US Trip Q&A
My husband recently returned from a nearly month long trip to the US. The travel landscape has changed quite a bit since the last time we travelled back in January 2020, so I thought I’d pester him with questions about the process. Hopefully this will demystify some of the requirements to travel back and forth from the US, especially since borders are opening up to visitors from visa waiver countries in the beginning of May.
What documentation and tests were needed to leave New Zealand and travel to the US?
To leave New Zealand, I needed a negative covid test taken within one day of departure. At the time of my trip, Rako Science was the known option. Now, there are other supervised RAT test options that are much faster and less expensive. Air New Zealand encouraged me to download and use an app called IATA Travel Pass. Supposedly you can upload your flight details, covid vaccine certificates, and lab test results and then use the app to show AirNZ that you’re all good to go. Only when I got to the airport I didn’t end up using the app at all. They ended up wanting the email from the lab and the I guess I had already uploaded my vaccine status to them. So, IATA was a waste of time.
Then, to get into the US I discovered that US Customs and Border Patrol has an app they use called MPC, which does much of the same sorts of thing. It allows you to fill out your entry card and submit it via the app. Very nice, I thought. Only, once again no one ever asked for it. After I got through immigration and collected my bags I was prepared for a typical CBP process, but there was nothing… literally no-one between baggage claim and the exit doors. Weird. I mean, maybe it was a huge scanner system like in the Arnold movie Total Recall. But somehow I think not.
What did the agents at the Auckland airport ask for? Did they actually check everything?
They checked everything: vax status, covid test result, the lot.
What was it like when you arrived in the US? What information did customs and immigration ask for? And how long did it take to make it through?
It was sort of a hybrid electronic immigration process. You give your passport to an immigration agent who looks at it and you (pull your mask down, sir) and the you go through the little gate system where you scan your passport to get into the cattle chute, then you look up and (don’t) smile for the camera, and the wait a tic and the gate opens and your off to baggage claim. Immigration took about 5 minutes, but there was almost no line when I walked up. Just a few folks.
What were your first impressions of the US when you arrived? What things stood out as big changes and what things did you expect to change but were the same?
It’s, well, big. And there’s lots of concrete. Nothing was really different, I just hadn’t seen it in a couple years and so I had started to settle into thinking of NZ as a normal place. NZ is special. Visually, Europe is dense and filled with dotted architecture. Visually, the US is vast concrete plains dotted with, well concrete. Especially LA and Dallas. It is amazing how far you have to go to get from one business to another business directly across the road. In NZ that distance is generally easy to navigate in a wheel chair. In Dallas that distance generally requires a car. Just across the street!
Now that’s not a change in the place, but more a change in my perspective. What I expected to change, but hadn’t really was the people. Thankfully, I found the people to be the same wonderful people we left when we moved. Partisan politics and culture wars make us all believe people are ring fencing their little enclaves to keep out the hoards of nasty people they don’t agree with… but, nothing doing. People are friendly, helpful, considerate and keep their opinions to themselves. Mostly.
What was it like to travel domestically within the US?
Simple. Everyone was nice and easy going. Nothing worth mentioning anywhere I went. I’d call it normal. I’ve flown between 3 and 4 million miles in my time and so maybe I’m willing to roll with the punches more than most.
What kind of covid test did you get to return to New Zealand? Where did you do it and what was the cost?
It had to be supervised, and I had the choice of a PCR test 48 hours before my flight or an RAT 24 hours before. I went with the RAT and got it at the facility they have inside the international terminal at LAX - Clarity Mobile Labs. They are downstairs beside the baggage claim area. Nice folks, easy peasy, and no wait. It was cheaper to do it there than anywhere else I could find and way more convenient. $180USD. And they promised results within an hour, but it only took about 20 minutes. Good service, and well worth it. You cannot go to international check in until you have the result, so find a bar and relax for a bit.
Now, in an abundance of caution I tested myself before I took my flight to LA. I didn’t want to start the journey and not be able to finish it. All in all, I took three RAT tests before getting on the plane to NZ and they all showed negative. And I was POSITIVE! Turns out I had covid, gave it to my brother before leaving, and didn’t get a positive result until my first test on the ground in Auckland and had already given it to my kiddo. Not a good feeling. And, it turns out, not a useful system.
What documentation did the US based agents ask for?
There is a new NZ Travel Declaration that you have to fill out online with your vax status and test result info. This thing is a nice long questionnaire that takes a solid half hour to work through. Start the day before and save the test result for the end. It’s a pain and all the data that should come from other places doesn’t, so you’ve got to fill the thing in completely and then do separate entry card for NZ. It's redundant and a pain, so be prepare to suck it up. Get it all done and dusted before you get in line for check in.
What was the arrival process like in New Zealand? How long did it take?
Very normal immigration and customs stuff. Took no time at all. Maybe 15/20 minutes.
Do you have any other words of wisdom about travelling to and from the US right now?
Are there any questions that you have about travelling back to the US right now? And do you have a trip planned?
