The US Postal Service has delivered a nice myriad of pests and diseases to California via otherwise good-meaning people. The citrus industry there is now battling huanglongbing because of a church group of plant enthusiasts sharing cuttings of pomelo shipped in from a single member's family in Asia. A man who thought an Indian (the country) stick bug would make a neat pet for his son has led to this pest wreaking havoc upon parts of Southern California. It's not like our more common "stick bugs"...this one can get up to 6 inches long and a crew can take out a garden overnight. They reproduce heavily when they have a lot to eat. We gotta be careful about this kinda stuff. It's a big reason there's not a ferry service between the individual Hawaiian Islands. The spread of invasives and it's impact upon animal/agriculture on the different islands is enough of a concern to keep a ferry out of the equation. Some islands have mongoose, some don't. Some have invasive morning glory species, some don't. etc etc... This post was edited by nc-crn on Wed, Jan 2, 13 at 3:11

that's like my kids, ahhh out of the mouths of babes, sometimes they are to honest!! i tell them all the time, there's a point when you just don't have to tell everything!! i was doing some searching from and earlier search, someone had said that the customs papers were really exspensive, and apparently someone else has been doing this, and said they are free, or very cheap, you just have to know WHICH papers to get. or something to that effect. can't you have this person send them thru the mail? you can get usps customs papers online for nothing. when i sent some seeds to canada, the post office lady filled her part out, and she told me what to put in, and i was a little worried as usual, but everything went great!! i just had to put that they were worth nothing and a gift and also i "think" that they were flower seeds. but i do realize canada and overseas is alot different! LOL ~Medo i think my air may be leaking out of my head at this late/early hour!! LOL **giggle**

I know what you are saying Chispa, but have you ever been to Japan? I have never met a more respectful and nice country of people, other then Thailand (my husband's home country). My point was, even if it's a nice place, like Japan, you never know what could happen. You have to be careful and can't take chances like you would in America. I am not a fan of going bar hopping in a different country, because when you want to go back to your hotel, in a different country/place, you are much more likely to get disoriented and lost. Then you could wind up in a rough section of the town/city where you are vacationing. The thing is, you've never been there before, so you wouldn't know where NOT to go. You don't know the country, so you won't know where the "seedy places" are. Please DON'T assume the "locals" will tell you or help you figure it out. I think as a whole, many people are too blithe about dangers when they travel, myself included. We have to be aware and more careful when we are out of the country. When my husband and I have been backpacking, we've tried to make ourselves look as un-American as we could, because we stand out to pick pocketers on the streets, so why wouldn't we stand out in a bar as well? So we were very careful and never went out at night. But again, meeting this Craigslist person is not a good idea. I too, don't trust anyone out there anymore. My Mom just mentioned to me 4 days ago about a Craigslist killing in Minnesota. It was a young woman needing a job and read about a Nanny position on Craigslist. She went to go for the interview/meet the family, but it turns out it was just a sick guy who raped and killed her. Her first instinct should have been to take a friend or family member with her, and turn around when she got to her destination, because it was a run down apartment building on the "wrong side of town". How could someone afford a Nanny on that side of town, let alone maybe have room for a Nanny? My question is where is our instincts? When we feel like something is wrong or unsafe, then Don't Do IT!! This is my point, that sometimes we are too focused on having a good time, on our vacations, to make sure that we are also being safe too. I completely agree with KathyG_in_MI. She has a very valid point, get your own passport ready, just in case!! I believe it's good for 10 years, anyway :) It took 8 months to get my passport. I thought it was unusually long, but my husband was thinking it would take around 4 -6 months so he wasn't too surprised that it took a while. So start the process now, even if plans fall through for your daughter, you never know when you need it. I know I sound like a "Doom & Gloom" vacationer, but I am absolutely not, but neither am I unaware of my surroundings now. I have had to learn the hard way, I am just trying to pass the info along to help anyone else, who might not have to learn like I/we did. ~ Amanda (Homemade)

"It would help lots if our governments were much more proactive if taking steps to reduce the use of (commercial) pesticides." The tide might be turning, especially with such a strong focus on climate change of late. I'm hesitant to say this, because I know a lot of us are...ahem....not young-uns, but my hope is in the younger generations, the ones now coming up --> they're going to be the ones that fix the cr*ptacular environmental mess my generation and those previous made.