http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/co...s-of-it-441291

Today's NYTimes carries this article about sniffing dogs being routinely used to check folks crossing borders for undeclared cash - and the check can be done anywhere - like in Paris' Gare du Nord where they nabbed a former French ambassador boarding a train for Belgium with hundreds of thousands of undeclared euros.

And French customs officials also routinely use dogs to check arriving passengers from Amsterdam originating Thalys trains for drugs.

So a borderless Europe sounds great and is but if you have any contraband to hide don't be fooled into thinking borderless means like noi Customs lurking about!

caveat emptor!

And I see the reason for the money checks - money laundering - heck even a former French budget official was nabbed!

My experience with borderless Eurorpe was on a night train from Amsterdam to Munich where I was aroused around 2 am near Stuttgart by two gestapo-like German officials and dragged with all my possessions to a baggage car and had every little think strewn around and inspected - including as final thing, my prostrate checked!

They found nothing - made no apology but said you're free to go - leaving mounds of my belongings thrown all over.

Bordlerless Eurorpe sounds good but for me at least if was not and I was totally innocent, probably being a mix-up case - I mean a senior citizen being dragged out of sleep and them subjected to gestapo like tactics and never even hearing a 'thank you' or 'we're sorry'!

Of course there are still borders. We haven't become the United States of Europe yet. And yes there are still customs checks, and identity checks, most often on trains, but also occasionally on roads, especially drugs checks.

There are more checks on the roads than most motorists are ever aware of, with cameras, and in-road sensors.

When flying you tend not to be checked, since the airline has already informed those that need to now the names of all passengers, and checked their identity at check in, but even then dogs are routinely used at airports and you and your bags can, and will be checked on occasion.

Personally I like being able to drive across Europe without the hassle and queues of passport control at the border. An SMS from my phone company welcoming me to a new land is all I need.

No doubt the German customs folks thought they had a reason to wake you - they would have checked the luggage compartment first, and if they detected drugs, or even the whiff of a spliff that would be reason enough. Senior citizens smuggle drugs and money too, they don't suddenly become ideal citizens when they get their pension.

Have you ever crossed a road border into California?

California???Lots of times..Never a problem but Texas is a different case..Border patrol stops several times..3 in one hour from Valentine north to Van Horn. Looking for "out of season deer" LOL..More likely a senior running a few illegals!!

<i>Have you ever crossed a road border into California?</i>

Presumably meant from Mexico, but there is also a plant check coming from Oregon or Nevada.

I have crossed from Oregon and from Nevada, had the car thoroughly searched every time, and by people who make the average TSA and immigration officials at airports seem like the friendliest people in the world.

hetismij2 - you like me perhaps don't mind a check but it should be done with politeness and not assumed guilt - maybe the agents here saw your Dutch residency and overreacted - Inside California in the San Diego area there are checks on roads where all vehicles pass thru check points - many miles into California - the U S Customs agents and Homeland Security now can stop anyone for any reason within X number of miles from an international border - think it's 30 or something.

and yes we do have agricultural inspections when going into states like California that have such huge domestic fruit and veg industries to protect from pests, etc.

It's bad enough crossing the border at Coldstream

The number of times I've been stopped by English customs looking for illicit live haggis & bagpipes

There are a lot of horror stories if you read newspapers carefully. Like the two Japanese that boarded the local train from Como to Chiasso (10 kms) to bring into Switzerland something like 93 billions of dollar bonds in paper certificates (nobody knows if original or fake). Without realizing that only a few commuters travel to Chiasso by local train and two Japanese would stick out like two elephants in a glass shop. They got caught in few minutes.