17.51:XNUMX local time. Customs Malko Tarnovo. I am writing these lines right from the customs of the Bulgarian neighbors.
Six hours have already passed since I was waiting to arrive in Turkey, but it seems like someone decided to waste the whole day of Saturday close to the border line and yet very far from it. Probably like thousands of Romanians, I decided, together with several friends, to leave for Istanbul for the December 1st holiday. Since there were four of us leaving, we decided to travel by car and thus save a nice amount for shopping. Four plane tickets would have cost at least 400 euros round trip from Constanța to Istanbul, and the cost for fuel/motorway taxes/vignette was estimated at a maximum of 150 euros. By the time we arrived near the Malko Tarnovo customs, we had a little time left and I was betting that we would not linger more than half an hour at the border. However, the Turkish customs officers wanted to prove to me that this was not the case.
2,5 kilometers from customs, still on Bulgarian territory, we saw the breakdowns started by the last car in a queue whose beginning you couldn't see. In just a few minutes, the line behind us continued to grow in length. Like a bad joke, Google Maps showed us that it wasn't crowded for the next kilometers and that we would pass through customs in 16 minutes. But, the joke got worse when we noticed that after those 16 minutes we hadn't moved even a millimeter. And the minutes kept ticking away until we had covered 20 meters, in almost an hour. And so lunch passed, the sun began to set and it was 5:51 PM and we still hadn't reached the Turkish customs.
"Daddy, do we ever pass"
268 cars. That's how many two children counted with their father. Cars in front of their car, miles away from the border crossing. The girl, who was only a few years old, was afraid that she would never make it to Istanbul, where she was going to spend Saturday. They spent it in customs, just like us.
And now let's get to more serious things. Many Romanians lost their patience and started filming, posting on social networks and calling the Romanian Embassy and Consulate in Bulgaria . Nothing was resolved! Not even an alert on the MAE website to warn Romanians of the waiting times. I browsed the entire website and I couldn't find any information!
We finished writing this article at 18.22 local time, we managed to pass the Bulgarian side. That is, I advanced 10 meters in 31 minutes. The Bulgarian police acted exemplary. In less than two minutes I went through passport control and I realized that the problems do not start with them. I hope you didn't pay alms for the night's accommodation from Saturday to Sunday. I'll come back with an update when I manage to get to Turkey!
PS1 - at 20.08 I entered the Turkish customs. I hit the shift change right :)))) The Turks are relaxed, they are not in a hurry! It took 25 minutes from entering the Turkish customs to the control. I haven't cleared customs yet!
PS2- I arrived in Istanbul at 23.30. In other words, I traveled from Constanța to Istanbul in 18 hours and 30 minutes 🙈
Maybe by the time we return to Romania , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will inform its citizens that there was a queue, a few days ago, at the Malko Tarnovo customs.
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