Bureaucracy Alive & Well

What do I mean by the title of this footprint? Let me backtrack a bit and explain.

TK81 from İstanbul landed at Boston’s Logan Airport around 7:30p. We were quick to disembark and follow the signs to immigration. Found the Global Entry kiosk ... processed through with a few quick selections on the monitor, and got our receipt to go through to customs. No problem.

With our Global Entry renewal applications still pending, we were supposed to do our approval interviews on entry back into the US. Turns out all interviews have been suspended indefinitely. Alrighty ... one less thing to deal with. No problem.

Next we collected our bags ... and headed to customs to turn in our entry receipt and the health forms we were asked to complete on board the flight. No officials along the route to hand anything to. No problem.

So, what happened to having to re-route through an airport that had quarantine and testing facilities because we transited through Barcelona less than 14 days ago? We weren’t expecting much when we arrived at Logan. Maybe a temperature scan would be taken ... which may have been done unobtrusively as we walked from the plane to immigration. At the least we expected to be asked some questions. Nope. Nothing. Nada.

We did no more to enter the country in Boston than we would have done in Houston. And that’s what I mean by bureaucracy being alive and well. Someone somewhere came up with some re-entry rules for the USA that caused a slight hiccup in our travel plans. But no one is seemingly implementing said rules. Go figure.

Oh well! We’re in the US. We know we got on the airplane in Turkey hale and healthy. We plan to self-quarantine at home for the suggested 14 days ... as soon as Mui makes an off-hour run to Walmart for milk and other necessities. No he’s not going to stock up on 🧻 🤪. And of course, we are going to practice social distancing whenever we go out and about.

Anyway, to wrap up our arrival in Boston ...

After turning over our checked bags once we got through customs, we headed to the United ticketing counter to see if there were any earlier flights. Nothing tonight ... nothing non-stop tomorrow morning before our scheduled 11:55a departure. Alrighty ... let’s stick with the plan and get some rest.

Instead of messing around with an off-airport hotel, we headed to the Hilton, which is between terminals E and A. Pricey ... but convenient. After being up and about for more than 24-hours, convenient was good!

Tomorrow we head to Colorado.Read more