My first trip abroad

In 1983, I went to Great Britain for a month. I lived in Worthing in a familiy house.

It was the first time that I visited another country.

We were in a group of 25 persons. We went on an organized trip with a travel agency. We had a travel guide.

My english was very bad (¡ like now!) but the travel guide helped us.

I remembered an anecdote from the customs guide.

The travel guide said, us that the customs police would ask two questions:

1) Which is the reason for the visit to Great Britain?
2) How long will last the visit?

The travel guide told us the answers:

1) Learn english.
2) One month.

When the pólice customs officer asked me the first question, I answered: “Learn english”.

The police customs officer was surprised and he asked another question.

I answered: “One month”.

The police officer was surprised much more and he called the travel guide to clarify the situation.

On both occasions the police officer had asked me the same question: do you belong to the group?

It was an embarrassing situation.