"you can travel 4,000km (2,485 miles) ... without any border controls"

[eppur_se_muova]

Fanfare for bigger border-free EU (BBC)

Nine new countries have joined the Schengen agreement, creating a 24-nation border-free zone.

A checkpoint between Austria and Slovakia was dismantled in one of several events marking the enlargement.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer sawed through a barrier at the Berg border crossing.

Ceremonies also took place in Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states.

See map of Schengen area

Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are becoming part of the Schengen area.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7153490.stm

The times, they are a-changin'.

[itsrobert]

1. 3,364

3,364 miles, Imperial Beach, CA to the Northeast tip of Maine.

[Newsjock]

3. Unless you travel via I-8 or I-10

Then you will have to deal with the numerous "internal checkpoints" of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And they're not just looking for "'dem illegals," either. If they think you've got drugs in your vehicle, you're hosed. Even if not, they still will demand to know where you've been and where you're going. Inside our borders.

It's one of the reasons I don't travel in the far Southwest as much as I used to. I got tired of the hassle.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. But 21 miles across the English Channel - forget it

Instead, the 2 biggest political parties in the UK jockey to start a 'border police'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6396103.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2134418,00.html

They wanted the term "Little Britain", but someone beat them to it ...