Day 0.5: Screaming babies and pickles for breakfast!

So, off on the grand adventure of Austria! As you know, I decided rather quickly to take a trip to visit Vienna (as well as a day trip to Salzburg). It all came together rather quickly and due to my crazy work travel this winter/spring to NYC I didn’t get to plan as much as I would like until the last two weeks of the trip. But after a marathon TripAdvisor session for inspiration one day, I was ready to head out!

Decided on Air Berlin for my flight, flying from Chicago O’Hare to Berlin for a change of planes then on to Vienna. I have been trying to book a late afternoon flight so that the plan is to sleep on the plane and arrive relatively rested early in the morning. Left Chicago with little issues and we were off! As we were boarding I noticed that there were several small children on my flight (actually toddlers). Little did I know how important this information would be!

Air Berlin at O'Hare

ready for my in flight nap!

The flight itself was fine, little turbulence and the food was decent. I had a window seat so that there was only one person next to me and then the aisle. I prefer that because I sleep better in the window seat. Until the toddler started. Crying. For four solid hours! I mean I understand that they can’t help it. They are babies. But I really needed to get some sleep. And I just couldn’t. I was able to doze a bit here and there but nothing substantial and that makes me cranky! Poor kid, mom was doing everything she could (walking up and down the aisles, bouncing, rocking, all of it). But no, that little one was not giving in!! Arghhh

The remainder of the flight was uneventful. I watched a movie and continued to try and sleep. And of course had dinner and then breakfast. Which brings me to my next point. Breakfast. It was the typical yogurt, pastry, meat and cheese. And pickles. For breakfast. I found that so amusing! I mean I know that the German’s love their pickles but I think having them with breakfast is a little bit overkill. I mean do pickles really go with yogurt?

After a change of planes at Berlin Tegal airport (more on this airport in a later blog post: it’s a little crazy how things are done there), and a quick stamp in my passport, we were off to Vienna. Just so you know I didn’t get an Austrian stamp in my passport because they stamp you as you enter the first country (i.e. Germany) not the final destination. Vienna appeared to be a nice airport but honestly I just swept through and grabbed my bags, got some cash from the ATM and found a cab. It was about a 25-minute ride from the airport to my hotel, the Vienna Marriott on Parkring. The cab driver was amused when I told him that my German was “no bueno”.  Heh. He tried to teach me a few words of German and was super nice. Of course that could also be because I am a good tipper. Who knows?

Checked in with no issues (as is standard with a Marriott) and was promptly upgraded to a king bed with a lovely view of the Stadpark across the street. Free breakfast and free access to the mini-bar completed the package! Yay for Marriott rewards!

After a quick freshen up I was off out into the city. More on that in the next post.

So, do you have pickles for breakfast???

It’s a Global Entry kind of day!!

So headed up to the wonderland of Northern Chicago for my Global Entry interview today. Not even going to talk about the crazy snow, traffic and generally shitty conditions. That’s not what this is about. It’s about the Global Entry interview!!

Once you get “conditionally approved” by the Global Entry Powers That Be (aka: Customs and Border Patrol) you get an email explaining the process and directing you to sign up for an appointment for your interview to finalize the process. You have basically all of the participating airports with interview centers to choose from, and the closest to me was Chicago O’Hare, which is my go-to airport for international travel.

It was super easy to make the appointment, all done on line and since they have Saturday appointments to chose from, it makes it convenient for the working masses. My appointment was at 10:00 am today and with the weather being what it was I wanted to be there early, just in case. As it turns out they were running ½ hour behind: there was about 8 people ahead of me in line.

Once they call your name you are brought back into the “interview area”, which is basically a desk with a couple chairs and computer terminal. The Customs and Boarder patrol dude was super nice and it was a simple process. His computer was giving him technical difficulties but the actual process was simple. They look at your passport, driver’s license and the interview letter that was emailed to you. Then they take your picture and your fingerprints (electronically) and ask you a few simple questions. Such as:

o   Have you ever been arrested domestically or abroad?

o   Have you ever had any immigration violations brought against you?

o   Have you ever used another name? (Not counting maiden names).

That was about it. Simple. Took about 15 minutes total and pretty straightforward. I should note that in all honesty, they have already done your background check. They know who you are and what you are all about. I think they just want to see you and match up your face to passport. Then he gives you a temporary card with your ID number on it and gives you the speech. Some highlights:

o   You will get your permanent card in the mail. No need to take that with you on trips. It is mainly for driving back and forth from Canada or Mexico.

o   You will receive an email in about 48 hours with further instructions on using your new Global Entry info when you book your future flights.

o   Cannot be applied to any current flights already booked, only for new flights.

o   You should for first time uses with all your preferred rewards airlines check in at the ticket desk so that they have all your information updated when you use the system for the first time. (After that you can check in online, etc).

o   Although technically you don’t have to fill out the customs form on the airplane any more, my dude explained that they tell folks to still fill it out because as he said: “kiosks break, machines run out of paper, stuff happens. Better to be prepared just in case”.

Like I said, simple process! I think that this is going to be a good thing and for only $100 for 5 years you really can’t beat the price. Anything that makes your entry back into the good old USA quick and painless is a win-win for me!!

Happy travels!!!!