The EU is re-opening

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The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:02 pm

Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, Andorra, San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican....All allowed in the EU. China will be allowed if it lifts restrictions on EU citizens.

Russia, Brazil and the US are banned because we are disease-bags with low IQs and proto-fascist leaders. Luckily Trump is too lazy to go full fash on us.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby snaark » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:32 pm

It's not quite all that. A few countries are still closed to non-EU residents (EU countries have jurisdiction over their own borders) and many will still require you to self quarantine. I don't expect to see a flood of tourists around. But yeah, you seppos are still banned.

And how and why exactly did the Vatican have a travel ban in the first place anyway?
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:51 pm

snaark wrote:It's not quite all that. A few countries are still closed to non-EU residents (EU countries have jurisdiction over their own borders) and many will still require you to self quarantine. I don't expect to see a flood of tourists around. But yeah, you seppos are still banned.

And how and why exactly did the Vatican have a travel ban in the first place anyway?


The Vatican had it because it was not EU. So it should be "all EU countries Plus.." but yah, I think Sweden and the UK need to self quarantine.

The wife and I wanted to go to Crete this year to visit Knossos.

Sucks to live in a shithole country that you love anyway.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby snaark » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:02 pm

Lots of people here going to Croatia for their summer holidays, if at all. Apparently Italy and Spain are not in trend this summer, and Greece is out cos it means either flying or driving through Serbia, which means risking quarantine. So it seems like almost everyone is driving to Croatia. I wonder if Croatia can accommodate so many people.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:23 pm

snaark wrote:Lots of people here going to Croatia for their summer holidays, if at all. Apparently Italy and Spain are not in trend this summer, and Greece is out cos it means either flying or driving through Serbia, which means risking quarantine. So it seems like almost everyone is driving to Croatia. I wonder if Croatia can accommodate so many people.


Serbia was always a wild card. When I used to travel in that area, about 27 years ago now, the Serbs were either going to be "We know it was Clinton who imposed the sactions, not you, so Welcome! Here is a lot of Slivovitz..lets talk about your Michael Jordan and your Shaquile O'Neil" or "Welcome to Serbia! Here is jail for 48 hours! Here is some Slivovitz. Lets talk about your Michael Jordan and your Shaquile O'Neil"

I kind of liked jail in Serbia, but luckily I did not have a schedule back then.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby snaark » Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:15 am

Don't you mean Rakia? Actually now that I think of it, that's probably why Serbia is included in this list - so Germans can drive to Greece for their summer holidays. The facts on the ground in Serbia are dismal. Offically there are few cases, but this is mainly because they're doing fuck-all testing. The govt was being advised by the Chinese and went full Wuhan on lockdowns. This all changed a few weeks ago, when apparently everything was fine because the President wanted to hold rallies leading up to last weekends elections. Now the numbers are spiking again but the govt doesn't seem to give a fuck anymore because the elections are past and they won a full majority (the opposition boycotted).
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Tue Jun 30, 2020 1:54 pm

snaark wrote:Don't you mean Rakia? Actually now that I think of it, that's probably why Serbia is included in this list - so Germans can drive to Greece for their summer holidays. The facts on the ground in Serbia are dismal. Offically there are few cases, but this is mainly because they're doing fuck-all testing. The govt was being advised by the Chinese and went full Wuhan on lockdowns. This all changed a few weeks ago, when apparently everything was fine because the President wanted to hold rallies leading up to last weekends elections. Now the numbers are spiking again but the govt doesn't seem to give a fuck anymore because the elections are past and they won a full majority (the opposition boycotted).


Slivova Rakia = Slivovitz but to me it is pretty much the same. "Eastern European Fruit Brandy" be it Rakia, Polinka, Hulinka, Tuica, Rakavitz, slivovitz. They all claim it is superior and it all tastes pretty similar. WHich pointing out is the only faux pas someone can do in the Balkans as well as saying "Why do Albanians and Serbs hate each other, you are pretty much the same."

My favorite Rakia is from Montenegro, made by serbs and my favorite of that "type" is the Apricot Rakia and Krushova Rakia (Pear).

I have no idea how Italians can actually drink Grappa. Good Grappa is like barely passable Rakia.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:00 pm

The List is out. Well countries like Rwanda and Tunisia are allowed in while shitty ones like the USA, Brazil and Russia are out.

China will be in if they allow reciprocity.

First time since the Cold War we have not been able to just buy a ticket and use our passport to fly to fucking Europe.

Quite disgraceful.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby snaark » Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:02 pm

Kurt wrote:My favorite Rakia is from Montenegro, made by serbs and my favorite of that "type" is the Apricot Rakia and Krushova Rakia (Pear).

I have no idea how Italians can actually drink Grappa. Good Grappa is like barely passable Rakia.


Never tried from Montenegro. There are lots of fancy brands and posh rakia bars in Belgrade these days. Still, I think the best stuff I ever drank was homemade.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:32 pm

snaark wrote:
Kurt wrote:My favorite Rakia is from Montenegro, made by serbs and my favorite of that "type" is the Apricot Rakia and Krushova Rakia (Pear).

I have no idea how Italians can actually drink Grappa. Good Grappa is like barely passable Rakia.


Never tried from Montenegro. There are lots of fancy brands and posh rakia bars in Belgrade these days. Still, I think the best stuff I ever drank was homemade.


In places where they still had the local communist era Rakia the locals were awesome at making home made stuff. The Communist stuff had what I called "The Communist Aftertaste" which was sort of a burn followed by what could have been turpentine. I last tasted the Communist Aftertaste when a BFCer brought me some Cuban Rum, and it was stuff that was supposed to be decent.

In rural areas of Bulgaria the Commie stuff cost $1 and the bootleg good stuff cost like $1.25 per liter. The bootleg stuff was sold in informal cafes that people had set up in their living rooms to earn a few extra Leva. The people who could pay $1.25 wore regular clothes and the $1 Commie stuff was bought by people in Chinese track suits. It was the most class elevation that could ever be had for an extra 25 cents.
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby ReptilianKittenEater » Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:54 am

Who would want to let the Vaticanians into Italy?
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby SRR » Sun Jul 05, 2020 5:47 am

I'm enjoying the fact that I'm living in a time where the USA- Canada border is closed, which according to historians (Wikipedia, same level of distrust) has not occurred since the War of 1812. Laura Secord would be proud. And there are still some fooking Yankees sneaking past saying "ooh, we're driving to Alaska to start a new life" and then turning around and getting shitfaced at the local B.C. brewery. I was a bit shocked to see all the God Damned Albertans doing donuts in their big fuck-off trucks here on Lake Okanagan but apparently that's kosher now. Americans not so much, but if we're all shitfaced on a patio I'm not sure if it makes much of a difference. Nonetheless, you can brag to your great-great-great grandchildren when you're cryogenically unfrozen that you lived through the first time in 208 years that the border was shut. And yes, it's the Canucks driving this thing... Americans are like "dude, what's the (cough) big (cough) deal (cough... hack...)? Hang on, man, I gotta go vomit... let me in, you assholes!!"
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:07 pm

Americans are not used to being prevented from going places outside of the Cold War.

When you are stopped from entering someplace = It means you are from a place that is considered to be a shithole.

Most Americans do not leave for anywhere. Most stay in an area about 100 miles from where they were born. Since I am in NYC and not some backwater, I do not encounter people who never leave very often but I was born in a backwater, and when you leave the country they tend to think either:

1. You are loaded. Only rich people go to Europe or elsewhere unless you are in the Military.

2. You are a jerk for letting them know you are able to leave the country, which they consider to be an insurmountable puzzle.

Many Americans when they meet a Canadian are baffled as to why "Canada just doesn't join us" and even more baffled to hear that Canadians would never want to join us and they blame it on Socialism, the Queen, zed and aboot.

Also, shitty roads. American roads are shit. Romania has better roads, Bulgaria has better roads, the UK has better roads Germany had much, much better roads than anyplace in the world.

That is why it sucks that I cannot travel to places so I can get an idea of what I would rather have in the USA that we don't.

We managed to get decent Beer. Remember when US beer was absolute shit? I mean it was well made, light and bubbly but all the same except for a few "dark beer" holdouts in Wisconsin, Illinois Texas and Pennsylvania. I remember how the dipshits were actually proud of identical mass-market lagers and happy they were not like Europe with that bugbear of "Variety" and "Choice".

Just like the US re-beered (almost too well, fucking IPAs everywhere) we need to re-beer again, except instead of beer, we need to do it with everything. ...'cept TV. Our TV finally beat the Brits.

If we could do with the germ theory of disease, roads and railways what we did with Beer and TV we will triumph and not be a global pity-party / laughingstock.
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re-opening

Postby el3so » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:23 pm

Kurt wrote: Also, shitty roads. American roads are shit. Romania has better roads, Bulgaria has better roads, the UK has better roads Germany had much, much better roads than anyplace in the world.
http://reports.weforum.org/global-compe ... es=EOSQ057 Scoreboard straight from the illuminated ones...
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Re: The EU is re-opening

Postby Kurt » Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:15 am

I am curious as to what they use to rate this because I have driven in the Dominican Republic and Norway and I did not think the DR outranked Norway.

DR roads are decent...until they are not. Norway has some tricky roads. But they are paved and even in remote placed you will never be far away from actual help.

So perhaps it is something like "Number of paved roads" and not "potholed, paved roads"

I do not think US tarmac is better than French tarmac either.
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