Did you know ...

1. A friend returned from a group tour of China recently, all were finger printed on arrival in China ... she was shocked and angry she was not made aware before the trip ... did you know?

2. Cruise ships are being cut in half and having a middle extension added to extend the length of the ship to accommodate more passengers ... would you travel in a ship that had been cut in half and put back together again?
Photos: Cruise Ship Cut in Half, 'Stretched' in Italy – gCaptain

 

I did not know that.

This wouldn't bother me. So long as the welds are done properly and the structural integrity is there to maintain the air inside the hull (ie no leaks that can't be bilge pumped out) and thus keep buoyancy then there really is no issue.

 

Their Country, their rules.

 

Getting finger printed on arrival is standard immigration procedure in many countries now. I just had it done in Cambodia, Philippines and Thailand. No big deal.

 

We were in China 5 years ago, can’t remember being fingerprinted.
We were fingerprinted entering the USA in 2017, but had been told beforehand so not surprised.

 

Years ago I heard a great story when I went to Cockatoo Island - Sydney Harbour.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cockatoo+island&rlz=1C1ASUM_en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIs-y876nmAhUl73MBHetrD38Q_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=1793&bih=928#imgrc=McY2_R_h-oLjWM:

For a long time they built ships there and it still has a couple of dry docks and other stuff. During WW2, a US battle ship had its bow blown off up in the Coral Sea, I think. It steamed backwards all the way to Sydney where a temporary bow was fitted at Cockatoo Island. Then it went to Hawaii to have a proper bow fitted and was sent back into the war in the Pacific.

 

1. Japan has been fingerprinting non-citizens for years now, must be 10+ and Thailand has introduced it too within the past year.
It will just get more common I think.

i heard of a senior exec who went to China, on a holiday, and they took his phone away, then brought it back. I said they probably copied it and inserted spyware.

 

I would not have a problem with the Cruise Ships and the re-fits and the way they are built ..

With entry to several countries on visa system's the US would be one of the most costly and up too 20 weeks to obtain a special business entry visa ,even then every-time while in the entry que 2 people always come and take me in a different secure with several others from different countries and there are always Australian within that room who may not understand what the word ''EVER'' means ..
That's why i like Amsterdam and Queenstown NZ ,Amsterdam no visa control you just walk pass about 12 fully-armed airport staff and out too the hotels shuttle bus in the carpark..
Queenstown has visa control but is the same only less guns ..

 

This sort of thing has been going on for more than 100 years. In WW1 HMS Zubian was a destroyer made out of the front half of HMS Zulu and the back half of HMS Nubian. Nubian's bow had been destroyed by a torpedo while Zulu stern had been destroyed by a mine.
HMS Zubian - Wikipedia

 

That should be in the first world problems thread

 

On the scale of earth shattering experiences, I don't think the end of the world is nigh

 

It was one of my mother's sayings, she had a lot that were pertinent to a situation ...

 

@datto'd know a thing or two about picking up a couple of written off VN Commodores and doing a 'cut & shut' on the two halves. No-one would ever know.

 

We got new Oz passports earlier this year. The person at the post office had to shove the camera right in our faces, unlike ten years ago they stood a few metres away.

 

most country do it, just you dont know they are taking biometric data if you.

 

In @Angel's case, it was close enough for a DNA sample too.