The new EU passport control system for non-EU is totally idiotic and crap and will permanently make holidaying in Europe worse

Those e-passport machines where you stuck between gates, are a pain for me. As my passport photo is me without glasses. Take off my glasses and cannot read the screen. Put my glasses, can read the screen but the camera doesn't recognise me with the glasses.

I hadn't been before.

But it was just the general experience. In previous airport experiences I have found you can look at the shops, get something to eat. Now that there is all the fingerprint stuff you have to factor in a 30 minute - 1 hour extra queue.

I get you. All the nice easy to get to places are in the EU. What's left? well there's the US, hmmm. Then there's the Far East, and the Middle East, hmmm again with the oil and gas stuff not to mention the war. Canada, South America, Africa etc. All day or night on a plane....

Near enough are Morocco, Tunisia, Montenegro, the Balkans, Turkiye.

There's nowhere like EU Europe though for history, food, culture, sun, ease of access and connectivity from country to country once you get across the English Channel.

Dare I ask about Italy (particularly Naples)

Did anyone notice a separate accessible queue?

Berlin airport wasn't a great experience when coming home, but I feel like we (in the collective sense - obviously I didn't vote for Brexit) deserve it for voting to leave the EU.

Flying out to Madeira end of April. DM has assistance as she can't do the standing so DF and myself go through security and passport control separately

“Undocumented” is a very US term

You will have to ask anyone.

Oh, come on. Do you seriously not know how to google 'holidays outside the eu'?

Another option is cruises from Southampton or elsewhere in the UK.

Often there are no passport checks at ports in other countries or if so then are nothing like airports. They always check your passport getting on at the port in the UK

This is one reason why I am seriously reconsidering a planned trip to the UK in the next 6 weeks. Loathe to pull out as its a celebration of 50 years since leaving school & would be terrific to catch up with people in person.
I have valid EU and UK passports. I understand that, if I fly, I need to book the outward flight with my UK passport, then change the details during my trip to the EU one. Not entirely sure how this would work.
Am considering driving in my EU car, so assume I just show the UK passport at Calais and the EU one on the return trip, but again not sure how this would work as you need to give passport details when booking the chunnel.
Unless I am now forced to book 2 single journeys, for both scenarios, which will be expensive.
I have always used the EU passport since I got it and gave only once been given the third degree on why I was travelling to the UK in 2023 by some jobsworth at the airport, who started asking me all sorts of questions about my trip, which were, frankly, none of her business. She soon stopped, when I told her I was going to a funeral and would it help if I showed her my UK passport.

Cyprus
Toulouse
Munich.

Anyone been to Paris or Italy recently? What about Greece.

I flew into Munich last week. The process was quick, easy & straightforward. And the border control guy was helpful, friendly & very good looking. 😉

Fancy paying to line up and be treated like a criminal when undocumented people are turning up in inflatables.

There is a world beyond Europe. Vote with your wallets.

So far we have Toulouse and Cyprus. Any more? This could be the checklist needed before booking the next holiday!

Toulouse was brilliant in october. Marked queues. Took 5 mins.

All my family have Irish passports. Sadly you don't get one through marriage. So I have been known stand up and run to the front of the plane to get to the front of the queue while DH and DD saunter through the EU queue.

Cyprus doesn’t use it.

I renewed my EU passport last month and they take fingerprints at the time of renewal so they are stored on your passport.

Over 700 million people visit Europe every year, 10 times more than visit the US, and that's just the figures for tourists.

So a database has to store maybe ten bits of data for each of those people, billions of pieces of data, and be able to retrieve them instantly every time they arrive and leave, whoever thought that this system would work in the first place other than the most deluded optimist. The European travel industry has been lobbying against this since the scheme was first proposed.

Thats not to say it won't ever work, but the teething problems were always going to be immense.

The criminals and terrorists will still find away around the system, and the rest of us will still have to face the difficulties.

There must be somewhere in EU that works ok.