the raggedy arsed places where drifters and grafters wash
up looking for a cross border arbitrage. Use your naviga-
tion planning and the full tank of fuel you crossed with to
make some distance to a town with a different economy.
All of this seems straight forward, laid out in an article
but, when you don't speak the language and the crush of
fellow travellers turn the immigration hall into a furnace
of angry sweaty people fighting for the attention of a few
overworked, underpaid border officers, it no longer seems
simple.
Here you’ll need to use the two great skills of the sea-
soned traveller; patience and good humour.
Be firm in holding your place in line and insist on get-
ting what you need before you are shunted off by the next
customer, but do it all with good humour. Be respectful
and polite. Smile, use people's names if they have name
tags and remember that the border staff are doing a poor-
ly paid and difficult job and dealing with a lot of frustrat-
ed people for hours on end, they don't need or want your
aggression. You may think you are having a bad day, but
from our observations, if you get angry and lose your tem-
TRAVERSE
per, it will just get a whole lot worse.
For someone travelling with a vehicle, border crossings
are one of the more complex administrative tasks and the
one most likely to go wrong.
There doesn't seem to be a simple way to work out which
crossings will be difficult and which will turn out a pleas-
ant farewell from one country and welcome to another.
The same crossing at a different time may be a different
experience. The best option, it seems, is to prepare well,
get organised and keep a sense of perspective and good
humour about the whole business.
And, of course, research well because there is no guar-
antee that the next country's requirements will be the
same as the six you have just visited. MH
Ten years ago, Mike and Jo hit the road. So afraid of be-
coming old, they never really returned, travel was in their
blood. Mike has written two books of their travels; The
Elephants Tale and High Road Rider.
Both books are available at their website -
www.elephant-travel.org
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