Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

bigbob wrote:I made the trip in '06 and, of course, was carrying. What do you look like? I'm a middle-aged teacher. Nobody bothered me. But the stoner who was staggering through the train got his luggage searched while they (plain-clothes cops) sat on him in the aisle.

Toke on!

bigbob

Dogs don't care what you are wearing. But I am usually in a business suit, and they simply check IDs, but if they do an ID check it is usually for everyone.

my friend got what i need for me in paris...skipping the one day "mule" trip to the dam...maybe next time

I definitely wouldn't bother bringing anything on the train. My buddies came to visit me in Amsterdam last summer from Paris and 1 of them had a piece of hash in his pocket he forgot he had. They got as far as Brussels before the train was searched, with dogs. By sheer luck, before they got to his carriage, he put his hand in that pocket looking for money and found the hash. He flushed it down the toilet immediately, but has no doubts that if he hadn't found it they would have, and there would have been serious consequences. Just don't do it.

First class is the way to go. Those same friends travelled first class and were given unlimited free wine, pastries and snacks the entire trip. Score.

QueenMab wrote:I definitely wouldn't bother bringing anything on the train. My buddies came to visit me in Amsterdam last summer from Paris and 1 of them had a piece of hash in his pocket he forgot he had. They got as far as Brussels before the train was searched, with dogs. By sheer luck, before they got to his carriage, he put his hand in that pocket looking for money and found the hash. He flushed it down the toilet immediately, but has no doubts that if he hadn't found it they would have, and there would have been serious consequences. Just don't do it.

First class is the way to go. Those same friends travelled first class and were given unlimited free wine, pastries and snacks the entire trip. Score.

I flew into France from the US once with a nice fat bud in the pocket of my jeans (totally accidental). Really bad oversight on my part.

i didnt cross any borders, but did travel on the trains within france carrying my goodies....never saw any dogs on any platforms from Gare Lyon....

smokestaxlitenin wrote:codedj...how did you prebook the taxi???

it comes with the 1st class ticket

Thought I'd chime in with an updated report (Oct 2011) since I've seen so much mixed advice about bringing anything back on Thalys. A friend of mine in Paris (Asian-American, late 20s, very mousey looking) insisted it was no big deal, and that she does it all the time (probably every two months or so -- and just enough for personal consumption, which for her is not a whole lot). Websites like this one suggested that there was a possibility of trouble, but obviously it's easy to think, "oh, people only report when there are problems," or "those posts are so old," or whatever.

Anyway, from my research, it seemed like there were two possibilities for trouble: cops boarding, possibly with dogs at Brussels, or cops, again, possibly with dogs, waiting on the platform at Gare du Nord. My train that I took last week (Thalys) -- my first time -- passed Brussels without any issues, and when I debarked from the train at Gare du Nord, I didn't see any police there either. Until three men broke out giant police badges while surrounding a guy about 30 feet in front of me on the platform. The guy they surrounded appeared to be Arab for what it's worth -- knowing France, it wouldn't surprise me if they went after Arab guys before well dressed Caucasian women. Or perhaps they had a tip off that this guy was coming and it wasn't a random search at all. Since the train also stops in Rotterdam, which is the Dutch capital of hard drugs, maybe they were intercepting some heroin delivery, who knows.

Point being, this was my first and only trip on Thalys, Ams->Paris, and this is what I saw. Between this and knowing a bit about French police, I would advise people -- especially those without a native command of French -- to really not risk bringing anything on the train. Hope this is helpful.

Yeah guys as I've said before don't ever fucking bring something back on the train, once I got caught in France at a music show with 0.25g of hash (they weighed it at the police station) and I had to stay 20 hours at the police station, then I went to the court and I had to pay 130e for a fucking "class" about how cannabis is bad.
I wasn't even smuggling, just rolling a joint outside at a show !!!