Cheers and Beers in Boston November 2016

[BONZO]

Oh dear - no sooner do we get close to starting one trip, we feel the need to have another one ready to go on so that we have something to look forward to when we get back!

Some background first:

The reasoning behind this trip goes back to Alison’s enjoyment of reading Flyertalk. That website/forum has massively increased the number of holidays we have taken recently – mainly because we have had early sight of sales and also got the heads up on fares starting from various EU countries. This has led to lots of hopping around, and multi stop trips – but we’ve had some fantastic holidays over the last couple of years as a result!

Anyway, on the FT forums, several posters have mentioned how good Global Entry is so Alison started investigating. Basically for a one off cost to the UK government of £42 for a security check (online) you get a code. You then apply (online again) to CBP (US Customs and Border Protection) quoting the code, and paying $100. If approved you then have to apply to have a brief interview in person. When all that’s done, you can use some special e-gates at most US airports which are very quick. And it last for 5 years as well!

Well, it seemed like a good idea to us especially as we've done quite a few US trips over the years and we were sure we would do more

We had a look to see where the interviews were being held to see if we could get a quick trip somewhere in November when we were due to take a few days annual leave. Most airports hold interviews as well as some big cities. Boston looked ideal – so that’s why we booked! Perfect!

UK Global entry info site

US Global entry site


So, we applied online, got the codes from the UK government within about a day, applied to US CBP and got clearance within a couple of weeks and managed to get appointments in Boston’s Logan airport in late November for the face to face interviews.

We then booked flights (on our preferred airline BA, on the 747 both ways on the upper deck which we adore). Positioning flights to Dublin booked and hotel chosen and booked. What could go wrong?

Well, actually nothing, but there was a change to the plan. Suddenly the global entry people decided to offer GE interviews at the US embassy in London! Alison quickly grabbed a couple of appointments (which apparently go very quickly), for late September just after our trip to Hong Kong.

Fast forward to September and the GE interviews went smoothly – in and out in 10 minutes and we were approved. Great! Well, except we didn’t actually need to go to Boston at all now really….but of course we would still go. We’d never been before and it seemed perfect for a long weekend. And we’d get to try out the Global Entry kiosks!

There wasn't too much else to do really - we were only going for 3 nights and now we didn't even need to allow time for the interviews. We decided to just wing it (bit of a shock for Alison who is a real planner!) - with lists of what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go, all at hand. Fingers crossed for dry weather!