Any suggestions? So far Switzerland and some parts of Scandinavia
look reasonable. Apart from that, I'm drawing a blank.
As of 2008, Switzerland will (in response to EU pressure) start
requiring ID at the gate for international flights. Still, it's a
long slope from that to the demi-TLV treatment I got in FRA the last
time I flew to the states. I'm glad it took 7 years from the
commencement of paranoia in the US to wash up on our shores (merci
vieumal Bern) and think I remember that, in the states, I used to
have to show ID even for domestic flights. (back in those more
innocent days when the air travel industry was only concerned with
avoiding a market price for their seats)
Still, I expect that, even in 2008, I'll have far more opportunity to
show photo ID in being a cheap bastard and asking (with obvious
accent) for the locals' discount at the ski resorts than I will for
any other reason. Maybe even more than all other reasons combined.
As you've mentioned, for the really hardcore, losing oneself in
Siberia might be an option. I prefer society with my freedom, however.
-Dave
(also, during Перестройка, I had the opportunity to do some
field work with a fellow who'd done a great deal of the same in
Siberia, and his tales of the taiga didn't exactly make me think of
it as a place I'd want to live year-round. In much the same vein, I
recall a picture of a smoke jumper in a lake with his dog safe on dry
land, regarding the camera as if to say "dude, that water's *cold* --
he shot it; he swims for it")
