Have any UK citizens on here recently been to the US? It looks to me like:
[ul][li]My passport is OK under the arcane requirements.[/li][li]I’ll have to apply online for some kind of authorization thing anyway.[/li][/ul]
Can anyone offer any tips on this stuff?
[quote]Plans by the United States to charge travelers a $14 fee for its visa waiver program are regrettable and inconsistent with a US commitment to ease transatlantic travel, the European Union said today.
The levy will be required from September 8th,
[/quote]
OK, Brits are not Europeans persé … but I guess for this they have to follow the same rules … it’s some kind off ‘homeland’ security issue, covered-up visa fee to generate more foreign currency income and promote travel to the US of A … :ohreally:
I hope you can pay online with your Taiwanese CC … :eh:
Thanks, BP. Yes, even though we eat roast beef and you subsist on chocolate mammaries, the US seems to regard us similarly.
[quote]"Anyone even mulling over going to the USA should go and fill in their Esta …[/quote]Not sure about this. The form requires airline/flight number details. And apparently it only takes a few days for authorization.
[quote]I hope you can pay online with your Taiwanese CC … :eh:[/quote]Hmm, should be OK. It’s a regular Mastercard and I’ve bought stuff from the US with it before. Best to apply as early as possible though I guess.
We won the war, remember? You can’t just march right in any time you want to. You have to fill out lots of paperwork first. That’s payback for 1812.
The War of 1812 was actually a draw overall, with redcoats more successful on land (Canada is still Canada … wait, don’t tell El Jeffe), and yanks more successful at sea… which is why most think the yanks prevailed, since the British Navy hadn’t bitten off more than it could chew since before Drake. Of course, England didn’t have a Navy before Drake, so let’s say the British Navy was inconsolable losing three out of four 1:1 engagements. Nothing similar had happened in the History of the World. My source: Teddy Roosevelt, who wrote the the best account.
If Brits are not Europeans, what are they? African, American (North and South), Asian, perhaps?
Ethnically, they certainly are Europeans. Their blood lines include Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Norse, Normans. Aren’t these ethnicities European? England and Norman France were one country for several centuries starting at the Battle of Hastings in September of 1066. When Diana married Charles, her pedigree was touted to be more blue-blood than Charles’. She was descended from William the conqueror. William was French Norman whose ancestry hailed from Scandinavia. The present royal family is of German origin. Yes, of course the British remark that they aren’t Europeans, but they are simply drawing a line between themselves and their crazy continental cousins–the Europeans.
The UK is a part of the EU, although it doesn’t embrace the euro. Ireland is part of the EU and uses the euro. Could one surmise that the Irish are more European than the Brits? I think not.
The Brits are keen to remark that “Europe can keep the euro and we’ll keep the pound.” With the news of the euro’s meltdown during the past few months, they were right on that count. Industrious Germans are angry that they have to subsidise the lax Greeks. Belgium is ready to blow up into two countries: Flanders and Wallonia. In Italy La Liga Nord wants to split the northern half away from the rest of the country. They know they’re footing most of the tax bill to Rome. The Catalans want to say bye bye to Castillian Spain. Britan wants no part of these very serious problems.
The Brits are simply attempting to voice their individuality and their pedigree. It’s like those T shirts they sell in Texas upon which are inked a map of the USA, but most of the country’s outline is taken up by the title “Texas.” Brits know that they are Europeans, but they prefer to accept it from a voice that is whispering. They don’t want it barked in their faces.
We won the war, remember? You can’t just march right in any time you want to. You have to fill out lots of paperwork first. That’s payback for 1812.[/quote]Fair enough. But I think you should give the Belgians a break. It’s not like they’re all busy shaping suggestive concoctions in the factories of Brugge every minute of every day. And where would the US be without Belgium’s finest invention, the saxophone?