Weekend roundtrip to UK – I

Last summer me and my office mate decided to visit United Kingdom during weekend. However, our reason to see this great country was completely different than of usual travelers – we were not into admiring sound of Big Ben, or the Tower Bridge, we went there for computer shopping. Actually the act of shopping and paying was done earlier that week and we went there as messengers to ‘pick it up’ from my friend who kept our treasures in his room. And since our shopping spree was quite big and out of control we had to use car to bring it all back home. Thanks to online route planner, we found the fastest route – 12 hrs 21 minutes and 1216km one way, printed it out and after work on Friday evening were ready to leave.

The plan was simple – ride as fast as allowed and possible, with couple of stops for rest and stretching, arriving Saturday morning in our destination. Then get our packages, have some rest or sleep and return home. Because we were in a hurry we chose to use the EuroTunnel instead of a ferry.

We didn’t expect any problems on our way since all countries belong to European Union – the state borders were simply a sign beside the highway and there were no border checks at all. We got all the way to Callais without problems. But just before boarding the train to UK we had to go through security check. When asked by one of the French soldiers for the purpose and length of our trip we replied we are visiting our friend in UK and we are going back the next day. And that was a mistake to say. He immediately became suspicious that we are trying to smuggle something in since we traveled 12 hours just to have couple of beers and then travel another 12 hours back. He ordered us to pull over, called other 3 guys and started to search our car very thoroughly. It took them almost an hour, they didn’t skip a single thing – even forced us to take out the reserve tire and they opened it, checked all compartments and holes. All the while we were standing beside the car guarded by a guy with a gun. My friend wanted to take pictures of the search but they denied his request. During the search they kept telling us to tell the truth, that we don’t have to lie to them about the real reason of our trip but we just kept repeating the same thing.

Of course they didn’t find anything and they had to let us go. We almost missed our train because of this and we also lost one hour. First we were pretty upset with them but later on we could just laugh about it.