Somewhat off-topic, it depresses me that passport requirements are so ingrained. Wikipedia:

    > ...up to World War I, passports were not required, on the whole, for travel 
    > within Europe, and crossing a border was a relatively straightforward 
    > procedure... 
    > During World War I, European governments introduced border passport 
    > requirements for security reasons, and to control the emigration of people 
    > with useful skills. These controls remained in place after the war, becoming 
    > a standard, though controversial, procedure. British tourists of the 1920s 
    > complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions,
    > which they considered led to a "nasty dehumanization"