Europe
Europe encompasses an area of 10,400,000 km² (4,000,000 square miles), stretching from Asia to the Atlantic, Africa to the Arctic. There is much here for the traveller to enjoy, with a bewildering array of diversity and culture, cosmopolitan cities and spectacular scenery.
Europe defies easy categorization, with its compact size and complex history. The following are five (loosely defined) regions.
- Western Europe - Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and France;
- Central Europe - Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Transylvania and Switzerland;
- Eastern Europe - Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Baltic states, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine;
- Mediterranean Europe - Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Turkey and Vatican.
See also: European Union, 25 European states in various stages of economic and political union.
Get around
There are no border controls between countries that have signed and implemented the Schengen Agreement. Likewise, a visa granted for any Schengen Agreement signatory country is valid in all other countries that signed and implemented the treaty.
These countries are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland (voted in, but not yet formalised, nor implemented). Note that not all EU members have signed the Schengen treaty and not all Schengen treaty countries are members of the European Union.
At some airports, airlines will still insist on seeing your id-card or passport. Travel to and from a Schengen Agreement country to any other country will result in the normal border checks.
By train
The Inter Rail (for Europeans) and Eurail (for everybody else) passes offer good value if you plan on traveling extensively around Europe (or even a single region) and want more flexibility than cheap plane tickets can offer.
As of 2006, Eurail covers the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
The most notable omissions compared to Inter Rail are Republic of Macedonia, Morocco, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
By plane
A number of budget airlines allow very cheap travel around Europe, often much cheaper than the train fares for the same journey. Currently the cheapest flights are offered by low cost airlines such as Easyjet, HLX, Ryanair, Transavia and Jet2, with the lowest fares usually found on routes which go to or from cities in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland or Eastern Europe. All of these flights should be booked on the internet well in advance, otherwise the price advantage can become non-existent. Always compare prices with major carriers like British Airways or Lufthansa! You should also make sure where the airport is located, since some low cost airlines name very small airports by the next major city, even if the distance is up to two hours drive by bus (e.g. Ryanair's Frankfurt-Hahn, which is not Frankfurt/Main International)..
Passengers Rights
European Union (EU) Regulation 261/2004 of 17. February 2005 gives certain rights to passenger on all flights, schedule or charter and flights provided as part of a Package Holiday. It only applies to passengers flying from an EU airport or from an airport outside the EU to an EU airport on an EU carrier.
Denied Boarding
You can get compensation if:
- you have a valid ticket
- you have a confirmed reservation
- you have checked in by the deadline given to you by the airline
Then you are entitle to:
- €250 if the flight is shorter than 1500Km (€125 if it delayed less than 2 hours)
- €400 if the flight is between than 1500Km and 3500Km (€200 if it delayed less than 3 hours)
- €600 if the flight is longer than 3500Km (€300 if it delayed less than 4 hours)
and a refund of your ticket (with a free flight back to your initial point of departure, when relevant) or alternative transport to your final destination.
The airline also have to cover the following expenses:
- two telephone calls or emails, telexes or faxes
- meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time.
- hotel accommodation if you are delayed overnight.
Usually they will give you a prepaid phone card, and vouchers for a restaurant and a hotel.
Refund
If your flight is delayed 5 hours or longer you can get a refund of your ticket.
By bus
Eurolines connects over 500 destinations, covering the whole of the continent, including Morocco. Eurolines allows travelling from Sicily to Helsinki and from Casablanca to Moscow.
Gullivers is another option.
By ship
Besides ferry connections to and from the UK and other countries, there are also various ferries on the larger lakes and for crossing rivers. Furthermore, there are several regularly running cruise-lines on the larger rivers like the Rhine or the Danube.
Countries
¹ Official EU applicant countries. Bulgaria and Romania acceding January 1, 2007 (accession may be delayed to January 1, 2008).
² Montenegro and the Serbian province of Kosovo (administered by the UN) use the Euro as their official currency.
³ Winter time. In summer (last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October): WET → WEST (UTC+0 → +1), CET → CEST (+1 → +2), EET → EEST (+2 → +3)
4 Russia uses multiple time zones. EET in Kaliningrad Oblast, MSK (UTC+3) in Moscow, up to UTC+12 near Alaska.
5 New leu (RON) replaced old leu (ROL) on July 1, 2005. Old leu are legal tender until December 31, 2006.
Other territories
Note: Russia and the Caucasus are sometimes considered to be a part of Asia.
Political History
Europe, prior to the conclusion of the Second World War, was a region ravaged by large-scale wars. National leaders realized after World War II that closer socio-economic and political integration was needed to ensure that such tragedies never happened again. Starting with humble beginnings, the EU's first form was the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The founding group was Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Impressed with the results of the union the six countries pressed on and in 1956 signed the treaty of Rome, with the ultimate goal of creating a common market- the European Economic Community (EEC). In 1967 the union was formalised further with a the creation of a single Commission, as well as a council of ministers and a EU parliament.
Post-1967 the EU continued to grow; Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973. Greece joined in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986 and Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. The EU pressed on with economic integration and launched the Euro(€) across several nations on 1 January 2002.
In 2004 a further 10 countries joined the EU "club", including Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
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