Life of Wry

I’m so far behind on blogging.. I hardly know where to start. Terrible way to start the year.

Wait…. let’s try this again.

A great way to start the year is with a mind-blowing trip to Central America. If that’s why you’re behind on blogging.. maybe you oughta just take a deep breath and reflect for a moment. You’ll catch up in due time. Or.. not. Chill, babe.

Welcome to my self talk.

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Ok. Here’s today’s. Jim and I finally got our appointment to get approved for Global Entry. All things considered, it happened pretty fast. We applied on December 5th of last year, so it took just three months. I overheard a Customs and Border Patrol employee tell a guy today that the wait time is now 15 months. I think part of the challenge is that you have to show up at a Global Entry office and those are scattered around the country’s larger airports; if you don’t live near one, that’s hard, and some airports have longer waits. And then there’s just timing… how many other people are applying at any given time. There are not that many slots available on any given day. So… three months was short and we only had to go to SFO. We were prepared to go to San Diego if that would save us a year, perhaps.. but didn’t have to.

Anyway.. after pre-vetting online via an application, some finger printing, photo taking and document review w/ a gov official today .. we are good. Our GE cards should arrive in a couple-three weeks.

Global Entry allows us to skip the long lines at customs upon return from foreign travel. It also gives us TSA-pre status (which we already applied for and got last year and which has, so far, been great). It’s good for five years and didn’t cost much… around $100, I think.

Here’s a pick of the drive down… taken from the Bay Bridge (through tinted windows).