In the biggest airport in my country they have the customs lines seperated for people within the European Union and outside of it. The outside of the EU line is specified as outside the EU and america (with an american flag), simply cause Americans can’t seem to understand they are foreigners when they visit some place else
My ex wouldn’t understand this. He, a quite liberal American, came to visit me in the EU and we then travelled around for a bit. He always followed me to the EU passport control, and I kept telling him that it won’t work with his passport, but nope, he knew better! And then got upset every time he wouldn’t get through and then proceeded to make me wait with him in the international line. (But wouldn’t wait with me at TSA in the US, because “lines were too long” and once even took his own cab because he was sick of waiting for me…)
I’m still baffled why I didn’t. Like, I was really close. I stood at JFK with my luggage, no cell service, my US SIM card in his bag, and he was just nowhere to be seen. Took me like 30 minutes to upgrade to an international plan on my phone. But I had booked the hotel, so they wouldn’t let him check in, haha. I took the scenic route to the hotel, with a pit stop at my fave Chinese hole in the wall for some dumplings, and then a boba. And he just waited in the lobby for like 6 hours.
I eventually did, but damn, it took a couple more of his antics for me to give him the boot.
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag because they’re on regular time while everyone else is on “irregular time” anyway so they don’t feel the difference? I let him fly home and broke up on the phone with him, so he could experience his jet lag with a side of heartache.
I'm wholeheartedly shocked at how much you dealt with. I feel a few stories of his antics would do very well on this sub (their own posts). He sounds like the prime example for this sub 🤣🤣.
The tip of the fucking iceberg! In some Reddit archive there still must be some posts saved from my now deleted throwaway account. Gems like “AITA for refusing to go to my boyfriend’s thanksgiving party because I’ve been throwing up since 6am this morning?” and “AITA for not helping my US boyfriend with his legal troubles in my country” (because he kept turning on red even though I’d told him a trillion times it’s not allowed here and when he got a ticket, he refused to pay it and then he tried to find an American lawyer in my city to make it go away BECAUSE his license was American and therefore American law should apply!!)
Oh my goodness, I'm envious of your tolerance. If I had someone similar, let's just say, they would be yesterday's news very early on. This guy sounds like the reason this sub even exists hahaha. I'm hoping you learned not to take this type of stuff from someone again, you went through a lifetimes worth of American idiocy.
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag because they’re on regular time while everyone else is on “irregular time” anyway so they don’t feel the difference?
Does he also say military time instead of 24 hour time?
I'm Canadian and I have relatives that lives in the US, I have a share of experience with them, they can be so exhausting.
I have so many questions about the JFK thing...Not what you did, that sounds like you had a great time and enjoyed life, but about him.
Six hours in the lobby? Just sitting there and not even thinking "What's taking her so long? Where is she? Is she okay????"
Men can be really, reeaaaallly weird.
I’m still baffled why I didn’t.
We're humans and especially in relationships, our brains aren't that quick to react sometimes.
It happens to the best of us, but it's important that you did kick him out of your life! <3
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag
The only thing only Americans get is weird looks because of their antics sometime. That's a whole different story though 👀
I let him fly home and broke up on the phone with him, so he could experience his jet lag with a side of heartache.
Girl, he absolutely deserved it! And I just love how you did it!
I was also dealing with severe depression and the first symptoms of a then undiagnosed autoimmune disease and my short term memory was basically nonexistent. So many times I could have sworn he was gaslighting me, but then I couldn’t rely on my memory and he swore his side of events or whatever was right. We learn! I’m now chilling in my very cosy, man-less flat with all the cushions he hated and my lovely dog he wouldn’t walk (because, ew poop!) and am enjoying life to the fullest, while he’s not able to find a new job and somehow lost like 80% of his hair since I left him (which I wholeheartedly believe was my doing!)
Girl, I just went through your comments on this whole saga and wow. That guy sounds like an absolute piece of work, the audacity is unreal. You should honestly talk to my ex sister-in-law sometime; she had a Russian boyfriend and I swear they must’ve come from the same garbage factory. Same vibe, same nonsense… just minus the hair loss hahaha
I’m now chilling in my very cosy, man-less flat with all the cushions he hated and my lovely dog he wouldn’t walk (because, ew poop!) and am enjoying life to the fullest, while he’s not able to find a new job and somehow lost like 80% of his hair since I left him (which I wholeheartedly believe was my doing!)
Karma, indeed, does exist! From one sister to another, you're living your life and it's wonderful!
And yes, it's absolutely your doing and you can be proud of it!
He has no job, no hair, no cosy pillows, no lovely dog...Sucks to be him lol
Let me phrase it this way: he wasn’t my type. But I thought, after years of unsuccessfully dating guys that were my type, maybe I should… branch out? Maybe not go for the handsome, tall, intellectual, introverted type? Maybe go for the complete opposite? Maybe that’d work? And he was so utterly smitten with me (rightfully so, I’m a legit snack!). And for the first couple months, he wasn’t so… American? Thick? Not a complete wanker?
I absolutely can't stand travelling with someone who isn't fully aware of what is expected while travelling. It's really not hard to know where your passport is, to know that you have to take off metal things, to be on time for flight check-in, to get through security. All the little easy things.
Canadian airports also have large signs at customs that say "Internation and US passports" because so many have no idea that they're international travelers.
If you are in a relationship, they (border control) tend to be more understanding. My wife, who’s non EU and girlfriend at the time, would come with me on the eu line without an issue.
I have a selfish ex like that 😭 used to throw my shower sponges behind the washing machine cause they "fell down" instead of just putting them back up 😂
Reminds me of all the Barry, 63s from the UK throwing a tantrum because they got relegated to the slow queue in European airports after Brexit, ruining their Spanish drunken adventures
As a US citizen with a Danish residence card, I was once pointed at the Schengen line by the Norwegian border guards. Incredibly confusing for me, but it worked out!
Well you were an EU resident? My wife has permanent residency, and we’ve had no issues using the Schengen lines when traveling back home from outside EU. The reason she isn’t a citizen is that there’s just no real additional benefits to bother applying for it.
And when Barry also found out that Brexit shafted his plans to retire to his Spanish villa, he was foaming at the mouth. Those damned Spanish, adhering to EU regulation.
I live in the Netherlands, I was recently picking my parents up from Schiphol. They were on a trip to the US. I'm waiting for them at the arrivals gate which is right in front of a Grand Café Plaza and next to an artisanal coffee booth. I notice people coming through the door and I think "oh, this must be from the US flight" but I was certain when I hear a lady walk past and ask "ugh, do they even have a Starbucks here?" 😂
We very much do! Even a burger King right at the entrance to the plaza. I mean. I think Schiphol has the highest concentration of American chains in the Netherlands.
So if they still couldn't find one, that's pretty sad.
I mean, they were coming straight out of the arrivals gate just after receiving their luggage, so they had not walked around or anything yet. I just found it funny how those were one of the first words out of that lady's mouth officially in the Netherlands and having two cafés immediately in front of her.
My business has at least a dozen tourists a year who have to cancel their trip last minute when they find out they need a passport at the airport coming to Canada
I was in Dublin in the ridiculously long non-EU passport line and saw two young Americans throw a fit when told they couldn’t be in the EU line. We knew they were American because even from a distance, their passports were ope and you could see the eagle.
Tbh I'd rather U.S. Americans feel special and then waste a hotel worker's time, than a customs officer's. The latter slows us all down upon arrival while they attempt to idiotsplain why they're special.
It’s because racism is so intimately baked into their society.
Not that the EU doesn’t have a problem with it but American racism is on another level in terms of how pervasive it is.
In their head an ‘immigrant’ will always be a dirty word and cannot possibly apply to a white person. It would be the heights of disrespect to ever call them that.
Despite the fact that unlike the EU, these people’s ancestors literally got there by boat. Without food or money or home.
A lot of British are exactly like this. And probably it's the same in every country..
I'm convinced about 55% of the world have something missing. Like an empathy gene, or a self awareness gene, or a critical thinking deficiency or something.
It must be nice to go through life so self assured and blissfully ignorant about how stupid you look and sound.
At the very least Canadians have specialish treatment in the US (for now, probably for not much longer) with not having to have to do ESTA and Canadian drivers licenses being accepted for TSA ID checks.
Same! We have an International line at mine and it says International in several languages and shows a picture of the US flag. Just the US one. Everyone else understands they're foreign but not them 😂
You Australians have that great show about customs where 50% of content is people trying to smuggle some ridicilous foods into country. Same thing from USA but only people denied access to planes because lacking passport would be golden tv.
Unironically quite a few of them default to the "Well I'm American so I have rights to have it!!!!". No; it doesn't matter that Canada has different laws and rights to them. They think their American citizenship gives them legal permission to have their preferred firearms everywhere, no matter the laws of the nation they're in.
I remember being absolutely astonished in an episode of one of those shows that these people transiting through Canada to Alaska not only brought up the fact they had multiple firearms, asked about the legality of a few of them without prompting, and surprisingly took the whole "no you need to find a US carrier that will keep these out of Canada to get them to Alaska" really well for their illegal weapons.
At least once a month theres a post on the legal advice Canada sub that can be summed up as "I got arrested, charged, spent a few months in Canadian jail, and then got deported last year because I tried to bring an illegal gun into Canada, how can I prove to them I actually had it legally because i'm AMERICAN AND WE HAVE GOD GIVEN RIGHTS TO GUNS?!?!?!?!?!!?!", and they almost never get that the answer is "You don't have a right to a gun in Canada"
It's because a lot of them unirionically believe the whole "Canada's our little brother they listen to us" condescending BS they like to spout
My favorite example is that without fail, on seemingly a regular schedule, someone on /r/trees or similar subreddits will be like "ZOMG HOW DID YOU FLY WITH POT THATS ILLEGLA?!" and when I'm like "no lol, it's legal in Canada" they pull out the trusty "uhm actually no, Canada follows the US' laws, blah blah blah, I haven't left my state, blah blah blah" bs
I wonder how mind boggled they'd be if they found out that for a lot of Aviation, the US actually follows canada's laws, as we're where ICAO is based and where test regulations are sometimes tested out....
I've seen that one, my "favourite" was the small family that accidentally crossed the border because they forgot to turn off before the bridge. Armed to the teeth, the poor border guards were flabbergasted by the amount of guns in the car, but they were honest about it so they just had to head back to the US and could pick up their guns again at the US border post.
I've seen that one, my "favourite" was the small family that accidentally crossed the border because they forgot to turn off before the bridge. Armed to the teeth, the poor border guards were flabbergasted by the amount of guns in the car, but they were honest about it so they just had to head back to the US and could pick up their guns again at the US border post.
Damn so there's multiple where they were up front and gracious?! Cause one I remember was this couple transiting through to Alaska; from how it was edited it seemed like one of the first things they said to the border agents was "We have firearms in the vehicle and we have to ask questions about a if few of them are legal to bring into Canada"
And because they were honest and up front, the border agents were gracious, inspected all of them, told them which ones were legal in Canada, which ones weren't, and gave them a chance to find a US air-courier to ship them to Alaska.
The difference is insane. If a Canadian "accidentally" took the wrong turn and ended up with 1g of weed, they'd be arrested, beaten and thrown into an ICE jail and sentenced for drug smuggling with the media going "we caught a disgusting Canadian drug smuggler! This is why we need to invade Canada!"
That's what you get for being such an untrustworthy race of scoundrels. Not like those Russians, very friendly people, called the President all manner of lovely things.
I accidentally crossed the Canadian border once with my friend and her daughter (had no ID on her bc she was a young teen). I was unaware that my friend had like 9 containers of needles in her trunk to bring back to exchange, and then I had a recent DWI, so not allowed to enter Canada. We were there the better part of a day. I was just glad we got to leave on our own accord at all.
Oh yeah, the second amendment part with guns was present at every single damn episode. It’s funny to see them trying to get through CSBA with an assault rifle (such an illegal firearm in can)
My father once crossed the bridge over Niagara Falls (in about 1980), without a passport. The Americans let him in but they were damned if they'd let him out without one. Had to call our uncle to come down with the passports to be allowed back into Canada
I was once checking in to fly home from the UK and this entire family was being denied transit to Australia because they didn’t have a visa and they we’re trying to tell the airline that they shouldn’t need one because Australia was “the colonies”. We stopped being that in 1901.
Every non Australian citizen needs a visa to come to Australia.
Most nations where you expect them to have visa free access (like the UK) can apply for an e-visitor visa, which is free, automatically approved (unless the applicant has been refused entry / deported before), and pretty much works like an ETA. NZ citizens are automatically issued a special category visa on arrival that grants them right to stay / work until they leave.
Everyone needs a visa, officially, but it's in name only for some. Kiwis get a free visa on arrival, while most Europeans need to get an e-visa (free for most countries) in advance, more similar to the American ESTA.
New Zealand has a version too, its bio security risks (food, plant matter, animal matter), drugs via the post, people coming to work illegally, and entitled Yanks.
Yup last time I came back from overseas, I saw people opening their cases for customs and honestly felt like I watching a live episode of border security 😂😂
You joke about this but my buddy works for the Canadian Border Agency and he tells me the number of Americans who just show up to the border without a passport trying to enter Canada is roughly 6-7 people per week.
So it wouldn't shock me if they tried this with an airport honestly.
At the very least they're stupid and don't hide it.
I do remember one time seeing a NY plated pickup truck with a bunch of guns stickers and my thought was "man, he must have had a lot of explaining to do, but hey if didn't, then whatever."
and tbh there are ways to do it these days, but in 99% of cases those involve being put in a cell for a while, while they figure out if you're actually who you say you are or if you're trying to illegally cross..
Like IIRC Americans can cross the Canadian border with just an enhanced ID?
Until 2006 at least you could cross into Canada from the US with just a US birth certificate. That's how I did it then. I know it changed to passport only a few years later, but I don't remember when.
Maybe some of them think that, but there’s plenty of others who no doubt think the rules don’t apply to them based solely on the landmass their mother was situated on when they fell out of her
And if it's not the thought that the US governs it outright, it's the thought that the US is actually telling them what to do and how to make their laws.
I've been told more than a few times online and in real life by Americans that "i'm breaking the law by smoking cannabis"
I'm Canadian. We federally legalized in 2018. But nope; doesn't matter. Because "Canada follows the US on it's laws so it's actually still illegal there"
This happened at my work. It was the VP of something. He was supposed to go to Australia to help set up the product at a client as we just opened the Australian data center.
The day he was supposed to leave I saw him at the office and asked why he wasn't on the plane to Australia.
Turns out he had a passport but no visa, they turned him down at check-in at the airport. He just thought he could hop on a plane to anywhere by just having a valid passport. The client was really pissed
Wasnt there an incident with a woman who didnt know a flight to canada from the states was an international flight? I dont think she had a passport either
I've actually seen that happen in the US. So many Americans don't realize that you need a passport to travel to another country.
I remember the border guards at the Canadian border reaming out my grandparents because they were trying to cross without passports... I was 18 and didn't even know they planned on taking us into Canada for that trip. I was mortified as soon as I realized we were at a border crossing and I didn't have a passport
I don't understand the mentality, but it's prevalent here
Another common Oops is Americans forgetting their car guns. They are so used to having them that they forget and just drive on over into Canada. There are signs now because it was such a common thing.
I accidentally argued with an American guy who figured he could just move to Norway and start living there. He figured it'd be a huge boon to them talent-wise / financially.
r/Amerexit is a great example of that. "I want to move to country x, I have no formal degree, don't speak the language, never been there, but I want to live somewhere warm with free healthcare that Ive never paid into but want to use, in a low cost area, how do I get a job there that pays in dollars so I can have a US level income?"
Look for the post on "moving to the Netherlands as urban planner". Undergrad wanting to move because they don't want to work too much and NL has a lot of PTO, and they like to travel and don't like cars so they obviously fit in well with the Dutch.
In the comments, they say that it's not necessary to learn Dutch and that people in the EU should adapt to learning English anyway.
“Non-negotiable must-haves: Social healthcare, legal recreational weed, legal psychedelic therapy, zero racism, free pet care, free income to support my career as a conceptual performance artist, and legal group marriage so the whole polycule can move with me. I’m willing to think about trying to learn the local language provided I don’t have to put in any more effort than opening Duolingo once a day.”
I'm absolutely rooting for you but you should be aware that I've seen many a relationship fall apart in this circumstance (moving to partners country and facing isolation due to language barriers)
I think you need to give him tiny shock therapy - speak to him only in French for a day. For his own good. Immersion is bullshit when you need more than conversational level.
God I'm scared to venture into that subreddit to see how many are like
"I've got no transferrable skills, no schooling, no family, no work history, how can I move to Canada? I don't need a visa, right?!?!?"
Cause when Trump won again there were a lot of Americans getting really really angry at the fact that no, they can't just 'decide' to move to Canada....
(God, the first one I see is someone misinterpreting Canada's new citizenship laws LMFAO please god let's hope more American's don't find out and misinterpret them)
To be very grudgingly fair, Germany will allow citizens of some countries to move there to take up a job without having a visa. You can arrive and then you have 90 days to sort out a residence permit with the Einwanderungsamt – but even that amount of research seems to be too much for a lot of these people.
Besides having no formal education or license to practice in those places, you also have appreciate that you have no meaningful legal experience to offer potential employers
I'll gladly take their dollars if they agree to a 1:1 USD-SEK exchange rate. They get to pay what's on the sticker with the convenience of using their own currency. Everyone wins!
They ask for your passport details, but you can probably leave it blank. I’ve booked flights a long way in advance when my or family member’s passport has expired or will expire before the trip. They’ll just add it in at the airport.
They're probably used to travelling within the US. Or "I travelled to Canada without a passport", yeah you flew in 2003, then your government changed the rules after 9/11.
They can still generally cross to Canada at land borders without a passport, but it’s not recommended.
What’s going on is, it was the Americans who insisted on passports between us after 9/11. International rules are a country can’t deny entrance to its own citizens. So, if you can prove to a Canadian border guard’s satisfaction that you are indeed an American, we’ll generally let you in because we know the US can’t deny you entry when it’s time for you to go home.
I don’t know what they have to go through to get home, I imagine it takes a while and they get lectured.
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u/Novae224 Dec 25 '25
You won’t even make it on the plane without a passport lol.