Planning for our trip began with an physical visit to the US Customs Office at the San Antonio Airport. They had asked me to physically bring my valuables, especially newer electronic equipment, so they could confirm the make, model and serial numbers of each item. This would help prove my prior ownership to any customs officer if needed. There is no charge for this service by the Customs Office. Also, I researched the TT Customs requirements on the Internet to see what prerequisites they might have regarding computers and digital cameras. We found that computers and cameras were allowed without any paperwork as long as it was evident they were our personal property. The US Customs form helped with this.

We contacted American Airlines' International Flight section to find out current luggage restrictions. Most airlines won't count your notebook PC if packed in a carry-on bag in your hand or on your shoulder. Our fears about clearing another country's immigration and customs were quickly set to rest upon arrival in this country. Trinidad Immigration Officials quickly stamped our passports and Customs waived us through the 'Green Line', where you go if you have nothing to declare as exceeding government restrictions for imports and personal belongings. 

As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I ventured down to see if our convention host had arranged for local Internet access as promised. I found a desktop computer running in the main lobby area with dial-up access running from a temporary telephone jack with a wire running across the ceiling and down a pole.  Unlike some other countries, TT power outlets and voltage met normal USA standards and no adapters were required. Dial-up access speed was usually around 36k most of the time. I found that the local ISP had frequent busy signals and you had to be persistent in connecting. I connected my own notebook to retrieve my own e-mail and found the local busy signal was similar to a dialing sound, and that my modem would not recognize it as a busy signal and eventually timed out. This was sort of frustrating until one of the hosts explained the busy signal was what I thought was a dialing sound.  

Since I have access to my company's mail servers, getting my mail was not a problem. But when I tried accessing my STIC.Net mail, I found that I could retrieve my mail, but not send it because of a 'anti-spam' restriction that prevents a user from sending via their mail server unless dialed into their service directly. 

AOL worked great, when running in the ISP/Lan connection mode, or by using their web based e-mail system. I could also use the hosts' PC with Outlook Express to add a new user account and plug in the proper POP and SMTP server names, user ID and password. Some of the attendees had forgotten to bring this information, but most ISPs post this in their customer support section and we were able to find out the needed information. AOL did have local access numbers in Trinidad, but charged an extra $6/hour to your account if you dialed in via those numbers. If you connected using the above ISP/Lan method, there were no additional charges.  This was the same experience I had in 1997 while visiting Toronto, Ontario.  Trying to connect on the local lines from our hotel rooms proved impossible, because the switchboard operator manually routed all calls. No data ports on the phone in this hotel! Only the special line that was donated by the local telephone company allowed us to access the Internet from the hotel.

I was curious about what locals used for computers, and quickly found they had access to most US Brands, such as Dell Computers, but the cost was rather excessive for new equipment. A computer that might cost $1000 US, would cost more than $6000 TT, plus any import fees and the local 12% valor tax. We found a store advertising a factory direct Dell Computer Sale, and other shopping malls with hi-tech equipment from Xerox and other brand products for sale. But when you consider that we had earlier ordered a large 3 topping pizza one night from Marios' and the charge was $95 TT, I suspect the difference in perceived cost is not as bad for the locals as it was for us. (Our cost for the pizza was $16 US.)

We returned home to San Antonio safe, but tired, with hundreds of digital photos filling the hard drive of our notebook PC. These photos, plus some converted video clips, will soon be available at the website address mentioned in the beginning of this article.  It is hard to condense an eight day trip into this short article, so if any readers have questions about my experiences, feel free to contact me via e-mail.