04/25/2026
This video is very important to watch!
I have always declared everything that I bought overseas.
Except for one time when I was flying in from Hong Kong and I bought a package of chicken jerky, the really delicious, sweet kind. And maybe because I bought it at the airport and immediately put it inside my carry-on, i completely forgot about it.
The officer who is a young Filipino guy, asked me very respectfully if I have bought anything that is meat. And I told him I did not.
He asked me about five or six times, “are you sure?”
Finally, I said, just open my luggage you will find there’s nothing there.
As soon as he opened my carry-on, it was right there on top and then it hit me that yes I did buy this jerky!
He saw my face (probably pale), and he said, “ ma’am, i have to fine you $350 because you did not declare it.”
I tried to explain that i never even thought about it and most probably because I used to buy it from Vancouver BC and bring it over to Seattle and had never been questioned.
He said that in that case, I was flying in from Canada and not from China.
The whole year after that I was on probation. Which is horrible because they would take me into a room with others who are in trouble. And they’d keep me there for an hour. Not doing anything. Just sitting watching everyone.
Stressed to the gills.
Ever since then, I am very particular in writing down anything and everything that I bought outside of the US and I am bringing back in.
I have a list on my phone of the item and how much it cost.
I also make sure that for every luggage I check in and including my carry-on, there is a list of what is inside. Because in case I get pulled out for a secondary inspection again, I can tell them exactly what’s in my luggage and which luggage it is in.
