When We Thought We Were Being Kidnapped in Europe!

Posted On July 9, 2020

Let me tell you about our craziest travel experience ever! The time when we thought our family was going to be kidnapped by men who looked like they came straight out of a scene from the movie Taken. It happened in our last months in Greece, as we went touring through the mainly Balkan countries.

Once I started planning the itinerary, I quickly realized that unlike our previous trips around Europe, Eurail train tickets were not going to work this time. Previously, all I had to do was spend days studying maps, planning our itinerary, making sure that arrival dates to each city matched hotel dates, and checkout times corresponded with our train departure times. Once I had that all squared away, I ordered our Eurail tickets, which allowed us to travel through a number of countries within an allotted period on one flexible train ticket. Simple and easy, as long as we followed the ticket rules and be at the right places at the right time.

We love train travel because it’s comfortable and stress-free. No heading to an airport 3 hours before the flight. No grueling security lines before boarding. No waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night because the main character in your nightmare, was dressed as a check-in counter attendant who used his loudest Godzilla voice to announce to you and the entire airport that your luggage is overweight. Then when you tried telling him that you weighed your bags at home, he suddenly turned into an angry airplane-head humanoid, who picked up your luggage and slung it across the room. But just as you turn back from eye traveling with your luggage across the terminal, you see airplane head charging at you, so you run nonstop until you are back on your bed catching your breath and wondering what the world is turning into. Then you get up and go weigh your bags again for the 5th time, before cautiously going back to sleep.

None of that happened when traveling by train! But once I started the research, I quickly realized that this time around, things would be a lot more complicated because looking for a train network in Balkan Europe was like looking for teeth in the mouth of a laughing 4 month old. So after many days of intense planning, I came up with the most feasible and time friendly itinerary; we would fly to Romania – train to Belgrade – train to Montenegro. And since that was the farthest we could go by train, I booked a rental car in Montenegro for some weeks, to drive to Albania, Croatia, Bosnia, then for an additional fee we could return the car in Kosovo. After which we would take a personal driver to North Macedonia, another to Bulgaria, and fly back to Greece.

We packed our bags and flew to gorgeous Romania. After sightseeing for some days, we took the train to the Serbian border, which was the terminus, so we had a driver take us in a comfortable van from the border to the capital, Belgrade. After enjoying Serbia for some days, we took the train through one of the most scenic rides in Europe; a marvel of engineering, the rails from Belgrade to the cities of Podgorica and Bar in Montenegro, has 254 tunnels and 435 bridges on the 296-miles of stunning mountain views and the Adriatic sea as you approach the end.

Once we got off the train in Podgorica, Montenegro, we checked in to our rental apartment and went to the car rental company. We got a convertible, so we could take in the gorgeous sites around the Bay of Kotor and the stunning scenery on the drive from Montenegro to Croatia. But once I handed him a list of the countries we planned to visit, the agent at the rental company said we could take the car to all those places except Kosovo. He said insurance companies don’t cover cars that go to Kosovo because of the high rate of carjackings there. “Wow, should we be concerned about our safety, too?” I asked. “Oh yes of course! You have to be very careful, Kosovo is dangerous!” he said. So we had to reevaluate our plan. We then decided after visiting the next 4 countries, we would return the car and take a personal driver to Kosovo. 

So we set off enjoying the Adriatic side of Montenegro, spending a few days in Bar and then the bay of Kotor. Many days later, we were overwhelmed with sights of nature’s beauty and all the historical information from Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Albania, and two days before our scheduled departure for Kosovo, I started searching for a driver. Finding a personal driver had always been very easy until it was time to find one to Kosovo. None seemed to be available for our travel date and waiting one or two days later would have thrown us completely off our schedule with hotels, other transportation arrangements, our tours, and flight back to Athens. Then I had the perfect idea to explore public transportation. I looked it up and there were buses leaving every night from Podgorica, Montenegro, to Pristina, Kosovo.

Neither my kids nor husband liked the idea, but I told them traveling by road at night wasn’t that bad, you just fall asleep as miles and time pass. We had our pillows, there’d be AC and maybe wifi on the bus. We would get the back row and hopefully the two in front of it, so the kids could stretch out at the back as we slept through the night to wake up in Kosovo. They slowly warmed up to the idea and we called the rental company to collect the car at the bus terminal. We got there early, bought our tickets, and when the agent showed up, we returned the rental and went into the cafe to get some pizza for the road. The terminal wasn’t busy at all, so we had hoped for a half-empty bus.

Finally, the bus showed up and the kids and I tried to get in line, while Dwayne stayed behind to hand our luggage to the attendant, but we soon realized only a few of us regarded the line. In the end, we got on the bus and there was an immediate awakening of all our senses at the same time! For a moment I caught myself wondering which of the human senses responded fastest. Did I see the crowd on the bus before I heard the crying babies? And when did that diaper smell hit me? Was it before I instinctively started reaching for my children? When did I realize that the bus was full of passengers before it arrived at our terminal? And when did I see that there was nowhere for all four of us to be seated together?

The darkness on the bus didn’t help either. I looked outside for the hopeful countenance of daylight but it was nowhere to be found, and powerlessness came over me. Then Little Miss Chief entered my head and said “get off this bus now!” I told her we didn’t have options, but she said “you do now that the bus isn’t moving yet!”. Just then, Dwayne said “wow, Lovette, this journey is 8 hours, and there are no seats where we can all be together. Where are the kids going to sit, sleep, away from us? This is going to be a very uncomfortable trip. Let’s get a hotel and make new plans tomorrow.”

I looked around to see we were the only ones standing and then the attendant got in just as we’re filing out. “What happen, my friends?” “We’re getting off, we can’t find seats together” I said. He then laughed, patted Dwayne on the arm, and said “my friends, follow me”. We got our luggage out and he took us to another bus. Also a 50 seater or more, with only 8 of us on the bus; a couple with an infant, a very old lady and the 4 of us! Wow! Look at all this space, and light, and air! We thanked the attendant, got comfortable, and started looking forward to the journey. No one else got on this bus, the doors closed and we all sucked in that sweet nectar of a breath you draw when you hear the flight attendant say “boarding completed” and you’re the only one on your row.

Our journey started with each of us in our own row for maximum comfort, snacks in our hands, pillows fluffed, and propped at different comfort levels as the breeze came in through the windows. Who cared there was no AC or wifi on the bus, this was business class compared to the other bus. About 45 minutes into the journey, the bus stopped in a very dark location. No buildings, no lights, just trees. And once the engine was cut off, it was pitch black outside. We looked out the window and saw about 30 – 35 men standing on the right side of the bus. They all had dark clothes on, some smoking, and none had luggage. Just backpacks.

Then the voice of our rental car agent started playing in my head “Kosovo is dangerous” “of course you should be concerned for your safety” “insurance companies don’t cover cars that go to Kosovo” “carjackings” “Kosovo is dangerous”. Then Little Miss Chief walked in my head and said what was on my mind, but my mouth refused to say. She said, “oh shit!” I said “shit what? They’re just travelers like us.” “where’s their luggage then?” “they have backpacks.” ” then where are the women and children?” “hey, maybe they’re just workers who come from Kosovo to work in Montenegro and head back at night.” Then she rolled her eyes and said “ride on, Professor Mitigating Bias!”

The first guy stepped on the bus, and he looked EXACTLY like Marko, the kidnapper in the movie, Taken. Then the next and the next. Soon I realized that they don’t only look like the kidnappers in Taken, they also sound just like them. Little Miss Chief came back and said “why the fnck do they all look like the bad guys in Taken?” And I said, “oh it’s just a movie. We can’t profile these guys based on that.” Then one looked at me and said something in what sounded like the language of Taken. The others turn around smirking, smiling, nodding, and saying what I could only imagine being “oh yes! That one!” Just then, Dwayne touched my shoulder and said “we’re getting off this bus, we’ll get a taxi and head back to town. Remember what the rental car guy said?” Then Little Miss Chief said, “at least someone else is thinking with their head and not their fncking heart!”

I considered it, looked outside, and said “we can’t get off only based on what the rental car guy said and the fear he put in us. It’s one thing to have a bias, but it’s a whole new level of wrong if we take action based solely on that.” “I get that Lovette, but do you see the way these men are looking at you?! And we have no idea what they’re saying! How am I supposed to protect you and the kids against all these men, if something goes wrong?” I couldn’t answer, so he huffed, crossed his arms, and clenched his jaw.

Once all the men were on and the bus started moving, one of them said something, his friends laughed and he moved two seats closer to me. Then little Miss Chief barged in “why are you so fncking hardheaded!? Why didn’t you get off the bus!? Do you know what their intentions are? Look around this fncking bus, you and your kids are the only black ones! Look at your husband, with his racially ambiguous face, you think these men even know you all are a family? Or maybe they know you’re Americans and they want to kidnap you because they hate Americans! The moment you bought your tickets with your passports, the plan may have been set in motion and these are your fncking kidnappers! Where you gon go now? Huh?!”
“Hey, stop it!” I said. “Kosovars don’t hate Americans! We helped them during their struggle with Yugoslavia.” “Oh yeah? miss fncking goody I won’t profile anybody based on a movie or what the REAL-LIFE rental car guy said! Look how those 3 keep looking at you! You better not fncking fall asleep!”

I looked over at Dwayne, who was now sitting by the window, arms still crossed and Jaws still clenched and said “hey, you need to sit next to me so these guys know we’re together.” But he didn’t answer. I looked over at the kids and they were now sitting together in one row, sleeping as their movie played on the kindle. I got up, turned it off, and tucked them in their blankets. When I returned to my seat the one who moved closer to me was talking to the ones in front of him and they looked at me again. So now I was nervously struggling to remember if I ever read a book about Balkan cultures and what this staring could mean.

Just when I made up my mind to go superglue myself next to Dwayne, he looked and called me over to his seat and we cuddled. Only then did the men stop looking at me. A few minutes later, the bus stopped, the lights came on and we heard “America!”. Trying to stay calm, that’s not our names, we thought. Don’t look. Then Little Miss Chief came screeching in “Oh yeeahhh… look what we have now! This is the point where they hand your family over to the team who takes you to the dark warehouse and…” “shut up!” I said. Then he yelled again, “America!” Dwayne looked up towards him and he said “passport, passport!” Dwayne said “why?” he said “border, my friend.” “But why isn’t anyone else being asked” I whispered, then Dwayne said they probably only need ID cards from the others and perhaps we’re the only ones on the bus who need to be stamped. We handed them over and he got off the bus.

Then some more men got on the bus speaking very loud in the language of Taken. I desperately needed a translator, so Little Miss Mischief said “Let me help you. I understand what they’re saying. Right now, the loud voice guy is saying “we’re here to collect the captives and transfer them to the vehicle headed to the secret warehouse. See? He has just asked the driver ‘where are they?’ and the driver just said ‘don’t be stupid, look around, who looks odd on this bus?!’ That American family over there!”
I wanted to tell her to be quiet, but she had to be correct because at that very moment the driver was pointing at us and the loud voice man started walking towards us.

Just before my pee made its way out, the loud voice man said “how are you?” Dwayne answered “we’re very well, thanks. And you?” “I am fine, thank you.” Then I saw our passports in his hand and his uniform looked like customs or some type of border control officer’s. He looked at Dwayne and I and asked “where are the children?” we pointed to Zarah and Jaiden sleeping on the row next to us. He looked closely at them and then handed the passports back, and proceeded to check everyone else’s IDs before getting off the bus.

After what felt like a few hundred miles, the bus stopped again and all the Taken guys started getting off. On his way out, one of the guys who kept staring earlier came to us and said “now, we stop to smoke and toilet” but he said it with a teeth-showing smile. “Oh, OK. Thank you very much” we said. Then Dwayne went to the bathroom and I remained on the bus with the sleeping kids. All of a sudden I saw Dwayne running back towards the bus while still struggling with his zipper. “What is it?” I asked once he got on the bus. Breathing fast, he said, “Oh, nothing, it just hit me mid pee that I left you and the kids here by yourselves!” And I started laughing uncontrollably. Then I asked, “did you even wash your hands?” But after he finally got his zipper done, he said “pass me the hand sanitizer”. Then I had my best snort infused laugh of the day.

The bus would go for a couple more hours as Dwayne and I finally started dozing off, before we stopped again. When I saw everyone getting off, I looked at my GPS and saw we were still more than one hour away from Pristina. So I told Dwayne this isn’t our stop. But soon the bus was empty, and just as I was about to go looking for the driver to ask, one of the Taken guys jumped in the bus as said “America! Here, we take new bus. Come!” So we woke the kids and started gathering our stuff. We met the driver moving the last of our rolling luggage to the next bus. We stepped in and everyone on the already full bus was staring at us. Only 2 vacant seats towards the back and they were not side by side.  Little Miss Chief said “now what?” I said “shut up” and we kept walking to the back.

Then one Taken guy got up, and another, and another, and another. Just like that, they shuffled themselves around, and pointed us to four seats together, smiling with their eyes and teeth. The kids and I sat, but Dwayne said he could stand, and offered the seat back to one of the two standing guys, but they smiled and gestured for him to sit. So many emotions came flooding my senses. Regret for being nervous at all. Anger at the rental car man for his unnecessarily strong words and his single story about Kosovo, and disappointment at Lil Miss Chief for her negativity. Where’s she now to say something about this act of kindness the Taken guys had just shown us. Nowhere! But then I heard a creek in my head, and there she was peeking in saying “hey, don’t get too comfortable just yet. You know what they say about warming it before ea…” then I slammed the door shut!

One of the standing guys then asked “how are you?” We said “fine, thank you. And you?” “I am fine, thank you. You are going Kosovo?” “Yes, we are” I said with a smile,  to which he responded “why?” “oh, just for tourism. We are traveling through the region and Kosovo is our next stop.” His eyes widened and so did his smile, then he said something to the others and they all started smiling, nodding, and giving us the thumbs up. A few of them said something to him and he looked again at us and said “my English not very good. But they say, I tell you, have happy time in Kosovo.” “Oh thank you” we chorused, as the whole back of the bus was smiling with us.

We arrived Pristina to the rising of the sun. Our new friends pointing us towards the taxis and waving enthusiastically. We waved back with joy, as we cursed Hollywood for only showing us such faces with the grimaces of kidnappers and bad guys carrying big guns, as opposed to kindhearted, smiling faces carrying luggage.

On our taxi ride to the hotel, we saw a giant statue of Bill Clinton, next to a shop named Hillary, on a street named Clinton Boulevard. And I remembered again how the Clinton administration supported Kosovo’s fight for independence. Then I opened the door in my head and asked Little Miss Chief, “hey, what was that you said again about me being Professor Mitigating Bias?” But she just rolled her eyes, kissed her teeth and said “whatever!”.