Warning: A Big McNo-No For Travelers
There was no ‘Happy’ in this meal! We all know that airline travel can take its toll and that airport food can be outrageously expensive but imagine the surprise when…
There was no 'Happy' in this meal!
We all know that airline travel can take its toll and that airport food can be outrageously expensive but imagine the surprise when one traveler from Bali to Australia had to cough up nearly $1900 for his breakfast sandwiches.
In what’s turned into a big McNo-No, a passenger attempting to fly into Darwin International Airport failed to declare two egg-and-sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant that were stashed in his backpack. A mistake that’s cost him more than the flights themselves.
CNN, citing a press release from Australia’s minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, said a biosecurity-detector dog got a whiff of the bootlegged McSandwiches and alerted officials.
I’m (Not) McLovin’ It, Mate!
I can’t imagine having such intense cravings that you’d need to smuggle McMuffins out of the country but such was the case and it was definitely the wrong place at the wrong time.
The crack down on the contraband began in late July when Australian officials tightened security to address an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Bali and instituted a penalty for travelers who fail to declare dairy and meat products.
The unnamed traveler, we’ll call him, the Hamburglar, was detained and the result was no stay in the McPlay Place.
The passenger was fined 2664 Australian dollars or $1874.00 for the McBlunder and the food was confiscated, inspected and destroyed.
Authorities are serious about keeping an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease out of Australia. They have estimated the disease could cost its economy $80 billion.
This isn’t the first food infringement, according to Today.com, a woman traveling from Singapore in July was fined nearly $1,844 in U.S. dollars for forgetting to declare half of a Subway Footlong once she landed in Australia.
Here’s a little nugget of wisdom, if your flying into Australia, don’t try to smuggle food in your backpack. You won't be lovin' it.
Join Shawn Stevens weekday mornings from 5 a.m. - 10 a.m. on 107.9 Coyote Country / 102.7 HD2.
