The teens claimed CBP targeted them because they hadn’t booked hotels for their entire stay in Hawaii.
“They found it suspicious that we hadn’t fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii,” Pohl said. “We wanted to travel spontaneously. Just like we had done in Thailand and New Zealand.”
Is it that common? How do they handle backpackers?
I’ve literally never gone on a single multi-week vacation in my entire life with fully booked accommodation for the whole thing. I book the majority of the first week and I know when I’m flying back, but in between I’m mostly guided by the wind.
I can’t book hotels in places I don’t know I’ll be going.
I don’t think it is common. I just know it happens.
The process looks like this..
Sort of a good example because it happens to be a traveler going into the United States for vacation, 5 weeks, 1.5k cash, but still denied entry. They always ask for purpose of entry, what itinery looks like, funds, etc.
There’s tons of backpackers, as a one bagger myself, I’ve never had trouble. I think its when you may have limited/no accommodations plus other factors: stories not lining up, limited funds, no/limited knowledge of itinerary, etc. That gets people in trouble. I think most people know where they are going, what for, and how they are going to do it.
Even as a US citizen I’m happy I’m not traveling internationally for a while though. Seems most people are free game regardless to CBP, citizen or not 🤮
It’s not the only thing. It’s a combination of limited/no living accommodations and no income. If you don’t have the income to stay for 5 weeks for example, they will send you back.I’m talking like going to Australia or US with just $500 or something for 5 weeks. I can cite some episodes when I get off work today and you can see the process.
I doubt it’s common. I’ve traveled to Australia and the US (and a bunch of other places) with just a few nights in a hostel booked, sometimes even without a return flight. Might be different if you’ve got a middle eastern name or something like that, but pretty much every backpacker travels this way.
Imagine booking 2 years ahead when you’re on a writing holiday visa, that’s just nuts.
How do people get multi week vacations?
Just book some of your +5 weeks per year together. What, are you American or something?
Double income, single household, no kids. (and even then just barely, i will add)
Or, if you’re talking time wise, live in a country that isn’t run by and for corporations and you can still enjoy some paid time off.
You get a minimum of 24 days paid vacation in Germany. Up 28 days are common.
When I started my last job (big multinational corporation) after an internship, I got 3 weeks of paid vacation right off the bat, with 1 more week every few years, up to a maximum of 7 weeks.
Plus 1 more week if I chose to “buy” a week by estimating the vacation I would accrue throughout the remainder of the year and subtracting 1 week’s pay from that.
A few years back my 19 yo American son had a great experience working the summer as a camp counselor here in the states. It is a religious camp (not that my son is that religion) that draws in campers from the states and Europe. Many of those campers as they get older come back as counselors. They get the appropriate visas, make money working the camp for 8 weeks, then take the few weeks after camp before they have to leave and blow that money on traveling the States and their trip home. It was an incredible experience and inspired my son to bust his ass, save money, and a few years later took a self funded trip to Europe where he couch surfed these homes of the friends he made.
I think about those kids this year. There’s no way I’d risk traveling back to this shit hole country if I were them.