What Can Global Entry Do For You?

Air travel has made the world a smaller place, but also a more complicated one.  It’s great that we can eat breakfast in New York and be in London in time for tea, but with added access comes added security concerns and the endless miles of red tape that come with it. For frequent international travelers, this was simply a part of the process that couldn’t be avoided: a necessary evil. But new and expanded programs allow for simpler immigration procedures for trusted travelers.

Leisure Travel Then and Now, by Martin Rapp

Twenty years ago I walked into a dealership to buy a new car.  A passionate young man and his cloud of cologne must have seen the overwhelmed look on my face instantly and instantly zeroed in on me.  He was maybe too passionate, and certainly wore too much cologne, but he helped me put into words what it was I needed.  I drove off the lot a happy customer.

To look at that car now is to see a very expensive box with an engine in it, but at the time it was quite a trendy purchase.  This year, when it was time to move on from the box’s replacement, I walked in to a very similar situation. The salesman wore a tighter suit and his glasses that were twenty-years out of style twenty years ago but are now experiencing a renaissance.  He wore far less cologne, and the rounded features of the ’91 model had given way to the precise angles of the ’12.  But beyond being shown a GPS instead of power windows, the overall experience was largely the same.  The way I bought a car had not fundamentally changed.

In some respects, the same cannot be said of Leisure Travel.

Norway with Martin Rapp

As the head of ALTOUR’s global Leisure Travel operations, Martin Rapp travels the world more than just about anybody. In the summer of 2011 Martin headed to Norway for a week-long visit. A detailed itinerary put together in association with one of ALTOUR’s local partners guided Rapp on his wanderings every step of the way.