[sunfunbill]

Due to a big fucking mess too long to explain here, my latest leather jacket package from Pakistan was sent via general freight cargo air. I've been calling and working with different people for days trying to figure out how the hell to get it.

It is much, much harder than people think to get an international package when it comes into a customs port. When you get a package via DHL, FedEx or UPS they bypass all that crap and do it themselves. With general customs freight you normally have to have a bonded broker clear it for you, then arrange for shipping to your address from the customs office.

That is very expensive and complex. I was lucky enough to have a helpful agent inform me that any package with a value under $2,500 is exempt from having a broker. Since mine is that means as long as I have all the paperwork I can get it myself.

However it's at the customs office at the Miami International airport. What a mess it's going to be to drive down there and get it, about 3 hours away. Then once I get there I have to find the customs office, then finally the actual cargo building. Miami IMO is a big cesspool of trash with people who can't drive worth a damn. Fun fun!

[cherilynn]

What a hassle for you. I remember Miami years ago as a bright shiny city by the ocean. My uncle use to live there and we visited from the midwest.

But I am getting so over ever having to drive in the bigger cities! They always have terrible signs and are confusing figuring out which lane to be in until the last possible second.

I am in Portland this weekend to see American Idol concert and I used the GPS this time, which helped some.

[sunfunbill]

It's not just the roads. At the risk of sounding like a big raciest, Miami is full of young, angry Cubans and Jamaicans that just want to kill each other and everyone else. They will blast you off the road. I see whole car engines and fires on the roads, drunks laying in the middle of roads. It's a horrible city.

[Bill Benson]

Having spent 10 years of living and working in Latin America and the Caribbean you ain't seen nothing.

Any space on the road is a traffic lane including emergency pull over lanes. Stoplights and stop signs are recommendations not mandates. I was in an ambulance in Puerto Rico once. Nobody pulls to the side to let the ambulance pass.

Maybe the best example is I ran a red light with a beer between my legs in Puerto Rico once and they actually pulled me over. I said the guy in front of me went through the light so I thought it was broken. The cop said ok, get out of here

[sunfunbill]

Ha. Yeah I really hate driving anywhere now, after spending most of my life as a courier driver. I'm going to take the toll road turnpike all the way down to Miami. Then get on 826 and that will get me just about right to where I need to go. It's a building off from the main terminal, west side of the runways in fact.

Need to call tomorrow and make damn sure my package is there and set to clear. With so many different people I have to deal with I still could get there and be told I can't pick it up myself. But I have to try. Thought of going to South Beach and checking out the babes there, but I'm sure by the time I'm done with customs I'm just going to want to get the hell back out of there.

[housekeeper]

I'm not crazy about Miami either, not my type of city. You would need a certified TSA agent to pick up your package and delivery it to you, I'm guessing you'll need the same type of agent on location at the airport as well.

[LatinLuvin]

Originally Posted by sunfunbill

Ha. Yeah I really hate driving anywhere now, after spending most of my life as a courier driver.

HA That's what I do for a living. Try driving in San Francisco on a Friday afternoon when all the lanes become a one way street of people trying to get out of the city and you have to fight that to deliver your package, only to have the bastard not be there. Good luck finding parking too if the building doesn't have a garage.