Crossing the Border--Completing our Registration Requirment

On a very foggy, frosty day we left Uzhgorod and drove to Chop on the Ukraine-Hungary border to fulfill our bi-monthly requirement to re-register. It's just one of those necessary evils which seems to come too often. For us, there is the requirement to cross every other month because our vehicle's registration must be renewed by the police. Ordinarily foreign citizens must cross every third month whether you hold a visa or not. Fortunately, in Ukraine we can cross the border and return the same day, but some of our colleagues in Russia must leave for extended periods of time.
Crossing the border is a drudgery with little to anticipate; but we try to make the most of it by visiting some Hungarian stores where we can find some products we like that are not to be found in Uzhgorod. And, we always look forward to visiting McDonalds to get a real hamburger! The McDonalds at Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, at 65 miles (104 km), is the nearest western, fastfood restaurant to us. In Ukraine there are many in Kiev, and one or two in Lvov (about 100 miles; 160km), but none in our area. So, it is nice to go there and enjoy something familiar, even though most Americans would find the menu changed quite a bit.
Our crossing from Ukraine took about 30 minutes, and our return crossing was less than that. This was truly incredible considering that in December we waited for over three hours one way. Thank the Lord all went smoothly today and we will be good to go until April.

Cheryl & Leah--One treat for crossing the border is lunch at McDs!