I drove to Albania
Following a year on Spetses/Spetsai I drove to Albania so that my soon to be second husband could see his mother and sister before we went back to UK together. [It did not work out that way and we married in Albania two weeks later instead. I divorced him ten years later.]

They would not let us on the first ferry so we had to wait for an hour. First stop was at the bank to buy car insurance then we headed north. The second ferry trip was shorter and the third was shorter still, but it did cut down on driving.

They were resurfacing the roads so I ended up driving on a hill of gravel to get to the border, which was closed. We parked up and tried to sleep in the car, a Ford Fiesta that was full to the roof.

The next morning my fiance insisted on going into the passport office first, because he did not have one, as he had walked across the border from Albania to Greece the previous year. They let all the lorries through first and then us. We had to go through it all again with the Albanians.

I had been driving for an hour when a police car pulled us over and when they found out that we had just come from Greece, spent ages trying to find something wrong so that they could give us a fine. All they could come up with was that there was no photo on my driving license. They accepted 200 drx instead of the 2,000 they had demanded as they did not want coins. We were told to pay the remainder in the next town, but we drove on past.

We spent the night in Gjirocaster with friends and then drove to Fier the next day. I desperately needed the toilet so we stopped at more friends first. That was where I was reacquainted with the hole in the ground loos. I hung my jeans on the back of the door and was relieved not to miss.

When I left the bathroom I was bowled over by my sister-in-law to be who told us where to park the car in a locked compound and I drove there, parked up and went to meet my mother-in-law to be.
(whiskas loved by 8 out of 10 cats, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 23:12, 1 reply)

whoaaaaaaa, now THAT'S how you tell a story.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Sat 16 Jul 2011, 9:09, closed)