11/29/2013 - Global Entry Program Interview at SFO

The day after Thanksgiving Roger and I headed to San Francisco for an appointment to interview for the Global Entry program.  I had booked a hotel on Hotwire that would give us a free shuttle to the airport.  We stayed at the Super 8 in San Bruno.  The room was clean and comfortable.

It had a small table with two chairs, a chair, refrigerator, microwave and coffee pot.

The restroom could use some updating and I don't think it would pass the ADA inspection.  The toilet paper is a distance away. 








The staff was friendly and helpful.  I had asked to have a shuttle take us over to the airport so they told us what time to be in the lobby.  When we arrived down stairs a little before the time they told us to be there, he was there waiting for us.

He dropped us off at the International Terminal shuttle drop off/pick up area.  We walked in went to the left and took the escalator down to the next level and the Global Entry office was just across and a little to the right.  They had 6 chairs for people to wait to be called in.  We had arrived early but when the officer came out he noted that we were there so we did get called in early.  Roger and I were called in separately asked some questions, gave our fingerprints and were told that we would receive an email later as to our status in the program.  To find out more about the Global Entry Program check out their site.  If you travel often it could save you a lot of time and hassle.

The shuttle driver had told us how to call for pick up so we went back out to where we were dropped off and called for the shuttle.  We noted that the time was just when Roger's appointment was supposed to start as we were headed back to the hotel.

When we got to the hotel we decided to walk next door to Don Pico's Bistro .

The food was good and the service was quick.  We especially enjoyed talking to a young man that was a waiter there that had moved from the Fresno area to San Francisco about a year earlier.  He had noticed that we were from Fresno because I was wearing my Fresno State sweatshirt.  This was also the same day that Fresno State had played San Jose State at San Jose and we lost.   They had a note on their menu that if you checked in on Facebook they would give you a Margarita so I quickly took advantage of that.  They had a dessert that if I would have seen it before I ordered I would have just added a taco to Roger's meal and ordered dessert.  It was a Nutella chimichanga.  The meals started at around $14.  With tummies full we headed next door to our hotel.

We were lucky and had a room at the end of the hall so it was quiet.  But in the morning you could hear the people leave from across the hall so that tells you the rooms are not very soundproof.  We went downstairs for breakfast and let's just say that it is a very small room.  there are 4 tables that will sit a max of 3 people each.  They offered toast, bagels, cinnamon rolls, two types of cold cereal, oatmeal packets and they had 1 waffle maker.  Luckily we got in there in time for Roger to make a waffle but since there were people lining up behind him he decided we could share that waffle and he would make another when the line went down.  Well the line did not go down it only kept growing but he did jump back in line and made another.  It was kind of fun sitting in there because I think we were the only people who spoke English.  Others were speaking German, Japanese and not sure what else. So my suggestion would be to head down early to get your breakfast.