Peter Watts reports that his experiences with Australian border guards were very pleasant. Also there are some rather nice photos, including the “Squid Overlords” t-shirt.
Travel
More Shuttle Weirdness
You may remember that Kevin and I were very unhappy with the airport shuttle in Melbourne. Sadly Sydney was no better.
Kevin had a very early morning flight to Melbourne to connect up with his international flight. He was booked on the 5:10 shuttle. Much to his annoyance, the shuttle driver did not stop at the hotel but instead raced past. Fortunately the hotel staff were able to call and get him to come back. Kevin tells me that the driver berated him for not having been obviously waiting on the sidewalk.
Being forewarned, I planned to be where I needed to be for my pickup, but I still nearly missed the shuttle because he was 10 minutes early. He did actually come into the lobby and look for me, which is just as well. My bags were just being collected by the concierge and I was able to go immediately.
The driver then started demanding money from me. I showed him my hotel bill that clearly said I had paid for the shuttle pick-up. He said they should have given me a ticket. I said I wasn’t paying twice. Eventually I wrote a note to the hotel to say the driver had picked me up and needed some sort of documentation to say that I had paid. This seemed to satisfy him.
As we continued around the city it because obvious that the driver, a middle-aged Chinese guy, was under serious time constraints. He rushed everywhere. His standard practice was to roll past the hotel tooting his horn, and stop if anyone with bags waved at him. He seemed not to have any list of expected passengers. If no one was around he would stop, race into the hotel, yell something, and race back.
I got the impression that his schedule was very fluid and that the dispatcher could add stops at any time. This must have played havoc with the poor guy’s schedule.
On our way out of the city we experienced what could have been a scene out of The Windup Girl, with the Australian dispatcher berating the driver for not stopping at a hotel, and the driver swearing that he had and that there had been no one there.
In the end, despite the manic nature of the journey, it took over an hour to get me to the airport, compared to the advertised 45 minutes.
I was very unimpressed with the way the shuttle operation was run. It seemed very disorganized, and focused on maximizing the number of pick-ups rather than providing a service to passengers. There was no proper booking system.
Sydney does have an airport train. It is a bit more expensive than the shuttle, and our hotel was around 10 minutes walk through busy city-center streets from the nearest station, but both of us would probably have been better off using the train. Had we been able to travel together the extra cost of a taxi would probably have been justified.
My Terrorist Resume Expands
As most of you will know, I am already persona on grata in the USA, and regarded with deep suspicion in New Zealand. Now, for entirely different reasons, I have managed to upset the security services in Australia. Here’s what happened.
When I checked my bags in with Thai Airways for my trip back to London I did the usual thing of warning the check-in person that there was this big lump of metal in my suitcase that might cause alarm when the bag was scanned. I have done this before, and was not unduly worried. The check-in lady didn’t seem worried either.
Having got airside, I found somewhere to get lunch and get online because I had run out of Internet access at the hotel before I could re-synch my iPhone with the UK SIM. (For some stupid reason Apple requires you to register any new SIM via iTunes, you can’t do it direct from the phone.) I had just done that when the PA paged me, asking me to come to my gate urgently.
Yes, it was the Hugo. It had turned up on the scan of my suitcase, and a small panic was going on. The lady who had checked me in was at the gate and confirmed that I had warned her about it in advance. Also, as I was online, I was able to pull up the Hugo Awards web site, and a nice picture of me holding my trophy (thank you, Tom Becker). The gate staff were impressed and congratulated me on my good fortune. Unfortunately the airport security people were not so friendly, and insisted on having me come and see them personally. I was dispatched off in the care of one of the airport staff, and that’s when things started to get weird.
My minder, Tony, wasn’t sure where my bag was being held, and got on the radio asking which lift he should bring me down on. The baggage staff denied all knowledge of the problem. Tony explained that someone in security wanted my luggage examined. The baggage staff said they could not find my luggage. Poor Tony was getting very embarrassed. As I had my laptop open to be able to show the pictures, I was able to tweet the whole process.
After some time, and considerably wandering around from one lift shaft to another, two airport security people came and found us, and escorted us to where they said the suitcase was waiting for me. Right up to the last moment Tony was saying I’d just need to open the bag and show the Hugo to the security guys. Then he opened a door and we were greeted by five burly policemen. At that point I knew I was in trouble and stopped tweeting.
Here’s what appears to have been going on. Firstly the check-in lady did not pass my comments about the Hugo in the bag on to security (the Thai Airways staff admitted to this). Secondly, having found the Hugo (which I must say lights up magnificently on the scans – I saw a print-out), the security people did not check with the airline, they called the police. And the police, having got involved, were determined to treat the whole incident as a potential terrorist threat.
What this meant for me was two-fold. Firstly my explanation was now worthless. I was now in “guilty until proven innocent” territory, and the only thing that would satisfy the police was seeing and examining the suspect object for themselves. Secondly I got the “good cop, bad cop” treatment. One of them was very sorry for the inconvenience; another kept asking me leading questions in the hope that I’d trip up on one and give them cause to arrest me.
Thankfully, compared to the Americans, these guys were amateurs. American security people always ask you questions that they know the answer to because they have your records in front of them, but you can’t answer unless you have perfect recall for dates and places.
Looking back on it, the confusion as to where my bag was being held could have been more poor communication, but it could also have been a deliberate delaying tactic to allow the police time to get on the scene. I’ll never know about that one.
After some rigmarole — the police would not open the case themselves, but were nervous of letting me do it in case I had a weapon in there — we got the Hugo out, and removed from the bubble wrap the that nice folks at Galaxy Books had put on it. That, it appeared, was sufficient to prove that it was not going to go boom while the plane was in flight, and I was allowed to re-pack my bag and head back to the gate (via extensive re-screening of my hand luggage and person, just in case).
I should note that the airline staff were very apologetic and helpful. They were upset about the creeping security culture in their country. Also all of my previous encounters with the Aussie authorities have been very positive. Last year I arrived in Melbourne with a cold at the height on the Swine Flu panic, and later that trip I had to have my boots cleaned for fear I had picked up Elf Cooties on my visit to Rivendell. The people I had dealt with then had been very friendly. But I guess security paranoia gets to every country in the end, even Australia.
I was rather worried that my bags might not make it onto the flight (I got back to the gate with minutes to spare). I was also very concerned that I’d have to go through the same rigmarole changing planes in Bangkok. Thankfully all my fears came to naught, and the suitcase and Hugo arrived safely at baggage claim in Heathrow.
Now I only have one question remaining. Has anything been put on my immigration records in Australia about this? I guess I’ll only be able to find out by trying to go back.
A Day in the Rainforest
Today Kevin and I took the train up to Kuranda, a village in the rainforest in the mountains above Cairns. We have ridden on one of the world’s great scenic railways, communed with fruit bats, eaten kangaroo pie, found a zoo dedicated to all things poisonous in Australia, and hung around with some exceptionally beautiful butterflies. Kevin took a lot of photos, which I will process eventually. For now here’s a detail from one of them.
Shuttle Trouble
Some of you may have seen me tweet about a problem getting to Melbourne airport this morning. Here’s the full story.
Kevin and I were booked on the shuttle service that advertises hotel runs “from $15” from the airport. In our case the cost was a bit more — $35 return each — but it was a lot cheaper than a cab. On Sunday we phoned up and booked our return trip for an 11:05am flight. We were told we’d be picked up at 9:00am.
By 9:10am we were getting a bit worried, so we phoned the shuttle company and were directed to the small print on the ticket which said they might be up to 20 minutes late. This was not disastrous, but we did have things to do at the airport before checking in, and had we known about this we would have booked an earlier pickup.
By 9:25am there was still no sign of the shuttle, and the hotel staff were clearly concerned. We took a cab, which cost us $52. We passed what we think was the shuttle van shortly after leaving the hotel, so we might have been OK had we waited, but we could not take the chance.
As it was we got to the airport on time, and the queues were short, but we were not pleased. If you are still in Melbourne and are booked with that company I suggest you tell them that your flight is at least half an hour earlier than it actually is.
Because People Are Asking…
Firstly, it is highly unlikely that putting me on program, or even another Hugo nomination, would be sufficient to get me a visa to the USA for Reno. The State Department has already made it very clear that they see no value in the (non-profit) work I do for the SF community, and this would be more of the same.
Secondly, applying for the visa, with the attendant need to clear my name, would cost at least $7,000, possibly a lot more. Immigration lawyers do not work for free.
Finally, I have pretty much only one shot at this. If I apply again and get turned down again them I can probably kiss goodbye to any chance of getting back to the US. Therefore, even if you can find a lawyer who will work for free, or somehow raise the money, I would be unwilling to roll the dice at this point.
And you know, if people have that much money to throw around, I can think of much better causes than my travel budget.
The right thing to do — for me, for Reno and for other conventions — is to make better use of the Internet in doing online programming.
Arriving in Melbourne #aus4
I am typing this blog post from my room in the Melbourne airport Hilton, looking out at the International Terminal. I spent a little time this morning wandering around checking things out. Here are some things you may find useful.
The Arrivals area on the ground floor is fairly sparse. However, if you need to buy things, take the travelator (one at either end of the building) to Departures where there are plenty of shops and restaurants. There’s a luggage store that sells plug adapters, and a duty free store that has unlocked Nokia 5030 handsets on sale for AU$50 (+tax as you are not on your way out, so around $AU56 in total).
In the Arrivals area, where the Vodafone rental store used to be, there is now an Optus store. You can buy a SIM for your phone. I have put one in my iPhone, so I hope to be able to tweet freely throughout the convention.
The transport services now include a shared shuttle direct to hotels “from AU$15”. I saw CHip Hitchock & Davey Snyder catching one.
There is a Left Luggage service located on the Arrivals level at the end closest to the QANTAS Domestic terminal (T1).
And finally, there is a coffee shop chain in Australia called Gloria Jean’s. (There’s one in T1.) They donate a lot of money to a right-wing fundamentalist Christian group. Please bear that in mind when deciding where to get a drink.
If you have any questions, ask them in comments and I’ll try to find answers. I’ll be here until mid-day tomorrow.
Asking The Right Questions
As those of you on Twitter will have seen, I made it safely into Melbourne yesterday. There were no hassles getting into the country. This was all down to very slight differences in wording on the landing cards.
The Australian landing card has a question that asks whether you have any criminal convictions. That was no problem. I could answer “No” very happily.
The New Zealand landing card’s question asks whether you have any criminal convictions, or have been deported from any country. That one I had to answer “Yes” to. (And for the benefit of those of you who said that being denied entry and being deported are not the same thing, I can assure from my conversation with the immigration people in New Zealand that for the purposes of that question they are.)
The important difference here is that Australia’s question applies only to events that require a decision of a court of law. The New Zealand question also includes events that can result from an arbitrary decision by a single border guard based solely on his hunch that you are lying about your purpose for visiting his country.
There are two points worth noting here. The first is that Australia has an electronic visa system that all potential visitors must use before they depart. This, in theory, screens out the people that New Zealand is trying to catch with the extra question. However, it doubtless cost a lot of money to establish. New Zealand is a much smaller country that may not be able to afford such a system.
The other point is that many of you are probably thinking, “well why should you worry, you are obviously not a threat to any country.” If you are white, middle-class and otherwise unremarkable you probably have an expectation of being treated fairly by those in authority. However, if you are, say, black, Muslim, a transsexual, or representative of any other group that is unpopular in Western society, you will have an expectation of being arbitrarily discriminated against by those in authority. That’s just the way the world is.
From my point of view I am perfectly happy to keep coming back to Australia. Once I have the necessary e-visa I can book my ticket with confidence that I will be let in. New Zealand is another matter. From now on every time I visit I will be subject to the same lottery with immigration officials. I can’t be sure until I get there whether I will be let in. That makes me very reluctant to try to go there, and I’m very sad about that.
A Close Run Thing
So, here I am in Wellington, by the skin of my teeth. When I got on the plane from Sydney I discovered, to my horror, that the NZ landing form asks you if you have ever been denied entry to any other country. You can’t lie when answering such questions there days — you never know what information might get shared between countries. So I spent a very nervous half hour or so being grilled by NZ immigration people. Thankfully they let me in. I’ll have more to say about this when I have had time to calm down and am less busy, but for now I’m just very happy to be here.
In Transit: Singapore via A380
I have arrived safely in Singapore and am making use of the free wi-fi at Changi Airport. I have a 6 hour layover here so there’s plenty of time to catch up on the world.
The most interesting thing about the trip thus far is that for the first time I have got to fly on an A380. When I first heard about these things I was a bit worried about load times, but with separate jetways for the upper and lower decks it works well enough.
I was in cattle class as the back of the main deck – my United points might have got me a free flight but my status counts for nothing on Singapore. The space was pretty much what I’m used to from flying on 747s and 777s. For someone Kevin’s size it would be cramped.
Of course if you can afford business class the seats are very spacious. First class has lie-flat beds. And if that isn’t luxurious enough for you then you can rent a cabin. Seriously. Singapore claim to be the only airline offering that.
The food was much better than I’m used to from United. Actually that’s very faint praise; a trip to Taco Bell would be better than United’s food, but Singapore’s food was pretty good, with some Nice Asian options. I particularly enjoyed the seafood and egg noodles for breakfast, which included a small piece of red chili. Just what I needed to wake me up.
But where the A380 really scores is in the entertainment system. There were 120 movies on offer, in a variety of languages. There were similar numbers of TV programs, including plays, ballet and concerts. Personally I could have spent the entire time sampling the music collection, which was vast and included a lot of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian and other Asian bands I had never heard of. Lots of Tokyopop, of course. Kevin would have loved it.
There were a few audiobooks on offer too, including Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science.
Not only that, but the system comes complete with a collection of plugs for attaching your own equipment. If I hadn’t packed the USB cable in my checked bag I could have hooked up my MP3 player through the plane’s audio system and had all of my own music available too.
The iPhone doesn’t work that way because Apple’s directory system isn’t supported, but you can use the USB socket to power your iPhone or iPad during the flight.
All in all I was very pleased with the A380. I’m hoping I get one on the trip Sydney too.
There’s My Flying Car!
One of the first articles I bought for Clarkesworld was this one, which looks at the real-world possibilities for favorite science-fiction vehicles such as flying cars and jet-packs. Amongst the prototypes featured were the Transition from Terrafugia. The good news is that the FAA has finally given approval for it to go on sale. Production models should be available towards the end of 2011. The price is a cool $194,000, but the company claims to already have taken orders for 70 of them. Verily, we are living in the future.
Because I Can
I am in a cafe at Temple Meads station in Bristol. The MiFi is working very well. This is a great relief.
Also I have been photographing steam trains. There will be evidence in Twitter shortly.
Baggage Handling
Now that I am finally moved into the cottage I can start thinking about getting my own life sorted out. One of the main outstanding issues is that I still have a lot of stuff in California. Kevin wants to move into somewhere smaller, and I’d rather not lose a pile of favorite clothes, so I’d like to get some of it back here. I can’t go myself, and Kevin doesn’t have the time, so we’d appreciate some help.
If you happen to be traveling between San Francisco and London in the near future, and do not mind taking some extra baggage, please get in touch. We can arrange meeting people at airports, and can pay checked baggage fees within reason. I promise I won’t ask you to carry lots of heavy books. Any help would be much appreciated.
Some Immigration Links
Those of you who have been asking what you can do to help me get back to the US, here’s a possible solution. A bill going through Congress will (if it passes) establish a new category of entrepreneur visa. So if anyone is willing to loan me $250,000 to start a business…
Yeah, right. But it is cheaper than the $1m I’d have to raise myself, so I had to ask.
On a more depressing note, here’s someone else from our community who got into trouble at a border.
And even more depressing, the UK government is being taken to court over what appears to be deliberate discrimination against LGBT asylum seekers.
Some People Just Can’t be Helped
Somewhat to my surprise, I got email today from United asking me to check in for my flight back to the UK. I checked with my account and they clearly have me flying back in March and have credited me with the mileage. It seemed obvious to me that there’s a problem with their computer system, and that they still have me listed on today’s flight. Given that this will cause confusion at the gate, and that fact that I’m still booked on the flight might mean that a desperately needed seat to the UK can’t be used, I figured I’d better phone them and let them know.
To my astonishment, the United agent I spoke to was unable to understand why I was calling. No, I was not asking for a refund. No, I did not want to re-book the flight. I just wanted to let them know that they might have an expected passenger not turning up, and a seat they could sell. I was trying to be helpful. This, apparently, was much too complicated an idea for the agent to cope with.
I you are in need of a seat from SFO to London, I’m sorry, I tried.
At Least Someone Wants Me
Today I applied for, and was granted, an electronic visitor visa for Australia. I can now book flights to Worldcon. This is a great relief to me.
It does remind me, however, that pretty much everyone traveling to Australia for Worldcon will need a visa of some sort. Getting it is generally very easy. You can apply online, and in most cases they will respond the same day. See here for more information.
Immigration in Europe
On of the depressing things about my recent troubles with US immigration has been the number of people who have assumed that this is a uniquely American phenomenon, and that every other country in the world treats travelers and prospective immigrants fairly. This, I’m sorry to say, is rubbish. Indeed, one of the reasons why I and other white, middle-class people are suddenly having trouble with the US is that the Americans have stopped giving privileged treatment to white, middle-class people and now treat them almost as badly as they treat everyone else.
As to Europe, if you want to know how we treat prospective economic migrants, try this BBC story from last year, or this Guardian story from today.
Mainly, however, I want you to read this, because one of the most shameful aspects of UK immigration policy is their persistent habit of turning away LGBT people who are likely to be executed if they are returned to their “home” countries. This is not just a case of preventing me from attending science fiction conventions, it is all about saving a young woman from at least a savage beating, and quite possibly saving her life. If you want to get mad about what immigration authorities do, sign this petition to help Kiana Firouz now.
Also, if you are in the UK, do not vote Conservative in the coming election. (I’d add don’t vote BNP or UKIP either, but I somehow doubt that anyone planning to do so would read this blog.)
Another US Immigration Story
The eagle-eyed Arnold Akien sent me a link to this story about Indian IT workers with valid H1-B and L-1 visas being denied entry by the CBP. In theory such visas only entitle you to work for a single employer in the USA, but if you are a consultant you will inevitably work for clients on behalf of your employer. That’s the way consultancy works. The CBP appears to have got it into its head that this is a violation of the terms of the visas, and once again are denying entry to legitimate visa holders.
The sad thing is that a lot of this work can probably be done remotely, so in attempting to defend US jobs the CBP is probably only sending them offshore, at a significant cost to the US economy.
A Parallel Experience
This morning friends in New Zealand forwarded me a link to this sorry tale of an experience with US Customs & Border Patrol.
Obviously bekitty had a much worse time of it than I did. As I have said, the CBP officers that I dealt with were very sympathetic. I was very lucky. However, strip away the abuse that gets handed out to suspected illegal immigrants in Los Angeles and you are left with a fairly similar story. Except that bekitty had a perfectly legitimate visa.
This is the sort of problem I am facing. Even if you have a visa, CBP can and will make life difficult for you if you come and go too often. They can and do deny people entry because they suspect them of traveling for purposes other than those stated on their visa. And the key word there is “suspect”. If they suspect you, no matter how wrong they may be, you are guilty until such time as you can go back to your own country and spend a lot of money on lawyers to prove your innocence.
I also note that the visa descriptions are drawn so tightly that it is pretty much impossible to avoid violating their terms if you travel regularly and for more than a few days at a time.
Hopefully this will help explain why I am taking things slowly and carefully. I don’t want to waste any more money on lawyers or plane fares until I’m pretty certain that I will be allowed to travel.
Status Report
Today’s good news is that I have been deemed a suitable person to rent property (many thanks to my accountant, Geoff, for coming through with the requisite references).
The bad news is that I can’t move in until April 26th. However, I think I am OK for places to stay between now and then. Also it gives me time to sort out the utilities, get my broadband service moved, and go back to Darkest Somerset to pack stuff. I don’t have a lot of belongings in the UK, but a lot of what I do have is books and there’s more than I can easily transport by train. This may involve bribing someone who has a large vehicle at some point.
I’m afraid that there will not be a house-warming party. The entire ground floor of my new home could fit into the lounge/diner of our apartment in California, so there’s not really room for parties. Indeed, as the dining table will be permanently devoted to being an office desk, and be covered in computer equipment, even having friends to dinner would be difficult. Afternoon tea is about the best I can manage.
Also there is no spare bed, not enough room on the floor for a sleeping bag, and the sofa is only long enough to sleep Hobbits. Sorry.
One of the best things about the place (aside from the low rent) is that it is very fully furnished. I won’t need to buy anything, although knowing me I will start to invest in stuff like kitchen equipment. After all, if I am going to have to stay in the UK, I will need to furnish an apartment sometime in the not too distant future (hopefully next year). My first priority will be a good wok.
As for the visa situation, I have explained my problem to several immigration lawyers. None of them have yet got back to me. This does not surprise me, but neither is it very encouraging. I continue to expect that I will not be able to get back into the US without a very good reason and/or a very large sum of money to spend. What I need to do is work on generating those things.