Border control

A border control in Albania is one you will not forget in a hurry.

As our little mini van pulled up to the border crossing a man came on the bus with a gun slung in his pocket and asked for our passports. I handed mine and Alona's over (she was asleep) and Jazz handed hers over. He got off the bus with the passports and the bus drove through. I looked over at Jazz's concerned face, to be fair a total stranger had just walked off the bus with our passports. I told her it's normal in Albania and told her the same happens at border crossings in Montenegro and Croatia via bus as well.

As the bus drove through the border crossing, the driver got out and had a cig. We copied the other people and so we all stayed on the bus then he got back on and drove into the back of an empty shipping container.

Empty. Shipping. Container.

The bus rolled in and I lent back to wake up Alona. She awoke looked around, laughed, and asked where we were. ‘A shipping container’, I replied. She sleepily looked around as everyone started getting off the bus with their bags. We played copycat because we couldn't understand anyone and nobody spoke English.

We stretched our legs as we followed everyone to a small steel table at the back of the container. Spray painted on the wall was a giant blue circle with a red outline saying NO DRUGS. This was the only English there, we all looked at the giant badly spray painted sign and looked at each other with a half amused look. Well, me and Alona did.

The man who was checking the bags was older, I would say about 55. He wore navy blue trousers and a jacket, as always in Albania had a cig in his mouth and, not as always, a gun around his waist. His face was full of deep set laughter lines that surround his mouth and eyes. He had a kind face, he tossed the cig on the ground, stomped it out with his toe and took the first bag.

Everyone got there bag loosely searched, with the man only taking the first few items out. Then it came to us. Alona was first  and he searched her bag very thoroughly taking out her belongings and then roughly pushing them aside. He then gave her empty bag back and she repacked it, everyone from the bus was smoking and staring at us as a pair of Alona's socks fell on the floor.

I was next. I had my backpack and a small backpack with me too. He looked in my big bag first. I had got some shoes while on the trip so they took up a lot of my bag,. He looked in all the pockets and gave me my big bag pack for me to pack.

My little bag is the bag everything is tossed into - cig packets, beer caps, chargers, food, our water bottles. I was glad we ate the eggs our host mum had cooked us instead of putting them in my bag now! He opened my cigs up and smelled them. I was a bit taken aback and he looked at the no drug sign then looked at me. I shook my head as if to say no. Then he took out Alona's cigs, opened them and there was a half smoked one in the pack, he took it out and smelt it and stared at it for a while. He looked at me and I just smiled as if to say 'honestly my sisters just a cheap skate'. Alona wasn’t too far behind me and I turned around and gave her a 'why would you do that' look. I mean they are like 90 cent a pack. He seemed happy it wasn’t anything dodgy. He dove back into my small bag which holds a surprising amount but it got the all clear. Jazz was next.

Jazz threw a relieved smile at us and we waited as she packed her bag. As we went over to the group they all stared at us some more with cigs in there mouths. It wasn't scary, though. They looked like they were watching a soap opera with mild interest. In hindsight I guess we did look rather strange. They were all tanned, tall with black well-kept hair, tight jeans and had over a meter in height on us. Us three are so pale we glow in the dark. I am the tallest of our squad at a giant 5’6 and I have ginger hair, Alona brown and Jazz jet black. We all also wore oversized jumpers and loose fitting joggies. Also we were talking in English but with Scottish words and all three of us have different accents from years away from home.

Then another man of around 60 walked round the corrnor with 2 sniffer dogs and searched the van.

I looked at Jazz and asked if it was similar in South East Aisa. She grinned at us and said ‘No’. Me and Alona laughed at our own ignorance, she told us it was the first time she has seen anything this. I am glad that me and Alona have had similar experiences before or the whole ordeal might have been a lot more traumatising for all of us.

I have to say Jazz was so chill throughout the whole Albania holiday; from us telling her that going behind the unmarked metal door with 2 men outside would be safe, to getting on unmarked buses, running across roads, getting dropped off in desolate car parks and being passportless while being driven into a shipping contain, with sniffer dogs and people carrying guns. The perfect holiday companion!

As we climbed back onto the bus we drove for another 5 minutes and the bus was stopped and a women walked onto the bus. She had her hair tied in a tight ponytail and had the same navy trousers the man at the bag search had on and in her hand our passports. I looked over at Alona smiling but she was out for the count. The lady handed me all three of our passports. Me and Jazz put our headphone each back in and Alona snored away.

We were in Macedonia

Cheers for staying tuned! :)