Sept 11 - Thankfully, this border is a combined immigration post. Meaning, Window #1 is the departure from North Macedonia, and Window #2 is the entry to Serbia. This cuts the waiting around time in half. We are compelled to exit the bus, and the Turkish people on board (all young men) are told to bring all of their baggage with.
The Serbian language is similar to Macedonian, and though occasionally I see it written in Latinized lettering, most of the time it is in Cyrillic. I am sitting next to a Turkish guy on the bus, who uses his phone translator to ask me when the bus will be getting to Belgrade. I estimate for him that it will be close to midnight, and he doesn’t seem to like that prospect. I will go out on a limb and guess that he is heading for the EU, either crossing the border to Croatia or Hungary. Either crossing could be fraught with difficulty.
It is a dark, rainy day as we go north through heavy forests and disembark at the tiny Vranje bus station.
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