Schengen Schmengen

It seems I may have overstayed my welcome in Switzerland.

It was early Saturday morning at the Basel-Mulhouse Airport. On my way home to Philly, I was bleary eyed but happy. I had printed my boarding passes out the night before. I had packed light. I had gone through security and would have time enough to get one last cup of strong Swiss coffee on my way to the plane. Smooth sailing. I am, after all, an expert traveler.

Huh.

I had to have my passport checked as a last step on my way to the plane and out of Switzerland. As the man behind the plexiglass lazily flipped through my passport, I saw him suddenly perk up. He started flipping through with more interest.

"When did you arrive in Europe?"

"June 22nd, I think, in Berlin." He flipped some more, this time with a scowl. Uh-oh.

It was then, dear friends, that this "expert traveler" was informed that she could only stay in the Schengen countries of the EU for 90 days without a visa. I had been in Europe for 111 days without a visa. Whoops.

Now, I knew about the 90 days...but I thought that those 90 days applied to each individual country (I had traveled in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France).

Of course, there was a fine: 850 CHF. Unhappily for me, the Swiss Franc is very strong at the moment, so we might as well say 850 dollars. The man behind the plexiglass asked me if I had any money with me.

My plane was going to take off in 30 minutes. I was standing in a country (actually, a whole Schengen area, whatever that means) that didn't want me to be there anymore. I heard my good friend Rachael Goldfarb whispering her trademark phrase in my ear: "Mary Elizabeth, throw money at the problem, and get the &*%# on the plane."

I smiled my biggest smile at the gentleman and I said, "I don't have any cash, but I have lots of credit."

I was escorted into a back room, and presented to two other uniformed and humorless officers. I filled out paperwork. I smiled. I apologized. When it was clear that I wasn't going to lie on the floor and throw a tantrum, they even smiled back. They decided not to make me pay right at that very moment, because they were concerned it would take too long and I would miss my plane.

They would bill me, they said.

"Great!", I said, with a smile.

The point was, after all, to get me OUT of Switzerland.

I hope they don't hold this against me when I try to get back into the country on November 1. I'll let you know!