Bloody hell.... we're here!
Jun 7th 2010, 4:16 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2009
Location: Charleston SC
Posts: 222
Bloody hell.... we're here!
Just check out my location <-- 
PoE Sanford, FL last friday. In my mind I was expecting all kinds of bells, whistles, sirens, guns when we turned up, but in reality the experience was so laid back we almost high fived the ladies on the 'nothing to declare' channel on the way out. Got straight through the citizens/permanent resident line without any fingerprints or photographs and taken to a waiting area at secondary behind the lines.
A couple in one of the offices around the waiting area weren't having as good a time as us though.... We could hear loud voices from the office, and then the customs officer came out of the room threatening to arrest the guy he'd been interviewing. Cue another four customs blokes coming to see what the fuss was about, very quickly! It sounded like the guy in the room had a Liverpool accent, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me. End result, despite his girlfriend/wife/partner trying to placate the customs guy by calling him 'darling' (wrong move, just made the situation worse), was they could either leave on the next plane, or be arrested for threatening the officer. From the general gist of the conversation, it was only his 'ass' they were going to arrest, so I guess things work differently around here
They obviously failed the attitude test with a vengance.
That situation calmed down (Liverpool pun intended) and I went to a back office to be fingerprinted (ink, not digital), sign both sides of a form, get my passport stamped, and that was it! (Luckily I spotted the stamp was set to May 4th instead of June 4th so the officer amended that and initialled it). I got the 'welcome to America' handshake and thanked the officer for being a gentleman and we were on our way.....
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
PoE Sanford, FL last friday. In my mind I was expecting all kinds of bells, whistles, sirens, guns when we turned up, but in reality the experience was so laid back we almost high fived the ladies on the 'nothing to declare' channel on the way out. Got straight through the citizens/permanent resident line without any fingerprints or photographs and taken to a waiting area at secondary behind the lines. A couple in one of the offices around the waiting area weren't having as good a time as us though.... We could hear loud voices from the office, and then the customs officer came out of the room threatening to arrest the guy he'd been interviewing. Cue another four customs blokes coming to see what the fuss was about, very quickly! It sounded like the guy in the room had a Liverpool accent, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me. End result, despite his girlfriend/wife/partner trying to placate the customs guy by calling him 'darling' (wrong move, just made the situation worse), was they could either leave on the next plane, or be arrested for threatening the officer. From the general gist of the conversation, it was only his 'ass' they were going to arrest, so I guess things work differently around here
They obviously failed the attitude test with a vengance.That situation calmed down (Liverpool pun intended) and I went to a back office to be fingerprinted (ink, not digital), sign both sides of a form, get my passport stamped, and that was it! (Luckily I spotted the stamp was set to May 4th instead of June 4th so the officer amended that and initialled it). I got the 'welcome to America' handshake and thanked the officer for being a gentleman and we were on our way.....
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
Jun 7th 2010, 4:32 am
#2
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Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Posts: 4,525
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Just check out my location <-- PoE Sanford, FL last friday. In my mind I was expecting all kinds of bells, whistles, sirens, guns when we turned up, but in reality the experience was so laid back we almost high fived the ladies on the 'nothing to declare' channel on the way out. Got straight through the citizens/permanent resident line without any fingerprints or photographs and taken to a waiting area at secondary behind the lines.
A couple in one of the offices around the waiting area weren't having as good a time as us though.... We could hear loud voices from the office, and then the customs officer came out of the room threatening to arrest the guy he'd been interviewing. Cue another four customs blokes coming to see what the fuss was about, very quickly! It sounded like the guy in the room had a Liverpool accent, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me. End result, despite his girlfriend/wife/partner trying to placate the customs guy by calling him 'darling' (wrong move, just made the situation worse), was they could either leave on the next plane, or be arrested for threatening the officer. From the general gist of the conversation, it was only his 'ass' they were going to arrest, so I guess things work differently around here They obviously failed the attitude test with a vengance.
That situation calmed down (Liverpool pun intended) and I went to a back office to be fingerprinted (ink, not digital), sign both sides of a form, get my passport stamped, and that was it! (Luckily I spotted the stamp was set to May 4th instead of June 4th so the officer amended that and initialled it). I got the 'welcome to America' handshake and thanked the officer for being a gentleman and we were on our way.....
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
PoE Sanford, FL last friday. In my mind I was expecting all kinds of bells, whistles, sirens, guns when we turned up, but in reality the experience was so laid back we almost high fived the ladies on the 'nothing to declare' channel on the way out. Got straight through the citizens/permanent resident line without any fingerprints or photographs and taken to a waiting area at secondary behind the lines. A couple in one of the offices around the waiting area weren't having as good a time as us though.... We could hear loud voices from the office, and then the customs officer came out of the room threatening to arrest the guy he'd been interviewing. Cue another four customs blokes coming to see what the fuss was about, very quickly! It sounded like the guy in the room had a Liverpool accent, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me. End result, despite his girlfriend/wife/partner trying to placate the customs guy by calling him 'darling' (wrong move, just made the situation worse), was they could either leave on the next plane, or be arrested for threatening the officer. From the general gist of the conversation, it was only his 'ass' they were going to arrest, so I guess things work differently around here
They obviously failed the attitude test with a vengance.That situation calmed down (Liverpool pun intended) and I went to a back office to be fingerprinted (ink, not digital), sign both sides of a form, get my passport stamped, and that was it! (Luckily I spotted the stamp was set to May 4th instead of June 4th so the officer amended that and initialled it). I got the 'welcome to America' handshake and thanked the officer for being a gentleman and we were on our way.....
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
Jun 7th 2010, 5:19 am
#3
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Milwaukie, Oregon
Posts: 9,965
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Welcome to the USA
Jun 7th 2010, 6:07 am
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: North Charleston,SC. born in Stockport,UK.
Posts: 10,109
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
YAY! glad you guys made it ok! We are here too, pretty hectic 5 days, will hopefuly have furniture delivered and all done by Tuesday PM.
As soon as my PC is hooked up and ready to go, I will be back with the high/low lights!
As soon as my PC is hooked up and ready to go, I will be back with the high/low lights!
Jun 7th 2010, 7:38 am
#5
Spouse of Resident Alien
Joined: May 2010
Location: cloud cuckoo land
Posts: 241
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Just check out my location <-- PoE Sanford, FL last friday. In my mind I was expecting all kinds of bells, whistles, sirens, guns when we turned up, but in reality the experience was so laid back we almost high fived the ladies on the 'nothing to declare' channel on the way out. Got straight through the citizens/permanent resident line without any fingerprints or photographs and taken to a waiting area at secondary behind the lines.
A couple in one of the offices around the waiting area weren't having as good a time as us though.... We could hear loud voices from the office, and then the customs officer came out of the room threatening to arrest the guy he'd been interviewing. Cue another four customs blokes coming to see what the fuss was about, very quickly! It sounded like the guy in the room had a Liverpool accent, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me. End result, despite his girlfriend/wife/partner trying to placate the customs guy by calling him 'darling' (wrong move, just made the situation worse), was they could either leave on the next plane, or be arrested for threatening the officer. From the general gist of the conversation, it was only his 'ass' they were going to arrest, so I guess things work differently around here They obviously failed the attitude test with a vengance.
That situation calmed down (Liverpool pun intended) and I went to a back office to be fingerprinted (ink, not digital), sign both sides of a form, get my passport stamped, and that was it! (Luckily I spotted the stamp was set to May 4th instead of June 4th so the officer amended that and initialled it). I got the 'welcome to America' handshake and thanked the officer for being a gentleman and we were on our way.....
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
PoE Sanford, FL last friday. In my mind I was expecting all kinds of bells, whistles, sirens, guns when we turned up, but in reality the experience was so laid back we almost high fived the ladies on the 'nothing to declare' channel on the way out. Got straight through the citizens/permanent resident line without any fingerprints or photographs and taken to a waiting area at secondary behind the lines. A couple in one of the offices around the waiting area weren't having as good a time as us though.... We could hear loud voices from the office, and then the customs officer came out of the room threatening to arrest the guy he'd been interviewing. Cue another four customs blokes coming to see what the fuss was about, very quickly! It sounded like the guy in the room had a Liverpool accent, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me. End result, despite his girlfriend/wife/partner trying to placate the customs guy by calling him 'darling' (wrong move, just made the situation worse), was they could either leave on the next plane, or be arrested for threatening the officer. From the general gist of the conversation, it was only his 'ass' they were going to arrest, so I guess things work differently around here
They obviously failed the attitude test with a vengance.That situation calmed down (Liverpool pun intended) and I went to a back office to be fingerprinted (ink, not digital), sign both sides of a form, get my passport stamped, and that was it! (Luckily I spotted the stamp was set to May 4th instead of June 4th so the officer amended that and initialled it). I got the 'welcome to America' handshake and thanked the officer for being a gentleman and we were on our way.....
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
Jun 7th 2010, 11:31 am
#6
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Joined: Oct 2002
Location: Atlanta via Dubai, Belgium, Greece, Saudi Arabia
Posts: 953
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Way to go Bonnie Lad, good to see you are getting stuff sorted out quickly, enjoy getting the keys to your 'new home', soon it will feel like it was all worth while.
Jun 7th 2010, 11:55 am
#7
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Thread Starter
Joined: May 2009
Location: Charleston SC
Posts: 222
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Many thanks for all the warm welcomes! Off now for a coffee and doughnut breakfast 
Jun 7th 2010, 1:21 pm
#8
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Joined: Nov 2007
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Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
hi, congrats and best wishes
Jun 7th 2010, 2:58 pm
#9
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 7,605
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Congrats and welcome to the USA. 
Jun 7th 2010, 3:08 pm
#10
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 101
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
The past three days have been a blur of car hire, buying mobiles, hotels, a full day on I95, ordering furniture and eating takeaways with no fork'n knives! (top tip..... eating mashed potato and gravy with the stirrers out of the coffee stuff in the hotel doesn't work). Tomorrow is apartment complex to sign lease, bank to notify change of address and make sure I can pay for the furniture in one card transaction, and call the cable company to make sure we have somewhere to plug our new 50" plasma into! (free {ok, I know} with the rooms to go package)....
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
Currently relaxing with the last glass out of a bottle of Lindemans shiraz at a very nice hotel in north Charleston. Can't wait for the reclining couch (with the optional electric package) to get delivered! Are they really that lazy here, they need a motor to put their feet up! I'll have some of that, thank you
Like you, we arrived (in December) with no furniture or other domestic comforts, but rapidly acquired the necessities in a blur of shopping. Electric recliner? I guess lots of people really are that lazy!
Jun 7th 2010, 3:21 pm
#11
Resident Sillycow
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: Dunwoody, GA!!
Posts: 1,651
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Jun 7th 2010, 6:06 pm
#12
Sursum corda
Joined: Sep 2002
Location: Richmond Hill, GA USA
Posts: 38,860
Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Congrats you're not too far up the road from me. I would've told you to give yourself a break and get off 95 onto 17 when you hit the GA border and relax a bit. But then I drive 95 daily.........
Speed demon!
Jun 7th 2010, 7:13 pm
#14
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Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Jun 7th 2010, 9:02 pm
#15
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Re: Bloody hell.... we're here!
Awh congrats Steve, good to hear it all went smoothly for ya. So we'll be expecting the avatar to change to you in humungous electric chair!!!! 