Check out the latest video: https://youtu.be/gWoWHTCpgH4
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This video is of our first days in Bermuda.
If you don’t know, I am a US citizen, Gracie is a Filipino citizen. So, while my US passport can essentially get me into any country on the planet I would ever want to go to, the same is not true for Gracie’s. For sure her passport gets her into any and all of the countries that we want to go to in South East Asia (e.g. Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cambodia, Taiwan, China (mainland), etc…) with about the same level of ease that my US passport does. So, when we want to go to Thailand, we show up at the airport and present our valid passports at Immigration and about 15-30 seconds later we get a stamp in our passport allowing us to stay for 30 days with no additional paperwork. This is “Visa Exempt”.
But for Gracie to come to the US, she had to go through the process of essentially proving to the US Immigration department that she would *leave* the US and return to her home country. A fair requirement actually. Considering the overall “wealth” of the US vs. the Philippines AND the extensive social programs that are available to US citizens, it’s not a crazy assumption to think that someone from another country might come here and say, “HEY! I like it here, I’m staying!”… without the proper permission. Indeed you have heard of the whole illegal immigration thing into the US.
Well, my wonderful Gracie, is 100% legal to be in the US and has all the proper VIsa(s) to stay, as a tourist, for up to six months at a time, over the next 10 years.
Each time she enters the US she gets a stamp allowing her to stay 6 months. One to the cool things about Bermuda only being a 2 hour flight from Boston is that since we love islands and were going to go there anyway, by “leaving” the US (i.e. entering Bermuda) and then re-entering the US when we leave Bermuda, she gets 6 months from the time of her entry or, for this trip, 6 months from July.
Good stuff! Allows for a lot more exploring of the US for both of us!
Something that we LOVE to do is go to Islands. Small Islands, Medium-sized Islands, Big Islands… but not too big. The “island living” lifestyle or attitude fits me perfectly. I first “felt” that during my first trip to the Florida Keys in December 1987. and, Truly, that experience changed my life. Until that time, I logically knew that there was warmer weather for a longer time of the year in Florida but being able to do what I could only do in July/August in, Massachusetts BUT do it on December 29th!!!??? and it was even warmer!!!??? Oh My Gawd – I was exposed to an opportunity that I have NEVER let go of: Going Somewhere Sunny, Warm and Humid! I Love it, Love it, Love it!!!