Warning: cancel your travel plans. The US is not a viable destination anymore.
Read this account by a Canadian professor who was trying to give a lecture in this country.
So much bureaucracy. So much confusion. So many intrusions into privacy. He didn’t make it to his talk, and had to struggle to get out of the us.
Stay home. Don’t come here. Maybe if we overcome these horrible people and make some steps to recover, then we’ll deserve your company.
i have a feeling this guy isn’t a neo-nazi firebrand from fortress evropa, that such a person might have sailed thru the doors unmolested.
Canada’s one of the countries warning their citizens to be careful traveling here. They might consider actively advising against traveling to the US. With any luck the tourism hit will land on some red staters. I realize they’ll be handed some convenient scapegoats but mainly I just want the Trumpkins to suffer for their choices. The rest of us certainly are.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5336792/european-countries-canada-travel-warnings-us
Supposedly Karl Marx’s Das Kapital was passed into Russia, despite strict czarist censorship, because the censor didn’t understand it. I guess the censor figured if he couldn’t understand it, nobody could, therefore harmless.
There was also the report on Bluesky today of some guy flying into Dulles I think, and who reported the airport was essentially empty. People have taken notice.
America will soon be isolated from the rest of the world. At some point the societal structure we are used to will collapse.
There are online articles this morning about green card holders who are reconsidering traveling out of country for fear they’ll be hassled or detained when they return. That’s not an unreasonable fear. When the Border Patrol locks up German, French, and Canadian green card holders for the most specious of reasons, or no reasons at all, you know things have changed. It’s still too early to know if this growing fear will affect the airline industry, but it’s not unreasonable to think it could. It seems that everything that Trump does is like throwing sand in the gears that make this country run. If he’s not a Putin puppet, he sure does a good imitation of one.
How soon will you need an internal passport in America?
Remember Thurber’s ‘The French Far West’ in which the sheriff informed of the arrival of some suspicious strangers says ‘Alors, je vais demander ses cartes d’identite’
we already do, for in-country flights. it’s called “real id.”
Even US Citizens aren’t immune example number (I’m guessing) 25 or 26 now?
A Puerto Rican woman was traveling to the continental states from San Juan, where, you know, all of the residents are both hispanic AND American Citzens.
She was being heavily questioned, even after claiming to be a citizen. They only lightened up when she produced her passport rather than just a ‘real id’ (this was an ICE agent who had witnessed the TSA agent acknowledging the ID and about to let her pass). She says the agent literally called her, ‘someone who looks like she should be deported’.
You can guess what he meant by that, of course.
So yeah, this idea that they’re stopping people randomly just as a matter of quota, just like how TSA was doing the pointless random checks back in the ‘terrorism’ era 20 years ago.
We’ll need special identification for internal travel by air as of 7 May. As Bebe says, it’s called “real ID”. I’ve got mine, but my wife hasn’t gotten one yet — I better nag her to get the application done.
I expect it to be required for rail and bus travel soon enough.
I don’t think you need real ID if you have a passport.
I have both. SFO to HNL and back should be okay.
I love the American people and visit often. I might take a break fir a wee while though.
It seems they really, really want to collapse the tourist sector as well.
Ah well, those friends of mine who visited the US in the last two/three years had a good idea, last chance to see.
Right now I have the impression that those horror stories about random incarceration are having quite an impact in Europe, so: time for redirection. The world is big…
My husband and I are going to have to be in Fort Lauderdale for less than 24 hours in a couple of weeks — flying in, spending the night, leaving the next day — and you can hardly imagine the stress it’s causing us, not knowing what could happen. We’ve repeatedly come close to cancelling the whole trip, which would mean we’d be out thousands of dollars, but we honestly don’t know if it’s worth the risk, or if we’ll just be allowed to sail through without any issues and all this fretting will have been for nothing. We still might cancel. We just don’t know.
We have always enjoyed travel within the US and we’ve met lots of lovely Americans but your government is making things very scary, which I’m sure is the point. I wish you all luck. You’re going to need it.
I think other countries have taken the hint. We (the US) will really feel the affects in the Summer travel season I imagine.
Typical “United” States of America….
I have been hearing the horror stories, but this year there is a once in a life time opportunity for me and my colleagues to attend a conference in the USA. Everything has already been booked, the funding is in place, so it’s pretty hard to pull back now, despite the ominous signs. I guess we’re just gonna take the chance, take our precautions and hope for the best…
I’m getting bombarded with adverts for cheap return flights to the US (£400 from the UK to New York). Do you think they can’t fill those planes for some reason?
I’m a UK citizen now permanently living in Australia and am horrified at what is happening to US democracy. Is there any way, short of civil war, to stop this bunch of crooks and thugs?
Looking at Project 2025, the next thing likely to happen is that elections will be cancelled and other political parties outlawed. Karoline Leavitt and Pam Bondi, amongst others, are saying that judges have no authority to stop the president’s actions. They obviously know that’s bullshit, but I guess they’re assuming that the general public don’t know that and will accept what they say. It’s all very scary because, like it or not, what happens in the US affects all of us.
The main reason I wasn’t getting on planes the last several years was because of COVID. Now, though, after the spate of plane crashes we’ve had, I’ll add that as a reason. I’d prefer to drive 2 days to visit my relatives rather than risk my life and health on a plane. (I’m guessing the reason airports are so empty is that others feel the same way.)
By the way, bassmanpete, if it makes you feel any better, a lot of conservatives are getting riled about the breakdown in law, too. I don’t think it will be enough of them, though. I’m of the opinion that the destruction of the Farm Bill will be what people in this part of the country feel most keenly.
Flying is still safe. Even counting the landings they are far safer than most other travel. It’s the disembarkment in the USA which is the dangerous part. And if Kristi Noem has her way, there’s no going back.
Absolutely. I was just at a family gathering and it was a major topic of discussion. There was unanimity that travel to the US was out of the question; across the board of political opinions and age groups. Another point of discussion was whether the US will still be a member of NATO after the summit in June. That’s a question that would have been utterly unthinkable before Trump.
I think it’s important to realize that there’s no going back from this. In just a few months, the position of the US as a world leader has crumbled, to the point where it’s a live question whether it’ll ever recover.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but it does leave a very big question mark about what the future will look like.
DJT reminds me of Bill Murray’s character Wallace Ritchie from The Man Who Knew Too Little. And the Bigfoot driver who ran threw Strodenmire Ford in Roadhouse. Throw a chronic senior rant on top and you’ve got our prez. Cue up your favorite news channel and enjoy the carnage!
True.
In two months, the USA has gone from being the world’s protector of democracy to a major threat to the world’s democracies.
Canada, Germany, and the UK have all just issued travel advisories for people traveling to the USA.
Other European countries such as Denmark and Finland have also issued travel advisories.
Things are different now.
I’d listen to the people around you and non-USA people can count themselves lucky.
They have the choice to travel to the USA or not.
The people who live here such as myself, are stuck in this modern day horror movie.
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I just noticed that the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a lengthy page of online instruction on US travel – mostly basic information plus reminders of common safety precautions and traveler’s responsibilities. A lot of it applies to most countries, and a lot of it is probably written out at the instruction pages on other countries.
There is a section on “current issues”, which was updated a couple days ago (and the update was noted on Finnish media). The section – which is not really presented as a “warning” – currently largely discusses the recent anti-trans EO and its expected effects on trans travelers. There is also a general reminder to be meticulous with immigration rules, and a note that in large cities “political demonstrations” may pose a risk of violence (without specifying between violence from police forces, nazi gangs, looters/rabble rousers and actual protesters).
As for the risk of detention – in addition to denial of entry or deportation – I think there’s always been some of that in the US – and to varying degrees in various other countries too. The risk used to be very small for affluent white westerners with just random visa issues, and there was almost never any public discussion on it. I remember one incident from the US over 20 years ago, which was widely reported and discussed here in Finland because the affected person happened to be a Finnish national. She was “only” held a couple nights after entry at an airport detention facility, with full prisoner treatment, before they managed to send her back.
Can’t safely enter the US on my passport with an X marker. And it would be unwise to fly to North America directly to the US, be turned away, and have to return another umpteen hours by plane; at least if I were to fly to Canada and try to enter the US by land, if I am refused entry I should be able to remain in Canada.
Why would I want to visit the US? Well, my brother-in-law tells me of the great natural beauty of the Cascades and his home state of Oregon. However I feel like an opportunity to accompany my brother and brother-in-law is a story for another lifetime, presently.
@10 John Watts
It’s still too early to know if this growing fear will affect the airline industry
This morning, CBC Radio mentioned that one or two Canadian airlines are reducing the number flights to the US South West.
This type of thing is not boosting traffic.
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I understand holiday bookings in various Caribbean nations and in Mexico are up.