You’ve booked your first international flight. Congrats! Go and enjoy that vacation. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be over here waiting for you…on the other side of customs! (**Insert evil laugh**)
I’m kidding. Going through customs truly isn’t a bad process (especially if you have Global Entry — more on that later). If you’ve never been through customs, you may not know what to expect. Here are a few tips to make the process that much smoother… for you and the Customs agent.
- Have your passport handy. You’ll need it to get into any other country and back home again. Once the plane has landed and you’ve grabbed your carry-on bags, make sure to locate your passport and keep it somewhere handy. Don’t be that person that holds up the customs line because you’re digging for your passport.
- Keep important travel information at the ready. This includes your flight number, the place you’re staying (when leaving the country), what you’re doing there, etc. The customs agent will ask and you might have to fill it out on a customs form. When you’re coming back into the U.S., you usually just need your flight info. Grab a passport wallet or travel document wallet to make life easier. Trust me.
- …but not your phone. The customs area, no matter the country you’re in, is a no phone zone. Don’t be dumb. Just keep your phone away for 10 minutes. You’ll have enough time before and after to check your Instagram.
- Be ready to take off your hat and glasses. The customs agent needs to see your face, for obvious reasons. They don’t care that you’re having a bad hair day.
- Collect your bags. If you have a connecting flight in the U.S. before your final destination (also in the U.S.), you will go through customs during your first layover. (This is a good thing to keep in mind when booking flights. Make sure your layover isn’t too tight here!) Once you’ve passed through customs, you’ll collect your checked back from baggage claim. Don’t worry. It’s usually very close to customs and in a designated area. Depending on the airport, you’ll carry it to another location and drop it off for your next flight. No, you don’t pay twice for this. Once you’ve paid to check your bag, it’s done.
- Know what you can bring back. Certain countries have restrictions on the number of items you can bring back. There are also restrictions on what you can bring back to the U.S. In Cuba (in 2017), you were only allowed to bring back 50 cigars and three bottles of rum. This was a Cuban stipulation, not a U.S. one, so your bags were searched before leaving Cuba and if you were over the limit, it was into the trash. We saw this happen a few times. You can’t bring meat back to the states from foreign countries. I know this because I personally tried to bring some back after studying abroad in Spain when I was 16. It was an innocent mistake and ended with me in tears, but lesson learned. Look up the laws and rules beforehand so you don’t end up like 16-year-old me.
- The joke isn’t worth it. Don’t joke around during the customs process. Yes, you can be friendly and laugh, but don’t joke about what you may or may not be bringing back into the country or what you were doing in that country, etc. While it may be funny to you and your friends, it’s not amusing to the people who are tasked with protecting their country’s borders.
What important step did I leave off? Did you run into any funny customs situations while abroad?
Average Traveler | Travel Guide 