It’s taken me a few days to write this blog- because…well…because we feel like utter idiots. But, I’m sharing to prevent anyone else planning this trip from feeling like idiots too. So, here we go:

We had a moment of extreme tension at the Romanian border. Vehicle registration documents are apparently compulsory for entry. Oops. Our original V5C is safely stored in a filing cabinet in Leeds and scanned e-copies or photocopies do NOT count. 

What with all the focus on Covid passes, passenger locator forms, reflective triangles, hi-vis vests, fire extinguishers and all the colour-coded packing cubes we must have missed that one crucial requirement. Mea culpa, we are officially numpties. But sadly, there was not much we could do about it. 

The border guards held us hostage for a while, not returning our passports so we could reverse out and return to Budapest, but also not letting us go through. I took it all in my stride, of course, and barely shed a tear. 

Guard: You can’t go through without papers. 

Us: Very, very sorry. We made a mistake. Can we have our passports and we’ll turn around?

Guard: You’ve driven 2000Km, you can’t go on. Why haven’t you got the papers?

Us: We know, we’re sorry, we’ll go back to Hungary. 

Guard: You’re no longer in the EU.

Us: We know, we’re sorry. Can we turn around?

At this point he gave us a quick but stern telling off about Brexit. We hung our heads like two schoolchildren in the headmaster’s office for not doing their homework. In my mind, I was frantically rerouting our trip and planning #icecoldinathens, or scheduling another flight home to pick up the V5C. Then, suddenly with a ‘don’t do it again’ the guard stamped our passports and waved us through. So, we’re in Romania. But will we be able to get into Bulgaria?