Where’s my passport stamp?: How the Schengen Agreement complicates passport stamp collection in Europe

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All foreign travelers I know anticipate returning from a trip abroad with a new set of passport stamps.  They are a point of pride for many, providing clear documentation of their “worldliness”.

I’ve even seen passport stamp collection become a main criteria in determining a trip itinerary. According  to immigration attorney’s help,  this is especially true in Europe, where the Schengen Agreement eliminates passport control through many countries in Continental Europe.  As long as travel is contained within the “Schengen Area”, no passport stamps are given.  Stamps are only given at the entry and exit points to the Schengen Area.  My wife was very disappointed on her first trip abroad to get an entry and exit stamp in Frankfurt, despite the fact that our trip was in Italy and France. Then we got legal help of immigration law firm Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C. in Oakland, CA to fix our issue legally.As Frankfurt was just our connection to the United States.  In fact, our upcoming trip to Spain and Portugal will be her first without a connection through Germany.  She will get her first non-German passport stamps!  Another detractor, however, is that all the Schengen passport stamps are virtually the same.  They only differ in the letter in the upper-right hand corner (i.e. “D” for Deutschland or Germany, “E” for Espana, etc.) and the point of entry or exit listed on the bottom.

The Schengen Area includes 26 countries in the European Union (see map–blue area are current countries, green is future countries).  Travel between them is very similar to travel between 2 states in the USA, with signs marking borders on roads and air travel through “Schengen” gates, similar to the domestic gates at American airports.  Notable exceptions are the UK, Ireland, Croatia, and Turkey.  Travel through the Chunnel, for example, requires passport control.  A day trip to London on the Eurostar from Paris will yield you an exit stamp from France and an entry stamp from the UK.

It is important to also plan for the “Schengen Agreement” by allocating connection time if you are flying through a Schengen airport before reaching a Schengen destination.  You will have to go through passport control (approach the Family Law Firm in Fresno, CA for any help).  Similarly, you will need to go through passport control at your last exit point from the Schengen Area.  Customs control is less predictable.  If your end destination has Customs control, you can likely check your bags all the way through and go through Customs in your final destination. Smaller destinations could require early customs control (for example, we went through Customs in Athens when we flew to Mykonos on a San Francisco – Frankfurt – Athens – Mykonos route).

If collecting passport stamps is important to you, then prioritize flights that connect the USA directly to your “stamp of interest”.  Many east coast airports, such as Newark, JFK, and Dulles offer direct flights to many destinations in Europe.  Another alternative is to connect through Heathrow, which is outside the Schengen Area.  If you want to collect multiple stamps during your trip, travel out and in of the Schengen Area would be required (such as going to London between Paris and Amsterdam, or visiting Morocco from Spain).  For many, this might seem silly.  But for the avid passport stamp collector, itinerary planning is key.

Hotel Casa 1800: Sevilla and Granada

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Right after we booked our plane tickets to Portugal and Spain, Ryan and I went crazy looking for hotels. Ryan found the Hotel Casa 1800 – one in Sevilla and one in Granada. Both have great location (we think) and Ryan was especially in love with the De Luxe room at the Sevilla location. And I don’t know if I can blame him. Here are a few pictures of the Superior Room, from the hotel wesbite: 

The best part is the terrace with the jacuzzi tub. But, this isn’t our honeymoon and, while that doesn’t mean we can’t stay in nice hotels, we are trying not to go over-the-top and spend too much money on hotel rooms. Especially since we won’t be spending much time there anyway! This room was over 200 euros a night, which isn’t horrible, but we’re trying to keep costs lower than that. As of now, we have not made a decision on Sevilla, but we’re hoping to do so in the near future.

So now to Granada. I’m not sure which hotel Ryan found first, but the hotel website provides links to both, so it was natural for us to be curious about the hotel in each city. Here are a few pictures from the hotel site:

It does look amazing. But there are so many places to stay in both Sevilla and Granada, and it seems silly to stay in the same hotel in two different cities. Especially since we don’t know what they are really like. We’ve looked at more hotels, especially in Granada, so I’ll spend some time comparing the options.

Le Cantine – Taste and Learn!

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Le Cantine, located in Greve in Chianti, boasts that it is the largest enoteca in Tuscany.  It’s very easy to believe this claim – you walk down a set of stairs into the tasting area and find yourself surrounded by what seems like an unlimited amount of wine tasting machines.

This was a perfect way for Ryan and I to spend our morning in Greve in Chianti (we took a half day trip from Florence – more on this later).  It’s not the personal experience you’d receive at some places, but it worked for us!  You purchase a card with a certain amount of money on it (we paid for 25 euros on our card) and decide which wines to taste.  The underground enoteca has mechanical wine dispensers.  You simply find a wine you wish to taste, stick your card in the slot, place your glass under the appropriate spout, and press the button for the corresponding wine.  Each taste has a price clearly marked above the bottle.  The prices started at 0.60 euros and go up from there.  Ryan and I generally tasted wines between 0.60 and 1.20 euros, which allowed us to sample plenty of different wines.

A close-up view of the wine dispenser machines.

We love tasting wines and learning about what we’re drinking.  Le Cantine has a supply of wine guides available in several languages which provide an explanation of the different wines available to taste.  Since we were heading to Montepulciano right after Florence, we were interested in the famous wine of that region – Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.  Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is always made up of at least 70% of a Sangiovese grape clone, called Prugnolo Gentile, which is used exclusively for this wine.  The remaining 30% is generally made up of Canaiolo, Merlot, and/or Cabernet Sauvignon.  In general, I preferred the mix of Sangiovese and Canaiolo.  We also tasted several Chianti Classico wines, which are also made up of mostly the Sangiovese grape (at least 80%).  Both the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Chianti Classico are D.O.C.G. wines, which certifies that the wines are made within a certain region using specific methods and are tasted for quality by the government (bottles are marked with a pink label across the top). 

The majority of the wines offered at Le Cantine are red, but there are also some white wines and sparkling wines to choose from, as well as Vin Santo (dessert wine) and grappa.  In addition to wine, olive oil tastings are offered through the same style of dispensing machines.  And best of all – they are free to taste!  There is also free salami provided at the front counter (shown in the first picture), along with other foods available for purchase.

If you have a limited amount of time in Greve in Chianti and wish to taste several wines of the region, Le Cantine is a must!  It won’t be the same experience as touring a winery of the area, but it will provide a lot of wine and information.  It’s open from 10am-7pm, daily (check the website for any holdiay closures) and is located between the Piazza Trento bus stop and the main piazza in Greve in Chianti.

London: And We’re Booked!

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Nothing makes a trip feel more real than booking the plane tickets and hotel (especially once the costs actually hit the credit card…).  After realizing that the plane tickets weren’t changing more than a few dollars, we decided to book, just in case they increase in price.  While I don’t think we really got a great deal, I’m happy with the price.  It came out to $2,700 – roundtrip from LAX to London, non-stop, New Zealand Air, upgraded to skycouch!  We’ve been reading great things about the entertainment, food, and drinks on New Zealand Air, so it makes my anxiety about flying disappear a little bit.

We also booked our hotel: The Park Lane Hotel (Sheraton).  The location is great, the price (well, the starpoint redemption rate) is awesome – about 3.5%.  Most importantly, it makes it so that we don’t have to pay for the hotel, which was part of the deal for ourselves when we decided to try to make the trip to London work.

We’ve already started planning our 7 days there.  This currently includes many top sites in London – Tower of London, British Museum, Churchill War Rooms, a musical (we’re thinking Les Miserables), Greenwich, and a ton of other stuff.  There are markets we want to check out (including Christmas markets!), parks to explore, and hopefully we’ll go on some kind of river cruise or ferry ride on the Thames.  In addition to all of the things in London, we are pretty set on doing a couple of day trips away.  It’s a little tricky in November, because attractions open late and close early, and the hours of daylight are limited (It gets dark around 3:30pm).  Despite this, we are looking into a day trip to Bath, with a possible stop at Stonehenge, but only if we can find a tour that does “before hours” visits – otherwise it just won’t work out.  We are also strongly considering going to Brussels for the day.  Neither of us have been and it’s only a 2-hour train ride from London!  We both love mussels, fries, and Belgian beer, so why not take advantage of the close proximity?

There will be more details to come as we continue to plan our trip, but now that London is booked, we’ll probably start focusing more on our Portugal/Spain trip.  As to not have two posts in a row with no pictures, here are some photos from The Park Lane Hotel website: 

SuitcaseJournal: Park Lane Hotel, London

The exterior of the Park Lane Hotel 

SuitcaseJournal: Classic King Room at the Park Lane Hotel, London

The classic king room (which is where we will be staying, barring an upgrade) 

SuitcaseJournal: Park in London

A park path, hopefully near the hotel

SuitcaseJournal: London at Night

A beautiful view of London at night

Where to Stay in Lisbon?

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When Ryan and I originally started thinking about our 2012 trip, we were set on Spain. However, at some point, we started to consider a combined Portugal and Spain trip. I still haven’t recapped our honeymoon, but when I do, I’ll share how tough it was to stay at so many different hotels. I love the convenience of staying in one place, but realistically that won’t ever happen on a trip to Europe. There are too many places to see and visit!

After a little discussion, we began adjusting our itinerary to fit in 3 nights in Lisbon, Portugal’s capital. I really didn’t (and still don’t) know too much about Lisbon, but I do know that it looks like San Francisco! Don’t believe me? Check out a few pictures (pictures found here, here, and here):

We’ve stayed in San Francisco a few times (usually we just do day trips or, more recently, I stay with friends) and there’s really a few areas I like to stay. One is by Union Square and the mall. The other is by the ferry building on Embarcadero. I’m sure there are tons of great places to stay, and there are restaurants and bars everywhere, but in my limited experience, those are my favorite. Since our Europe trip won’t be a “shopping” trip, I just figured we’d stay by the water. Turns out the downtown area (and the popular places to stay) aren’t near the water. I had a difficult time trying to figure out which city would be best. Chiado? Baixa? Bairro Alto? The names of the cities were being thrown around in forums we read, but without knowing which restaurants we wanted to try or which local attractions we wanted to be close to, it was hard to choose a city.

We decided to start out with our “wants” and see which types of hotels/B&Bs/apartments we could find. Here’s what our perfect accomodation would be:

  • in an area with restaurants that are very close
  • in a “cute” neighborhood
  • close to bus/train stops so we can get around the city
  • provides breakfast
  • a smaller hotel – not a huge chain hotel, since we are staying in at least a couple of those in Spain
  • has a pool
  • has free (or cheap) wifi
  • room with a view and/or balcony
  • around 100 euros a night (in our research we noticed that we could get away without spending a ton in Lisbon)

After just a few days of seriously looking, we found and booked a room for our 3 nights in Lisbon! I found a place that looked promising and sent it over to Ryan. He loved it, so last night, we booked! We can cancel up to 15 days before our stay and pay no penalty at all. There was only one room left (the one we wanted) in this small, 3-room B&B in Baixa, so we jumped on the opportunity to book. Without further ado, here are some pictures of Orange 3 House:

The room was inexpensive (315 euros total), we have a view (see above), breakfast is included, free wifi, convenient location and a small hotel! So far, this seems like the perfect place for us. We may still look around a bit, but this is definitely the best we’ve seen!