The teens claimed CBP targeted them because they hadn’t booked hotels for their entire stay in Hawaii.
“They found it suspicious that we hadn’t fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii,” Pohl said. “We wanted to travel spontaneously. Just like we had done in Thailand and New Zealand.”
I’ve said “I might answer some emails” at the EU border before, and the agent just shook her head and was like “try again, business or pleasure?”
This particular rule has been loosely enforced in post COVID times and people just need to re learn how to cross borders.