Spanish Guardia Civil

fgarciam

fgarciam

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I recently arrived in Madrid from JFK. When I was set to go through security, I politely asked that my film be subjected to a hand search. I had done the same in New York just a few hours earlier, and no problem.The Guardia Civil in Madrid, who was doing NOTHING at the time and literally had his arms crossed, flat out refused. No explanation, no nothing.

I'm amazed that in a country where the number one industry is tourism, Guardia Civil agents still behave as if Franco was still alive. The disrespect and laziness displayed saddens me. I'll likely pick another travel destination in the future.


Francisco Garcia-Moreno
 
I still have to find the airport security person who does not complain when politely asked for a hand search. Happens in the US, the UK and all over continental Europe. But it would never occur to me to stop visiting these countries because of that. I don't like this trouble either but I forget it within two minutes. I recommend you do the same.
 
Even in countries where asking for hand checking of film is common when requested it is not a given that it will be accomodated. I have had trouble in Canada getting hand checking of film done at certain airports while at others it was absolutely no problem for the security to comply with the request. It is not an uncommon problem.

Bob
 
Like JoNL says. I never had a problem in any airport in Mongolia, India, Thailand or China but when I asked here in my own friggin' country the security guards had lots of reasons why it wasn't necessary ("iso1600 is perfectly safe in here, mister"). When I insisted, I was asked to take of my shoes and had to undergo rigourous screening en plain publique. Nothing beats being treated as a convict to make you hate them little friggin' turds with badges.
 
I suppose that it depends on what has occurred before at the airports, and what is in the security guards mind at the time. If someone managed to sneak something past him, I suspect that his butt would be on the line. It would be fairly easy to conceal something inside of a 35mm cassette. I've had some airports whisk me through, and others require everything gop through the X-ray machine. They stated that unless it was more sensitive than ASA1000, through it went. This was all in the US.

I brought an old Digital (1992) camera to the Smithsonian a last Spring. It got scrutinized, and at the end the security guard simply told me "You through me with that one."
 
Uh-oh, I never thought about airport Xrays before. Do you mean they're not ok for film? What if you're bringing unused/unloaded film in their canisters?
 
I had exactly the same experience at Barajas Airport in Madrid earlier this year. People in uniforms can be very trying at times and the female guard I ran into at Barajas was extremely arrogant. The best thing to do is just grin and bear it at the time and then forget about it. Spain is a beautiful country with gracious and welcoming people and that is my lasting impression, not the airport guard.

Kat: In my particular case there was a Spanish photog nearby who pointed out that there were labels on the x-ray machines that film up to 1600ASA could be scanned without harm. I was worried about the scanning (I had some Neopan 1600 with me) but when I got it home and developed it was fine. 🙂

The attachment is the view from our apartment window in Madrid.

 
Kat

I have been told most machines are safe as per the high iso limits mentioned here. All it takes is for one to malfuntion to cause trouble. Also if you go through multiple airports and therefore multiple checks the doses of radiation are cumulative, each successive one adding to the others. This applies to both exposed and unexposed film and remember you are travelling to and from. Do not pack your film in checked luggage to avoid this problem because the risk to film in checked baggage is even greater with the mor powerful machines used to check them. Having said all that, I have had no noticable deterioration of film in my air travels. I take hand checks where I can get them and let it slide where the checkers are too arrogant to comply with my request. So far no harm done.

Bob
 
Funny, a friend of mine and fluent Spanish speaker spent some weeks in Spain this summer, and he reported the Spaniards as being kind of arrogant and unfriendly, at least in Madrid. But my travels to Spain have always been wonderful, and I can't imagine being dissuaded from future trips. Most urbanites around the world aren't known for being super friendly, and bureaucrats in uniform aren't always in the mood to make exceptions; some are super nice, others are super pric*s, that's just life. But avoiding an entire country on the basis of one negative interaction is like disowning your kid after one temper tantrum. Pretty soon you'll run out of places to go!
 
I am a Spaniard. I grew up in Spain. The Guardia Civil agents can be quite arrogant. Truthfully, the folks in Italy and Portugal seem to be more polite of late. Inasmuch as pleasure trips are concerned, I will take their poor manners into acount. It'd a big world with lots to see.
 
Tocayo,

I had no clue that ISO1600 was x-ray-able. That's a new one to me.

Since 9/11, I decided not to travel with fast film ever again. You should have seen the trouble I went through just for one roll of Superia 1600 in the New Orleans airport! And all I did was ask them NOT to run it through the machine.

Fortunately (and reluctantly), they didn't.

In any case, I always carry ISO 64, 100, 200 and 400... Thank heavens for push-processing! 🙂
 
I usually carry film in a lead film bag in a backpack with my equipment. The guards always want to open the backpack. Once they see the rest of the equipment, they rarely do more than glance in the lead bag. The end result is, at worst, a by hand check and the film is fairly well protected from the machines. This has happened consistently in the US and Europe. Of course I really have no idea if the film is really protected by the lead bags. I guess that's one product where I've bought the advertisment hook, line and sinker. Does anyone have any facts about the actual protection given by lead film bags? (That's sort on OT isn't it? I don't meen to hijack the thread.)
 
fgarciam said:
I'm amazed that in a country where the number one industry is tourism, Guardia Civil agents still behave as if Franco was still alive. The disrespect and laziness displayed saddens me. I'll likely pick another travel destination in the future.
Click to expand...

While I understand your frustration and see your point, I think it really trivializes Franco's dictatorship. It was no mere dictatorship; he persecuted anybody who wasn't catholic, didn't speak "castellano" (he banned catalan, vasco --euskera--, you name it), in short, there were very few personal freedoms.

What you point out may very well have been utter contempt for a foreigner to ask for "special treatment". But then again, that is their problem. But be careful to bring up the Franco ghost by way of the "majadero" guardia civil.

I have was treated the same coming back to the United States, twice, by Immigration Officers at the airport; not all INS (or whatever they're called now) agents are the same, and the bad ones stick out in our memory. I didn't turn around and say that we were back to James Polk's times...
 
In Lisbon, they've always hand inspected my film, but there WAS a lighter debacle. (I was permitted to put it in my carry on luggage at the ticket counter, after SPECIFICALLY asking if I'd be permitted to do so, and it was promptly removed from my luggage at the security station. The lighter had been in my checked luggage, and the lady at the front desk told me I couldn't put it in checked...)

The "Law" in EVERY country I've visited (including my own!) is stupid, arrogant, and just plain mean on first approach. They have to be "disarmed." It's they way of red tape, and bureaucrats. They are just doing a job- and they DO have the power. Remember that they don't know the law that they are enforcing. It's corrupting, that power, even just to the level of arrogance, and often-times governments don't *care* if their agents are pricks. Even if I'm being helpful, I've been challenged while filling out a police report in Portugal for SEEING an accident. The cops were sniffing ME out, and asking all sorts of assinine questions, insinuating that _I_ was somehow responsible for the accident which I had seen! ("We might need to call you- you know Portuguese pretty well for just a tourist!")

Try to get your film developed at FNAC before returning. Get to the security counter early and ask for the film to be hand-examined, and if they refuse, return later, during a shift change. The rules appear rather flexible at times. My favorite thing to ask (and should be memorized in any language before leaving my house!) is "isn't there another way to solve this? Is there a fee?" I know what it insinuates, but it does sometimes work- it sure did in Spain, and Mexico, for that matter.
 
SolaresLarrave said:
Tocayo,

I had no clue that ISO1600 was x-ray-able. That's a new one to me.

Since 9/11, I decided not to travel with fast film ever again. You should have seen the trouble I went through just for one roll of Superia 1600 in the New Orleans airport! And all I did was ask them NOT to run it through the machine.

Fortunately (and reluctantly), they didn't.

In any case, I always carry ISO 64, 100, 200 and 400... Thank heavens for push-processing! 🙂
Click to expand...

Saben qué es lo que yo hago? Los envuelvo en papel aluminio. 😛 Then back in the plastic canisters...
 
Well, every single time I asked for a hand-search during the last couple of years, the offer was turned down and film had to go through the machines - airports were Vienna, Bratislava, Cologne, Barcelona, Heraklion (Crete), Gran Canaria, Teneriffa, London.
On the other hand, I never had a single problem with x-rayed film (though I always had TMax3200, Neopan 1600 or Fuji Superia 800 with me).

Roman
 
Beniliam said:
You know quite good the recent story of my country. Very good Gabriel!
Click to expand...

Thanks Beniliam. I like to know my roots' history (some of my great-grandparents were vascos, Spanish and French). I'm from Mexico, and it was interesting to know, during the 70s, that the Mexican government had diplomatic relationships with virtually all western countries. The most notable exceptions: Chile and Spain.

Unfortunately, specially during the 70s, Mexico's government had a lot to learn about being a democracy; granted, it did not even begin to compare to Pinochet and Franco.
 
JoNL said:
I still have to find the airport security person who does not complain when politely asked for a hand search. Happens in the US, the UK and all over continental Europe.
Click to expand...

I very seldom have any trouble. If I take film (I've lately been just buying it at my destination) I always pack the film and the Olympus P&S in a clear baggie and hand it to them as I go thru security.

The only unusual thing, and this was about a year ago, was a smart@$$ guard who when he was handing the bag back to me said "I need to inform you I have to turn this over to the FBI." and then broke into a big grin. This was at the (now closed) side security checkpoint to the C gates in Las Vegas. He had me going for maybe 2 seconds. 🙂
 
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