Heh. I remember my first trip to Romania. I knew people I was going to meet, and I had no concerns. However, I recall the woman in the seat next to me as we landed in Timisoara. She looked out the window and saw the runway lined with Mig’s and guys with automatic weapons. She panicked. I told her it was for her own safety. No planes get hijacked in places like this due to the military presence.
I also remember staying in a condo owned by the head of federal passport control. He was my best buddy. He expedited my residency in 2 days - nobody would say “no” to such a high ranking government official. I got stamps that would normally take months to get.
I also incorporated a business there. It took the name of a high profile graphics company in the US - but hey, I owned the name. All it cost me was a bottle of Jack Daniels brought from the US.
Getting out of the country was a bit more difficult. My insulin pump was a problem. It was something that wasn’t available there at the time, and there was no explaining it. This led to my using MDI on my future trips and while living there.
One of the people I met there was a beautiful Romanian woman who was in debt on her business she ran to pay for her and her sister’s tuition. She was a medical university student, so I ended up with good medical care - for Romania anyway (see quote above 
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I ended up buying an apartment with her, and we remodeled it with a guy from Ireland. I only remember this detail because he was the only guy driving with the steering wheel on the right side of his van. Lots of good memories.