[Happygal]

The United States requires people entering or leaving the country with amounts of $10,000 or more to report it to customs authorities.

I didn't realise that.
Not that I'd ever be carrying that amount of cash on me, ANYWHERE.
I just didn't realise that there was such a low restriction on the amount of cash you can bring with you into the US.
I presume the US customs authorities don't mind visitors to the US spending more than $10,000 when on vacation, as long as it's on credit card? ;-)

[blackdog]

I dunno, Al Gore was just robbed of $30,000 while vacationing in Italy? Did Al Gore declare $30,000 in currency when leaving on his private jet, on loan from Coca Cola or Phillip Morris?

Oh yeah, we're talking about that rules for thee and not for me thingie..........

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

It's not a restriction. You can carry all you want. You just have to declare over $10K. Be honest and you'll do much better than if you lie. It's obvious that she had reason to lie, fearing that her real reasons for lugging that much cash would be sussed.

[PAR35]

I just didn't realise that there was such a low restriction on the amount of cash you can bring with you into the US.

You misread the story. There is no such restriction. There is a reporting requirement.

Download the form from the treasury web site, fill it out, file it, and you are free to travel.

Along the same lines, the law used to be if you withdrew more than $10,000 from the bank in cash, the bank had to report the transaction. (The law has been broadened so that more transactions are now reportable, but $10,000 will still cause a SAR to be generated.)