Hard to imagine Britain joining both the Euro and the Schengen zones. I just don’t see the British public not thinking they’re special and demanding exceptions and carve outs just for them.
Of course it has been a success. I (half-German, half-Croatian) grew up in times where each of the borders from Germany to Croatia had anything from 1-4 hours of waiting time, you'd need to exchange currency at each border (at outrageous rates) as well simply to be able to pay for fuel and food, and heaven forbid you even got a call on your phone due to roaming charges.
Nowadays? No border controls at least on the way to Croatia any more (the other way around does because of certain far-right politicians), no currency exchanges, no leftover currency when you go back, seamless cross-border bank transfers, no phone roaming surprise bills... it's utterly awesome.
For what it’s worth, I’m in favour of the euro (and further EU integration).
The friction between Ireland and the UK is near zero, both have different currencies.
This isn't to say there aren't benefits to the Euro; on an individual level of course not thinking about exchanging or exchange rates makes life easy. It's simply not palatable to the UK, Brits or the core financial institutions by which its service oriented economy excels.
Indeed, Schengen and Euro were only introduced this year - but I lived through how all of the old crap slowly got dismantled, each year it was one annoyance less.
The most painful thing is to see how many people want to dismantle all of that progress.
I was a remainer and I'd love to rejoin and Schengen, the mobile roaming stuff, etc. are all wonderful and I would like them back.
I'm not convinced the Euro would be a good idea and I'm absolutely convinced that you'd lose public support for rejoining if you tried to go that route.
I keep wondering if EEA + Schengen would be a viable middle ground.
Nowadays when I travel, I just pay with my usual bank or credit card and get good rates without thinking about it. If my bank didn't have good rates, there's Revolut.
The main pain is that the EU hasn't standardised payment systems. So in parts of NL and Germany, you might find your Visa isn't accepted because they only take Maestro, or, in Sweden, Swish, for example.
[1] https://www.conradbastable.com/essays/the-germany-shock-the-...
That day I understood a lot more about brexit (that was still undecided at the time I think) than the day before: those who'd vote leave (and even most of those who'd vote stay) never had the opportunity to enjoy anything about the EU as a live, graspable experience, it had always just been an abstract concept for them. Something-something-economy, nothing that touched their lives.
If you're old enough (or sufficiently well-traveled) to have been stopped at borders, gone through the hassle of foreign currency, it's such an awesome "yes, this is the future!" moment to go to a place where people talk a language you don't understand, road signs are weird, but you never stopped, you can use the cash from home and the only sign of passing the border was the customary SMS telling you that all is fine when the phone logs into the roaming network. UK people never had any of that and I believe that the vote would have gone quite different if they did.
Would you also be a fan of a global union with a single currency?
I can’t imagine anyone would bend over backwards to accommodate the UK at this point.
Doubtful that they could avoid a commitment to joining the eurozone though.
Airports would still require travel documentation (e.g id card or passport)
The way I'd imagine the UK retaining it's opt-out here, is that it's something that the EU could compromise on without really losing much (and importantly without losing face, as the Irish border and preservation of the GFA is a reasonable excuse to find reason to compromise) and that the UK negotiators could then present as a "win" back home, making the other conditions that the UK now has to accept (for example the euro) easier to sell the general populace on.
Obviously though, I'd much prefer if both the UK and Ireland joined Schengen together.