On the road...again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

The Long Arm of the (Slovak) Law

Spoiler Alert:  This chronicle is as much a reflective episode in modern reality than an admission of a miscue that cost the Footloose Forester a bundle of euros.  If records of events are in any way important, the Footloose Forester wants to record this event after his latest adventure as an intrepid traveler in Eastern Europe. 

Renting a car in Budapest, Hungary and intending to drive a long loop through several countries was the plan. Planning was certainly called for, with several key components in the plan to make it all happen.  In this instance, having the right local currency was going to be a challenge because euros, the nominal official currency in some countries, was not the official currency in all countries.  Yes, a learning process was the expectation, but nothing ventured nothing gained.

The car rental took place in Hungary, a country that does not recognize the euros as official or local currency.  Their forents were fine for everyday purchases, but the Footloose Forester had to look beyond their borders where euros and other currencies were used.  In some countries euros were accepted for all purchases, but in other countries they were not.  The whole subject was a real issue that had to be reckoned with, one circumstance at a time.

Thus, it was that a rejected Mastercard in a money changer at Franz List International Airport in Budapest required a back-up Visa Card to obtain the funds necessary to proceed to the next step—driving upcountry and into Slovakia and beyond.  As he recalls, the Footloose Forester got euro bills from the money changer, but the money changer did not return euro coins.  So off we go, with a wallet containing Turkish lira, from the connecting flight into Istanbul, Hungarian forents, the local currency not accepted across the border, fresh euro bills, and a bundle of US dollars. We were hoping for a simpler way to spend in Slovakia where euros are accepted. 

All went well until we came to a Slovak toll booth, a modern highway toll booth on a modern highway.  The toll was a modest few euros, except we didn’t have any coins and there were no agents on site.  The automated machine took only coins. Yes, it happens.  The same coins-only, no change system also existed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension near Pittsburgh International Airport before the system was upgraded to accept EZ PASS.

Here we were, at an isolated toll booth far from any town or other buildings, a toll booth that was set up for accepting only euro coins, but was not equipped to make change, and there was nobody around to help.  So, my sister Mary and I sat in the car blocking traffic for several minutes until the impatient driver behind us stepped out of his car, put in a few coins, raised the toll gate and passed through.  We idled our car, waited again, and blocked traffic again.  A few minutes later, another driver drove up, put his coins into the pay slot, and drove through as the gate lifted.  This time, Footloose Forester sensed that traffic was not going to be heavy on that road, but he also sensed that we could pass thorough the toll gate, close behind the previous car.  That is what we did…and that was when the long arm of Slovakian law and its camera technology came into the game.

highway toll booths are often built outside of heavy traffic zones

It was a couple of months after Footloose Forester returned to the United States that he received a letter from the Hungarian car rental agent, written in Slovakian, Hungarian, and English, notifying him that having illegally transiting through a Slovak highway toll booth, the Slovak government was imposing a fine and would be collecting the fine from the car rental agency in Budapest. The fine was added to our rental fees in Budapest, and charged to the Visa Card that was used as the back-up credit option.  It was a steep fine, but part of the learning process that came with travel in strange territories.  

With a clear conscience but with a touch of regret, the Footloose Forester continued the long European road trip in the hopes of avoiding another episode of rules breaking.  Plenty of other problems were in store, but we would have to wait to cross those bridges when we came to them.