Sunday May 17
We have been traveling for 3 weeks.
As we have traveled east, the border crossings have become increasingly lengthy, difficult and intrusive.
1. France to Italy - we entered a 12km tunnel in France and emerged into Italy. The only change was the language. No immigration and not even a welcome sign
2. Italy to Slovenia - No immigration, and thus no stamp, but there was a welcome sign.
3. Slovenia to Croatia - Cursory passage through Slovenia customs (and a stamp on the way out) and a review and stamp by Croatian immigration.
4. Croatia into a small Bosnian land bridge to the sea - Croatian immigration looked at our passports. The Bosnian official waved us through while looking at his phone. This happened twice so it was not a fluke.
5. Croatia into the main body of Bosnia - Easily passed through immigration but then directed in Bosnian to Customs, which I drove past causing some consternation. Reviewed the car information without further incident.
6. Croatia into Serbia - This was a comedy. There was a ramshackle immigration shack. The immigration official spoke absolutely no English. After he reviewed our passports and stamped them, he wanted us to do something else. I tried to use hand signals, but to no avail. Finally in apparent disgust, he just waved us through.
7. Serbia into Bulgaria - This occurred at midnight. The Serbian official just stamped us through. A little wait for cars at Bulgarian immigration, but the truck line stretched into the horizon and did not seem to be moving. The official reviewed and stamped our passports and asked about our intended stay and travels. Pleasant, but then we had to pay for a vignette and something else. Hard to find the shack to do that and it took some time, but ultimately the cost was 10 euro.
8. Bulgaria to Turkey - So far the mother of all crossings. The truck line going out of Bulgaria stretched over 3km. The car line was a 30 minute wait, to get OUT. When we arrived at the immigration station, the Bulgarian official was very pleasant, stamped our passports and asked where we were going. When we told him Georgia, he asked incredulously, "in that car?" Then we arrived at Turkish immigration. About a 20 minute wait. The Turkish official was very serious, asked about our prior and intended travels and passed us through. I thought that we were home free. However we had to go to Customs. I noticed that Customs made all bus passengers disembark and remove their luggage which they proceeded to go through bag by bag. In the car line, it was a madhouse with people getting out of their cars and jumping the line (what line?). The customs official was troubled by the fact that the owner of the car, Karen's daughter, was not entering and kept asking for authentication. Sort of simultaneously another customs official opened our trunk and asked about the contents. i told him it was all clothes and he affixed a bar code to the car. Finally the first customs official after repeatedly saying nada and pointing to his eyes, referred us to D-3. That turned out to be the Narcotics and Smuggling unit. Halting English spoken there. The focus was on the fact that the daughter owned the car. They wanted a form, notarized statement from the owner that we were authorized to drive the car. After much calling, texting and e-mailing with the daughter, the official granted approval. Total border time almost 2 hours.
P.S. Throughtout this process, we repeatedly encountered a woman hitchhiker who seemingly just walked through customs.
P.S.S.: after leaving the immigration area we got on a toll road. However, there was no place to take a ticket. I went into the roadside building and tried to explain that I did not have a transponder. The official just waved me on with a whistle and a pointed thumb. I was worried about how i would get off the toll road, but there was no barrier at the exit, so I just drove through the toll station. Maybe they will send Summer (the car owner) a bill. Hopefully, I will still be able to leave Turkey.
We have been traveling for 3 weeks.
As we have traveled east, the border crossings have become increasingly lengthy, difficult and intrusive.
1. France to Italy - we entered a 12km tunnel in France and emerged into Italy. The only change was the language. No immigration and not even a welcome sign
2. Italy to Slovenia - No immigration, and thus no stamp, but there was a welcome sign.
3. Slovenia to Croatia - Cursory passage through Slovenia customs (and a stamp on the way out) and a review and stamp by Croatian immigration.
4. Croatia into a small Bosnian land bridge to the sea - Croatian immigration looked at our passports. The Bosnian official waved us through while looking at his phone. This happened twice so it was not a fluke.
5. Croatia into the main body of Bosnia - Easily passed through immigration but then directed in Bosnian to Customs, which I drove past causing some consternation. Reviewed the car information without further incident.
6. Croatia into Serbia - This was a comedy. There was a ramshackle immigration shack. The immigration official spoke absolutely no English. After he reviewed our passports and stamped them, he wanted us to do something else. I tried to use hand signals, but to no avail. Finally in apparent disgust, he just waved us through.
7. Serbia into Bulgaria - This occurred at midnight. The Serbian official just stamped us through. A little wait for cars at Bulgarian immigration, but the truck line stretched into the horizon and did not seem to be moving. The official reviewed and stamped our passports and asked about our intended stay and travels. Pleasant, but then we had to pay for a vignette and something else. Hard to find the shack to do that and it took some time, but ultimately the cost was 10 euro.
8. Bulgaria to Turkey - So far the mother of all crossings. The truck line going out of Bulgaria stretched over 3km. The car line was a 30 minute wait, to get OUT. When we arrived at the immigration station, the Bulgarian official was very pleasant, stamped our passports and asked where we were going. When we told him Georgia, he asked incredulously, "in that car?" Then we arrived at Turkish immigration. About a 20 minute wait. The Turkish official was very serious, asked about our prior and intended travels and passed us through. I thought that we were home free. However we had to go to Customs. I noticed that Customs made all bus passengers disembark and remove their luggage which they proceeded to go through bag by bag. In the car line, it was a madhouse with people getting out of their cars and jumping the line (what line?). The customs official was troubled by the fact that the owner of the car, Karen's daughter, was not entering and kept asking for authentication. Sort of simultaneously another customs official opened our trunk and asked about the contents. i told him it was all clothes and he affixed a bar code to the car. Finally the first customs official after repeatedly saying nada and pointing to his eyes, referred us to D-3. That turned out to be the Narcotics and Smuggling unit. Halting English spoken there. The focus was on the fact that the daughter owned the car. They wanted a form, notarized statement from the owner that we were authorized to drive the car. After much calling, texting and e-mailing with the daughter, the official granted approval. Total border time almost 2 hours.
P.S. Throughtout this process, we repeatedly encountered a woman hitchhiker who seemingly just walked through customs.
P.S.S.: after leaving the immigration area we got on a toll road. However, there was no place to take a ticket. I went into the roadside building and tried to explain that I did not have a transponder. The official just waved me on with a whistle and a pointed thumb. I was worried about how i would get off the toll road, but there was no barrier at the exit, so I just drove through the toll station. Maybe they will send Summer (the car owner) a bill. Hopefully, I will still be able to leave Turkey.
All I can say is that I almost fell off my chair laughing at this post. I am very relieved that you eventually got through but what a story the experience makes. I've done a lot of work with Turkey through my job and am not surprised that the Turkish border crossing was the most difficult so far. You've definitely left Europe and are now entering a very foreign world.
ReplyDeleteI also had to laugh about the Bulgarian official's statement that you're going to Georgia "in that car?"
When are you are going to tell us about the drive through Serbia? I ask because I'm wondering if that drive or the Turkish border crossing has been the biggest challenge thus far.
I'm anticipating that you and Karen will be passive participants on the Georgian part of your voyage. Hopefully you can relax and recoup from the driving portion of your trip. Keep on trucking.