Travel Tips

If youve ever traveled abroad, especially after 9-11, you know what a hassle the airport can be. Getting through the luggage counters, security, and then dealing with customs can be an exhausting full day of lines. If the idea of standing in a line with a hundred other people for an hour makes you cringe you might want to check it out. The Global Entry Initiative is making a move to make at least some of that better.

United States nationals and legal citizens can apply to use the Global Entry Initiative system. First thing you need to do if you want to apply is to go to one of the 20 locations in airports in America that are operating under the GE initiative. Once there you will have to complete an interview and a biometric data collection. Biometric data collection is a simple way to say they will probably take your picture and scan your fingerprints. They just want to make sure you are you.

Once you are a member of the program, they say you can get through customs when you come back to the United States, in less than five minutes. This is of course very early in the program, and there arent that many people enrolled yet. Those numbers might change if more people than they expect join the program. As of right now there are only 20 kiosks in 20 airports in the United States. Instead of standing in the long line with hundreds of other travelers participants will get to go to the kiosk. This is great news for people who travel internationally often. There is a membership fee of $100 though.

If you are traveling in and out of the US often you should probably check out the Global Entry Initiative. In America it goes by the catchy acronym GOES (Global Online Entry System).