Culture Shocks: On the border of legality

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]our boys with interrail passes looking to get from Macedonia into Greece – seems harmless enough right?

This is the non-chalant attitude with which we approached the border, oblivious to the chaos that soon awaited us. It all began prior to leaving the Macedonian capital, Skopje. Just days before we be friended a Macedonian individual – initially our waiter – and decided it would be a great idea to ask him if there was any way we could get hold of some marijuana; for a satisfyingly low price, he obliged.

Although most of it was gone, or rather consumed, by the time we had to depart for Athens, there was a small amount that remained in my friend‘s backpack; we hoped, in naivety, that it was small enough to go unnoticed. After a month of hopping from country to country, we had become accustomed to bag checks being a routinely British thing. In all honestly, we had never expected that our first screening would be in Greece.

As our bus approached, we suddenly became aware of the fact that we were coming from a non-EU country back into the EU; a transition that was evidently not taken lightly. Before we knew it, we were hauled off the bus and our bags were thrown to the curb. Then we were met with the sniffer dog.

We were hauled off the bus and our bags were thrown to the curb. Then we were met with the sniffer dog

I didn’t think it was possible for four white boys to get even whiter, but somehow we managed it in that moment of fear. Inevitably, the dog skipped over everyone’s bags until ours where he began clawing away until the guards had noticed. At this moment, the man in charge indicated for my friend to come into the office, leaving the remaining three of us anxiously stranded with a contingent of Macedonians looking none too impressed.

Eventually, we were all called in to the office where my friend reappeared just as I was taken into a separate room. Unbeknown to me, he had just been strip-searched so, after many minutes of an officer thoroughly checking my bag and questioning whether or not the far-from-suspicious paracetamol I had was indeed paracetamol, I returned to my friends only to be asked the question: “Did you just get strip-searched?”

It’s safe to say I didn’t take this notion very well. After what seemed like far too long to be searching our stuff, they then decided it would be a good idea to take photocopies of our passports – this sent us into a complete state of panic.

Following this episode, we returned to a very hostile bus ride after having delayed everyone for about an hour, and we continued our journey amid an array of tuts and eye rolls. It took us until our next border crossing to find out that we hadn’t actually been put on some kind of international register. I guess it’s safe to say we’ll be more cautious about what we accidentally smuggle across borders in the future.