Keoman

So I’ve been here 3 whole days now and have a spare moment to write up my entry into America. As direct flights from London to Dallas seem to have gone through the roof this year, I was forced to look into connecting flights. I was concerned about layover times and potential of missing connecting flights due to immigration so looked for connecting routes outside of the USA. After a little research I found a route from Gatwick to Dallas Fort Worth via Keflavik, which was priced favourably too, also their excess bag policy was good too, extra case and golf clubs cost only £97!

So bright early start on Wednesday, arrived with plenty of time at Gatwick and left pretty much on time and soon found myself in Iceland for the first time! Seems Iceland is becoming a bit of a hub as a stop off between Europe and USA as noticed many flights to various parts of the states. Killed a couple of hours on my iPad then boarded for the flight to Dallas, unfortunately there was a slight technical snag which meant about an hour delay but the pilot said we would make most of that up as favourable winds. He was pretty much spot on as we landed at Dallas at 9.30pm, only ten minutes late.

I was near the front of the plane so was one of the first off, which was handy as wanted to get in at border control before the masses. I asked a member of staff which line I should go to entering the country on a visa and was directed to the citizens and LPR queue. This is when things started getting a little frustrating, the queue was moving very slow and at first I thought it was due to only 1 window being open but eventually an announcement was made that there were computer issues and asked for patience while they tried to resolve. An hour and a half later they made another announcement saying they were now seeking approval to use another system and that everyone would be processed as quickly as possible. A few extra windows were opened and you could tell the staff had had enough of the situation too but eventually got to my turn and offered my passport, I was asked very little apart from my envelope and after about ten minutes was told ‘OK that’s you done!’ Not quite the welcome to America I had hoped for but who cares it was done! My wife was waiting outside for me and just happy to be together again!

Been a crazy few days since as I’m sure everyone goes through! Opened up a bank account with Bank of America with no problems, got myself a new phone and picked up my car on Friday! We had an offer accepted on a house while I was still in the U.K. and if all goes to plan we close in 2 weeks and can fully start our new life together. Just got to get used to this Texas heat!!!

Rete

Congratulations and welcome to the US. Glad you made it through Iceland without much of a problem. Wish I had been so lucky last month. What a hell hole that place is.