an in depth story. So, in this case, you will probably end up spending the next hour or so hanging out in the immigration office.

Hope this helps for anyone heading across the borders.