When we got past the Italian border we we in a 'No Man's Land' type of place where cars were lined up to pass through the Slovenian border check. There was a Duty-Free shop here so I pulled into the parking lot and walked towards the shop because I needed to use the restroom. When I got closer to the shop I noticed that there were signs for a restaurant so I decided to follow them since there was a better chance of finding a public restroom there.
Following the signs around the building I realized suddenly that the restaurant was on the other side of the Slovenian border. All of the border guards were in car lane booths busy with the vehicular traffic and I really needed to relieve some bladder pressure, so I decided to try to just walk past on the sidewalk.
Of course I got nabbed.
A guard in a booth started yelling at me in Slovenian, and since I always take people armed with automatic rifles seriously, I went to him when he beckoned. Luckily he spoke english so I explained that I was just trying to get to the restroom and that my car was back at the Duty-Free parking lot. When I showed him my passport he did not think it was really me, but after making me stand in the cold for a little while as he studied my passport, he finally let me go.
It probably didn't help any that I look like a terrorist in my passport photo.
