Which border crossing in your experience had the greatest instant change and contrast?

Interesting question, OP.

For me, it was crossing from the Texas panhandle into New Mexico on I-40.

Crossing the border from Finland into Russia by rail in mid-90s:

Finland = forested and green. Russia = industrial wasteland

We changed locomotives too. Finland = electric. Russia = diesel

The natural landscape between Southern Cal. and Mexico are quite similar.

The architectural difference between, say, San Diego and Tijuana is stark. You immediately know who's got money and who doesn't.

Maine to Quebec. The place names on signs changed from a mix of Native American and English to almost exclusively French saints' names—the landscape became overwhelmingly Catholic.

Checkpoint Charlie from West Berlin to East Berlin in 1980. As Americans, we were harrassed by East German border guards, then immediately followed the entire time we were there (we continued by bus on to Czechoslovakia). From the neon bustle and excitement of West Berlin to a true sense of oppression and dingy streets and unhappy people was shocking, even though I expected it.

From Mountebank into East Mountebank when I had to take Bertha home one night.

Kansas/Oz

Yes crossing the border into a Mexican border town was very different. I remember begging my dad to go and he didn't want to. Finally he took me to a small town border

There was a bridge crossing and I saw children underneath with cut in half milk jugs attached to sticks, holding them up to the bridge so they could beg for money. I put a dollar in one. It was all I had. I was a kid myself.

I never asked to go back after that.

Places like Monterey, Mexico City, don't seem that bad but the border, no.

I bet the contrast between South and North Korea is incredible.

East Berlin -> West Berlin, November 1989

Crossed over to Tijuana a few times in the early 90s - it was stark poverty (and I lived in South Central LA off the USC campus at the time) and quite depressing.

R1 Sarcasm?

Egypt to Israel

From smelly shithole to heaven!

Traveling north on Jefferson Avenue, crossing Alter Road from Detroit to Grosse Pointe Park. Back in the 80s it was jarring, going suddenly from urban squalor to nice houses and fit white people jogging and walking dogs. Been a while since I was up that way, though.

I remember the same thing crossing from the U.S. via Vermont into Canada on the way to Montreal many years back. It seemed that literally the geography and landscape (not to mention the bilingual signage also in French) changed once over the border. It was beautiful, suddenly seeing the landscape dotted with multicolored farm land and houses. Probably all replaced by generic condominium complexes by now! :(

[quote]I remember the same thing crossing from the U.S. via Vermont into Canada on the way to Montreal many years back.

I LOOOONG to do that.

But not the other way round. Americans can be very officious with foreigners at the border.

And the French can also be a pain in the ass.

Not at all, r12

I was in school in Germany in the late Nineties and even after several years of being unified you could immediately tell when you had entered the former East. It was like Dorothy opening the door of the house in Oz, except you went from color to black and white.

Studying abroad in France . My friend and I took an ACTUAL TUGBOAT, it seemed, to cross the English Channel . My friend had taped some high quality hashish under his clothing . We thought we were so badass …this was many years before the midnight express like smuggling

When we got to my friends dorm in Sussex, he was sitting in a stupor in some room, maybe his, in front of an empty hash pipe

« Hey, we thought you were coming yesterday … »

Priceless bites of my life

Great photo, OP. I've got a hankering to silk screen it.

[quote]I've got a hankering to silk screen it.

I wish you would.

It's SO Italian, isn't it? It's San Remo.

Indiana and any state that borders it. The stupidity is noticable immediately.

The Mason-Dixon Line:

R21. Yes, and the composion, movemnet, lighting etc. are all fine. You must have been a talented gayling.

Not a border exactly but cross the Golden Gate Bridge from SF into Marin and you go from cool, foggy and gloomy to a sunny summer's day, it's like someone turned the lights on.

The Spider-verse dimensions were quite a contrast.

Gondor into Mordor.

When daddy carried me across the Alps on his back, I got so excited leaving Austria, I peed on him.

You're very kind, R24. Thank you.

That’s awesome, OP.

Chicago in the 80s and 90s before the construction boom. Gold Coast wealth by the lake and Cabrini Green rot just half a mile west. Shocked me when I moved there.

Easy: going from datalounge to Reddit

Old City Nicosia Cyprus before the 1974 Turkish war and invasion. I spent the summer of 1972 in Cyprus visiting relatives on my father's side. In the downtown area of Nicosia was the buffer zone line of demarcation between the Greek and Turkish sides. I would accompany my father there were he would buy cigarettes, liquors and some miscellaneous things. It was weird vibe but always calm.

We went into a shoe shop and they were playing this record - I said who's that and they said Renato Zero!! He's just been here. So I bought the record. And everywhere we went people were so impressed. RENATO ZERO! they'd exclaim. I was suddenly the hippest guy in San Remo. It's very camp.

Give it a spin!

Did you have a problem getting back into France like I did, OP?

[quote]I was suddenly the hippest guy in San Remo.

Or the only gay in the village.

Growing up as a kid, I was pretty well-traveled, going to/from the US and Asia. It wasn’t so much a “border crossing” as it was being processed by immigration getting off the plane.

It wasn’t until after college my boyfriend at the time drove us from N. Arizona to Puerto Penasco. It blew my mind one could just drive across a border; it was one of those things I always knew had to exist, but never thought about it critically.

The contrast from US to Mexico is obviously stark, but the crossing seemed so non-chalant. That’s what I remember.

R19, your story seems like it's missing a detail or two.

Crossing the digital border from a thread like this to an anti-trans troll is shocking. It’s like being surrounded by fun, witty, intelligent people (like R7 and the DL of old) and then suddenly amongst the dregs of society like the trolls who have ruined this place).

West Berlin to Eat Berlin- Checkpoint Charlie- 1987. We were there the same week Prez Reagan was in town and his ‘tear down this wall’ speech. Once in East Berlin, we discovered we had some West German maps with us (totally illegal in the DDR)…we left them lying around in various places (bus seats, train station benches, etc) for the benefit of any DDR’s in need.

When I would go between West Berlin and East Berlin when I worked in West Berlin in the early 1980s.

Also, crossing from Belleville, Illinois, to East St. Louis, Illinois. Shocking.

What did the DDR possess?

[quote]Crossing the digital border from a thread like this to an anti-trans troll is shocking. It’s like being surrounded by fun, witty, intelligent people (like [R7] and the DL of old) and then suddenly amongst the dregs of society like the trolls who have ruined this place).

I guess it's quite an olde timey type thread.

In 1960 I was living in Torino, Italy with my parents and siblings. We are American, but I and my younger siblings spoke fluent Italian after living in the country for a couple of years.

Dad decided to give us a road trip of a couple of days, so he drove up to Lake Como. It was the most beautiful place I've ever seen, and quite a contrast to the urban cityscape of Torino which was thick with cranes as they were massively rebuilding.

Torino was bombed in the war, R44?

Welcome to Torino 1943.

I drove from Salzburg to Prague. Upon crossing from Austria into Czechoslovakia, I saw the road lined with prostitutes, and signs in English delineating what was for sale.

Lake Como looks affordable on Airbnb.

The husbear and I had sex in the back of a water taxi as it toured Lago di Como. The driver told us it happens all the time. The beauty and romance of Como overwhelm every one.

[quote]Welcome to Torino 1943.

Sicily was better.

[quote] The beauty and romance of Como overwhelm every one.

Talking of contrasts I remember taking a cable car from Como up a mountain - you get out at the top and you're in a different place and a different climate and it's all rural and green. If you walk you come to the occasional cafe or restaurant.

What else can you do in Como? Bellagio?

Any time we leave Oak Park, it’s a culture change.

[quote] Any time we leave Oak Park, it’s a culture change.

Going from Beverly Hills to the Valley where that slut Brooke Logan is from is much the same experience.

Nogales, Arizona to Nogales, Mexico - the desert is pretty much the same on both sides, but the houses on the Mexican side are all painted pastel Easter egg colors.

>Torino was bombed in the war, [R44]?

I don't know how much of it was wartime damage, and how much of it was just aggressive urban renewal.

[quote]Bellagio?

Wear washable shoes.

Torino was bombed throughout the war. Naples got the worst of it and Rome was off limits until the USA decided to have a go, but Torino was hit hard.

!974 from Israel to Gaza. From a modern environment back to the Stone Age. People outside of Gaza City and Khan Yunis were still living in mud/corrogated iron houses and tents.

As a kid traveling to Expo '67 going from Ontario into Quebec and suddenly everything is in French. Quite the culture shock to this 12 year old American

"Any time we leave Oak Park, it’s a culture change."

Stop going through Cicero 🙄

That one time I went to Detroit. 8 mile was relatively stark crossing in from the north. Things got darker and more desolate at night. Went to Menjo’s and that was its own experience.

R61 Don’t be that hoe on Cicero!

OP you couldn’t be more American if you tried, could you? Is it any wonder that the rest of us laugh at at you?

The border between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo at Gisenyi and Goma. I only walked along the bridge between them and didn’t actually enter the DRC, but you could only see the endless refugee camps and devastated landscape on the other side. It looked terrifying.

Even more disturbing at a different point near the border, myself and everyone I was with who had cell phones simultaneously all heard a “ding.” We had received texts from the DRC welcoming us and outlining the rules of their country. It was such a Big Brother is watching and tracking you moment that was chilling.

I approached Me from the Isle of Greece but never crossed.

[quote]OP you couldn’t be more American if you tried, could you? Is it any wonder that the rest of us laugh at at you?

Except I'm not American and you're a "we" troll. A horrid one at that. All we trolls tend to be horrid. They remind me of my wicked great aunt Muriel (nothing to do with DL's Muriel who everyone loves so much).

Amsterdam Netherlands > Brussels Belgium, December 2015. Amsterdam was sunny and light but there was a palpable nervous energy in Brussels. I was on edge the entire time and when our flight home was delayed I told my then boyfriend that I just prayed we would make it out of there alive. About 3 months later there was the awful airport shooting in the Brussels airport.

Crossing over from Beverly Hills to West Hollywood: out if nowhere, the street signs change from black on white to white on blue. You can’t miss it.

Going from Beverly Hills to go slumming in WeHo is a trust fund rattling culture shock. Thank God the Rolls knows the way back 😳

Hey I want to play along too:

Going from the Vailsburg section of Newark to South Orange, with its big homes, tree-lined streets, and roads lit by gas lamps.

OP, could you go into more detail about everything being different between southern France and Italy? Surely the architecture can't be that different. Was there more street life in Italy? Was there a difference in prosperity?

R72. Give it up. At the border crossing, if it errant for the language switch you wouldn’t know where you were. The differences appear only when you get to an actual town or village. Since the “county of Nice” (the immediate subregión around Nice was historically Italian for a very long time before being granted to France…all is blue sky and beauty on both sides.

I'm just asking OP a question, R73. I've been to Paris but not to the French and Italian Rivieras. He / she clearly says there was a big difference.

Well the OP is very old at this point…he doesn’t remember well at all, that’s pretty clear.

You could be sitting in Villefranche, and if I waived a magic wand to move the border and change the language to Italian you wouldn’t even notice.

R73, I've read that the French side is more developed and luxurious while the Italian side has more relaxed villages.

I’m not being facetious, but one of the most amazing things upon entering Connecticut, especially on the Hutch, is you’re hit with the amazingly obvious feeling that you’ve entered New England vs the Mid Atlantic states. I’ve always had a romanized view of New England, but I was not expecting a very prominent feeling of that change when driving on the same road you’re on in New York, enter Connecticut and immediately feel the change, and it happens on multiple roads in between them, not just one.

Grand Rapids to East Grand Rapids—the luxe begins just east of Ethel!

[quote]but I was not expecting a very prominent feeling of that change when driving on the same road you’re on in New York, enter Connecticut and immediately feel the change

I noticed that as well - helped by the fact the road surface changes

[quote]OP, could you go into more detail about everything being different between southern France and Italy? Surely the architecture can't be that different.

Yes, it's TOTALLY different, IMMEDIATELY. You went up a mountain and then drove down into Italy so you saw all the very Italian looking houses below with their orange roofs straight away

[quote]Was there more street life in Italy? Was there a difference in prosperity?

Considering I was coming from Monte Carlo - yes, it was less prosperous. But I don't think it was something I thought much about age 15.

But the cafes were different. The food. The cars, as you can see from the photo, all the cars were Italian. The currency. The language of course. The weird primitive telephones. Everything in the shops.

In fact I'd forgotten - I'd already driven over on the moped I'd rented, lured by the signs - ITALIE & FRONTIERE, trekking down the freeway on my little green moped (no helmet in those days) and had gone to the first town before San Remo, Ventimiglia. I bought lots of bits to take back to prove I'd been. All the family were hanging out at the beach club. When I got back I said I'd been to ITALY! My cousin I remember didn't believe me, but I had proof.

This is Ventimiglia - does it look like France? No, it does not.

Thanks for the interesting info, OP. Can you go into more detail and describe what was different about the merchandise in the shops?

I don't mean to be rude, OP, but Ventimiglia does look a bit like Menton, France (linked photo). Didn't parts of the French Riviera originally belong to Italy a century or two ago?

The Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland, 1993.

I lived in Dublin at the time and was visiting a pro-IRA friend in Belfast. He showed me all the IRA murals and the checkpoints between Catholic and Protestant areas were obvious: barbed wire, military vehicles (Humvee-style), lots and lots of armed soldiers. We even went to a secret shop that actually sold IRA merchandise, like tees and pens. And the Italian restaurant where we ate was destroyed by a bomb the following week - he mailed me the newspaper clipping. He also told me that if there was a bomb threat at a shopping center, the PA system would announce something like, “will the plumber go to the basement” which was a signal for the security guards to start quietly moving people out of the center.

Anyway, everything that was green in Ireland was red in the north: phone booths, buses, etc. In Dublin, the Garda were super mellow and unarmed. In Belfast, the army was prevalent. And obviously, the Union Jack everywhere. Still, Belfast was lovely in a very weird way.

It was surreal because basically, they were the same people so everyone in Belfast looked the same as Dubliners but it was like they were just placed into a different city.

[quote]Can you go into more detail and describe what was different about the merchandise in the shops?

No, I don't think so.

Okay. Thanks anyway, OP / R83 😆.

I just found another photo I took in San Remo on the same day.

They don't look very exciting, the people, do they?

Italy has its resorts for the rich: Capri, Forte dei Marmi, Portofino, the Emerald Coast in Sardinia. But yeah, Sanremo probably isn't as upscale as it used to be.

[quote]But yeah, Sanremo probably isn't as upscale as it used to be.

In more recent years there are now very cheap flights from England to Nice and many of them have found their way over the border to San Remo, so in summer it is packed and unpleasant because of it.

I don't think it's been upscale for at least 100 years.

Again, OP, I've just read about these places and seen videos. I've never been in person. I watched a video about Sanremo and it looks quite beautiful (maybe it was made in the off season). The casino looks quite nice on the exterior but reviewers complain that it's not glamorous on the inside, like the one in Monaco.

Addendum: if anyone is interested in a documentary about the Troubles from a different viewpoint, I highly recommend the Netflix documentary about the Miami Showband.

Sanremo

^^^ Oops. Doesn't look like the off season.

From Poland into Czechoslovakia by train in the early 90s. The Poles were warm and friendly. As soon as we entered Czechoslovakia the border guards were armed with sub-machine guns. On the same trip by train going from Czechoslovakia into Austria was an eye opener. Eastern Europe was still transitioning from communism. I remember armed guards in stores and markets in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.

My Dad was an attorney specializing in international law. He was invited with the ABA to visit China in 1978, just as they were opening up after the death of Mao. He was there for a month, and he said that the change from the West was unbelievable. He flew from New York...a one day stop in Belgrade...then onto China. He ended the journey in Hong Kong, still under British rule, and he was amazed at the difference

In 1988, he and my Mom went to the Soviet Union. This trip was also outreach by the Soviets to western lawyers. They flew Aeroflot from Kennedy to Moscow. They said the plane was filled with Russians carrying computers, televisions, and all sorts of electronics. They stayed in a Stalinist era hotel. It had the babushka at the end of the hall. The hotel also had roaches. They spent a week in Moscow and then a week in Leningrad. Both parents developed a taste for Stoli. My Mom said one of the best things over there was that an attendant took their coats immediately on entering a building or function.

They then flew from Leningrad to Helsinki, and my Mom said the contrast was extraordinary.

I should have gone to Russia pre-Putin. Had chances with tours. I refused because of Putin's treatment of gay people. Now, after Ukraine, I guess it's a moot point.

Traveling by car from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and entering Communist China. Because of being a British colony, in Hong Kong you drive on the left side, while in China the right side, so there is a cross-over bridge on the China side to make the switch. I had to get out of the car and walk across the border and go thru passport control to enter China. Shenzhen looks like any modern city, until you realize you can't access western newspaper websites and other censorship from the Communist government.

[quote]Didn't parts of the French Riviera originally belong to Italy a century or two ago?

Technically, no. The County of Nice belonged to the Duchy of Savoy, which was absorbed in the the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont-Sardinia) upon the elevation of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy from duke to king. Nearly a century later, Victor Emmanuel II handed Nice and Savoy over to France in exchange for France's help in reunifying Italy.

If you go to Antibes you'll see old ramparts that served as defense against invading Austrian-Savoyard forces coming from the County of Nice. Antibes was a border town back then.

[quote]This is Ventimiglia - does it look like France?

Ventimiglia looks very much like Villefranche-sur-Mer (Vilafranca) in FRANCE.

[quote]What else can you do in Como?

Perry liked a little fisting, some anal beads and booty bumps.

[quote] Which border crossing in your experience had the greatest instant change and contrast?

Crossing over from West Hollywood into Beverly Hills. Especially on Sunset.

San Diego-Tijuana, definitely.

[Quote]You could be sitting in Villefranche, and if I waived a magic wand to move the border and change the language to Italian you wouldn’t even notice.

Trying to be a clever contrarian reveals your utter stupidity. Comparing a 1978 observation to a modern day riviera is mind-numbingly irrational. Don't trust your thoughts.

So, to conclude…a final thought: OP has lovely memories of a couple of day trips across the French-Italian border, but is totally ignorant of the actual history and culture of the Alpes-Maritime area (“County of Nice”)—which for hundreds of years was part of what is the now the Italian Republic. Memories fade; facts linger.

I guess the border crossing between Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. I crossed in the early 2000’s for a day trip and my friends and I only had to show our drivers licenses.

Correction: Alpes-Maritimes!

Perdona il mio francese🤷🏻‍♂️

R99 sounds like an OP covering his tracks…

You do know that Villefranche has changed little from ‘78 to the present day…same for Mentón, etc.

No, I'm not OP. Again, don't trust your thoughts.

Repeat posting of random thoughts is not DL-sufficient. Try harder. See a new border. Offer a new, maybe coherent or interesting, perspective. But don’t play the dis’ queen outside your silo.

That was for tired, restless, poor R104

I always have to brace myself when I travel from the east side of Manhattan to the west side.

^ Fifth Avenue is a bitch, ain’t she… 👻

One time taking a train from Barcelona to Florence, when we reached the Spanish/French border they were having wild fires like they do in California. The train was completely stoped and things were burning on the hillsides on both sides of the track. Every announcement was in Spanish and I had no idea what they were saying. It was very nerve wracking and it we spent hours there until the train started moving again.

Israel to Jordan

On the Israeli side - modern, very Sunbelt-USA looking major roadway with strip malls on the side as you get to the border-- could have been Orange County CA if not for the signs in Hebrew, several US chains too. The actual border crossing is staffed by cute 19 year old female soldiers - could have been the SDT sorority at Syracuse at a "Private Benjamin" themed party. And they all spoke English very well. Overall ambience of the crossing on that side was small city US airport.

On the Jordanian side -- male soldiers with mustaches and machine guns, spotlights like in a POW-camp movie, street urchins (for lack of a better term) jockeying to carry people's suitcases for them for money. Lots of shouting in broken English. Highway to Amman looks very third world. Pass Bedouin tent village, rundown looking shacks and stores-- feels like poorer areas in Puerto Rico or Mexico. Overall ambiance was the waiting room in Orange Is The New Black when the families would sign in to see the prisoners.

[quote]You do know that Villefranche has changed little from ‘78 to the present day…same for Mentón, etc.

Do stop going on about Villefranche you fucking idiot.

You're a bore, darling.

[quote] I’ve always had a romanized view of New England

Were you shocked upon crossing into it they didn't speak Latin, R77?

@r109 "Every announcement was in Spanish and I had no idea what they were saying"

When everyone else ran screaming from the train, you might want to go with them. When in Rome...

After watching the video at R90, it's obvious that Sanremo is beautiful and modern. OP is obviously a lying cow. Thanks for stumbling through the worst parts of the town and bitching about it. How misleading.

Three rather unremarkable border crossings that left an impression.

At age 8, I crossed the North Ireland/Irish border with my parents and my repatriated grandfather whim we were visiting. The relatives and random people we met not encouraging of a venture south and thought no good could come of it. The border at one crossing was very heavily policed and involved a lot of checking of papers and questions. My family had painted it as a situation from which we could very easily have been turned back and instructed me to keep quiet (as though I might somehow blow a cover we didn't have.) Coming back, however, from a lesser border station, couldn't not have been a less tense event, with jokes and candy rounded up for me by the guards.

Arriving the first time at Fiumicino Airport, a very handsome and very armed guard checking my passport after it had already been checked q couple times told me to step aside behind a screen. He asked me to take off my glasses and said he was always curious to see green eyes - that many people said they have them when they were really brown. He gave an approving nod and a thank you.

In the U.S., a job required me to visit a few manned nuclear missile silo sites in some Upper Western states. The border was only a double wet of chain-linked fences and I had appointments for each visit. Nonetheless I would drive to a gate in the middle of nowhere and 4 or 6 men armed with rifles would descend on me, guns pointed at my chest, while I held my hands in the air and gave them my credentials. Every time. They were so hungry for outside entertainment that they immediately shifted attitude when they verified I was supposed to be there; they followed me around like.puppies, hungry to talk with anyone who had been outside the silo for a week or two.

R115, perhaps they should've considered working outside of their own silos?

I took a train from Paris to Zurich via Lichtenstein. I fell asleep in one and woke up in the other. I’ve never been unaware of crossing two international borders before.

In San Francisco, crossing (north to south) Geary, moving from Pacific Heights to the Western Addition.

I live on the coast of CA, but when I finally got to see Palermo, on the Italian coast, it was like night and day!

That's a lie, but thanks for this thread. You well-traveled people have interesting writing! Carry on!

The dived between Ri'os two zones was shoking. Traveling from Rio de Janeiro's airport in Zona Norte to Zona Sul unveiled a stark divide. Favelas with red brick homes dotted the road, predominantly occupied by black or mulatto residents.

Passing through Tunnel Rebouças revealed the breathtaking beauty of Zona Sul. It emerged as an exquisite haven, encompassing resplendent lagoons, beaches and a vibrant urban landscapes, including Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon beaches.

The economic disparity was evident. Despite a lovely stay, the glaring gap between the haves and have-nots troubled me deeply. All the big, uncut Brazilian dick I got was nice too.

Sort of, R100, but to be more exact, the County of Nice had definitively become part of France before Italy was united; before that it had "for hundreds of years" mostly been under the rule of the Duke of Savoy, who also ruled various other lands that eventually became part of a united Italy, as well as some that didn't.

@r115, 5/10

The thought of 4 or 5 armed guards following a green-eyed Irish boy around like puppies doesn't set right with me 🤔

If you were a blond bombshell with a 38" D-cup chest I might believe you

Years ago, I was traveling in Croatia and took a bus from Split to Dubrovnik. When traveling that road along the coast, you briefly pass into Bosnia. I was the only tourist-type on the bus & the driver came back & said to me in broken English "display your passport, don't say anything. unless they ask you questions (or something like that)" It shouldn't have been that ominous - the person checking passports, who was some skinny 20 year old in an ill-fitting uniform, just looked at our passports & moved on, but everyone on the bus seemed unnerved. They we got back into Croatia & the mood lightened. Nothing happened, but it definitely left an impression.

Way to sensitive, OP. You wrote lovingly of your trip. But that doesn’t reflect the reality of your thread title, or even several other posts about an actual dichotomy between two sides of a border. Why not just acknowledge that several posters have pointed you towards a better understanding of actual French-Italian border history…it won’t hurt to do so.

*too sensitive

One that sticks in my mind: Flying into Singapore /Changi airport... so a 16 hour flight landing at 5 am. Of course half dazed I'm walking to customs in an airport that seems a cross between Vegas and Blade runner, down the escalator and into the customs line for EU, USA, etc. A smooth line of the beige and black clad -- Right next door - the line for mainland China. A seething assortment of 80 pound nylon bags, bad dentation, awkward genetics, and noise.

R124 keep digging, Trollina. Even street sounds and odors in the air would have been different particularly to a child in 1978, you hapless irrational fool.

Oh, R127. The sappy, sentimental things you dream up. Too funny. You should write a screenplay for the Hallmark Channel.

Jeez, r124 is practically the Pillsbury Doughboy.

When you drive from California to Mexico, the language changes from English to Spanish, quite suddenly!

The difference between North and South zones in Rio is stark indeed. Most of the northern zone simply isn't on the tourist maps for good reasons.

In 1985 I traveled between what was then Yugoslavia to Venice - change was shocking: fresh vegetables!!!!

[QUOTE]Can you go into more detail and describe what was different about the merchandise in the shops?

[QUOTE]No, I don't think so.

[QUOTE]Okay. Thanks anyway, OP / [R83] 😆.

^This sorry cunt wants a description of merchandise on store shelves 45 years ago and dismisses an honest answer. An answer IT DEMANDS. Do you not understand your commands aren't within the realm of human performance, Donald?

Even if OP DID remember, you've been such an asshole, cooperation would never be forthcoming from decent people.

Oh dear. Troll R133 is whipping himself into a frenzy.

The most extreme border I've ever crossed was going from Dajabon, in the Dominican Republic, into Haiti, in the early 1990s. You had to walk across, and went from tropical forest and scrub to the mud and grass of Haiti -- where we took a tap-tap to Cap Haitien, a fascinating town mouldering away in the heat.

This is a cool topic, and it got me to think about where I’ve been. I’ve travelled for work and pleasure and love geography. Crossing a border is always a memorable event. I also love border quirks like exclaves and enclaves and arbitrary points and lines.

My foot/land vehicle/ferry border crossings: USA-Mexico, USA-Canada, Argentina-Uruguay, South Africa-Lesotho, South Africa-Eswatini, South Africa-Mozambique, Zimbabwe-Botswana, Botswana-Namibia, Zimbabwe-Zambia, Uganda-DRC, Uganda-Rwanda, Rwanda-DRC, Rwanda-Burundi, Singapore-Malaysia, Singapore-Indonesia, Hong Kong-Macau, UK-Ireland, Denmark-Sweden, Finland-Estonia, Spain-Andorra, France-Monaco, France-Belgium, Belgium-Netherlands, Belgium-Luxembourg, Italy-Vatican City, Austria-Slovakia, Ukraine-Moldova, Serbia-Bosnia, Bosnia-Montenegro, Montenegro-Albania, Albania-North Macedonia, North Macedonia-Kosovo, Kosovo-Montenegro, Montenegro-Croatia.

Most remarkable difference: Rwanda to DRC at Gesenyi-Goma and USA to Mexico at San Diego-Tijuana.

Longest wait: Ukraine to Moldova around 2 hours. This was in 2008-ish. That’s not really bad. I’ve been lucky.

Most surreal: the Vatican

Least noticeable: Ireland to UK.

Most memorable: Botswana-Namibia border on the Caprici Strip by boat with elephants in proximity

Best US-Canada crossing: by canoe on Cameron Lake in Watertown-Glacier National Parks.

Equator straddled in Ecuador and Uganda. Prime meridian straddled many places in London. North American and European tectonic plates straddled in Iceland, 4 corners USA, Continental divide at BC and Alberta, lots of most north/south/east/west points, many US state boundaries

Favourite USA exclaves visited: Point Roberts in Washington, the Kentucky Bend exclave, Carter Lake, Iowa oxbow. Alaska is technically a big exclave too.

Anyway, I could go in and on.

The train ride from Hannover (West Germany) to West Berlin at 21-years old in 1985.

At the actual W./E. German border at Helmstedt/Marienborn, East German guards with machine guns and German Shepards (the real shady kind in a perpetual crouch) got on at the latter city, looking with mirrors underneath train carriages.

Guard with guns were patrolling hallways and every time I walked out of my cabin to look out the windows in my hallways, he would take notice and shadow my movements. They didn’t speak.

I was shocked passing thru the only town of consequence on the route, Magdeburg - it was still at least 50% rubble from WW2, with factories belching out shit tons of noxious-looking smoke. Genuinely a broken down, scary landscape.

At the West Berlin border, guards got off at the last East German stop, and repeated searches with dogs and mirrors looking under train carriages. We traveled on and suddenly everything turned colorful and well-maintained as we entered the city.

During the same visit, I traveled to East Berlin but used the Friedrichstrße commuter train station to enter. Was packed with Polish people going home (I assume Poland allowed trips as they all had Polish passports). As someone said above, it was like leaving Oz for Kansas. Just a barren, concrete landscape with boxy massive apartment buildings.

You had to change 30 Deutschmarks to 30 Ost-marks, which was a more-than-shitty exchange rate, yet there was nothing to buy in the area. The small stores had little on shelves. I bought a small plate of sausages at a “food truck” setup, where the old hag manning it shortchanged me, then shooed me away when I questioned her. Visited a couple of the museums there (very anti-West slant) and finally found a tourist store where I bought a German-language guide to East Berlin.

Was creepy seeing the guard towers and searchlights on the East side of the Spree River bisecting that part of the city, with boats at the ready to snatch up any water escapees to West Berlin. Even the ghost stations on the U-bahn, which were in East Berlin, were manned by guards with machine guns, even though we passed thru without stopping.

Cali border into Tijuana. Dirt roads, shacks, beggars, children everywhere selling crap or begging.- what more can be said.

Austrian. border into Bratislava. Nice roads in Austria onto terrible potholed roads in Slovokia. The cityscape of Bratislava was old, brownish-grey, rundown with some places appearing to being bombed out, trash everywhere and tagged walls ... it was just depressing.

England into Wales. Can't read a damn thing, radio station moderators are speaking Martian I believe.

Someone above mentioned England into Scotland. I always breathe a sigh of relief crossing over into Scottish territory. It's just a better world there.

I recall crossing into Arkansas from lovely, rural Tennessee. The very first thing I saw on the Arkansas side was an old shack with a family of white trash hillbillies a`settin on the front porch smoking corncob pipes. I believe there was one of those ceramic moonshine jugs on the porch too.

R136 I remember some issue at Botswana where we physically had to get out of the Range Rover and walk across a line with maybe a shallow trickle of water or some liquid so that our shoes would get wet and keep some disease from spreading into the country, something like hoof and mouth disease. It seemed more performative that scientifically based. Does that ring a bell with you? I’m the one above that said Rwanda/DRC too, it was chilling, especially with what was going on in Goma at the time.

1988: Crossing form Ireland to NI was a non-event in mulltiple places and yet it was approaching "Marching Season" when the Orangemen were out intimidating people.

SD: Tijuana, of course it's very different

Zona Sul in Rio has lots of favelas--even in places like Ipanema

Thailand-Cambodia: The road was ramshackle, as was everything else. Things have slowly changed since the 90s.

Niagara Falls: The Canadaian side is more prosperous and a bigger tourist trap than the US side

R139 Yes, the Botswana border with Zimbabwe at Kazungula near Kasane has the shallow trough of disinfectant you have to walk through as a livestock disease precaution. That was really interesting. They’ve recently finished the bridge from Kazungula to Zambia as well on the 150 m border there which is one of the world’s shortest. It’s almost a quad point border there.

Goma is a very edgy place. I was there at a ‘relatively’ stable time and able to cross the border. I’d never ever go into DRC without fixers and security. It’s such a contrast between the refugee camps and beautiful Lake Kivu, the Virunga volcano and national park. The physical geography is stunning. The human geography is tragic with displacement, poverty, ethnic conflicts, and ‘blood’ mining in the Kivu provinces. Gisenyi is a big contrast because Rwanda is one of the most developed countries in the region and there is a convergence of money there between all the agencies dealing with Goma and the tourism trade with mountain gorillas and safaris. Those NGO, charity, and foreign service people from Goma congregate at all the hotels and live pretty large in the evenings. It’s a weird scene.

In 2014, friends and I were able to cross the border between Albania and Greece without any issues at all. I seriously doubt that remains the case.