Tony Delamothe: TED 2004 - The pursuit of happiness
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2004Monterey, USA
Tuesday - What country, friends, is this?
Immigration doesn’t like the look of my visa, the one that entailed queuing twice at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, the second time in a blizzard. I’m sent to a room where they look backwards and forwards at me, my passport, and the supporting documentation regarding the conference and my employers. My first thought, that the officials can’t read, is replaced by another more charitable one: they’re more interested in how I behave than what the documents say. Finally, I’m waved through. How could I avoid a similar problem when next I attempt to enter America? “There’s nothing you can do,” I’m told, “it was a random check. Officer discretion.” Two very ordinary looking British Airways cabin crew are next in line for the third degree. (more…)
