Ask Simon Calder

Can I go back to the US if they think I’m still there?

Simon Calder quizzed on Esta issue, crystal-blue Christmas in the Galapagos and a lack of board in Singapore

Friday 14 July 2023 19:33 BST

Hawaii’s famous Waikiki Beach is so beautiful, you may never want to leave (Getty/iStock)

Q Earlier this year we were on an extensive cruise with multiple calls in the US. We each had a valid Esta and were checked into the US in New York. After going through the Caribbean and Panama Canal, we were checked in again in San Francisco. We then sailed to Hawaii and onwards to Australia, but our Esta history doesn’t provide proof of having left the US. In April I received an email from the Department of Homeland Security stating my time in the States was coming to an end. This is particularly alarming since we are due to travel to the US again in September. Any thoughts?

Mark M

A Your cruise sounds excellent, and it is regrettable that, through no fault of your own, you have been left with this bureaucratic burden. Like the UK, the US has no formal exit controls for travellers departing on international journeys. Instead, it relies on carriers – usually airlines but also cruise lines – to inform them when travellers have left. As the email from the Department of Homeland Security indicates, the authorities think you are still in the US. (I speculate that many other passengers may be in the same position.) Frustratingly, it is difficult to untangle a problem not of your making. It appears to be due to a cruise line not supplying an “outbound passenger manifest” with your name on it.

In the olden days when every overseas visitor was given a paper card called an I-94, there was something to surrender – and if the airline or cruise company failed to do so, you could post it to an address in Ohio with an explanation. As things stand, you can try to have a dialogue with the US authorities. They are understandably keen on documentary evidence – notably airline boarding passes, photos of entry or departure stamps in your passport showing you were in another country, pay slips showing you were working elsewhere and credit card receipts showing you were spending in a different country.

For your forthcoming trip, if you have not succeeded in getting your case heard, I suggest you take all the evidence you can – and then rely on the US official at passport control being a fair judge of someone else’s mistake.

Good tidings: Stephens Bay is just one of many beautiful places you can explore (iStock)

Q I want to visit the Galapagos Islands at Christmas. How should I make the most of a two-week trip?

Name withheld

A A trip to this far-flung and entrancing archipelago over Christmas looks like an excellent prospect. The Ecuadorian islands where Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection evolved are an astonishing place to see giant tortoises, swim with turtles and get up close with iguanas.

To make the most of two weeks, fly on Avianca, the Colombian airline, on its overnight non-stop from London Heathrow to Bogota. Connect at the Colombian capital for Quito and invest in a 24-hour stay to explore the Ecuadorian capital’s colonial core. Then fly (probably via the port city of Guayaquil – the main airport for the Galapagos) to the small, barren island of Baltra to board a four-day cruise.

Some say that you need at least a week on a vessel to make the most of the amazing wildlife. But I believe four days is sufficient to build a vivid picture of the unique ecosystem. The standard pattern for each day is to have a series of visits to islands, with naturalist guides to help you understand the remarkable creatures that have made these scattered islands their home.

The rough rule of cruises in the Galapagos: the bigger the ship, the better the facilities (to a maximum of about 100 passengers), but small and friendly means that shore excursions do not involve lots of waiting around.

Try to choose a cruise that ends not back at Baltra, the airport where you arrive, but at Puerto Ayora on the island of San Cristobal – the main commercial centre for the archipelago, with a good museum, some inspiring walks and a real sense of being a laidback Latin American town. It is well worth staying a couple of days to round off your island adventure. You might even contemplate a boat across to Isla Isabela for a day or two; this is the largest of the islands and worth exploring.

From San Cristobal, you can fly direct back to mainland Ecuador. On the way back to the UK, pause in Guayaquil – a very different and friendly city. Ideally, spend 24 hours in Bogota too, to get three Latin American cities for very little extra cost.

Air fares for a round trip of over 13,000 miles are likely to be over £2,000 per person, and the cost of a well-run trip (plus national park fees) could be upwards of £5,000. But book through a reputable company, such as Journey Latin America, and you can be sure of an outstanding experience.

With Lau Pa Sat, who needs hotel food? (AFP/Getty)

Q Why is it so hard to find full- or half-board hotel packages in Singapore? I am so baffled.

Eliza B

A You pose an intriguing question that I have not contemplated before, possibly because I am not a full- or half-board kind of traveller. I appreciate many people enjoy the certainty of knowing that most or all of their meals are included. In southern Europe and many other parts of the world, all-inclusive hotels are extremely popular. At island resorts in southeast Asia, too, it is normal for all meals (and usually drinks) to be included with the cost of an overnight stay.

I think the absence of such things in Singapore is simply symptomatic of the difference between big-city hotels and resort accommodation. In any world city – from London to Shanghai to Sydney to Rio to New York – the standard accommodation choice is between room only and bed and breakfast. The latter option covers a multitude of possibilities, from lukewarm coffee and a pastry to a lavish sweet-to-savoury spread. But for lunch and dinner, you are generally on your own.

In all those great cities that is something to celebrate; in Singapore, especially so. Besides tasty southeast Asian dishes, you can choose from Indian, Middle Eastern and different Chinese cuisines. I surmise that because the food offering across Singapore is so varied and appetising, the hotel food and beverage managers simply do not detect any significant demand from guests for lunch and dinner in the property. Any of the big hotels will have a range of options for those meals, should you wish to dine in, but not at an inclusive price – which I imagine is what you are after.

Happily, Singapore is bursting with great-value places to eat. I am particularly fond of the “hawker centre”. This is a great Singapore concoction, where dozens of vendors, each with its own culinary specialism, compete for custom. Choose what takes your fancy and then take a seat. There are dozens dotted around the city but my favourite is right in the middle: Lau Pa Sat, which occupies a former Victorian market building that was built in Glasgow in 1894 and shipped across to be assembled locally. Indian, Korean, Japanese and all manner of Chinese regional dishes are available 24 hours a day.

The strikes have been announced for a peak summer season (AP)

Q I am booked to fly back from Paphos in Cyprus to London Gatwick on 6 August with Tui. This is a strike date. Is there any possibility the strikes may be called off? If so when might we be likely to hear about this?

Jen B

A Nearly 1,000 staff belonging to the Unite union and working for four ground handling companies at Gatwick airport are planning to strike. They are due to walk out over two key weekends at the summer peak for the UK’s second-busiest airport. The first strike is from Friday 28 July to Tuesday 1 August, with a repeat a week later: Friday 4 August until Tuesday 8 August. Your flight is in the middle of the second tranche of industrial action. The ground-handling companies involved include ASC, which handles Tui flights at Gatwick. The others are Menzies Aviation (Wizz Air and others), GGS (British Airways and Vueling) and DHL Services Ltd (easyJet).

The union says the staff – who run check-in, baggage handling and aircraft dispatch – are paid “a pittance”. Their walkout, says Unite, will lead to “severe delays, disruption and cancellations across Gatwick’s operations”. While outbound passengers are likely to be in the frontline, inbound travellers like you are also in line for disruption. While the check-in operation will not be relevant to arriving passengers, baggage handling and other duties will be affected. And, of course, if a Tui flight outbound from Gatwick is cancelled, the return will normally be axed as well. However, having spent most of yesterday at Gatwick, talking to individual ground handling staff as well as their union rep, I am optimistic the strikes will be settled well before your flight home. It may be that some but not all of the ground handling firms settle, but in your case, I believe Tui has even more incentive than the other airlines to get an agreement: it will be financially damaged if its package-holiday business, as well as airline activities, are temporarily halted.