We packed everything into our car and left, crossing into France on a little two lane road at three or four o'clock in the morning..
The Spanish border guards must've decided it wasn't worth waking up for a car with German license plates that was leaving. The French border guard, discerning we were Americans, asked my dad if he had any cigarettes.
My dad said "no," and the border guard said with great pathos, "that's too bad," and waved us through.
Unfortunately my parents' money was in Spain so we were camping in a public park in France, entirely indigent, and my youngest sibling who was a toddler didn't have any trouble telling strangers he was hungry. The local people were so disturbed by our family they bought us some food, gasoline, and ferry tickets to Southampton England.
Barcalays Bank let my parents open a checking account with a negative balance, basically on their word, and eventually got our money out of Spain.
The world was so different then, there were no ATMs. Credit cards and travelers checks were for wealthy people and utterly useless in ordinary places that didn't see many tourists.
= new reply since forum marked as read
