Busy bees...

Wow... what a day! Last week we had a call from the US shipping agent who needed us to sign the US equivalent of a Carnet de Passage. So today we were up bright and breezy (7am!!) to get the train back to Baltimore. We hopped onto the Washington Metro to Union Street Station and caught the commuter train to Baltimore. Then picked up a cab to the Dartrans office where we met Bridget for the first time. It was good to meet her and she was very re-assuring about the progress of our container. Then it was down to business... The bill needed paying! Dartrans normally do business with other US based companies so don't take credit cards. Not a problem, says I, we'll leg it down to Dartrans bank with my credit card, their bank account details and a total amount and bobs your uncle! If only it was that simple. The first branch of M&T bank basically said we couldn't pay the money. So when we went into the next branch I tried a different tactic which completely confused the bank clerk (I think she had an IQ of about 2). Eventually, after explaining about 4 times that we wanted to pay money into Dartrans account from my credit card, she finally twigged. The transaction took for ever, but we finally left the bank with a reciept showing that the money had been paid into the Dartrans account.

After all that rushing between cities we needed beer, so stopped off at the Froggy Bottom Pub again for a bite to eat and some light alcoholic refreshment... Several pints later we staggered the 3 blocks back to the hotel with the satisfaction of a few good jobs done... hick! ;-)