I have been trying to squeeze as much dressing time as possible when I travel. While most of my travel is domestic, I had a chance to visit Canada for a conference recently. So I thought about flying pretty on my way back. I have flown en femme a few times, so I knew TSA has no issue with it. But this time I am going through an international border, and I am nervous that might be a different story (even though the US-Canada border is one of the least strict borders).
There are a few stories I read about sisters here who travel internationally en femme. So that gave me a lot of confidence. I have a definitely male name on my passport, and a definitely male picture. So if they do challenge me I may have to prove myself somehow. But I hope it would not go there, and if it did, it may be embarrassing but I am not doing anything illegal. Also as an insurance, I prepared a letter from my psychologist stating that I am being treated for male to female transgender issues. I thought that would be good to have in hand in case something went really wrong, or if they thought that I am faking an identity.
So on the day of my trip back, I dressed comfortably and checked out hotel in the morning. My flight is in the evening, and I still have the whole day to attending my conference (which is a big conference with close to ten thousand attendees). The conference is another story. By the time for me to get to the airport, it was the rush hours already and hard to get a taxi. In the end, the hotel concierge got me sharing a taxi with two other guys (who I think is attending the same conference) to the airport. When we got to the airport, one of the guy said that he will pay for the charge as his company is paying for it. He didn't even check with me. I guess that it is the privilege of being the only lady in the group. :)
Anyway, the airline check-in was smooth. And I went on the end of a long line for the passport machine. Half an hour later, I was at the passport machine. The machine scanned my passport and asked me the questions. It then took my picture (as I am in my full female mode). Those of you have used those machines knew that these pictures are at very poor quality. It is definitely not my best picture I would like to share. Anyway, next I was sent to a border control officer to check my paperwork. This time it was a nice lady officer. She looked at my passport and me. I smiled back. Without bating an eye, she fired the usual questions, what you are here for, did you bring any food, etc. When satisfied with the answers, she just waved me pass and wished me a pleasant flight, to which I replied with a cheerful "thank you".
So that was my first time story crossing a border as Leslie. That was a smooth experience. Here is how I dressed that day.
