Martin Hotze wrote:

No, I mean those very fine men and women at the immigration desk of big
airports asking stupid questions to plainloads full of *tourists* who only
want to spend *money* (holidays, you know) in this country.

Well now here we might find some common ground. I feel it is totally
inane to strip search littel old ladies at airports while leaving the
borders essentially open.

And all this
crap already started before bording in Europe. And this was well pre 9-11.
BTDT, but like many others I met (by chance) we now spend our $$ elsewhere.
So for several years now there was no "BTDT", but I heard it got worse. But
this is OK with me. Your country, your rules. Really! (But it would be
great if you would make this more clear overseas.)

Well, in case you haven't noticed... a good percentage of the world
supposedly *hates* the United States. (the reasons are varied and I
won't delve into them now).

Just let us (me) know if anything changes (back to normal) so we (I) might
consider your really beautiful country again for our (my) vacation
destination and maybe for a really nice x-country. I really enjoyed
travelling there. It now would even be a bargain (about 40% cheaper),
compared to (eg) 2002, thanks to the current exchange rate.


It will probably change when most of the rest of the wolrs'd rhetoric
changes from blaming Ameica for every possible ailment of mankind to
appreciating America's efforts in providing assistance from everything
from stopping German dictators to feeding vivtims of Tsunamis.