Disaster has struck the Beavers, and it’s struck us hard. While convoying it through Constanta, Romania, we stopped off at a grocery store to stock up on some supplies before finding a room for the night, and, while some of us were in shopping, a couple people were just hanging around guarding the cars. Somehow, Emily Clairs purse got stolen and inside of it was ALL of her identification. Devistation is an understatement. Things had been going so well up until this point, we felt we were solidifying a timeline that worked with a couple of the Beavers time constraints, everyone was getting along well, the Lost Convoy was still getting lost but that’s beside the point.
All of our convoy promptly got to tearing our car, and Catch us if you Khan’s car apart in hopes of finding it. A team even tracked down the beggar man who had been wandering around our cars that night AND got some locals to ring the police and translate for us but the purse was absolutely no-where to be found. While all this was going on, there was also a small hoard of Romanian kids hanging around trying to get our attention, and Jamie Mac, being nice, was grabbing some bubbles from the top of the van for them to play with. on his way down however, he smashed his foot through his front windscreen and essentially cracked the entire thing. Feeling sad, defeated, frustrated and more than a little panicked, we decided our best option was to check into a hotel narby for the night, and have the Beaver girls head back to Bucharest (the nearest Canadian embassy/consulate) the next day, while Jamie tracked down just how he was going to have the windscreen fixed (and afford it).
I cant speak for the boys, but I hear their next day was relatively painless, filled with nice men giving them awesome rates at the garage (I don’t know what some teams were talking about, honestly, Romanians were AMAZING to us!) and the beach. Andrea, Dancy and Emily however got lost heading out of Constanta, and finally made it on to the E60 to Bucaresti (NOT the most direct route at all, but we were late so it would have to do). We made it to the Canadian Embassy at 4:30pm (it closed at five), and the most amazing embassy employee let Emily at least come in, get the paperwork in advance so we could speed up the process etc. and answered some questions. We checked ourselves into the Hotel Triumf down the road, which was this sprawling, slightly rundown hotel that looked like it could have had it’s heyday in the twentys and was still riding off that high. But the beds were comfortable, and the company was even better. We watched some Randy Jackson presents America’s best dance crew, and some Jersey Shore (!!!) and called it a night. We awoke at about seven the next morning and after showering (unfortunately, not a/c in the hotel), Emily set off for the embassy to weigh her options while Dancy and I set out unloading and re-packing Max (our car).
Unfortunately, getting replacement visa’s appeared like it was going to be impossible. Emily could have replaced her passport (it would have only taken about three days), but to replace the visa’s we were told she would have to re-apply for, and re-pay for each and every one. She could have rocked up to the border and just paid there (albeit with a bit of a wait and likely more money) but it was going to prove to be far too costly a solution.
I have to say, the Beavers, and our entire convoy are absolutely gutted. Andi cried on and off the entire drive back to Constanta (no lie) and the general demeanour has been pretty down since. E.C. was an integral part to our team, and she certainly balanced us out a lot better than we’re managing to do now. I know it won’t help the situation any, but she will be missed.
We are writing from Odessa now, and hoping to make it as close to the Russian border as possible tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens. We will try and be more consistent with this thing, internet has been few and far between (believe me, the Beaver girls walked around Bucharest for a good two hours trying to track down an internet cafe, but to no avail), but we’ll see how it goes.
xx
