Global Entry is now $120. But even so you are right. The cost difference isn’t much especially considering it’s over five years.
You shouldn’t do that unless you were an expert off road biker here in the US, that would make you a beginner in the Philippines. Seriously, I believe that motorcycle accidents are the leading cause of injury (and possibly death) in the Philippines and you do not want to be in a hospital there.
On that note make it a high priority to get travel insurance. If you get injured and are unconscious it would be a nightmare for the people with you to come up with what may end up being a large amount of cash to get you proper care. You will not be allowed to leave the hospital until your bill is paid in full. And decent meals, your family will need to provide them in many of the facilities away from major cities.
Oh yeah, you might also want to get a travel adapter plug: Anker Nano Travel Adapter (5-in-1, 20W, 1-Pack) - Anker US
The Philippines seem to use outlets type A, B, and C. A & B are what we have in the US, but some might be C, so you’ll need an adapter.
(Note that this has nothing to do with USB Type-C).
That Anker one includes a type C as well:
Or if you don’t need to go anywhere else anytime soon, you can get the simpler (and much cheaper) pass-through adapter kind: Amazon.com: Unidapt US to Europe Plug Adapter 4 Pack - Type C European Travel Converter for Italy, France, Germany, Spain - Compact USA to EU Outlet Adapter - White : Tools & Home Improvement
Also make sure your electronics support 220V (most recent ones should; it’ll be listed in the power brick input stats)
Absolutely. Make sure you have cover for loss or theft of luggage, passport, valuables, and for injury and other possible medical expenses, including emergency repatriation. Your credit card cover may not be enough.
I recently traveled to/from the Philippines and made use of the Singapore Airlines and United Airlines airport lounges in Manila, Singapore, and San Francisco. They were very nice and not crowded. I rarely (ie never) use lounges, but for this long trip, they were very nice.
thrirded.
The traffic in Manila and the other islands I visited was amazing and terrifying. It was very heavy and ill-controlled. Which generally made it slow so since I wasn’t driving it wasn’t bad. The terrifying part was the motorcycles/scooters. They wove in and out of traffic with abandon. Driving 40 mph in a multi-lane highway bumper to bumper? The motorcycles would drive between the lanes, even opposing traffic, then cut directly in front of the van with a couple of feet to space to switch to driving in the breakdown lane-then back again. And no one batted an eye. Anyone who drove at anything remotely considered safe driving would be driven off the road in short order. What amazed our group is that we never saw any accidents or “road rage”. Everyone on the road knew what to do and handled it well. Of course our driver was paid to make it look easy, but it wasn’t easy at all.
This has not been my experience at Logan Airport in Boston. I’ve had Global Entry for a while now (6 years?) and it’s been a godsend at Logan. The regular line is often a nightmare. I just returned from overseas earlier this week and the Global Entry line was a bit longer than usual, which meant I had to wait about 3 minutes 
Different airports might have different GE experiences.
Gift link to a New York Times article on whether TSA PreCheck saves any time at the security checkpoints at JFK, LGA and Newark airports. (Even those at the regular checkpoints are allowed to keep their shoes on, while 22 million passengers or one-third of those screened have PreCheck.) At some terminals, the time savings is substantial but at others, the difference is negligible.
Be aware that throughout all of Asia, motorbikes are common. And traffic is insane. I mean, my friend rented one in Laos, and got in trouble from the renter on his test ride for the insane idea that you should check for passing traffic before changing lanes. He was firmly instructed to keep his eyes firmly forward so he could react in time to the crazy traffic unfolding in front of him.
I have driven bikes in Indonesia and India, and while I was not given the same instruction, I would agree with it. Deal with what is in front of you, those behind will deal with themselves.
Understood. And thanks. I’ve ridden a motorcycle in and around Manila before, though it’s been several years. Traffic is crazy.
Mine too. Returning to Logan I’ve definitely saved time going through the Global Entry kiosks, rarely spending more than 3 minutes getting through.
It’s 12 dollars per country per day. If you come back to the first country after five miles in Austria, no new charge. The monthly plans abroad go with the dates on your billing cycle, I believe.
You don’t have to pay to enroll in STEP.
I flew into Seattle a few weeks ago and I normally fly into Newark. For both airports, Global Entry easily saves 30 minutes, if not more. In Seattle it took us all of 2 minutes to go through Global Entry. According to the helpful signs, it took 9 minutes to walk from the plane to baggage claim, which means it took far longer to get to baggage claim than it took to get out.
As I clearly remember spending 3 hours in customs in Newark in 2010, Global Entry is very much worth it for me, even if I only use it once a year. If you’re only going to fly internationally once, it’s not worth it.
Having worked flying internationally …
I’ve never seen Global Entry more backed up than the regular US citizens’ line at the same airport at the same time. I have seen the GE machines malfunctioning where a crowd of a couple dozen backs up behind it until they either get it reset or declare it closed for maintenance.
Having said that, just like with TSA pre-check, or airport lounges, there are some terminals at some airports at some times of day where nearly everyone traveling is a travel expert and has all the perks and priority stuff. And of course in that circumstance, when everyone is special then nobody is special.
I’d be real curious to hear which terminals at which airports routinely have GE backed up more than the US citizens’ line.
Since I mentioned it, my experience has been at DFW. But I can’t say that it’s routine since I only fly internationally a couple of times a year. I suppose I could just be lucky to arrive at a time when the customs arrival hall is uncrowded. It could also be in that case that those off the plane first (business and economy plus passengers) are more likely to have GE and crowd those kiosks without noticing the nearly empty general customs lines. But it has happened a few times for me and when it goes I wonder why I have GE.
I can’t remember the specific airport(s), either, but I’ve also encountered a few times when the Global Entry line was just about as long as the regular line. But even then, I think it goes faster because the machines tend to be a little faster (when they’re working) vs the immigrations humans. Although I think some airports are moving towards machines for everyone, which makes it faster in those lines too.
The thing about Global Entry and PreCheck is that you are not obligated to go through those lines. If the normal lines look quicker… well, just go through those (if you don’t mind taking off your shoes, etc.).
I believe passengers in the regular lines are now allowed to leave their shoes on.
I don’t have global entry, but I do have the Mobile Passport Control app on my phone. That gets me through almost as fast, most of the time.
So it’s like I said, it’s $12 per day, no limit on the number of countries per day as long as they are on Verizon’s list of 210 countries. Saying it’s $12 per country per day is misleading.
That being said, I’ll be switching to Google Fi before my next trip. Their Unlimited Premium plan covers text and data in 200 countries (phone calls are about 20 cents per minute. I don’t usually make calls while traveling, but even if I do it’ll be cheaper than $12/day). And the Unlimited Premium plan is still a few dollars less per month than what I pay Verizon now.
I have been required to go through TSA Precheck before. I think I was flying out of Tampa and the TSA Precheck line was closed so I went through the normal line where there was no line and got told to go to TSA Precheck. They can to call someone over just to get to me. I went through Dulles last year with an 18yo and 16yo. The 16yo had precheck because of me but I wasn’t having the 18yo go through without me. They asked why I was there at first until they saw the ticket without precheck.
Global Entry is WAY faster I’ve found. The longest line I’ve been in has been maybe 15-20 minutes, and that was at Dulles, where the normal lines can be 2-3 hours long. There’s been a few times where the machine takes a photo, they ask “You Eddie?” and off I go, don’t even show them my passport. It may not always be much faster, but it has helped me out quite a bit.