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Phil Dennis-Jordan 😷

Almost precisely 11 years ago, on 21st January 2014, my wife and I travelled to the US as part of our epic honeymoon adventure.
We weren’t flying in, but travelling on the Amtrak Cascades from Vancouver BC to Seattle WA.
It was a nice enough journey along the coast, although being late afternoon/early evening in January, the light was failing, so I have no photos after departure.
What sticks out as most memorable in my mind though, was the border control - US CBP booths on the platform. (🧵 1/3)

A young man - me, aged 29 - standing on a low station platform directly next to an Amtrak cab car/driving trailer, number 468. It is dusk, and I am wearing a winter coat. The train appears enormous, its floor and headlights roughly level with my head. The livery is swirling white and dark green.
Amtrak locomotive 196 in the foreground, with many passenger carriages behind it, and the station platform just visible to its right. Lights along the platform are reflecting brightly off the side of the train. In the far background, a high rise building can be seen contrasting against the grey-blue sky.
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Phil Dennis-Jordan 😷

This was a very unusual border crossing for European tourists to be taking, and the border agent said as much. We had also just spent almost 5 months in Canada, in Autumn and Winter no less. Again, pretty weird. Nevertheless, the exchange was friendly, the right paperwork was affixed to our passports, (no ESTA for land-based entry then) and off we went.
This was in stark contrast to the exchange taking place at the adjacent booth.
(🧵 2/3)

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