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Why was she not allowed into the UK?
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Dec 10, 2013 21:44
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That is unclear. I think they said she was "trying to evade Schengen restrictions" but she was trying to *adhere* to them by leaving the Schengen zone. They told her they'd contact the friend she was visiting, who waited for her at the airport all day, but no one contacted him. He called them (once she convinced them to give her an hour of internet access, she was able to get a hold of him - that's when I found out, too) and they refused to see him. My sister thinks he may have lost his temper when talking to them, which couldn't have helped. She is a level-headed person who has traveled extensively. Never even had a speeding ticket. I really want her to be able to obtain residence in Lithuania, since it's been a goal of hers for a long time. We have family there. e: She said it wasn't all bad. The nurse who checked her over was very kind, as were the detainees who'd been stuck there for weeks.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:01
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Opioid posted:this sounds fantastic. If you take any overnight trains, bring ear plugs. I did Kiev-Odessa overnight this summer, and even with ear plugs, the noise of the train underneath you is quite loud. My friend without ear plugs didn't get a lot of sleep. Outcast Spy posted:My sister, who has lived in Lithuania as a student for the last few semesters, is applying for her residence permit. She tried to visit a friend in Scotland for a couple months so she wouldn't overstay her Schengen visa, but UK immigration didn't like her reasons for being there, stopped her at Edinburgh airport, took her to Dungavel House detention center, and deported her back to Vilnius (this was pretty traumatic ordeal for her, an experienced traveler). She had to very quickly book a ticket back to the USA and now has a black "refused entry" stamp in her passport. She is worried that the information sharing between the Schengen zone and the UK immigration will make it hard for her to get back to Europe to resume living in Lithuania. LIthuanian immigration is notoriously slow and still has not given her an answer on her residence permit. She does have a lawyer in Lithuania who is helping with the permit, but she doesn't have a lot of confidence in them. This is unlikely to be as permanent a problem as you might think. European immigration systems are still not integrated. She will have to explain the Entry Refused mark every time she obtains a visa though, even on entry, unless the immigration officer doesn't feel like leafing through the entire passport and just decides that American=good. I hope the passport wasn't going to valid for a lot longer, because a new passport would most likely solve all of this. EricBauman fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 22:33
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EricBauman posted:If you take any overnight trains, bring ear plugs. I did Kiev-Odessa overnight this summer, and even with ear plugs, the noise of the train underneath you is quite loud. My friend without ear plugs didn't get a lot of sleep. You can apply for a new passport before your old one expires too. I would definitely do that. She must have already overstayed her Schengen visa, so she should've booked an earlier flight I guess. UK immigration officials are the hugest dicks of all immigration authorities, in my experience. It's like being an Arab going to Israel, except the Brits treat loving everyone like that.
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Dec 11, 2013 13:19
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But they scan your passport, don't they? All the information is digitized now, so if there is or isn't a stamp, does that really make a difference if the information has been shared? She didn't overstay her Schengen visa until they sent her back to Vilnius, although Frankfurt didn't hassle her when she came back through immigration there.
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Dec 11, 2013 14:06
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So she basically went to Scotland the day before the visum expired and they just said "no, that looks sketchy, go back"? With a valid US passport and everything? poo poo. Yeah I think in Germany the officers don't do anything in regard to expired visa if you're leaving. You will only get in trouble when you get ID'd somewhere else and they notice. The digital info in your passport does not get updated, they just read the personal data as far as I know.
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Dec 11, 2013 14:37
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elbkaida posted:The digital info in your passport does not get updated, they just read the personal data as far as I know. Yeah, pretty sure the chip on the passport is read only. It sounds to me like her mistake was even talking about the Schengen thing at all to be quite honest. As a US citizen she can enter the UK as a visitor without any paperwork needed at all, she could have just said "oh I was nearby in Germany and figured why not!" and honestly I can't imagine that they would have cared at all. If they asked about the Schegen thing, just say you are going home to the US after this or to a non-Schengen area or whatever, so they don't have to worry about you being in their country with no where to leave to. e: and a new passport is not crazy expensive, I'd do that, too.
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Dec 11, 2013 15:00
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Oh, interesting. Yeah, she is a US citizen with a valid passport and a friend in the UK with an address and everything, and a plane ticket that clearly indicated she would not be staying. She and I both researched extensively to make sure it was okay for her to do this. Although she was planning on staying about 3 months, it was well within the permissible limits. She had enough money and was looking forward to spending some of it in Edinburgh. I'm starting to think the duration she intended to stay might have something to do with it, though. Anecdotally the UK seems sticky about that. She said the people she talked to acted like they didn't even know what the Schengen zone was, although the Chief Immigration Officer did (I should hope so...). She also said some of the staff there felt a mistake had been made - but ultimately it was up to the CIO. When he finally interviewed her, he was asking her questions that indicated he thought he was talking to someone else, and he accused her of lying, so she had to explain her travel plans yet again after doing so numerous times. Assuming she obtains her residence permit, she will be re-entering Europe in Copenhagen and then on to Vilnius. She usually goes through Warsaw, where they are a bit less concerned about nearly everything, and has never traveled via Denmark before, so doesn't know what to expect there either. The new passport suggestion sounds like a good one. This is thread is the only place I've been able to obtain useful information; she just got a form letter back from the US consulate in the UK. She's been staying with me in the US and I'm beginning to see how much this experience has traumatized her. What do you do when all your travel documents are confiscated, you're thrown in the back of a secured van, and then taken to god-knows-where for god-knows-how-long? I would never have known what happened to her if she hadn't been allowed that little bit of internet time.
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Dec 11, 2013 16:41
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Honestly any time you are talking to immigration your goal should be to provide the absolute minimum amount of information they need. Anything extra has a chance to cause trouble for you. Think of it like a traffic stop: give the papers they ask for, give simple short honest answers to their questions, don't complicate things. It sounds terrible for your sister, though, I'd be freaking out too. Honestly, as an American in the Schengen area, it's something I'll keep in mind if I wind up heading to the UK any time soon.
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Dec 11, 2013 18:05
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I just got back to the UK and there was an Australian guy in the queue in front of me and he was getting a lot of grief from the guy checking his passport. I didn't hear the start of the conversation, so I don't know what particular thing set it off. But the answers the Australian guy was giving sounded really dodgy and his attitude was clearly not making things any easier. Then they started asking about money and the guy said he had $35,000 and the officer's face was just a picture of hilarity. I didn't get to see the outcome, because I was through in about 30 seconds, but I have a feeling he was going to be denied entry. Budapest was great, like a slightly dirtier Prague. Much more fun than Vienna. Having said that, I went to Hallstatt in Austria and it was amazing. The Austrian countryside is so beautiful.
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Dec 12, 2013 13:39
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So I just noticed today that when I left Germany last December, they didn't stamp my passport. I've entered Germany twice since then, so I guess nobody really gives a poo poo. I suppose I'll find out when I go to apply for my residence permit in January.
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Dec 12, 2013 14:53
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Thank you for the responses to my questions about my sister's bad UK experience. At this point I feel like she needs to take a wait-and-see approach - if she gets her residence permit, if Copenhagen turns out to have a more kindly customs staff, etc. But she actually seems to be feeling worse, just from my observation. It's hard when your hands are tied. More on topic: I've been to Croatia and Slovenia and visited parts of Istria, Dubrovnik, Split, Makarska, Zadar, Zagreb, and Opatija in Croatia, and Bled and Ljubljana in Slovenia. I want to go back in the near-ish future and stay longer in one or two of those places, not so much to see the sites, although I will, but because I felt really at home there. Aside from Plitvice Lakes, is there anything else I should attempt to see? I'm given to understand that in Croatia travelers often rent rooms with private citizens; is that something a single woman could do safely? Even though it had none of the ruins or cathedrals that other cities have there, I really loved Opatija and could imagine living quietly in a place like that. However, I did not see it during tourist season. I also saw Cetinje, the old royal capital of Montenegro. Probably the strangest stop on our trip. We had very little time to see it; the weird but amazing little palace/museum was full of cigarette smoke and arguing Montenegrans, and the monastery lawn had a lot of paper waste strewn about. I was sorry we had no time to walk through the city. It seems like if a bit more care was taken, it would be very pretty there.
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Dec 12, 2013 16:29
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Outcast Spy posted:More on topic: I've been to Croatia and Slovenia and visited parts of Istria, Dubrovnik, Split, Makarska, Zadar, Zagreb, and Opatija in Croatia, and Bled and Ljubljana in Slovenia. I want to go back in the near-ish future and stay longer in one or two of those places, not so much to see the sites, although I will, but because I felt really at home there. Aside from Plitvice Lakes, is there anything else I should attempt to see? I'm given to understand that in Croatia travelers often rent rooms with private citizens; is that something a single woman could do safely? As any other coastal town, Opatija does get busy during summer, but it's considered a resort for the elderly (or at least adult), so it never gets crazy. You covered the coast pretty well, but you haven't been to any islands? Mljet, Lastovo and Losinj are my favorites. Brijuni and Kornati are popular too. You said you've seen parts of Istria, if that doesn't include Pula, you should check it out for the Roman amphitheater. Also, yes - a single woman can rent and travel safely. There's AirBnb here, among other options.
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Dec 12, 2013 22:02
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smilehigh posted:Then they started asking about money and the guy said he had $35,000 and the officer's face was just a picture of hilarity. I was going to Australia for a month in 2007 and going through customs, was asked what I was doing there. "I'm attending a convention for a week for business, then sightseeing for 3 weeks." I don't know what caused this, but the customs agent asked how much money I had in the bank. I looked around to make sure I was in the customs area and talking to an actual official. I guess my answer satisfied his question, as I was allowed in after that. Is that common in Australia? Do people often show up to Australia with no money?
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Dec 13, 2013 06:00
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Blinkman987 posted:I was going to Australia for a month in 2007 and going through customs, was asked what I was doing there. "I'm attending a convention for a week for business, then sightseeing for 3 weeks." I don't know what caused this, but the customs agent asked how much money I had in the bank. I looked around to make sure I was in the customs area and talking to an actual official. I guess my answer satisfied his question, as I was allowed in after that. Is that common in Australia? Do people often show up to Australia with no money? Indonesians, Afghanis, etc, all the time. But yeah not sure why on earth they ask these question to someone with a Western passport. Maybe they have to to appear PC, because I can't imagine the number of illegal immigrants arriving to Australia or the UK with each others' respective passports is higher than about 5 per year, all of whom are likely recent college graduates. I've really never understood asking about funds for someone arriving on a tourist visa regardless of nationality though. VVV: Crikey, mate. Saladman fucked around with this message at 14:29 on Dec 13, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2013 08:03
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I've known 3 people personally (so it can't be too uncommon) that have worked lovely retail jobs in Canada long enough to just save up for a flight to Australia. Once they get there on a tourist visa they find a low key job cleaning hotels or something but otherwise get to enjoy the tropical beach life instead of Canadian winters and end up staying a year or two. We were all around our early 20s when it happened. Not sure about the legality behind it, just a common thing in our age group here I guess.
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Dec 13, 2013 11:04
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On a single woman renting a place in Croatia: you could prearrange, but I imagine the market for homeowners offering rentals with signs near tourist drop-off points will be a bit more competitive, so you might pay less. I've spent a bit of time in the Balkans, and my advice for a single woman is to rent from somebody's grandma at these drop-off points, and if her son, newphew, or husband starts to really creep you out, leave money on the chest of drawers and bolt. I can understand feeling at home with such accommodating people, but man are the guys macho.
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Dec 13, 2013 15:17
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Doctor Malaver posted:As any other coastal town, Opatija does get busy during summer, but it's considered a resort for the elderly (or at least adult), so it never gets crazy. You covered the coast pretty well, but you haven't been to any islands? Mljet, Lastovo and Losinj are my favorites. Brijuni and Kornati are popular too. You said you've seen parts of Istria, if that doesn't include Pula, you should check it out for the Roman amphitheater. Hah, I guess my love of quiet does mean I'd end up where the old folks holiday. No, we didn't see any islands; I was actually on a really excellent tour (more old people!! and what may have been a clone of George W. Bush) on the lower end cost-wise so excursions to the islands didn't happen. Sounds like a good idea. I did see Pula, and the amphitheater was amazing. I'm sure the Colosseum is far more grand, but I was very impressed anyway. The only part of the tour I didn't completely enjoy was Zadar, although I can barely remember why. I have very few photos from that day. Oh, and our last stop in Venice was a real let-down.
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Dec 13, 2013 19:30
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Edit: doublepost
maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Dec 14, 2013 22:01
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At that time and in those locales, I would say that you could wait until the last minute (e.g., book the room in Dresden while in Berlin). If you were to go to a small city (e.g., Bolzano) with only one decent hostel, I would book as soon as possible to be on the safe side. I haven't done the hostel thing in a dozen years, just going off of what my friends here tell me.
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Dec 14, 2013 23:25
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GregNorc posted:How far in advance do hostels sell out? I'm looking at doing a trip to europe the first couple weeks of May. Yeah, early May is a pretty low season time of year, so basically nothing will sell out unless there happens to be a special event that day or major school holiday or whatever. European summer break doesn't start until end of June, so up until that point it's pretty easy to find a place day of (and trivial if booking an entire day before).
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Dec 14, 2013 23:58
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GregNorc posted:How far in advance do hostels sell out? I'm looking at doing a trip to europe the first couple weeks of May. I was travelling through Europe last May, June, and July and I usually booked hostels 1 or 2 days in advance from my current hostel and never ran into any problems of places being booked full. As said though, for smaller cities it might be better to book in advance, but for medium to large cities you'll be fine. Now if you can, definitely get train tickets well in advance. I didn't bother because I wanted total freedom, but I ended up paying for it. For instance, one of my tickets from Paris to Strasbourg costed 100 euros, where if I had bought it far enough in advance could have costed something like 30-40 euros. MagicCube fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Dec 14, 2013 23:59
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GregNorc posted:(The plan was to fly into Berlin, take the train to dresden for a day, then hit prauge, fly to brussels, then take a train to Amsterdam. 14 nights total) From Berlin to Dresden you can take a bus, it is cheaper and you don't need to worry about getting tickets early. Dresden-Prague can similarly be done with bus, but I would actually recommend taking the train since the route along the Elbe is quite beautiful. Hostel in Dresden or Berlin shouldn't be a problem to get on short notice.
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Dec 15, 2013 02:31
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Just spent the last half week divided between Florence where the food was amazing and Venice, where at least the sights are good. Heading for London this evening and I wish I could have spent more time in each city. Actually, I'm leaving for home tomorrow too. It's felt like the longest three weeks of my life and there were moments of loneliness, I admit, but now I wish it could go on even longer.
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Dec 15, 2013 07:25
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Holy hell, with Airbnb I had great service (from the person offering housing) and the app was convenient and all, but the service fee is fully fuckin' 15%?
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Dec 15, 2013 18:19
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Mortley posted:Holy hell, with Airbnb I had great service (from the person offering housing) and the app was convenient and all, but the service fee is fully fuckin' 15%? It's how Airbnb makes money. They don't charge hosts to list an apartment or set up an account. In most other services (e.g. vrbo) the service fee is already built into the rental price, so you never see it, is the only difference.
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Dec 15, 2013 19:15
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Edit: doublepost
maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Dec 15, 2013 23:05
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GregNorc posted:Is there a Yelp-like site for looking at reviews of hostels? https://www.hostelworld.com is probably the best/most used one. You can book on the site as well. I used it for my trip and it worked well. You can filter amenities, sort by availability or review score. Every hostel I went to pretty much matched the review score as well.
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Dec 15, 2013 23:36
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Go with JetPak Alternative in Berlin and Flying Pig (either Uptown or Downtown) in Amsterdam. We really should do a goon approved write up of hostels and stick it in the first post.
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Dec 16, 2013 05:12
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GregNorc posted:
AirBnB totally has rooms (not only shared ones) in the 20-30€ range so check that out. Looking at tripadvisor and filtering out hostels can also be helpful.
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Dec 16, 2013 10:03
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I liked The Funny Palace in Rome, close to Termini; they gave me a towel to borrow and a free bottle of wine, which is pretty rad (you can pay for your room with cash only though!)
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Dec 16, 2013 10:05
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So here's another dual passport question. I updated my APIS probably about 26 hours before my still to come flight to reflect my British passport details and the website had no trouble processing this. It was only when it came time to check in that I did and questions arose about my right to enter Australia. I told them I have two passports and the FCO had advised me to do as I have done, but they said it's wrong. I have yet to go through passport control. Here's hoping they just look at the British one with no questions asked, but we'll see. This is Virgin Atlantic by the way. I scoured the internet prior to flying to see exactly what I should do and what problems might arise and none of them matched this.
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Dec 16, 2013 19:19
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Octy posted:So here's another dual passport question. I updated my APIS probably about 26 hours before my still to come flight to reflect my British passport details and the website had no trouble processing this. It was only when it came time to check in that I did and questions arose about my right to enter Australia. I told them I have two passports and the FCO had advised me to do as I have done, but they said it's wrong. I have yet to go through passport control. Here's hoping they just look at the British one with no questions asked, but we'll see. At worst, won't they just process the visa application at the gate and you pay it there?
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Dec 17, 2013 09:52
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Blinkman987 posted:At worst, won't they just process the visa application at the gate and you pay it there? Well, I have an Australian passport, so it didn't matter, and I was never going to be denied the flight, but it just goes against the procedure of what I've read about having two passports, especially British/Australian.
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Dec 17, 2013 10:34
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MagicCube posted:https://www.hostelworld.com is probably the best/most used one. You can book on the site as well. I used it for my trip and it worked well. You can filter amenities, sort by availability or review score. Every hostel I went to pretty much matched the review score as well. Hostel World is by far the best as far as finding reviews for these places goes. I usually book through Hostelbookers.com instead though, because it's exactly the same thing but they make listers include the booking fees in their price quotes rather than tacking it on at the end, and most places don't adjust their list prices accordingly. So it usually saves you a couple bucks a day, basically. Booking.com is also great if you're doing a really flexible schedule, because it'll show how much capacity the place actually has. Checking that for towns you're thinking of visiting won't really tell you how early you need to book, but it's fantastic for warning you when places are starting to fill up and when you can afford to just turn up in person. (This is a good idea where possible anyway, because it means you can always pick your own dorm bed and bail on lovely places without paying anything, and also you usually get better rates or upgrades if you do it in person). e: Hostels are usually only a little cheaper than B&Bs. Unless you're specifically choosing the cheapest beds the hostels have every time and/or you want the hostel social scene, you should probably just shell out the extra E10ish and get your own bathroom and a nice breakfast. (This is especially true in Italy.) duralict fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Dec 17, 2013 |
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Dec 17, 2013 11:40
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I'm thinking of heading to Cork this weekend (Friday 20 - Monday 23). Will anything be open ?
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Dec 17, 2013 14:23
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Saladman posted:It's how Airbnb makes money. They don't charge hosts to list an apartment or set up an account. In most other services (e.g. vrbo) the service fee is already built into the rental price, so you never see it, is the only difference. Well, thanks for the info; I understand better now and don't feel as ripped off. The apartment I rented is in Lisbon for Christmas; does anyone have any specific reccommendations for must-sees during the holiday?
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Dec 17, 2013 15:09
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I've got 5 days in Edinburgh starting tomorrow, anyone got any special recommendations for places to go/see?
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Dec 17, 2013 17:20
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Istari posted:I'm thinking of heading to Cork this weekend (Friday 20 - Monday 23). Will anything be open ? Like what? I'm not from there, but I'm pretty sure most things will be open; things generally don't start closing for Christmas until midday Christmas Eve.
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Dec 18, 2013 09:52
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Istari posted:I'm thinking of heading to Cork this weekend (Friday 20 - Monday 23). Will anything be open ? Yes but many things will be shut/shutting early xmas eve
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Dec 18, 2013 11:17
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