‘It Was Only Afterwards That I Realised I’d Entered The Country With Rifles, Ammo And Forged Papers’

aidan

This month, we’re giving away an amazing surf holiday for two, with thanks to surfholidays.com and Aer Lingus. To find out more, and to vote for this story to win, see below!

By Stephen Smyth

I did a biathlon season a few years ago and was bouncing all around Europe from competition to competition.

It takes a lot of planning as you’re carrying weapons and ammunition with you – they’re only baby ones, but lots of paperwork is required.

Anyway, on my first trip north to Norway, heading for Sweden I got a call from the embassy in Stockholm to say that our diplomatic clearance hadn’t come through. We were buggered – we couldn’t enter the country carrying our biathlon rifles and ammo without it.

With no idea how long it would take to come through, I got out the previous year’s papers, scanned them, changed the year and printed out a fresh copy at an internet cafe in Copenhagen.

Needless to say, kids, don’t try this; you could end up in jail!

We then got to the Swedish border at about 3am. And sod’s law? We got stopped!

Luckily a combination of the night shift being on and friendly smiles from inside our van meant that we were waved through.

It was only afterwards that I realised I had just entered the country with rifles, ammo and forged papers! Needless to say, kids, don’t try this; you could end up in jail!

Want Stephen to win?

We want this to be about the best story, and not just the best social media campaign for votes – so the winning entry will be decided by a combination of: