More border misadventures.

I definitely think the best border crossing are the ones where you have to physically walk across the border. Crossing into Armenia from Georgia we had to walk from outside of the Georgian side right through and out to the Armenian side and the bus would meet us there. The Georgian side was easy, knowing a little of the language, they took our photo and sent us on our merry way. 

The trouble started when we got to the Armenian side, I was all ready giggly due to lack of sleep and spending time with one of the funniest people I know. The people in front of us had to of been part of some bearded men's society. The all had long, long beards and more than one was a fiery shade of red. They were not Georgians and seemed like an odd group of people to choose to travel there. 

My turn at the booth I made chit chat with the man, just basic things, he was smiling and everything was going great. My friend walked up behind me in the line and that was when I noticed this guy had sauce on his face. Not a little bit. Like a least a teaspoon of tomato sauce smeared on his face. How could no one have told him? I turned around and tried to tell my friend about it, I couldn't hold it back any more and I started to laugh. My friend sternly told me that this is not the place to get the giggles. An Armenian border guard was directly behind me with an automatic weapon. I turned back to the guard, who began to giggle with me, thinking we must have shared some sort of joke. He stamped me through and wished me a pleasant stay.

My friend later told me that the stamping guard was still smiling when he got to the window, so my friend thought it acceptable to smile also. The border guard instantly went from happy, smiling to stone cold. 

Border Faux Pas

I am at the border crossing between Serbia and Macedonia, we have been stopped here for about half an hour. The police are intently checking the bus, dragging people off the bus and forcing them to unlock their luggage so it can be searched. I have my bags with me on the bus, so they seem to think they don't need to be checked.


I think I may have committed a border faux pas a few minutes ago.

A police officer came on to the bus to check everyone who hadn't gotten off to unlock their luggage  This happened to correspond with  American Pie coming on the radio, it's a great song, it needs to be sung. I couldn't help myself, I started quietly, but once I felt the rhythm I just couldn't stop singing. It was never overly loud, but I didn't stop when the officer got me, he did not look impressed. He looked at me as if my singing was actually a code that would point him in the direction of any illegal activity.