Two Danish blokes I knew ..
.. took a train through Yugoslavia in 1992. They had a short delay at the border, during which one of them bought some plums.
(spinoza, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 19:30, 6 replies)

Tl;dr
What happened?
( P-MONKE We're all fucked, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 20:43, closed)

Summary
Two Danish blokes he knew took a train through Yugoslavia in 1992. They had a short delay at the border, during which one of them bought some plums.
(ubergeekian, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 21:26, closed)

Here's the all new abridged ver.
When I was around 18 ..
.. two of my mates went on interrail during the summer vacation. 1992 I think it was. Rural Denmark in the back mirror, adventure ahead.

In many ways they were very different, yet both were very laid back, sharing passions for both beer and improvisation. They got along fine. For a few years they even shared a flat; we'd go there almost every weekend to fill our stomachs lukewarm bottled beer before hitting the local pubs. But I'm digressing.

Among the two, Niels was the thrill seeker and adventurer. A smart gyu, too. Around age 15 he saved money and paid for a parachute jump. The summer before I got to know him he constructed his own naval vessel out of a wooden frame and a tarpaulin. Made it halfway to Copenhagen before the vessel sunk and he was forced to hitchhike for the rest of the trip. Years later he went on to buy a proper vessel and cross the Atlantic Ocean. Later, wife and kids, and constructing his own house. But at the time of this tale he was 18.

Soren was different. Two metres tall, long hair, thick glasses. Blazingly ignorant, especially in the field of geography. When we occasionally played RISK, he'd always have a hard time locating the geographical areas. If anyone declared that they would attack his armies in Afghanistan, he'd look all over the Americas to find the place. I guess he wasn't really into current events either.

At one point they found themselves in Austria, wanting to go to Greece for the sun and the islands. There were basically two routes. One was by means of Italy and the strait of Brindisi. This was a detour but still the route that most sane people would choose. The other route was through Hungary and the remnants of Yugoslavia, i.e. the area today known as Serbia. Recall that this was 1992. War was still waging in nearby Croatia and Bosnia. While Serbia was not exactly the most dangerous place in the world it wasn't exactly a tourist magnet either.

So they picked Yugoslavia. Or rather, Niels did. Soren didn't have a clue about what these place names meant or how they were related, so he tagged along.

As the train drew close to the Yugoslavian border, it became more and more deserted. When they arrived at the border, they were alone, except for a Turkish man who for some reason also preferred the shortcut, and a French businessman heading for Belgrade. The four foreigners were greeted with classical Eastern Bloc hospitality. The passports were immediately confiscated by officials which themselves subsequently vanished. Hours passed as the four would sit alone in an uncharming waiting room.

Eventually Niels left and took a walk in the border town in search for food, undoubtedly breaking numerous laws in the process. Before long he encountered a fruit stand where a local farmer sold fresh plums. Figuring that hard currency would probably get him something in a country whose economy was down the drain, he presented his last Deutschmark coin. As it turned out, hard currency was much appreciated, and Niels returned was all the plums that he could carry. It was a plum fest.

Eventually the passports returned and everyone proceeded on another train. Slowly and uneventfully they reached their respective destinations.

Soren didn't realise where they really went until sometime after they returned home.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 22:13, closed)

hehe
Just curious, how did you get that?

Sure it's the original text but I deleted is since admittedly it didn't make as much sense as I had imagined it would when I put it down. Or no sense at all. Or someting.
(spinoza, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 22:18, closed)

Gaming on the windows machine.
Haven't touched the work lappy since I went to bed.
& then copypasta.
Or something.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 22:27, closed)

Well played, Sir.

(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 21:51, closed)

Perhaps they chose Yugoslavia to see what the whole hoohah about their expulsion from Euro '92 was about
Denmark of course taking their place and ending up winning the thing.
(Penguinbert killed Ken Dodd's dad's dog, Wed 5 Sep 2012, 13:40, closed)