The Perils of the King Faud Causeway and Saudi Oppression (1 Viewer)

slisk250

slisk250

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This is the Causeway connecting Saudi to Bahrain. Depending on the night you want to fly out of Dammam and the destination, driving to Bahrain is a better option. It takes three gates to get out of the Kingdom. At the second (passport) stop they will check their system that your passports, resident permit and multiple exit/reentry visa are all good....but they fuck up semi-regularly. When that happens, they send you into some office where you try to sort it out. Usually, the most common error is they mark you out of Kingdom when you are in and for some reason that screws things up...but is fixable. Stated more clearly, it is exceedingly difficult to get in and out of this damn country if there are any government fuck ups.

What happens when the system says your wife's passport is expired when it is not? They tell you to go back and solve it tomorrow at immigration. You miss your flight, lose money, miss vacations...maybe this should be in the WTF thread.

So it's Parent weekend at Mercersburg Academy where my senior son is starring in a play. It is one of the very few reasons I can use to miss work. We get stopped at the passport gate, sent inside. Normally you get a paper that they stamp for each person allowed to exit. It took about 30 minutes of shmoozing and negotiating with a young Saudi agent while trying to get my very angry feminist wife to sit the fuck down and let me deal with this guy in a backwards country. No way I'm missing the trip and was about ten minutes from putting her in another taxi back to Dhahran (probably resulting in divorce proceedings). So I go in the back room without her and then he asks when I'm coming back. I told him next Wed. It was an odd question and figured he wanted to save the day but regulations prevent it. I was begging for him to use his "wasta" and call the captain for some resolution. It's about 10pm so I knew it would not really get solved in the system but if I could get him to stamp that fucking paper three times (us plus the taxi driver) we would be able to exit.

...and that is what happened. He walked us out to the gate, retrieved all the passports (they were holding mine too!) and told the guy it was fixed "mafi mushkala" I'm quite sure that nobody in immigration even tried to fix it. When we come back I have a problem and will most likely have to send her back to Bahrain when we try to enter, then take her passport to Dammam immigration the next day. It will cost us maybe 4 vacation days since she will then miss the entire work week (not qualifying for the paid weekend). It is a BS system. This is just one of many instances an oppressive society breaks down and denies people their freedoms. For different reasons, I'm sure victims of the Trump travel ban can relate.

Don't take your freedom for granted. Fight every attempt your government makes to take away your freedoms if you live in a place that allows for such protest/action.

#mywifeisluckytobedrinkingabeeratSchiphol
 
Needless to say, I've always felt you've had the biggest daily challenges of all PCF'ers. Not just travel, but international travel involving a country where your hobby could be met with severe punishments.

I see shots taken at our freedoms all the time. I doubted that the changes will have severe effects on me, as I'm too old to see big changes in what life I have left, but recently I've been less sure.

Travel Bans. Needing a passport for travel to Canada. The most egregious to me... the right-wing shove to "defend" Christians and declaring the USA a Christian nation. I have friends of many different faiths - and some with none at all, and They have gone from outspoken to silenced in the shadows for fear of isolation and persecution.

Those that think it's ok to ban foreigners, build walls, and make traffic stops based on skin color to check immigration status need to take a trip with you to the sandbox. Get a preview of what they are actually supporting.
 
I was in Port Huron, MI not too long ago. I check into my hotel and look out the window at the river and Canada on the other side of the river is a casino. Let's roll! There's a big bridge and almost under the bridge on the Canadian side is the casino. I didn't know I needed my passport, so I jump in the car, in 3 minutes I'm at the kiosk at the bridge and the customs person asks for my passport and asks where I'm going to. I point to the casino right below and give her my Illinois drivers license. She (I assume Canadian) looks at my drivers license and lets me through. Great, right? Well right then it was, but when I got in the car to come back customs guy asks for my passport and tells me that my drivers license is no good. I explain where I'm staying and how I got there and the guy has me pull into a lot, they take me inside the building and search my car, and put me in a holding room while the search their database for my passport. Takes 45 minutes but eventually they cleared me for entry.

The only takeaway I had from this is that you need to carry your passport if you want to gamble in Canada. Canada seems to be more flexible, but the US is pretty serious, although they were able to work it out.

Which restriction on your freedoms are ok is a matter of personal opinion. I'm not a member of the political thread, so I'll not opine.
 
In my college days (the 1980s), I drove with a group of friends from Delaware to Montreal for a club sport event. The "adult" in our group forgot his driver's license and had no ID. They still let him into the country after a brief computer check in a small office.

Things have clearly changed.
 
dennis63 said:
In my college days (the 1980s), I drove with a group of friends from Delaware to Montreal for a club sport event. The "adult" in our group forgot his driver's license and had no ID. They still let him into the country after a brief computer check in a small office.

Things have clearly changed.
Click to expand...

I remember in the 80s, me and a friend would hang out in Detroit. We were both photography students, and Detroit at night was fantastic. It was not without peril though, so when we would need to use a restroom, we would drive over the bridge and use a restroom in Windsor. I don't ever recall being asked for ID, it was just a few brief questions (nationality, reason for visit), and then we would cross.

In those days, we laughed at the Soviet Union and Europe, because they needed "papers" to travel anywhere.

Who's laughing now?
 
When I was in college in the 90s, I went to the Canadian side of the Boundary Waters (Quetico), no passport, just my driver's license. Got back home and immediately left the next day for a trip to Florida with some friends. I got to the airport and realized that my license was still in my camping gear. No problem, they let me use my student ID to check in and board the plane. I don't think that would work any more.
 
I'm glad you'll get to see your kid in the play. My daughter has a passion and a talent for the stage. Watching her up there is a source of immense pride.
 
Jeff said:
I was in Port Huron, MI not too long ago. I check into my hotel and look out the window at the river and Canada on the other side of the river is a casino. Let's roll! There's a big bridge and almost under the bridge on the Canadian side is the casino. I didn't know I needed my passport, so I jump in the car, in 3 minutes I'm at the kiosk at the bridge and the customs person asks for my passport and asks where I'm going to. I point to the casino right below and give her my Illinois drivers license. She (I assume Canadian) looks at my drivers license and lets me through. Great, right? Well right then it was, but when I got in the car to come back customs guy asks for my passport and tells me that my drivers license is no good. I explain where I'm staying and how I got there and the guy has me pull into a lot, they take me inside the building and search my car, and put me in a holding room while the search their database for my passport. Takes 45 minutes but eventually they cleared me for entry.

The only takeaway I had from this is that you need to carry your passport if you want to gamble in Canada. Canada seems to be more flexible, but the US is pretty serious, although they were able to work it out.

Which restriction on your freedoms are ok is a matter of personal opinion. I'm not a member of the political thread, so I'll not opine.
Click to expand...
In Michigan, for an extra $10, you can get an “enhanced drivers license” , this gets you into Canada (Bahamas & Mexico I think) without need for a passport. You might want to check your state dmv for this option - it also speeds things up at airports.
 
In the late 90's I was stationed in San Diego - as I was under 21 we went to Mexico every weekend. We literally had to walk through a one way turnstile to enter the country. Our return was almost as easy - stand in line and show our military ID on the way back. It was harder to get in and out of an amusement park - now I hear rumors that those stationed in San Diego aren't even allowed in Mexico. It's a shame - so many good times were had there.
 
CraigT78 said:
In the late 90's I was stationed in San Diego - as I was under 21 we went to Mexico every weekend. We literally had to walk through a one way turnstile to enter the country. Our return was almost as easy - stand in line and show our military ID on the way back. It was harder to get in and out of an amusement park - now I hear rumors that those stationed in San Diego aren't even allowed in Mexico. It's a shame - so many good times were had there.
Click to expand...
It's still like that today, at least for private citizens. I walked into Mexico at Nogales at 8AM a few years ago. You go through a turnstile and push a button. If the light turns green you keep walking. If the light turns red? Well, I don't really know. It was green for me and the few people ahead of me. Some chick with shoulder patches on her shirt was sleeping on an unmarked desk about 30 feet away next to all the shoe shiners so I don't know if she was an immigration official or just another huckster. In any event I didn't stop to ask. Kept walking right over to the US entry gate, waited about five minutes, handed the guy my GE card, we laughed about how long I was in Mexico and he wished me a good day. Now I can say I've walked into another country.
 
CraigT78 said:
In the late 90's I was stationed in San Diego - as I was under 21 we went to Mexico every weekend. We literally had to walk through a one way turnstile to enter the country. Our return was almost as easy - stand in line and show our military ID on the way back. It was harder to get in and out of an amusement park - now I hear rumors that those stationed in San Diego aren't even allowed in Mexico. It's a shame - so many good times were had there.
Click to expand...
Makes me think of the border scenes from "No Country for Old Men". Gosh I love that movie.

Growing up in the 80's in Metro Detroit partying in Canada (and the Windsor Ballet) was a rite of passage. We actually used fake id's in Windsor to make ourselves 19 when we were 17, I don't think that nonsense would fly today.
 
One Eyed Dollar said:
When I was in college in the 90s, I went to the Canadian side of the Boundary Waters (Quetico), no passport, just my driver's license. Got back home and immediately left the next day for a trip to Florida with some friends. I got to the airport and realized that my license was still in my camping gear. No problem, they let me use my student ID to check in and board the plane. I don't think that would work any more.
Click to expand...

So strange as this sounds nowadays, about three weeks ago my 21 year old son was flying from Albq to New Orleans. Its a four hour drive from where we live to the airport, and on the way he stopped an bought some gas and cigarettes, which he needed to show his ID for. So he cruises on, gets to the gate, and realizes he left his drivers license at the store, 2 hours away. He calls us, and we drive over to get his license, thinking he is going to miss his plane. He calls us back in about an hour and says they cleared him, it just took a supervisor. He had nothing else on him but a debit card. I was amazed. We got his license, mailed it to where he was going, so he had it for the return trip.

Flash forward to Monday of this week. He goes to get his passport and his passport card at the PO in Taos NM. He has his old passport, his drivers license (from Oklahoma, but still valid), his SS card, and his birth certificate. The agent at the PO tells him that since his license is from out of state they need another form of ID. WTF, passport is federal, not state dependent, so wtf again. He points out she has his old passport with his photo on it, but its expired so she won't accept that. He then gives her his SS card, but its not good enough. He then gives her his birth certificate, still not good enough. Finally, he pulls out the only other thing he has that has his name on it - his debit card - and voila, that's good enough.

That's some magic debit card.
 
Poker Zombie said:
I thought it was only my group that used that term... I guess it was more universal than I thought.

Also, the number of times it was used to make the trip sound cultural, and now I realize we weren't fooling anybody. :oops:
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The popular spot near St. Louis is the Sauget (saw-jay) Ballet, which has a great sound to it. So it's even more universal than Windsor.
 
I've been traveling international since I was a kid in the 80s, hit 24 countries so far in North/Central America, Europe, Africa and one in the Middle East. I have not been any where as oppressive as Saudi Arabia, although I almost won a project there once, but some were close. I can certainly say you really can't understand your own country's politics, freedoms and culture until you spend some time on the outside looking in. Otherwise its like trying to see your own nose without a mirror. I think one of the things that really made the Greatest Generation so great and so progressive was not just their deep sacrifice but that so many spent time abroad and all really understood the interconnection of the world and how thin the line between having and losing rights is.

If I were king (yes I know I am being contradictory) one of the fist things I'd do is require all youth to do service. They can have the choice of military, an Americore style program or a Peace Corp style program, but they have to do it for at least a year. Get them out, make them learn about other cultures, even if it is the American South verse New England.
 
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On our recent trip to Cuba, my wife was flagged for additional interrogation. They took her passport and completely emptied her purse and bag for a thorough search. After a series of questions she was finally cleared for entry. Apparently she shares a name with an IRA terrorist from the 80's or 90's.
 
k9dr said:
On our recent trip to Cuba, my wife was flagged for additional interrogation. They took her passport and completely emptied her purse and bag for a thorough search. After a series of Britequestions she was finally cleared for entry. Apparently she shares a name with an IRA terrorist from the 80's or 90's.
Click to expand...

My brother's been in the same predicament. He travels a lot for work, and he said he was on the "do not fly" list. Pulled out of the line and searched every time. I think eventually he got that fast pass thing from TSA.
 

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