TRAVELLING. At the Customs

Nowadays people travel a lot either on business or for pleasure. At the airport when crossing the border you must go through the customs and passport control.

First you go to the check-in desk where they weigh your luggage. Usually you are permitted twenty kilos, but if your bags weigh more, you may have to pay excess baggage (= you pay extra). The airline representative checks your ticket and gives you a boarding card for the plane with your seat number on it. Then you go through passport control where an official checks your passport, the customs where you are asked to make a declaration and into the departure lounge. Here, you can also buy things in the duty-free, e.g. perfume, alcohol and cigarettes. About half an hour or forty minutes before take-off, you are told to go to a gate number, e.g. gate fourteen, where you wait before you get on the plane. When you board (= get on) the plane, you find your seat. If you have hand luggage, you can put it under your seat or in the overhead locker above your seat.

The plane then taxis (= moves slowly) towards the runway, and when it has permission to take off, it accelerates along the runway and takes off.

When the plane lands (= arrives on the ground), you have to wait for it to stop (= come to a halt). When the doors are open, you get off the plane and walk through the terminal building and go to the baggage reclaim where you collect your luggage. You then pass through customs (green = nothing to declare; red = goods to declare; blue = European Union citizens).

The immigration officer asks you about the purpose of your visit and checks your passport and viza. If your documents are in order you go through the customs.

Every country has its own customs regulations, which stipulate what articles are liable to duty and what are duty-free. Sometimes an article which falls under customs restrictions and which is liable to duty is allowed to be brought duty-free if you do not exceed a certain fixed quota. These quotas are listed in a duty-free quota list.

Customs restrictions also include a prohibited articles list. This is a list of items which may not be brought into a country or taken out of it. An official paper from the authorities giving permission to take items out of a country is known as an import or export license.

If you have any item, which comes under customs restrictions, you are asked to declare it. The declaration is made either orally or in writing on a special form. As a rule, personal things are duty-free. If you have only your personal things in your suitcase, it is not necessary to open it.

The customs officer marks your luggage and wishes you a good trip.

The formalities at the customs-house usually take some time. Only after passing through the customs you may realize the journey.

If you are lucky, you can then get a bus, taxi or train to the centre of town without waiting too long. You can also hire a car (= rent a car) at most airports.