Global entry is a US thing so it won't do you any good in Europe. But yes that is normal, you'll have to complete the interview when you're back in the states.
Global entry is only in the US, it doesn't do anything to help with customs in foreign countries. When you get to customs in whatever US airport you land in on your return ask an employee where you should go to finish your global entry application. They should be able to point you in the right direction. Also just my personal opinion but if I'm in Europe for two weeks no way am I staying in just one country. There are too many different cultures all close to each other to stick to one place. Don't overtravel and exhaust yourself but you can easily go to 3 or 4 different countries in that amount of time. Trains and flights are super easy in Europe.
So there’s obviously a ton of variables depending on willingness to travel within country and personal preference. Here’s how I would think about it and plan. You’ll be in Norway two weeks, meaning your “home airport” puts you a lot closer to a ton of places you never would find easily accessible. I would land in Norway, stay in Oslo a few days, say Saturday to Tuesday(assuming you fly out of the US on a Friday night). On Tuesday I would fly to Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece or Turkey. I think the flight time varies 2.5 hours to 4 hours with those destinations. Depending on how active you want to be with traveling you can take trains in any of those countries to visit two or three cities. Example, land in Madrid on Tuesday and stay for 2 or 3 nights, take a train to Malaga or Barcelona or Bilbao, stay there for 2 nights and then train to another place for 2 nights. Fly back to Oslo on the next Wednesday or Thursday and explore areas around Oslo for the remainder of the trip before flying back. It really depends on how much traveling you want to do. You could stay in 5 cities, 2 nights each if you don’t mind doing a quick 48 hours and hopping on a train.
US travel question. Taking my 10 year old to St. Paul, Minnesota this September to see Pearl Jam. Never been to that area should we stay in St. Paul or Minneapolis? It's the same weekend football starts up so we'll likely be watching football the one full day we're in town so not concerned about bars/stuff like that.
Abu Dhabi, Dublin, Nassau and a few Candian airports also have Global Entry. But to answer the original question, yeah his interview will take place after he lands. People I know who did it say it's quick and easy.
Missed this part. I’d do your best to pack a carry on and “personal item” each. Fit maybe 5 days worth of clothes. Have your hotels do your laundry. That’s how I usually like to operate.
One of the benefits of staying in an airbnb is being able to wash your clothes which means you can pack less.
If it’s 14 days flying in/out of Oslo, I would do*: - 2 days in Oslo - take the train (or fly if no availability) to Bergen and stay their for 2-3 days. You could also consider Stavanger, though I prefer Bergen. - Both Bergen and Stavanger have enough international flights that you can then fly from there to another city in Europe (e.g. Amsterdam), see a city or two, and then fly from that city to Oslo for the final day/flight home. *or in the opposite order The only caveat is that it might get a little tricky to make all the puzzle pieces fit together, especially with the flight from Bergen/Stavanger to whatever European city that most likely won’t be available every day.
I’m confused by your question. Immigration and customs inspections are almost always done when you land in the country, with the exception of Preclearance locations, where that inspection to clear you to enter the United States is done at the departure airport.
I'm just giving you one of your standard answers. At no point did I ever say he was getting into another country with Global Entry.
I was on month two of a backpacking trip and went to a laundromat in Amsterdam. Decided to have a few beers in the neighborhood while I waited. Ended up meeting people, bouncing to another cafe, and having more than I intended. Ultimately ended in me wandering around 45 mins because I couldn’t find the laundromat. Part of me already decided I was gonna have to buy all new clothes. Nothing like Hanoi where it was $1.50 or something crazy at the hostel to just dump your whole backpack out and get all your clothes back the next day, cleaned and folded.
St. Paul is a bit older, smaller, and quirkier. Minneapolis is more cosmopolitan with a better downtown and just more options overall. If you want to experience the Twin Cities, I'd stay in Minneapolis and Uber or take the light rail to St. Paul for the show (15-20 mins). If you just want to see the show and watch football, I'd stay in St. Paul.
Got a nice place in West Vancouver from mid-June to mid-July. Going straight from Mexico to Canada. Based on my math, there's a chance I qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion this year by being outside the US for 330 of 365 days. Going to depend on how long I come home for the holidays. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/int...arned-income-exclusion-physical-presence-test
Could use a recommendation for an all inclusive or similar resort experience for Caribbean, Costa Rica, PR etc...live in Florida and likely maybe just going for 3 nights or so, so not looking on too long of a flight ideally. Just wife and I needing a getaway.
A bit delayed with posting, but welcome to my recap of my recent Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay trip. São Paulo - It was not high on my list but it was cheapest to fly here so I decided to check it out for a couple of days. - Traffic is as insane as advertised. I think it took 1.5 hrs to get to the city airport that was 4km away from where I was staying. The city is also huge that even so they have a metro, you find yourself like a 20 minute walk from the nearest station. - The art gallery (MASP) was pretty cool and being a soccer fan, the football museum was well worth a visit. - Only went out one night but the nightlife near Paulista avenue was cool. Lots of bars stacked beside each other so easy to bar hop. Would have been cool to stay the weekend but there was only so much time. Florianopolis - Easy to get in and out from since they have an airport, which was recently renovated and might have been the nicest airport I’ve been to. - Very beautiful. I stayed near the big lake (Lagoa da Conceição) which has awesome hiking and you’re also within walking distance to a few beautiful beaches on the ocean. - That being said, the island is quite huge and traffic is bad, so getting around is annoying because it’s like an hour uber. I never actually visited the city centre because of that. Buenos Aires - Awesome city that I would go back to in a heartbeat. This was over Easter so I was also pleasantly surprised that everything was open. - The cash/inflation thing is crazy. I kind of forgot to research this until I had already left and got lucky that I had 50€ in my wallet. The best option for exchange is the black market (on Calle Florida) where you pick out an exchange guy and go make a deal in some small office. I preserved the cash as best as I could by using card where possible, where you get charger the lower official rate and them get refunded after the fact by the card provider. This is all easier for most of the board since you all have USD, but you also have to be careful to not exchange too much because it is apparently difficult to get rid of pesos when you leave. - Given the sad inflation situation it is quite cheap to be a tourist there right now. - As I get older I eat less and less red meat so I left having steak until the last day. It was good but didn’t change my life or anything. - Restaurants and nightlife in Palermo were awesome. I recommend staying there for the weekend and then closer to the downtown during the week to be nearer the main tourist things. - Empanadas are a clutch vacation snack - Tourist wise, I again enjoyed the two big art galleries, La Boca is a cool neighbourhood especially on weekends when the shops open, and I went to two football matches, which I’d recommend regardless of if you like football. - Weird that BA has such a late night culture but then the metro closes at 11:00pm. Colonia - I took the ferry from BA to Colonia in Uruguay, along with seemingly half of Uruguay who were in BA for Easter weekend. - The historical town is beautiful and definitely worth a visit, but it’s quite small so you can do it all in like two hours. - I stayed one night but with hindsight would have just taken a bus to Montevideo a few hours after the ferry. - If you do stay there a night, bring bug spray. I wasn’t even there 24 hours and got like 40 mosquito bites. Montevideo - Uruguay is an interesting country in general and while there isn’t too many touristy things to see in Montevideo, I enjoyed learning more about Uruguayan culture. - I highly recommend doing the main english walking tour. One of the best walking tours I’ve been on. - To make the itinerary all fit together, I had to fly out the morning of the third day, but wish I had have had time for a couple more nights. Rio - I was in Rio two weekends, with a trip to Ilha Grande in between. - I think it earned the label of my favourite city in the world, so much that I am already looking into going back around the same time next year. Amazing energy, beautiful views, and lots of football. - Especially recommended if you are single. Buenos Aires and Montevideo were great cities to be single in, but Rio must be the best city on the planet for it. - Again, highly recommended to attend football matches since it is a big piece of Brazilian culture. Maracanã is beautiful and the party atmosphere makes it even more fun. - Got super lucky and had clear skies for Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf. Do them as early in the trip as possible since you’re a bit dependent on weather. - Stayed the first weekend in Copacabana and the second in Santa Teresa. Copacabana (and Ipanema) are quite lively and fun, but Santa Teresa is beautiful and it’s good to not just spend the entire time in Rio by the beach front. - Danger wise, I was most nervous for Rio, but I luckily didn’t have any problems. During the day the main areas are so highly populated that it felt safe enough (just be careful with your belongings) and I tried to minimize walking at night by taking Ubers, even for very short distances. That being said, I guess it’s difficult to gage the risk of armed robbery until it actually happens, so by no means am I questioning its reputation. Would recommend bringing a back-up phone just in case. Ilha Grande - Very beautiful island pretty close to Rio. - Did some hiking, which will lead you to beautiful, almost untouched beaches. - Definitely worth visiting for a few days. - After three weeks in car dependent and traffic heavy South America, it was nice to have a few days on a car free island.
Agreed re: Brazil. Rio is probably my favorite city in the world as well. Sao Paulo's food scene shocked me with how good it is. Hell of a trip!
If I'm going to spend a few months in Argentina this year -- should I literally bring a couple grand in USD cash?
I think you can use Western Union to bring in cash as well, if you want to avoid having to carry a large amount all at once. I’d definitely research a bit before hand to find the best strategy.
Brazil is also bringing back a visa requirement for Canadians and Americans (+ a couple others) in October iirc. Understandable since it’s a reciprocal thing based on requirements for Brazilians from those countries, but it’ll make planning a trip there in the future more annoying.
You must have stayed close to my friends' incredibly beautiful retreat/reforestation space: https://www.avivabrazil.com/en Rio and Florianopolis are GOAT cities. Spent a couple months in Floripa right as Covid hit. Considered buying something down there at the time due largely to favorable real/USD conversion. The language barrier is robust, however.
Brazil has the least amount of English speakers I've ever encountered. And Portuguese is really fucking difficult.
The money situation is definitely tricky. We found the best exchange rate was just sending ourselves money via Western Union. We were there for a week and just picked up $100 USD every other day. On our first day we got $1=385 pesos. By Friday we got $1=398 pesos. Just looked and today it's $1=477 pesos. I will say, I heard some sketch shit about the "illegal" black market money exchangers. If you don't know what you're doing, it's completely possible to walk out of there with counterfeit money.
Do the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour - wife and I did it and it was fantastic. You’ll spend a few days going from Oslo to Bergen (or vice versa, it’s up to you) via bus, train, and ship, and you’ll see the most amazing scenery. Then follow the suggestions of others and go see other spots in Europe outside of Norway. Try to stick to a single piece of luggage if you can. Managing a carry on and a piece of rolling luggage sucks on crowded trains, buses, etc.
Is it possible to fly from the US to a Schengen country (Italy), and fly back to the US from a non-Schengen country (Ireland) ? Making this trip over the summer with my dad who has Alzheimer’s, really hoping to avoid any issues with border agents. About 15 years ago a buddy and I flew into the UK and departed from Switzerland, and were nearly denied entry when we arrived in Glasgow. We had printed copies of our itinerary, but not actual paper tickets in hand for our return flight.
Going to Scotland this summer, what is the best way to handle payments. Would my credit card get shut down? Thought I’ve read people have issues even if you give the CC company notice. Take USD and exchange it when I arrive? thanks
you shouldn’t run into any issues. We exclusively used our cards throughout a week there and didn’t have any issues. Maybe a small amount of cash just in case but you can count on being able to use your credit cards.
I'm not sure what your concern is here. Are you flying from Italy to Ireland? Passengers transiting either DUB or SNN on their way to the US from mainland Europe is super common... Both are preclearance airports and are setup to facilitate just the transit you described. Fair warning to you and anyone else - I just did this in Dublin and encountered both a post arrival security screening *and* an additional security screening in the preclearance facility, *after* duty free. If you had bought a nice bottle of something at your origin (in my case BCN) you'd have lost it at the first post arrival screening, and what's more - if you had done the same at duty free in Dublin (thinking you'd just made it through the security screening you'd be receiving there) you'd have lost it in US Preclearance! Felt bad for folks I saw losing their completely reasonably purchased shit, really deceptive setup tbh.
I’m late; but San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua was awesome. Took a shuttle from Managua to SJDS, spent the week at Hola Ola hostel (highly recommend if anyone is going to make the trip. Spent the week surfing, partying, hanging out on the beach.
Those of you planning a trip to Rome, a direct high speed train line from Rome to Pompeii has been announced. Expected to open sometime in 2024 (don’t hold your breath). If/Once completed it will greatly improve getting to Pompeii. https://www.afar.com/magazine/a-new-high-speed-train-will-soon-connect-rome-and-pompeii
That would be awesome! As it is, it’s almost impossible to imagine how it looked 2000 years ago while one is walking around the place. And, tbh, the tour guides can’t really help with that.
Thank you, that’s definitely reassuring. The plan is to fly from Cleveland > Italy > Ireland > Cleveland. I was just concerned because the last time I had a similar itinerary, I was nearly denied entry. I suspect passport control felt my proof of return travel was insufficient, so I’ll go overboard with documentation this time.
I know it's not real "travel" but taking our first carnival cruise in 9 years next month. 8 night on Carnival Mardi Gras. First time i've ever visited another continent so I am excited but all of social media calls carnival walmart of the seas which is not too exciting.
Anyone have restaurant reservation recommendations for Lucerne, Bern or Interlaken? Going to have 4 kids ages ranging from 5-10 with us.
In Interlaken, we rode the funicular to the mountain overlooking town and had lunch up there. The food was bad, but the view was awesome. My kids were 10, 14, and 16 when we went. They really liked doing the Swiss fondue restaurant we did down in town for dinner. There are like 10-15 of them, so pick any one. This is where we ate lunch:
Cafe de Paris in Interlaken should be a decent place for you and your kids. More French cuisine so options they would be used to. I recommend Restaurant Luegibruggli for an authentic Swiss meal. It’s about a 10 min bus ride from the city center and perched on a cliff side overlooking the city and landscape. We also ate at Sapori which is attached to the Victoria-Jungfrau hotel. The Italian food was alright, but the hotel and restaurant are beautiful. We made a lot of day trips from Interlaken so those were really our only meals in the city center. When in doubt Trip Advisor is my resource to make sure a restaurant isn’t terrible.
Harder Kulm. I had 2 beers up there and quickly remembered that alcohol hits different at high altitudes We went in November which is apparently the month where everyone closes their restaurants and leaves town. We wound up buying food a Coop and cooking at the airbnb every night. The one restaurant we did go to was 4/10. I still love the Velo Cafe though. That was pretty much our home base for our trip. It's a fantastic Italian cafe with excellent coffee. I'm dying to go back.
Almost went here for honeymoon but went to the other side and did the corn islands instead. That looks fantastic.