To Romania in 1990

The first time to Romania was August 1990.  The Iron curtain came down in the fall of 1989 and the winter of 1990.  We flew into Frankfurt, Germany and rented a car and drove to Degendorf, Germany.  The next morning, we drove into Austria getting to the Hungarian border by the afternoon.  Hungary required a visa costing $35 to enter with two passport pictures.  The third afternoon, we left Hungary and finally made it into Romania, where we had to pay $35 for the Romanian visa.  After a week in Romania, we left for home.  Well, kind of…  Again, we drove into Hungary - $35 and two more passport pictures - and spent the night in a little town named Heggyshloam.  The next morning, we made it all the way back to the Frankfort airport and the flight home the next morning.  Travel was tedious and time consuming.  There was no unleaded gas in Romania, so we had to carry a small stick to prop open the gas filler and hope that most of the leaded gas from the larger nozzle made it into the tank.  Going in, we had to change dollars into deutschemarks at the first bank we passed: 1.6 deutschmarks per dollar.  Then we exchanged dollars for shillings in Austria: 12 schillings for per dollar.  Then forints in Hungary: 200 forints per dollar.  Then lei for dollars in Romania: 25 lei per dollar.  If we had any left over, we had to figure out the exchange from one country to the other.  One big math problem!  Now, I just use my credit card as easy as I would right here in Ringgold!  The exchanges are calculated by American Express.  For sure I “don’t leave home without it”.