In New Zealand
Flying across the Pacific is a very long flight. The plane was delayed by two hours so we didn't depart until about 2am on Saturday. There was no one in the seat next to me, which makes all the difference on a long flight. But my seat didn't recline so it was not the best of times.
While I was being driven to the airport, I remembered that I had removed a couple of very important ID cards from my wallet. The important one is called a PIV card, which is a federal ID card that allows me access to IT related systems on the ice. We have been told that if you don't have your PIV card, you won't really be allowed to do your job. I tried to remember where I had cleverly placed these cards. I thought I might have put them somewhere in my luggage, in anticipation of travel to the ice. Or in my passport wallet. Quick searches did not find them there. I had several moments of fretting throughout my journey. Will they send me home because I don't have it? Will they make an exception? When the flight was delayed I even thought briefly of getting a ride back to Santa Cruz to look for the cards. Yesterday I checked more carefully and I found them in my passport case. That only has three pockets so I don't know how I missed them, but, crisis averted.
Going through customs, you have to fill out an arrival card to say whether you have any food at all in your bags. They also ask about plants, bugs, animals, weapons. If you say you have a restricted item, you have to stand in a special line and they grill you about what you have in your bags. The people in front of me were being scolded (rightly) by the customs person, who explained several times what food was. The woman said, we have lollies (kiwi term for candy). Customs said, yes that's food. We have crackers and cheese. Yes, that is food. We have cooked food. That one made the customs person lose his patience. Cooked food is FOOD, madame. She said, but we have kids, so we need to bring cooked food with us. At least they declared it, if they hadn't and food is found, it's an immediate $400 fine.
Another couple did not declare and they were caught by the biosecurity dog. They had two of the airplane sandwiches with them. I wonder if it's $400 per person or $400 per food item.
I myself am in the penalty box with NZ customs. When I returned from McMurdo to New Zealand last year, I got caught not declaring. I was sure I didn't have any food. They xray all your bags and they saw a food shaped object. Every one of my bags was opened and searched. They were looking for something round, like a piece of fruit. I confidently said I hadn't seen a piece of fresh fruit for weeks, because whatever fruit arrived in August was long gone by November. She eventually found a withered old mandarin orange in a jacket pocket. Busted! I explained that the jacket had been packed for weeks and the fruit was even older. She assessed the mandarin and agreed that it was very old. Off she went with my passport. She came back with an official notice of my crime, and I got a solemn warning to never, ever try that again or I could not only be fined $400 but they could deny me entry to NZ.
The funny thing is that this time, after I declared my food (candy and black tea), they let me breeze through without even having my bags xrayed.
Enough for now. We may leave for the ice tomorrow, but as always there are airplane problems.