Todd had contacted the US Embassy in Podgorica back in January as his passport would be expiring in August. This would present a problem for international travel after May. At that time the Embassy was only able to provide an eleven page emergency passport, which was only good for a year and didn’t have any of the advanced security features. They did say that this might change in the future and we should check back in.
March rolled around and Todd sent a follow up email on a Tuesday morning. That evening, he got a response from the Embassy and a 10 am appointment time for the following day. Fortunately he had his photo and application ready to go, so other than sorting the 94 euro cash fee, he was set.
The drive time is 90 minutes from Tivat to Podgorica, but we headed off at 7.30 am so we would have time to spare. Just as well because we ended up in the middle of a long caravan of tour buses and transit vans as we drove through Budva. They were struggling up the mountainous road at well below the speed limit. Initially we thought this was a regular occurrence, and they were off to meet incoming planes at the capital airport. As we approached the outskirts of Podgorica, cars going the other way were honking their horns and waving, and we realized this was some sort of protest. Later it was confirmed that the bus rally with over 100 buses, convened on Podgorica to protest the lock downs and demand government assistance for struggling companies. https://www.rferl.org/a/bus-montenegro-state-support-pandemic/31156114.html
Todd got to the Embassy gate at 9.55 am and experienced a very efficient and kind government employee who had everything taken care of without delay, and a stunned but smiling Todd was back in the car 10 minutes later! Even more amazing, he got an email confirming his new full 10 year passport was ready for collection 1 week later. Our second trip to Podgorica took the advertised 90 minutes, and after Todd had another short and successful interaction with the Embassy staff, we headed back with the new passport in hand. There were actually 2 routes from Tivat to Podgorica, and we decided to return by the second one which was slightly longer. This road went across a land -bridge over part of Lake Skadar, and through a long tunnel before turning up the coast just before Bar. Although we never did see Bar, we did get a look at the seaside town of Petrovak, and Sveti Stefan which is an exclusive city-hotel encompassing an entire peninsula.
There were several police check points on both trips to Podgorica, and we were stopped twice on our return to Tivat. These amounted to Todd unwinding his window and greeting the policeman in English, a few words in Montenegrin from the officer, a little more English from Todd, and a hasty wave to continue driving! Although there are still travel restrictions between counties in Montenegro, many people drove up to Belgrade over the weekend for free vaccinations. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/2021/03/27/foreigners-flock-to-serbia-for-coronavirus-jabs.html The cases of COVID are starting to drop again here, so local travel may free up again at the end of the month.
Meanwhile we are staying busy with boat maintenance and praying our big box of boat parts shows up soon. Apparently it arrived in Montenegro March 1st and customs has been unable to locate it yet, so all fingers and limbs are crossed!!