myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hi All

I know that the subject of this post may have been covered previously but I thought I’d relay my experiences to reiterate this message. We’ve just returned from a wonderful two weeks celebrating Christmas and New Year in Trinidad and Tobago (we spent a few days on each island).

A word of warning, however. Camouflage clothing of any kind is now illegal in Trinidad and Tobago and can be summarily confiscated. My wife and I were in the queue at to check in for our flight back to the UK at Crown Point airport, when a customs officer took me to one side and informed me that my rather stylish ¾ length desert camouflage trousers were illegal under T&T law and he would have to confiscate them! Slightly confusing as I had worn them openly several times during the trip and nobody had mentioned this at all

Luckily I was allowed the dignity of going to the gents to change into the jeans I had in my backpack and the customs guy seemed pleasantly surprised that the offending trousers were handed over without much fuss. It certainly provided a fair amount of amusement for the assembled crowd.

Aside from this mildly embarrassing incident the trip went really well. I know I’m probably opening myself up to a fair amount of ribbing for relaying this story to you all, but the point is that certain things that seem totally innocuous to us in the UK may well be frowned upon or even illegal in other countries and we should all keep ourselves appraised of and respect local laws and customs.

Feel free to leave your amusing comments below, there’s a prize for the best one (just kidding)

Regards

John

LOL ... camouflage clothing has always been illegal in T&T.

But I guess some laws are upheld more stringently than others so I am not surprised that you have been walking round Tobago like that and then been picked on by a diligent officer at the airport. The Airport is the place where you get caught for anything ... they even confiscate cigarette lighters.

I dare a lady to wear a camouflage skirt through the airport and see if that gets by ... or for that matter, a man, and see what attention that brings

Regards

Camo wear of any sort has been banned in T&T (and a few other islands)since the Cuban/Venezuelan financed invasion of Grenada.T&T's location off the coast of Venezuela is obviously the reason why.Never mind, with luck and cancer the situation there may soon ease.
David

About what Paul & David says..

Some years ago, when I had to use Condor to get to Tobago, as BA and Virgin were full, than the security at Crown Point Airport stopped a german lady between the passport control and the baggage claim.
She had to change her camo pants, they were of german patterns but that doesn´t matter, camo is camo. Luckely she had some other pants into her bag and the security took her to the toilet area to change.

I still sometimes see different persons, mostly locals, here have some kind of camoflage clothing, mostly pants, but it´s not good for a visitor to take them down to T&T. Even floppy hats included, light plain colours Yes, but camoflage No.

i think it's to do with a potential offence of "impersonating a member of the armed forces".

paul

I wish the UK government would prohibit the wearing of 3/4 length trousers/pants by middle-aged men over here, for camo and non-camo! They look great on some girls, but not on guys - perhaps I am getting old?

You should try them Glyn

Regards