Entering England by ferry from Ijmuiden (Amsterdam) to Newcastle upon Tyne

with a DFDS Seaways ferry

It’s not as bad as getting out of Egypt again (see our trip here), but still we had to show the red passport booklet three times (after we had to upload it compulsorily to DFDS, the ferry provider, in advance). Before boarding the ferry in the Netherlands, first the Dutch official wanted to see our passports. He then handed us directly our boarding or room cards. In the next breath we were allowed to show the documents again to the English official, who sat in his little house ten meters behind the Dutchman.

Last but not least, after leaving the ferry ⛴ the British official wanted to make sure that we had not lost anything during the crossing and asked us in an almost American-like manner what we wanted to do here, how long we were staying and where we intended to leave England again. A visual inspection of the children was also carried out, which in Carolina’s case had no resemblance at all to her passport picture (at three months you just don’t look the same as at two years… the passport is still of the “old” kind and therefore valid for several years 😅).

The procedure on the British side cost us two hours and a few nerves, because the bedtime of our youngest shifted from the two-hour drive to our destination to the two-hour wait until we could finally leave the ferry terminal. Unfortunately, he is anything but a good driver.