I arrived in Paris at the train station in Gare du Nord, right in the middle of the city.
I get off the EuroStar train from London’s St. Pancras and I start walking toward the middle of the train station. I can see the street traffic and pedestrians of Paris go by…
Something is missing here.
There is no Immigration/Border Agency to stamp my passport!
My little blue book wuz robbed! Where is my France stamp?!Because the United Kingdon and France are part of the European Union (EU), when you travel from one EU country to another, there is no immigration waiting for you when get off the train. They share the same currency now with the euro. They are still separate countries still but have alot more connections and sharing relationships. Almost like the members of the EU are one big country onto themselves.
No one questioning what you are doing there when you arrive from an EU member country. More important, no one to stamp you as officially allowed to enter a country and send you on your way.
I would assume the same thing happens when you fly between EU countries and that was confirmed by someone I talked to today.
I take great joy in racking up the countries in my little blue passport. I feel kinda robbed…
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I hear ya, Brian. When we went to Amsterdam for my bachelor party, for one reason or another, I was the only one who had their passport stamped. Joke was almost on me because they almost didn’t let me bring my metal pick on my carry-on luggage. Thank goodness there was a brother doing security to explain what it was.
I got a passport stamp for Germany when I had a layover in Frankfurt from Paris before coming back to the States. When I went to Europe we crossed the English channel via ferry and I was told it was very odd that we were not checked, normally they do at that crossing. Kinda nice to not be hassled or, at the very least, have to wait in a long line. But I am missing about 7 passport stamps because of it. Boo.
@ScottFro
A pick with a little peace sign and a fist? They probably thought you were a revolutionary.
@LivingtheDream
I’ll see what happens when I travel further around Europe. Sounds like things are not consistent.