Norway

[J N Winkler]

I am not sure whether this is true for US citizens, but a British friend of mine was able to get a transit visa for Russia without too much trouble.  He was passing through via rail on his way to Kazakhstan to teach English but his case was less than straightforward since he was laying over in Moscow for a few days to visit friends.  He hired expediters (working out of the Russian consulate, if memory serves) to handle his documentation and had the visa after about 1 1/2 months.

It is certainly true that it is much more complicated to enter Russia than practically any country in western Europe, where US citizens get leave to enter almost automatically at the airport, or even Middle Eastern countries like Turkey and Egypt, where US citizens get visas at arrival on payment of a head tax ($45 for Turkey when I entered in 2000--payable, oddly enough, in US dollars only, which meant I had to change sterling into US dollars since I was leaving from Britain).

[Chris]

Traveling in Europe has become quite easy with the Schengen agreement. There are only a few troublesome borders left, like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, and some other ex-Yugoslav countries.

On the other hand, I went to Croatia last summer on a day trip, and getting into Croatia was very easy (Croatia is a non-EU country), they asked "do you have anything to declare?", I responded "no, nothing", and then they stamped my passport and I could go again. It took me like one minute to cross that border, I didn't even need to get out of the car.

Getting back into Slovenia (aka Fort Europe) was also easy, the Turkish guy with German plates in front of me had to open his trunk, but they didn't even look in my passport, they just waved me through.

[shoptb1]

I'm quite aware that there has not been a Soviet Union since approximately August, 1991... I just labeled it that way on the map as a subtle protest against their continuing "your papers, please" attitude!  Apparently it takes many months to get the correct paperwork done to enter, and even more if you successfully intend to leave. 

Meanwhile, to fly into Norway from the United States, you buy a plane ticket and make sure you have a passport and that is all you need - and to travel from Norway to Sweden, you point your car in the right direction and hit the gas for the requisite quantity of kilometers!  Both of those countries are sensible about international travel, but Russia seems to be caught in the pre-glasnost era, thus the label.

Gotcha....you're right...it is completely silly that they still operate in this manner. 

[Truvelo]

Traveling in Europe has become quite easy with the Schengen agreement. There are only a few troublesome borders left, like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, and some other ex-Yugoslav countries.

On the other hand, I went to Croatia last summer on a day trip, and getting into Croatia was very easy (Croatia is a non-EU country), they asked "do you have anything to declare?", I responded "no, nothing", and then they stamped my passport and I could go again. It took me like one minute to cross that border, I didn't even need to get out of the car.

I went to Croatia with a Hungarian friend a couple of years ago across a land border in his car, a Fiat Uno 45. The number represents the horsepower

They took a look at his passport and handed it back whereas my passport was stamped. Perhaps there's special arrangements for citizens of Hungary? He says travel to Serbia with a British passport wasn't recommended but he has been a few times without trouble.

[agentsteel53]

I am not sure whether this is true for US citizens, but a British friend of mine was able to get a transit visa for Russia without too much trouble.  He was passing through via rail on his way to Kazakhstan to teach English but his case was less than straightforward since he was laying over in Moscow for a few days to visit friends.  He hired expediters (working out of the Russian consulate, if memory serves) to handle his documentation and had the visa after about 1 1/2 months.

his definition of "without too much trouble" is clearly different from mine!   

[J N Winkler]

Traveling in Europe has become quite easy with the Schengen agreement. There are only a few troublesome borders left, like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, and some other ex-Yugoslav countries.

It is not so easy for non-EU citizens though, even people from "good" countries like the USA.  For a US citizen the first time entering the Schengen zone as a tourist after a six-month period away is easy.  But if you re-enter after having left within the last six months, there is typically a delay while the immigration officer studies the Schengen entry and exit stamps in your passport.  This is because the differences in date between consecutive pairs of entry and exit stamps have to be studied in order to verify that you have not spent more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen zone.  In 2006, I got the laser-eye treatment from a French immigration officer at Mérignac airport in Bordeaux; this was because I had gone to Turin a few weeks earlier to visit a friend.  I got the same from a Dutch immigration officer at Schiphol in 2007 because I had been in Florence for vacation earlier that week.

As an aside, regardless of country or mode of arrival, a Schengen stamp always looks the same.  It has a rectangular border, the code of country of entry or exit within the EU thirteen stars in the upper left corner, the date and time of transit in the middle, the mode of transport in a rectangular cartouche in the upper right corner, an arrow-in-box for "entry" or arrow-out-of-box for "exit" in the lower left, and the name of the port and some other identifying codes in the bottom right.  The country code is the same as the distinguishing sign for motor vehicles registered in that country--i.e. "F" for France, "D" for Germany, "E" for Spain, "A" for Austria, etc.

When the Schengen agreement was still new, a common scam for Americans working illegally within the Schengen zone (by entering as tourists under the standard 90-days-in-180 concession but then undertaking paid work) was to travel from Switzerland by land.  For a length of time in the late nineties and early noughties, Switzerland did not participate in the Schengen agreement and so was a "hole" in Schengenland, but it was routine for border guards of the surrounding countries to wave through Swiss-plated cars without even inspecting the passports of the car's occupants.  The Swiss border guards (part of the cantonal police, I think) also waved through US and Canadian citizens without stamping their passports.  This meant that, for example, you could land in Paris, get a Schengen entry stamp for France on arrival, leave Paris for (say) Zürich almost immediately, get a Schengen exit stamp for France, and then travel through Switzerland and re-enter France from the east without getting a stamp at the French border.  Of course, if you were caught in France without a Schengen stamp corresponding plausibly to your sojourn (say, a Schengen entry stamp without corresponding exit stamp dated within the last 90 days), you would be in trouble, but on the other hand it would not be possible for the French police to prove on the basis of your passport alone that you had overstayed tourist leave to enter.

This particular dance step no longer works because Switzerland has joined the Schengen agreement in the last five years or so.  I have not passed through Zürich Kloten (or any other Swiss airport) more recently than 2004, so I can't say what changes might have taken place, but I'd imagine that US and Canadian citizens have lost their preferential treatment in the passport queues (probably in favor of a division between "EU citizens" and "All other passports") and that Switzerland now has its own version of the Schengen stamp with "CH" within the EU thirteen stars.

Edit:  An interesting fact I learned when I travelled between London and Paris via Eurostar last July:  on Schengen stamps the physical location of the port is used even when it is extraterritorial, as often happens when a "juxtaposed checks" regime is in operation.  I cleared French immigration in London and therefore the Schengen entry stamp for France says "Londres."  I cleared British immigration at the Gare du Nord on the way back and the British immigration stamp (which is not a Schengen stamp since Britain does not participate in the Schengen agreement) says "Paris."

[J N Winkler]

his definition of "without too much trouble" is clearly different from mine!   

He also used the word "scam" to describe the process--justifiable IMO since he was essentially paying Russians to clean up after the bureaucracy they themselves had created.

In my opinion Latin bureaucracy is unfairly calumniated in the Anglo-Saxon world and Russian bureaucracy is far worse.  Latin countries are very big on forms in triplicate, scrawling your name on every page of an agreement (an Italian friend once told me, "If you come here, learn a fast way to write your initials"), and stamping documents with a loud THUNK, but at least it is transparent and fair, and nobody comes to you for baksheesh.

[agentsteel53]

at least it is transparent and fair, and nobody comes to you for baksheesh.

there is no mordita anymore in Mexico, or were you just referring to continental Europe?

[J N Winkler]

there is no mordita anymore in Mexico, or were you just referring to continental Europe?

I was referring primarily to continental Europe (France, Italy, and Spain).  Mexico is an imperfect case--almost cleaned up, but not quite.  Passport control and the temporary vehicle import process is clamped down tight and I understand that it is now all but impossible to carry out the traditional scams, like taking an American clunker down to Mexico, re-registering it as a Mexican vehicle, and then selling it on.  However, when I did the temporary vehicle import process in December 2001, the Banjercito employee who processed my paperwork walked the silver sticker out to my car and then asked for a M$20 gratuity, despite posters nearby advising tourists (in English) to report all such demands for tips to the Attorney General.

[Chris]

It is not so easy for non-EU citizens though, even people from "good" countries like the USA.

On the other hand, inhabitants of eastern EU countries still need a visa to visit the United States. For instance Polish or Bulgarian inhabitants require a visa to visit the U.S.

[agentsteel53]

On the other hand, inhabitants of eastern EU countries still need a visa to visit the United States. For instance Polish or Bulgarian inhabitants require a visa to visit the U.S.

the US is not exactly known for its foreigner-friendly policies.  one stop within 100 miles of the Mexican border will quickly tune you in to that fact!

[agentsteel53]

Norway the fifth:

https://www.aaroads.com/blog/2010/01/29/norway-v/

[agentsteel53]

and the sixth

https://www.aaroads.com/blog/2010/02/09/norway-vi/

[Chris]

Awesome pictures

How much was the flight from the U.S. to Norway? Gotta be pretty expensive. I'm actually planning a trip up north during the summer, I intend to camp there, when it's like 70 F in Lapland. Only those damn mosquito.

[agentsteel53]

Awesome pictures

How much was the flight from the U.S. to Norway? Gotta be pretty expensive. I'm actually planning a trip up north during the summer, I intend to camp there, when it's like 70 F in Lapland. Only those damn mosquito.

flight was about 1100, and that was from San Diego to Oslo to Tromso...

[agentsteel53]

interestingly, I just found a set of photos on another forum from the same general area as my Day 1 and 2

http://www.berglitruckstop.no/viewtopic.php?p=355081