This little story is about a border, which usually should not be problematic. Even a border in Europe doesn’t need to be the most fun and easiest.
Where is it located?
Bosnia and Herzegovina borders Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Montenegro on the other hand is adding to the mentioned ones also bordering Albania and when being counted as a country also Kosovo. Both of the countries were part of Yugoslavia back then.
The border which was crossed was this one:
The way to the border
While hitchhiking to the border from the city of Mostar, where a few days were spent. The border to Montenegro was within walking distance, while it was already completely dark in February 2021.
We tried to continue hitchhiking on the direct road to the border, but besides being not strongly visible, due to the missing traffic light, there were almost no cars. We were starting the 10km walk with the heavy backpacks. Being in a honestly really bad situation, but that didn’t matter, because sleeping there would also have been not the best option.
While walking towards the border, few cars were actually stopping, but ended up being police. They were asking where we wanted to go, as if that would not have been obvious. They also were checking our documents but refused to take us to the border.
Because of the pandemic there was without a covid test at that time only a transit possible without one. The government from Bosnia did not mention on their website how many days a transit is allowed to be.
What was happening at the border?
The documents were controlled at the border. They asked for the covid test certificate, which was not necessary to have. We said that we didn’t have it, which was in the eye of the border official the chance to get some money.
He was saying that we were illegal in his country and that we are going to get into jail. I was sending Krystal away, to deal by myself with the situation, she was really nervous. I responded with “We are just doing a transit, we don’t need a test.”
Due to the five days we were in the country already he was saying that we were not just transiting and started to ask for money, to prevent getting sent into the jail. From that moment on I knew that it was pure bullshit and that he just wanted money.
I told him that we don’t have money and that we were walking from border to border, which was of course not true, but would have worked with the transit story. To be fair, the 172 km would have not worked in five days walking with the big backpacks and through the mountains.
It was not possible to talk to him, he just asked for money and didn’t believe the no money story, due to our nationalities.
The other officials
I had to go to the other officials, who were not part of the conversation, because the first officer was not able to talk to them. With them it was way easier. I showed them our stamps from the entry and shared our story with them. Showing some pictures of me inside a bin, searching for food, was probably the one thing which convinced them that we don’t have money with us.
They felt bad and even ignored the other official, which was a great feeling, because he was just corrupt. Adding to everything, they were even giving us food and something to drink, for the next day, which was amazing.
After Krystal returned from the toilet, she was clearly surprised, what all happened, while she was gone.
WELCOME TO MONTENEGRO!
After walking for a moment, the first person stopped and drove us directly into the country. This was a good start for the new adventure.
What to learn from it?
It is important to stay calm in stressful situations. It can also help to be creative, to not get into trouble.
