Stopped at the border

We experienced a lot during our short adventure in Barcelona, but it was while leaving Spain that we had our most unique and memorable experience. We felt this story was worth sharing...

As we drove toward the final toll point in Spain just south of the French border, we noticed Spanish police officers standing on the side of the toll lane. They let the car in front of us through, so we weren't sure what they were doing.

As Marty paid the toll, I was watching the policeman, who was watching us intently. As we slowly pulled out of the toll, he motioned for us to stop, and starting speaking to us in Spanish. When Marty shook his head and responded with 'English', the policeman simply said 'passport'.

We handed over our passports and as Marty tried to explain that we live in France, the policeman seemed confused with our Australian passports, and told us to pull the car over to the side of the road, out of the toll lanes.

In very broken and almost non-existent English, we were asked for the papers for the car, however didn't have anything that we could produce to say who owned the car and why we were in possession of it. It took some negotiating on Marty's part to explain that he plays rugby in France, and the car belongs to the club. This didn't seem to make an impression, as the policeman motioned for us to get out of the car and stand aside.

So there we were, standing on the side of the motorway in Spain while two police officers went through our bags, through my handbag and even into the small zipped compartments; they went through the boot and spare tyre compartment, through the cab, and under the bonnet; they even shook the doors and tapped along the sides of the car, apparently listening for loose objects and solid areas.

When their search turned up nothing, Marty's explanation that we live in France because he plays rugby there, and that the car belonged to the club, seemed to finally make sense to them, and they let us go.

We got back into the car and drove for some time in silence while we were both contemplating what just happened, before we both laughed about how bizarre it was for us to have our car and belongings thoroughly searched, especially at an international border that we had only crossed once. We are sure that the Spanish police just wanted to give us a memorable send off, and they certainly did that!