Flying back from a wedding in Holland, I was given the seventh degree by a Dutch immigration officer at Rotterdam airport.

After much scrutiny of my passport, thumbing through pages, looking at stamps and visas, and thumbing back to previous pages, he asked me what I was doing in Holland. Not satisfied with my answer he tried a more direct line of questioning asking me who I had been seeing. He wanted specifics, to know who, when and where.

Once again my answers did little to reassure him. “Are you in the military?” he blurted out. “No,” was my reply. “Have you ever been in the military?” he tried again only to be met with the same answer. Reluctantly he handed me back my passport and waved me through.

Trying to work out why I had been singled out in such a way, I flicked through my passport to see what might have caught his attention. It was only then that I realised within the last year I have travelled to Libya, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Sudan, Colombia and Mozambique. An occupational hazard of working for Steppes Travel.

PS Mental note: Jason Bourne would not let himself get into such a situation. Must try harder.