ok, so as of monday, november 4- the dollar amount of goods that us citizens can legally bring into the us doubles- to $800 per person. however, the dollar amount of goods that the mean mamma can bring into the us without upsetting ecw remains the same.........over the years, many customs clearing episodes come to mind- there our honeymoon when ecw and i brought back 9 bottles of wine- mostly dom perignon that we bought at the winery in epernay- we had to pay duty, but i cannot remember if it was on the excess alcohol or if our total purchases were over $400 per person. i just remember the customs agent raising his eyebrows at our wine haul.....there was also the time that i made the mistake of declaring a jar of snails- which turned out to be ok because they were dead and processed and the ban on importing snails referred to live snails....i almost missed my connection over the jar...then there was the packet of seeds that i made the mistake of declaring- mostly because i saw the sniffing dogs- these seeds were also eventually deemed admissable- but not without much discussion and delay. htese days i don't take any chances- and don't buy anything questionable....if i buy goat cheese, i make a point of eating it on the plane.......this treat is often better than the inflight food.......