An Historic Day in Europe. Road Trip Time?
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 12.21.07 | 11:46 AM ET
Photo of German autobahn by kwerfeldein via Flickr, (Creative Commons).,/div>
Nine additional European countries, most of them former Communist Warsaw Pact states in the east, joined the European Union’s passport-free Schengen zone today. What does that mean? This sentence from the Globe and Mail put it into perspective for me: “This morning, for the first time in history, you can drive from the Russian border in Estonia to the Atlantic beaches of Portugal, across 24 countries, without encountering a single border crossing or having to show your passport at any point.” That’s amazing. The fine print: Not everyone is happy.