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I want the Schengen zone to end so I'm not limited by 3 months in all of Europe but instead on a country by country basis.

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For Europeans the Schengen zone has made travel within the Union far simpler. They should revert this because it ruins your gap year?

The Schengen zone has nothing to do with the Euro. We had "open" borders before the Euro and non-Euro states (UK, Sweden, ...) are part of the Schengen zone. Even Switzerland is part of the Schengen zone.

EDIT: The UK is only partially a member of the Schengen zone.

I thought the UK wasn't part of the Schengen zone.

Thanks for the tip. You are of course right, according to Wikipedia the UK is only partially part of the Schengen zone. I must have confused it with Denmark which is not part of the Euro zone, but part of the Schengen zone.

Wrong. The UK and Ireland have never been part of the Schengen Area and have specific exemptions just for them in the Schengen Agreement.

Also, EU Directive 2004/38/EC is not the same as Schengen and unlike Schengen is virtually unimplemented in full in any country, especially in the UK.

Border control is a very politically contentious topic in the UK. So, changes and implementations that attempt to erode borders generally fail, whether upfront or in practice (even if it is illegal according to EU laws such as the directive above).

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