Dream ticket?

[Nick]

The difference is those ports/airports are geared up for 3rd country traveller's, the volume of people on a UK flight is nothing like the volume on a boat at Dover. The issue at Dover is the checks are being done in the UK, not in France. Dover isn't able to handle the volume of traffic, because the UK Govt didn't upgrade it to cater for the post brexit checks. Why wasn't dover upgraded ? well go ask your Govt. maybe they didn't want to admit that this is what being a 3rd country means. Dover authorities asked for 30m, they didn't get it, now dover is a mess, that's not the fault of the French.

UK people travelling to the EU have to be checked, how long have they been in the EU in the past 180 days, have they money for their trip etc.. This only takes min's but if you have thousands of people, with cars and caravans at the same time you get delays, maybe UK people should have thought about that. But here we are blaming the French (EU) for your own problems, nothing changes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62783358

So whats your excuse for this debacle on the EU side then?

[Nick]

You should try Hook to Harwich Jog , you have enough time on that one to get half cut ,have some nosebag , a kip and be be fresh as a daisy by the time you dock .

I do enjoy a long ferry crossing, like the one you outlined. Enough time to get leathered, eat, sleep and have a nice shower. The one from Esbjerg (DK) to Harwich was the last one I did. 19hrs. 

[Streetwalker]

At Dover for DFDS seaways (I never went to Calais, always Dunkerque as the journey was about half an hour longer which meant I could get a decent lunch with decent knife fork etc and not have to bolt my grub I have no memory of any French officials stopping me ever. 

You should try Hook to Harwich Jog , you have enough time on that one to get half cut ,have some nosebag , a kip and be be fresh as a daisy by the time you dock .

[patman post]

It doesn't seem particularly irksome or expensive. Just another thing to remember to do.

Bit like airports charge a departure tax, which is fairly steep in Australia — sometimes nearly AU$130, depending on airport...

[Nick]

Could be — but it still looks like British residents wouldn't need to pay for visa waivers if the UK was still an EU member.

Maybe this is just another of those loose Brexit ends, left undealt with at the time...

Whose to say that every country will allow this to be foist upon them? Is this a rule that's just been spawned by Brussels or is it been voted on? 
Either way, I'm not bothered about 7€  

[patman post]

A lot of waffle about security in the article, but isn't it really just a travel tax? A cheap one at £7 for 3 years.

Could be — but it still looks like British residents wouldn't need to pay for visa waivers if the UK was still an EU member.

Maybe this is just another of those loose Brexit ends, left undealt with at the time...

[Barry]

Surely, the point is that because of Brexit, the UK is lumped in with countries whose residents will need EU visa-waivers from May 2023?

I appear to have received similar info to you, but it seemed confusing until I got the following...

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/06/24/brits-and-americans-must-pay-7-to-travel-to-the-eu-from-2022

From that article which is very useful:

Why is the EU introducing an American-style visa waiver?

A lot of waffle about security in the article, but isn't it really just a travel tax? A cheap one at £7 for 3 years.

[patman post]

An right on que, I get a txt from HMPA informing me of the new EU rules starting May 2023.
The EU is bringning in its new ETIAS system (European Travel Information and Authorisation System).
Get this! It has absoultely nothing to do with Brexit as it applies to 62 other countries as well as the UK.
And another point Gerry, the UK has the 4th most travelled population in the world beaten only by China, USA and Germany (2nd by population) so don't say the French don't care cause they do.

Surely, the point is that because of Brexit, the UK is lumped in with countries whose residents will need EU visa-waivers from May 2023?

I appear to have received similar info to you, but it seemed confusing until I got the following...

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/06/24/brits-and-americans-must-pay-7-to-travel-to-the-eu-from-2022

[johnofgwent]

Please tell me whats changed? One thing that was applicable was the Passenger Locator form but not even sure that is still in force. It was a requirement to fill this in before you board anyway and was linked to your passport with all travel details.
Prior to Brexit I was required to show the passports for passengers in the car, tickets were checked by ANPR and the number of occupents checked.
Now I am required to show the passports for passengers in the car, tickets are checked by ANPR and the number of occupents checked. It's always been a requirement to a certain amount left on your passport, the passport scan will pull up all data, including length of time spent in the EU so please tell me what this additional paperwork is.

Show them to whom ?

At Le Shuttle I had to show them to the Eurotunnel Employee in their little cabin at the barrier but nobody ever asked to see anything after that, the lazy piece of shit in a French policeman's uniform just sat in a seat and waved at me to carry on from fifty yards away.

At Dover for DFDS seaways (I never went to Calais, always Dunkerque as the journey was about half an hour longer which meant I could get a decent lunch with decent knife fork etc and not have to bolt my grub I have no memory of any French officials stopping me ever. The jovial customs bloke who remarked I'd forgotten to.put anything in my cavernous car boot (vauxhall estate with all the seats down) when he stopped me for a "random" check on the way out was assured I'd fix that in "Cite Europe" ten minutes after my business meeting with France Telecom ....

I was in those days a "professional" traveller too, to pinch a phrase you used. But don't get the wrong idea, I know the French were supposed to do the checks you refer to when we were in the EU, they DID do them every time i put my Vauxhall Nova on the ferry in the years before and after that treacherous piece of shit Major sold us down the river with the Maastricht Treaty when it was still an EEC, just as they had when Dad put his Cortina on the ferry to go to the IBM offices across the channel when I was a kid long before Heath's dragging us into the EEC, but all those checks were done on the French side.

I attribute the fact every time I drove to Dover or Folkstone to get across to  France or Belgium while we were in the EU post Lisbon the only interaction I had with the French was a gallic shrug at fifty yards to their native indolence and "couldn't give a f**k" attitude.

I attribute much of their action today to their "screw Les rosbifs" attitude towards us,

[Nick]

An right on que, I get a txt from HMPA informing me of the new EU rules starting May 2023.
The EU is bringning in its new ETIAS system (European Travel Information and Authorisation System).
Get this! It has absoultely nothing to do with Brexit as it applies to 62 other countries as well as the UK.
And another point Gerry, the UK has the 4th most travelled population in the world beaten only by China, USA and Germany (2nd by population) so don't say the French don't care cause they do.

[Sheepy]

'll be travelling into Croatia with just a passport, no visa, no travel forms and it will take about 3sec to get through border checks. IRL isn't in Schengen either, wish it was though.

Well, why didn't you say so, Ireland is swimming in EU debt going round in circles and cannot cope either with the mass influx of an alien culture so Gerry can go on holiday to Croatia once a year. Soon he will be agreeing with digital currency only so his life is completely controlled by a central banker and somehow that is all our fault because we said think before you jump from the cliff.

[Nick]

You don't have free travel in the EU with your UK passport. The common wealth is not all free travel, Canada, Australia ?  and anyway the conversation was about caravans/campervans and cars at Dover,  wait until they find out there's no queue going to Senegal, yipee.  So no PCR test for India, another common wealth country you need a visa for, the common wealth, free travel to all the countries you prob won't be going to, genius.I'll be travelling into Croatia with just a passport, no visa, no travel forms and it will take about 3sec to get through border checks. IRL isn't in Schengen either, wish it was though.  Still free travel for me.

I travel to the EU free just the same as you, no visa, and I pass into the Schengen zone via security just the same as you and just the same as I did before Brexit but a different queue and get a stamp. The same applies at Dover just as it did before Brexit, regardless of whether I have a caravan or not, unless you're suggesting I need a visa for a caravan. The only time you get questioned is when towing a boat and they want to know how much fuel you are carrying.

I enter Australia for free, unless you're stupid enough to not use the .GOV website for the visa, ESTA for Canada, same as before. And yes, I travel to the SeneGambia region, I travel professionally Gerry, I don't sit at a desk all day like you.

I too travel to Croatia with just a passport and whether it's 3 seconds or 30 seconds does not impact on my life one bit.

Brexit has not changed my travel one iota, but I'm not sure how I will cope if the EU brings in a VISA system and charges me 7€ for 3 years. Calamitous!!

Again Gerry, where is all this extra paperwork and faff?

[GerryT]

No actually Gerry this thread is about prospective Tory leader candidates not Dover and campervans etc but things drift,and did it drift......unable to contain your glee you ignored any other evidence and went into your usual brexit is a disaster,the the UK (English) are too but the eu is a wonderful institution so I decided to ask who was at fault  (Merkel and co obviously)for the disaster that is the reliance of so many in the wonderful institution that is the eu on Russian energy supplies.

Somewhat tongue in cheek I asked was that a result of Brexit too,disappointingly but unsurprisingly you didn't answer.

Haven't got you that yet !  busy packing

[cromwell]

You don't have free travel in the EU with your UK passport. The common wealth is not all free travel, Canada, Australia ?  and anyway the conversation was about caravans/campervans and cars at Dover,  wait until they find out there's no queue going to Senegal, yipee.  So no PCR test for India, another common wealth country you need a visa for, the common wealth, free travel to all the countries you prob won't be going to, genius.I'll be travelling into Croatia with just a passport, no visa, no travel forms and it will take about 3sec to get through border checks. IRL isn't in Schengen either, wish it was though.  Still free travel for me.

No actually Gerry this thread is about prospective Tory leader candidates not Dover and campervans etc but things drift,and did it drift......unable to contain your glee you ignored any other evidence and went into your usual brexit is a disaster,the the UK (English) are too but the eu is a wonderful institution so I decided to ask who was at fault  (Merkel and co obviously)for the disaster that is the reliance of so many in the wonderful institution that is the eu on Russian energy supplies.

Somewhat tongue in cheek I asked was that a result of Brexit too,disappointingly but unsurprisingly you didn't answer. 

[GerryT]

EU, Japan, Korea, Gambia, Brazil, Senegal, SA, Uruguay, Argentina... the list goes on.
The fact is members of the EU have no more free travel than the U.K., I wouldn't be surprised if you need more visa's seeing as 25% of the world is in the commonwealth, a bit more now that two more countries came over to the dark side... You were very quiet on that I noticed Gerry. Also, I flew into Delhi and didn't require a PCR test, the German guys I am working with did.

You don't have free travel in the EU with your UK passport. The common wealth is not all free travel, Canada, Australia ?  and anyway the conversation was about caravans/campervans and cars at Dover,  wait until they find out there's no queue going to Senegal, yipee.  So no PCR test for India, another common wealth country you need a visa for, the common wealth, free travel to all the countries you prob won't be going to, genius.

Bad news I'm afraid Gerry, EU membership doesn't mean squat when it comes to travel and Croatia isn't a member of Schengen so you won't be travelling into any EU country border free.

Oooooh, guess what? Ireland isn't in Schengen either 😂 so you'll be standing next to me at every passport control worldwide 😂

I'll be travelling into Croatia with just a passport, no visa, no travel forms and it will take about 3sec to get through border checks. IRL isn't in Schengen either, wish it was though.

See above 😂

  Still free travel for me.