The last update on our travels to Iceland included a lot of information on the Global Entry Application and covered our ordeals with the scheduling of the Interview.
This update will cover our actual experience of going to the interview, and the receipt of our Global Entry Cards, which arrived in yesterday’s mail.
When we left off, we had made the decision to schedule the interview in Charlotte, NC at the airport there, and had accomplished that goal.
We headed to Charlotte on Sunday, February 24, 2024. We took my Expedition, wanting to see if it was still capable of making the short 120-mile drive each way. We had a few issues with it a couple of weeks ago, but it was really only a weak battery and low on fuel, it actually ran out sitting on a steep hill, only because the gas pick-up is at the rear of the tank. Anyway, we had already made a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express Charlotte – Southend. It was located pretty close to downtown Charlotte, and also not too far from the Charlotte Airport.
It was a beautiful day on Sunday, and we left at about 11:00 AM, not wanting to get there too early and not be able to check-in. We were hoping if we got to the hotel around 1:00 PM, we might be able to go ahead and get our room.
The drive was nice until we got closer to Charlotte. We were surprised at the amount of traffic near Charlotte on a Sunday afternoon, and not any special holiday or seasonal time of year. We initially had planned on just calling the hotel to see if a room was available but decided instead to go ahead and go there in person. Our plan for the day was to go to the Concord Mall and visit the Sea Life Aquarium, then head to the IKEA Store not far from the mall All of this was well north of our hotel, so getting a room early meant we could unload everything and not have to worry about a late check-in when we were finished sightseeing.
The hotel was not busy, and after going through a little bit of a rundown area, we arrived. We did not know anything about the Southend area at this time, but later learned it is a nicer area full of stores and eateries, mostly to the south of the hotel, which surprised us after having gone through the rundown area getting there. We parked in their lot and headed up one floor to the front desk. We were pleased that we could already check in, so with that accomplished we headed up to the room with our gear.
We did not stay long, we were hungry for some lunch and wanted to get to the aquarium as soon as we could, leaving time for exploring the IKEA store afterward. The traffic was even worse as we headed north to Concord to the Mall, and the exit for the Mall was backed up onto the interstate. We were not sure where to go for lunch but saw a McDonald’s right off of the exit, so we slowly headed in that direction in all of the traffic. This is also the exit for the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and we were thankful there was no race there today, but with all of the traffic we were in, it seemed like it was possible.
The MsDonald’s was part of a gas station, so it was pretty small. We had not eaten in a McDonald’s for a long time, so we had to figure out the ordering kiosk, especially since we both did not want onions on our Quarter Pound Hamburgers, and that was tricky. In the end, we got the order placed, but we realized shortly afterward we had forgotten to add cheese. Seemed like it was easier just to say “Quarter Pounder With Cheese, No Onions” in the day……
With lunch taken care of, we headed back into the traffic to get to the Concord Mall. It was really busy, but it was nice that they had added a flyover sometime ago, and that got traffic into the mall parking area much quicker than having to wait to turn at a light. the aquarium was on the back side of the mall, so we had to drive around the entire all to get there. It was also located adjacent to the theater, which made parking difficult, we had to walk quite a distance to form where we could find a parking spot to the mall entrance.
Once inside, we headed to the Sea Life Aquarium entrance. OK, I had already wondered how much of an aquarium there could be inside a mall in the first place, and it was not large at all. The only thing large was the entry fee. It was about $56.00 for both of us, and that was the bare minimum entry, no guide, no tablet for information, just entry. Then we realized that this was kind of an attraction for kids, they were all over the place and many were young children in strollers.
It was not terrible, but it had seen some age and did not look anything as appealing as their ads and website. There was nothing to tell you about a lot of the species they had there, I guess we needed to pay extra for that. Most of the glass was clear, but some had started to get cloudy, and it was hard to see through. Plus a lot of it was curved glass and significantly distorted things behind it. Stephanie did get to pet some starfish in a tank, and they had a few sting rays in one area that were fun to watch. the highlight was a walk through their glass tunnel with fish swimming all around and overhead. It was only about twenty feet long, appearing much longer and clearer in the advertising.
It only took about 45 minutes to see everything. It was not terrible, but we both thought it was only worth about half of what they charged. I am sure maintenance is which, most of the fish and sea creatures were in saltwater. It was just not a real aquarium, it was a mall aquarium…
After we left there, we decided to stop at the large Outdoor World store, which is part of the Bass Pro and Cabella’s chain. It was a very large store and even had several bays for performing boat repairs and maintenance.
It was nice that they had quite a few boats inside on display. Most times they are outside, and hard to see up close. We were both amazed at some of the pricing on a couple of the high-end Bass Boats. They had large 250 HP Mercury outboards on them and were decked out with all of the fancy electronics. Even the options on the trailers were expensive, fancy wheel guards for the dual axle trailer cost $2,500 as an option. One boat we saw was over $93,000 but for only $700 per month it could be yours, just make that monthly payment for 20 years, at 9% interest.
We looked at some fishing gear, and then some clothing, and finally strolled through the sunglass area looking for sunglass straps, which I found and purchased. Stephanie found a jacket on clearance that she had to have, so we also got that. If we had just spent that aquarium entrance money here instead………
Next, it was finally time to go to the IKEA store, just a few miles away, but heading back toward the hotel. We had not been to the IKEA store here for quite a few years, and at that time it was sort of out in an undeveloped area, well no more. It was fully built up everywhere we drove as we headed there.
We spent a couple of hours there and saw a few interesting things, including a computer desk, which we need. However, we were not sure it would fit and were not willing to take the risk, it was too far to come back to return it, and too expensive if we did.
I did buy an adjustable height padded stool for use when I play my accordion and or guitar. We got a few other small things as well. When we were through with IKEA, it was about 5:00 PM, and we were starting to think about dinner. We thought Mexican would be fun, and there was a place right next to IKEA, but the menu did not look that great. Also, we were quite a long drive from the hotel, and we always enjoy a large beer with our Mexican food. It was just not a good idea with the long drive and all of the traffic we had already experienced. Plus, it was a little early for dinner.
We opted to just head back to the hotel and see if there was something close by we could just walk to. We could see that parking around the hotel was difficult, mostly street parking and not much of it was ever empty. We asked about some places at the front desk, and they gave us a sheet of close-by restaurants that were recommended.
We studied menus online and decided on one brewery/grill. It was only a few blocks away. However, when we were looking online for their website, we saw that one of the owners had recently fallen at the restaurant and died a few days back. We were not sure they were even open, so we picked a back-up place a couple more blocks farther away, just in case. We were right, the first choice was closed, so we walked to the second place, The Charlotte Beer Garden.
We headed to the stairs area, which was for table service, and ordered some food, and draft beers. They had more selections than we could figure out, there were taps on one entire wall in the back, maybe at least 75 taps. We picked out an amber ale and asked for a taste. I liked it, but Stephanie did not and just ordered a Yungling. Stephanei ordered a small pizza and I ordered a Mushroom-Swiss Burger. They did not have an extensive menu, in fact, it was quite small. I ordered another beer, and our server said it was out, I had gotten the last one. I picked out another, and she came back and said that beer selection was out too. We thought, wow, a beer garden running out of beer…. I ordered another choice, and it was good, but by that time we were full from eating. The food was good, and it was enjoyable overall, despite the beer woes.
We walked back to the hotel and relaxed having a little wine we brought with us and watching TV. Our plan for tomorrow, which was the real reason we were here, was to get u about 7:15 AM, and get ready so we could have an enjoyable breakfast at the included buffet. Our plan was to be ready to check-out and leave at around 9:30 AM, and head to the Charlotte Airport, about 18 minutes drive in the morning traffic according to Google Maps.
The breakfast was really good, and we were ready to go by around 8:45 AM, but watched some TV until it was closer to the time we wanted to leave. Our first appointment was scheduled for 10:10 AM, so we wanted to have enough time to get to the airport, park in the hourly lot closest to the terminal, and try and find the office for Customs that we needed to be at for the appointment. We just did not know how much time to figure out what we needed timewise to accomplish everything.
The drive to the airport was pretty easy, there was not much traffic on the secondary road we used to get there from the hotel, avoiding any interstates with morning commuters. `
It was a little difficult to find the hourly garage, there was some traffic at the airport, and we had to make a couple of quick land changes to get over far enough to get to that particular garage. We had to go up to the fifth level all of the others were either not open or full. The fifth level was pretty full too, we had to go over to the far end from where we entered and all the way to the back of the garage before we found a spot to park. It was a good location we needed to be on that far end anyway to be closer to the international arrivals area where the office we needed to get to was located.
We had a little walk to get to the elevators, and than a short wait for one to arrive before we could head down to the arrivals area and find the E baggage claim, which was what the instructions we had for the Global Entry Office said to do. Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction being done by the baggage claim, and several areas were closed off with plastic, so we could not see everything. We knew it was at the far end, and we headed that way. Finally, we saw a sign for Global Entry and the Hallway we had a picture of on our instructions, and that was a relief. It was odd since the signs above the hallway we needed to walk down said “Do Not Enter – Restricted Area”, but again, it was where our instructions said to go.
We found the office at the end of the hallway, and there was another sign for Global Entry at the entrance. It was a small area with a few seats, and there was a glass reception window that was closed. There was another person already there waiting for his interview, and he had already rung the buzzer at the window. His appointment was for 9:50AM, and at that time, an officer came out of another office and he went inside for his interview. The office was kept open, so we could see what the process was, there was not really an interview, there was a camera for a picture for the ID, and then an electronic fingerprint reader. The process was to confirm your address, take prints of all four fingers, without the thumb, then the thumb by itself, for both hands, and that was it.
About the time he finished, another person showed up for a 10:00 AM appointment, so he went next. Then it was my turn, and then Stephanie’s turn. It only took a few minutes, and we actually had a laugh with the officer, she was making fun of how nervous everyone seemed when getting fingerprints, everyone’s fingers were too rigid at first to make it scan correctly. By the time Stephanie went, she knew the drill, so it was easier for her.
We were done by about 10:10 AM, and headed back to the parking garage. We had to pay the $8.00 minimum for the first hour at the automated toll booth via credit card, and we were heading home. The drive home was nice, there was not a lot of traffic once we got about 30 miles south of Charlotte, past Rock Hill SC.
It is now March 10 as I am writing this, I was prompted to do this post today because we received our official Globa Entry cards in the mail yesterday, but did not get the mail out of the box until today. I had to go online to the Trusted Traveler website and activate our cards, so now we are officially finished with this task. It was not that hard once we were able to get the interview scheduled in Charlotte, the closest place to us we could go, and it was nice to get away for a night and visit a few places there.
Next up will be to start to do detailed planning on our daily itinerary for the Iceland trip.
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