The Bliss of International Travel
Submitted by Bruce Buck on Thu, 06/12/2008 - 5:07pm.
OK, that title is an oxymoron, but I thought that it had an element of dark humor. International travel is fraught with potholes, pitfalls and the possibility of massive inconvenience. Let me share a few examples of "Disasters I Have Known." Feel free to add your own below.
On a dove hunt to Honduras some years ago one of our party was traveling on an Iron Curtain passport. The immigration official behind the chicken-wire barricade said that he needed a visa to enter. Such a visa was lacking. Feeling that a good offence [sic] was the best defense, our intrepid traveler started to browbeat his opponent. The upshot, as expected, was that we left to go shoot doves and our companion was required to remain in semi-scenic Tegucigalpa restricted to the hotel. Lesson learned? Not quite. The hotel had a casino, and the erstwhile dove shooter managed to win unconscionable amounts of his host country's money before joining us on the trip home. There is no justice.
We all have stories of traveling with guns. Gone are the days when you could just hand your trusty shootin' iron to the pilot and retrieve it on landing. Now it's such a pain that there is a real temptation just to borrow guns from outfitters rather than bring your own. But there are risks.
One time, for a Spanish trip, the outfitter assured me that he had a very nice pair of guns for me to use and that I didn't need to bring my own. I naively took him at his word. Unfortunately, the guns turned out to be stocked for one of Snow White's little buddies. The first shot would have resulted in self-rhinoplasty. Fortunately, I'd packed a roll of masking tape as a precaution and, with the aid of some cardboard, was able to cobble up inelegant stock adjustments that more or less worked. The Boy Scouts are right: Be prepared. Don't forget the spare shoelaces, tape and Immodium.
Finally, when traveling, remember that honesty may not be entirely the best policy. Leave a little wiggle room. On a recent trip to Namibia, one of our group of gun writers made the mistake of telling the truth. The immigration form demanded to know the traveler's "profession" and "purpose of visit." Most of us dissembled with "retired" or, more accurately for gun writers, "unemployed," with the purpose of visit being a "holiday." One of our number confessed to "journalist on assignment."
Well, "journalist on assignment" hit the governmental fan. In many countries when foreigners go there to work, they need working papers. Because some governments actually consider writing to be work and there were no working papers in evidence, we spent the next four hours immersed in the questionable ambience of the Windhoek International Airport as our compatriot made the rounds of the cheerless Namibian bureaucracy. I'm sure there is a moral here somewhere.
Got any good shooting travel stories you care to share?
That's it for now. Boots off. Beer open.
On a dove hunt to Honduras some years ago one of our party was traveling on an Iron Curtain passport. The immigration official behind the chicken-wire barricade said that he needed a visa to enter. Such a visa was lacking. Feeling that a good offence [sic] was the best defense, our intrepid traveler started to browbeat his opponent. The upshot, as expected, was that we left to go shoot doves and our companion was required to remain in semi-scenic Tegucigalpa restricted to the hotel. Lesson learned? Not quite. The hotel had a casino, and the erstwhile dove shooter managed to win unconscionable amounts of his host country's money before joining us on the trip home. There is no justice.
We all have stories of traveling with guns. Gone are the days when you could just hand your trusty shootin' iron to the pilot and retrieve it on landing. Now it's such a pain that there is a real temptation just to borrow guns from outfitters rather than bring your own. But there are risks.
One time, for a Spanish trip, the outfitter assured me that he had a very nice pair of guns for me to use and that I didn't need to bring my own. I naively took him at his word. Unfortunately, the guns turned out to be stocked for one of Snow White's little buddies. The first shot would have resulted in self-rhinoplasty. Fortunately, I'd packed a roll of masking tape as a precaution and, with the aid of some cardboard, was able to cobble up inelegant stock adjustments that more or less worked. The Boy Scouts are right: Be prepared. Don't forget the spare shoelaces, tape and Immodium.
Finally, when traveling, remember that honesty may not be entirely the best policy. Leave a little wiggle room. On a recent trip to Namibia, one of our group of gun writers made the mistake of telling the truth. The immigration form demanded to know the traveler's "profession" and "purpose of visit." Most of us dissembled with "retired" or, more accurately for gun writers, "unemployed," with the purpose of visit being a "holiday." One of our number confessed to "journalist on assignment."
Well, "journalist on assignment" hit the governmental fan. In many countries when foreigners go there to work, they need working papers. Because some governments actually consider writing to be work and there were no working papers in evidence, we spent the next four hours immersed in the questionable ambience of the Windhoek International Airport as our compatriot made the rounds of the cheerless Namibian bureaucracy. I'm sure there is a moral here somewhere.
Got any good shooting travel stories you care to share?
That's it for now. Boots off. Beer open.
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