Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: notesfiles - hp internal release 1.2; site hplabs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!iles From: iles@hplabs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.travel Subject: Re: Crossing the Iron Curtain Message-ID: <93900002@hplabs.UUCP> Date: Mon, 14-Jan-85 17:55:00 EST Article-I.D.: hplabs.93900002 Posted: Mon Jan 14 17:55:00 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 13-Jan-85 07:10:29 EST References: <1473@ihuxl.UUCP> Lines: 13 Nf-ID: #R:ihuxl:-147300:hplabs:93900002:000:908 Nf-From: hplabs!iles Jan 10 14:55:00 1985 I'm new enough on the net that I don't know what path to use to get a mail message to you, so I'll post my response. I drove to West Berlin two years ago with a couple of Germans. I'd called the American Embassy in Bonn first to ask about visas, and they said I didn't need one. It was a different story at the border. They made a big deal about me not having a visa for WEST Germany, and I had to get out of the car, wait in line, and pay 5 DM (about $2 at the time) for a visa. On the way back, just before crossing back into West Germany, I had to repeat the process. Lesson from all of this: don't panic if they stop and hassle you about a visa and don't rely exclusively on what the American Embassy tells you. To go into East Berlin (without the car) from West Berlin, you need to wait in a line, pay for a visa, and exchange money at their rip-off exchange rate. Michelle (venus@hplabs!iles)