Scandinavians

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Thanks! Packing now, just taking a short break, leave in 4 hours

Surrrrreeeaaaalllll!!!!

Super exciting! Have fun!

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Alright folks. Just wanted to drop by and let yinz know I have my plane tickets booked.

I'll leave Stockholm (Arlanda Airport) at 10:40 AM on Sunday, December 23rd.

POE will be at Newark. I have about a 2,5 hour layover. Fligth to Pittsburgh, PA leaves at 4:20 and arrives at Pixburgh In'ernashn'l Airport n'at at 5:46 PM. And the good thing is in case 2,5 hours isn't enough at Newark, there are two more flights to Pittsburgh that evening.

That is all.

PS. Congratulations to Jay Jay. Finally got the passport back. Are you in the US now?

[LlamaInvasion 76]

Don't turn into a yinzer! DON'T DO IT!

Edited December 7, 2012 by LlamaInvasion

[MrsB2012 10]

Congrats JayJay!!!!!

[jaycali 415]

Congrats Borkstrom! You'll be here in time for xmas!

I just landed here in San Diego. POE was the smoothest part of this entire process. I had to wait until the lines at immigration cleared, but after that I was done in literally 5 minutes. The CBP officers were both courteous and professional.

I was out of the airport about 40 minutes after landing

Edited December 7, 2012 by Jay Jay

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Thanks guys. And I am very happy for you Jay Jay.

Don't turn into a yinzer! DON'T DO IT!

LOL

My wife actually applies herself to not speak Yinzer when we talk on Skype. I sometimes tease her about it when a word or syllable or two slip through. Her accent isn't bad at all. It was worse when her son and her mom were talking amongst themselves when I was there last time. It took me like 5 seconds to figure out what the hell they were saying.

I hope I'll learn to understand it, but not adopt it too much as far as my own language goes.

[MissK 5]

Great to hear Jay jay! FInally!

[MissK 5]

So finally here and it's all good. Very sad to leave home, especially because my son had a hard time. But halfway over the ocean everything got better and after we have arrived it's all good, so far:)

POE: I still feel like screaming when I think about it. Not because it was though,no because it took us over 3 hours!!!! First 1 hour and 20 minutes in the pass port control. Which have happend before at Dulles, I mean 3 officers and at least 200 people in line. Ok so I picked a bad time to fly in to, Sunday afternoon.

The officer asked me some questions:

What is the purpose of your trip?

How old is your son?

When did you meet your fiance?

When are you getting married?

Is your fiance an american citizen?

Okay...

So he told me to go get our luggage and then proceed to customs and get in line B or something. So of we go. And the wait begins again. A few people are there. The one officers working takes my envelope and passports and put it on the counter. The other passports of people coming in he puts in a holder.

So long story short: he works like a snail (at least that's what it seems like) calling the same man at least 6 times in the next hour, more people are coming in, people get frustrated. He finishes all the people in front of me after 1 hour an 40 freaking minutes.

At that point he proceeds to not take my package but start with passports of people coming after me.

OK, I'm done! It's 9.40 pm, that's 3.40 am in Norway, we have been on the go for 16 hours. I have a tired, starving and thirsty 11 year old with me. So I march on up to the officer and say something like "Excuse me Sir, but this envelope is mine and I came in right after the couple you just finished and you did not put my passport in the holder but it is my turn and we have been waiting for an 1h and 40 minutes " (and the rant continued in my head: we are emotinally exhausted, we have travelled for hours, we are on norwegian time which is in the middle of the night and we are starving and thirsty and it's not like you have a vending machine here, I can't text my fiance beacuse I have no service in this room and he has been waiting for three hours and don't know whats going on, thankfully I texted him that there was a loooong line in the first passport control. Rant over)

The officer replyed: ok, you are right and you have been waitng long and you do have a child with you. Yep. So he finished my papers in five minutes, no questions asked.

Finally out of there!!!

When I left I think it was about 30 people in that room, poor folks probably had to stay until the next morning....

Edited December 7, 2012 by MissK

[MissK 5]

So good to get that out:)

By the way I saw an adventsstake in black for four candled at Bed, bath and beyond!

[MrsB2012 10]

Congrats Borkstrom! You'll be here in time for xmas!

I just landed here in San Diego. POE was the smoothest part of this entire process. I had to wait until the lines at immigration cleared, but after that I was done in literally 5 minutes. The CBP officers were both courteous and professional.

I was out of the airport about 40 minutes after landing

Welcome back to the warm California sunshine!

[rarasantiago 3]

Alright folks. Just wanted to drop by and let yinz know I have my plane tickets booked.

I'll leave Stockholm (Arlanda Airport) at 10:40 AM on Sunday, December 23rd.

POE will be at Newark. I have about a 2,5 hour layover. Fligth to Pittsburgh, PA leaves at 4:20 and arrives at Pixburgh In'ernashn'l Airport n'at at 5:46 PM. And the good thing is in case 2,5 hours isn't enough at Newark, there are two more flights to Pittsburgh that evening.

That is all.

PS. Congratulations to Jay Jay. Finally got the passport back. Are you in the US now?

Alright, Mr. B! You'll be with your wife soon and just in time for Christmas

Congrats Borkstrom! You'll be here in time for xmas!

I just landed here in San Diego. POE was the smoothest part of this entire process. I had to wait until the lines at immigration cleared, but after that I was done in literally 5 minutes. The CBP officers were both courteous and professional.

I was out of the airport about 40 minutes after landing

Congratulations! Soon Hawaii bound

So finally here and it's all good. Very sad to leave home, especially because my son had a hard time. But halfway over the ocean everything got better and after we have arrived it's all good, so far:)

POE: I still feel like screaming when I think about it. Not because it was though,no because it took us over 3 hours!!!! First 1 hour and 20 minutes in the pass port control. Which have happend before at Dulles, I mean 3 officers and at least 200 people in line. Ok so I picked a bad time to fly in to, Sunday afternoon.

The officer asked me some questions:

What is the purpose of your trip?

How old is your son?

When did you meet your fiance?

When are you getting married?

Is your fiance an american citizen?

Okay...

So he told me to go get our luggage and then proceed to customs and get in line B or something. So of we go. And the wait begins again. A few people are there. The one officers working takes my envelope and passports and put it on the counter. The other passports of people coming in he puts in a holder.

So long story short: he works like a snail (at least that's what it seems like) calling the same man at least 6 times in the next hour, more people are coming in, people get frustrated. He finishes all the people in front of me after 1 hour an 40 freaking minutes.

At that point he proceeds to not take my package but start with passports of people coming after me.

OK, I'm done! It's 9.40 pm, that's 3.40 am in Norway, we have been on the go for 16 hours. I have a tired, starving and thirsty 11 year old with me. So I march on up to the officer and say something like "Excuse me Sir, but this envelope is mine and I came in right after the couple you just finished and you did not put my passport in the holder but it is my turn and we have been waiting for an 1h and 40 minutes " (and the rant continued in my head: we are emotinally exhausted, we have travelled for hours, we are on norwegian time which is in the middle of the night and we are starving and thirsty and it's not like you have a vending machine here, I can't text my fiance beacuse I have no service in this room and he has been waiting for three hours and don't know whats going on, thankfully I texted him that there was a loooong line in the first passport control. Rant over)

The officer replyed: ok, you are right and you have been waitng long and you do have a child with you. Yep. So he finished my papers in five minutes, no questions asked.

Finally out of there!!!

When I left I think it was about 30 people in that room, poor folks probably had to stay until the next morning....

Congratulations!

Too bad the POE was such a long wait for you. Definitely the luck of the draw if you get a short or long line, once had to stand in LAX baggage claim/customs exit lines for over two hours pushing what seemed like an inch per hour.

[jaycali 415]

Too bad the POE was such a long wait for you. Definitely the luck of the draw if you get a short or long line, once had to stand in LAX baggage claim/customs exit lines for over two hours pushing what seemed like an inch per hour.

Lol reminds me of the last time my wife and I entered at LAX. We both had to go through the visitors line since I was on the VWP. We got there right after two jumbo jets from China. Citizens line was cleared in 20 minutes. Visitors line had moved maybe about two inches since then.. After 45 minutes and no closer to the immigration booth, my wife stormed up to one of the CBP officers "excuse me. I have been on a 12 hour plane ride and have been waiting in this line forever. I need an iphone charger. I'm a US citizen if that helps."

CBP officer looked at her in disbelief, went through her own private purse and said "here, there's an outlet in the back..."

Sorry about the long wait missk, at least now you're here!!

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Another question. My wife's boss asked if I could get some liqourice Swedish fish for him. I found some at Coop Forum here in Västerås, but it's lösviktsgodis. I would prefer to buy a factory-packaged bag.

But if I can't find any, would it be OK with Customs for me to bring some lösviktsgodis with me on the flight? I don't feel like getting into trouble because my wife's boss has a sweet tooth, no matter how awesome Swedish candy is.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Mr. Borkström

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Another question. My wife's boss asked if I could get some liqourice Swedish fish for him. I found some at Coop Forum here in Västerås, but it's lösviktsgodis. I would prefer to buy a factory-packaged bag.

But if I can't find any, would it be OK with Customs for me to bring some lösviktsgodis with me on the flight? I don't feel like getting into trouble because my wife's boss has a sweet tooth, no matter how awesome Swedish candy is.

It won't be a problem.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/82/~/travelers-bringing-food-into-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Even if it's not in a factory-packaged bag?