Tips for Crossing Borders
As we’ve been driving and crossing borders on major highways, some countries have a “rest stop” like areas where you can buy a vignette which seems to be a “pre-paid” toll card. It doesn’t seem to be mandatory to buy one as you aren’t funneled into this area. We did buy them but wondered if it really mattered as no one checked them. We started the race and crossed into Slovenia, another vignette country and almost didn’t buy one. But we did, this one was a nice sticker (we didn’t notice) while the others were just register receipts.
As we went to exit Slovenia we got stopped going through the general exit (not a truck exit which was paid tolls). We were asked how much our vehicle weighed as it isn’t on the registration. We then got lectured on how one needs to pay to use the roads in Slovenia. This is when we pulled out the vignette that we bought and learned it should have been placed on the window. But because we were a truck we really weren’t supposed to have a prepaid vignette, but instead, pay tolls based on our weight. I’m glad we tried to do the right thing but this just goes to show that it’s best to play by the rules.
Ferry to Morocco
We’re now heading for the ferry at Almeria in Spain to cross overnight to Morocco. The schedule has us arriving at 7 am which will give us plenty of time to get to Midelt and begin the race. The race organizers have asked that no one posts their route (with their GPS tracking) as this may bring unwanted attention to us, so, unfortunately, you won’t be able to follow us as we initially thought.
More soon….
