Refused at the North Macedonian Border

Trapped in Albania due to one tiny detail at the Greek border

I’ve been sending you postcard snapshots of various places. For the most part, these aren't the usual tourist cities. The weather is hot, and the beaches are crowded. We have no reservations. Join me as we wander through the Balkans and parts of western Europe by the seat of our pants.

Albania. There’s the good, the bad, and the really ugly. Below? Just ugly. But they are working on it.

My husband planned another hamam trip, this time at a thermal water resort outside Skopje, North Macedonia. So far, we had crossed from Türkiye into Greece, then from Greece into Albania. While sitting in long car lines isn’t my favorite thing, we had no real issues. 

Until now.

Leaving Pogradec, we traveled around the lake toward Ohrid and came to a tiny border crossing between Albania and North Macedonia. And I mean TINY. Three cars were waiting on both sides of the border. The female Albanian officer was very pleasant. And very detail-oriented. She explained that the Greek insurance agent had definitely caused us a problem, just like the truck driver warned us.

In Greece, the agent explained that only one policy was available, and she had included all the countries we planned to visit. The Albanian officer showed us where this wasn’t the case. More than one country had been skipped, so this wouldn't be the first crossing where we had an issue. She had no idea how we had been allowed into Albania in the first place.1

The officer said she could let us go forward, but assured us that the North Macedonia office up the road would send us back, since no insurance agent at either small border office could fix the problem. We needed to cross at a larger office and get insurance for the countries the Greek agent had skipped.

Ugh. More long lines of cars and very tired border agents. And it was the wrong country. Ok, I know we are flying by the seat of our pants here, but…

Lesson: Get your “green card” travel insurance for your vehicle from your own agent before you leave. Make sure you have enough time before your trip to calmly review the documents and confirm there are no errors.

This changed the entire trajectory of our trip. After a lengthy conversation with our insurance agent back home about how to obtain the right insurance policy, we had a new understanding of the words “green card.”2 We decided to head the opposite direction, further into Albania and over to Montenegro and Croatia (countries where we did have insurance) rather than the other direction.3

Heading to our new destination, Tiranë, Albania, we stopped in Elbasan to break the heat. The restaurant 4 was great, and we had a traditional Albanian dish that was one of my husband’s favorites: lamb baked in a clay pot and served with a thick sauce that reminded me of my mother’s chicken soup stock, only thicker. We had good conversation with the very hospitable staff.

And on to Tiranë. Not really where we wanted to go, but that was what this entire trip was about—seeing places we would otherwise never go, stopping when we wanted, and learning more about each country than what we could glean from an airport.

Although we had to change direction, every Albanian we met was pleasant and did their best to help.

So definitely in “the good” column for the day.

Helpful? Here's the Tip Jar

1

We could have told her that the officer at the Greek/Albanian crossing spoke a little Turkish. He and my husband were instant pals. He never opened our passports or looked at our vehicle documents. So far, no officer has stamped our passport at any crossing. This is very different from airports—in most places.

2

A green card in Europe is the insurance policy for your car in that country. It has nothing to do with residency status in the U. S.

3

Yes, I asked why we didn’t get insurance from our own agent. The response? It is just as easy at the border. Well, maybe on the Turkish side, but definitely not on the Greek side.

4

Sorry, it is only in Albanian.