I was hoping for my first post on this blog to be about something good, sadly thats not going to be the case.

Tuesday monrning July 19th I arrived in Seattle airport, stoked, excited, this was going to be the begining of a great adventure and I couldn't wait to get started (I'd been traveling...in seats only, since Sunday evening).

Except that's where it ended.

On passing though passport control they scanned my finger prints and I was asked the usual questions.

Purpose of visit?, where will you be traveling to?, how long will you be here for? how much money do you have or do you have credit cards?

Travel and visiting, Seattle and San Fransisco, maybe New York, a little less than 2 months, $600.

It was the answer to the last question that got a raised eyebrow and a red card put in my passport, and off I went to the corner for further questioning by the Customs and Border Protection(CBP) agents.

Before continuing I would like to mention that during the entire process, most (not all) of the agents were courtious, asking if I needed the bathroom, a glass of water or something to eat. During the later part of my "stay" they had lightened up to the point that they would chat with me. As people they're ok, one guy was an ex marine who had done a tour of Iraq.

One thing you realise when your in the CBP detainment area is that they are serious about electronic devices, there are plenty of signs everywhere and usually when someone is brought in one of the first things the agents ask is "do you have a phone?", people take them out and the phones taken off them. Sometimes they forget, and the agents take the phone off them when the person starts using them. There is (unsurprisingly) no internet and without your phone you're pretty much cut off.

I was put into a small office when the five to six hours questioning began,did I have a credit card? How come I ony had $600? What the hell is bitcoin?

Although I was cash poor I had more than enough bitcoin to cover all the costs of my trip and stay, I was going to be meeting with bitoption later that morning in Seattle, he had $1500 of cash to exchange. I explained this to the agents and then the topic of the questioning turned to how bitcoin worked.

After about an hour of that, they took my iPad and brought back my phone, asked if either of them were locked, and then made copies of what was stored on both. They searched me, and my bags, I was questioned and cross examined on who I would be visiting, what I would be doing, and how I exchange bitcoin for dollars or services , how I got the bitcoins... for hours.

Finally I was informed that I would not be entering the United States on that day, but that I would be able to apply for a visa in the future, and if given should be able to return. I was also informed that my return ticket was going to be used to send me back to China. The agent then put on some rubber gloves, at this I started to get a little panicky but the agent assured me it was for taking finger prints.

They then took some headshots and got some high-def scans of my finger prints.

I then spent the next 12-14 hours on an uncomfortable airport chair (the ones designed to prevent you from lying down) in the detention area, watching the CBP agents doing pretty much the same thing to other passengers (the majority of whom were allowed in).

About 2 hours before my flight I was allowed to make a phone call.

An agent came and escorted me to the plane, handed the steward my passports, and showed me my seat. On arriving in Beijing my passports were given to a Chinese imigration agent, who then escorted me to another detention room where I was questioned for a further 3 hours on why I had been returned from the U.S.

It was 1AM Wednesday 20th July when I was "released", 11AM that day I caught an internal flight to the town I'm living in.

Some details I'd like to include, I had arrived using the Visa Waiver Program, which is an agreement that the U.S. has with a number of countries to allow travel for business or pleasure purposes without a need for a visa for up to three months. Being Irish and British normally I would be able to take advantage of this and I did, but doing so give s the CBP officers the final say on whether you're allowed to enter the country or not (whereas if you've gotten a visa, it can be brough before a judge).

Also the last time I had come to the states was in September 2000, from what I remember is passport control checking your passport, asking the purpose of the visit, and thats it. Things have certainly changed since then, and it coud probably be put down to my nievety that I was not prepared for this.

Also I'd planned to meet Peter at startpad.org's offices on arriving, and the only phone number I had was for startpad.org, but for whatever reason the CBP guys were not able to get an answer. So that didn't help.

Advice:

Bring enough cash or credit cards to cover the cost of your trip upfront, having bitcoin that you could then exchange while in the U.S. is not something they will accept.

Avoid any mention of bitcoin, they don't like it at all.

Have a "friend" in the city you're landing in, have their phone number and have a story worked out with each other before you leave.

If you're not Canadian then go to a U.S. embassy and get a visa (even if you qualify for the visa waiver program), if you get one it makes it a lot more difficult for them to refuse you.

Finally don't lie, they will find out, and they are likely to ban you for life from entering the U.S. ever again.

Nefario.