Arriving at a German Airport from abroad is always a thrill. Besides the mixed feelings of coming back home where it almost never felt like it, one thing keeps the adrenalin pumping. Smuggling food. Each trip is a further pushing off limits, one kilo codfish and one cheese are nowadays a kilo of cheese, three kilos of codfish, three sausages, four bottles of wine and going up. The starting tiny luggage is now almost obsolete and needs an update to appreciate the full twenty kilos maximum allowed (as I will NEVER fly "low cost fifteen maximal cargo person" except in case of emergency).
Sometimes I feel like a "guerilla" passing thought the embargo of a country at war or alike (Cuba, North Korea and Auslander in East Germany knows what I am talking about). Why punishing us with limits to the food we want to bring in? Colouring the Wiener Schnitzel pommes combo is such a crime? I risk a fine for bringing food which will allow me to endure the weeks away from those I love. What would be here in Kalte Deutschland if I can't have my thursday Mcvities cookies? Or my once in a month codfish dish?
As a smuggler the second hard time after the passing at the the "nothing to declare" zone is the rationing. As the next trip may be far away in time, each smuggled good has to be divided fairly in parts to hang on till next trip. Those succulent cookies are to be eaten on Thursday only, with an Italian coffee (smuggled too) and or a Port Wine (yes, this one too). This leads me to the next point: Sharing. Sharing with friends is a way to diversify the type of good and to keep the stock up. Trading fish and port Wine for Italian Coffee and olive oil or french cheese and pâte de fruits. Import/export is a luxury in tiny Thuringen, as prices for normal goods turn into caviar like priced goods. Today I just came back from Italy with five liters of olive oil and around three kilos of coffee (and more, but I don't want to catch the attention of the Zoll Polizei). Damn, it felt good to enter the at the Hauptbahnof feeling finally safe from prosecution. Next Friday, France. Then, it will be a long winter...
