Put Away Your Passport in Europe
Attention all drug traffickers and people smugglers across Europe: Things are changing on Friday. The next stage of the Schengen Agreement will come into effect and that means that a whole bunch of border crossings will disappear.
The biggest changes will be between Western and Eastern European countries, like on the border between Germany and Poland, where the passport checkers and border police will be out of work and replaced simply by signs welcoming you to the next country. On the other hand, borders on the outside of the new Europe, like those leading to Russia, will be tightened up to stop the wrong things (and the wrong people) getting into the European Union.
We should be happy that there won't be long queues of cars waiting to cross borders or the annoyance of having to get off a bus for a search each time you reach a new country, but we're kind of sad that we're going to be missing out on pretty passport stamps.
Related Stories:
· Passport-Free Future to Blow Dust from Old Europe [Reuters]
· Europe Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: mezzoblue]
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