Stop and Go Story

I was watching N-TV news this morning, and they brought up this one curious Covid-19 item....involving Austria.

A lot of Germans (particularly Turk-Germans).....have avoided using airlines for their trips to Turkey, Greece and Croatia this summer.  Yes, they drove down.  For the record, the Austrians themselves were doing the same thing. 

In the case of German to Antalya, Turkey (their beach resort area), it's a 30-hour drive from Frankfurt.  In the case of a northern Greek coastal town.....that's a 20-hour drive.  In the case of Croat beach resorts, that's a 12-hour drive.

Here's the problem though....you have to plan this trip in most cases, to drive via Austria.  Trying to get around Austria....just adds three to five more hours onto your journey. 

Well....N-TV points out this new strategy at the Austrian border as you enter and exit.  You get to the border from Croatia (a hot-zone) and immediately, the Austrian border guards stop you and want you to perform some paperwork.  At one point, last Sunday night at the border....a 12-km long line was formed, with paper waiting to advance and fill out the forms.

The funny thing about this paperwork-drill....they weren't just angering and upsetting Germans....they also upset Austrians trying to get home as well. 

Unless something happens via the EU by next spring, I would anticipate most all of the European countries having some kind of stop-and-go situation and asking where you've been (as you enter a country) and demand paperwork or possible even Covid-19 tests.  So a simple three-day trip to Slovakia could turn into a major mess at the border.....coming and going.