Don't know if this has been discussed, due to my limited off-work access to l'Internet. I hear that France has temporarily opted out of the Schengen accord, so you should expect to have to pass immigration controls between, say, France and Belgium. Beer garden talk was that the manning levels have been stepped up at the border contols near here in the past few days, too. -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".
Thanks for that. I think they'll take one look at the collection of SOBs, roll their eyes, sigh "Les Anglais!", and lift the barrier.
I saw the article, thought 'gosh, how often would we have had to get our passports out between our digs in France and going to Chimay', and then just assumed you would have seen it too.. -- Lesley CBR600FW SBS#11 (with oak-leaf cluster) BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12 BONY#54P BOB#18 Real burds don't take hormones, they rage naturally
Well I don't know what it was about, but I can report zero customs presence at French border crossings with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, and no noticeable increase on the Swiss borders. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2 `\|/` `
It wasn't bad when I came back, first time I've had my passport checked *twice* on the French side though.
Champ was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever: It wasn't - they definitely beefed up the security at the Eurotunnel. Funnily enough we got the third degree grilling on the way *out* to Chimay. Coming back was a bit more relaxed, but not much. That said, for some reason they always seem to try and make you feel like a criminal if you're trying to use the tunnel...
I Ginge's defence, us three got checked twice in France, too. -- | ___ Salad Dodger |/ \ _/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z |_\_____/_| ..75939.../...19198.../..30836. (>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 |__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 \ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4 \|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG* '^' RBR Clues: 24 Pts: 400 Miles: 1589
Hmm. Given that you weren't with me or Ginge, I don't know how you can assert that. We were both on the P&O sailing from Calais to Dover. I've *always* (like, for the last 20 years) found the process on landing in England after a European tour to be annoying, intimidating and frankly embarrassing.
Thing that strikes me is how *shabby* Dover looks from the ferry, after you've been around the Continong for a bit. Of course, as you travel further inland you realise it was just an illusion - the interior is much worse.
Heh. I get that feeling every time I go back to the UK. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2 `\|/` `
Now on that point it was business as usual, 3 customs blokes stood around having a chat as 2 rows of vehicles slowly rolled through the tunnel, and no uk side customs check, which for me is a first.
Nah, they're just further away... -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".