Off to Iran

6th of October 2016. Six months after having booked the flight, the day has finally come. I am setting off on a second journey this year. To Iran.

Call me crazy, but as usual I did a lot of things just before heading to the airport. I bought a new camera just hours before my flight. Yes, I didn’t have enough time since the infamous robbery. I also went to the hairdresser, the post office and to the supermarket to get the prize I had won. I cleaned the bathroom, too. Last but not least I packed my things. I managed to do everything by twelve o’clock and I went to the airport just after lunch.

The first moment when the adrenaline rose was at check in. The staff made phone calls to check whether as a Slovak citizen I was entitled to obtain a visa on arrival. The visa policy in Iran was a bit of a mystery but I decided not to get a visa in advance. The lady had already printed my boarding passes yet she wanted to check it. Bud nobody was picking up. Another member of staff made a phone call on his mobile. I was tense. I knew I was eligible for a visa but with Iran you never know. In the end the people confirmed it. I felt relieved.

First I flew to Kiev where I met my friend Joanna and we then flew to Tehran together. After arriving at the Imam Khomeini airport we went to get a visa. The moment of truth. Are we going to get in? First we paid the visa fee amounting to 75 Euros. Quite pricey. The guy collecting cash was bored stiff. Then I had to take out Iranian insurance because my Czech insurance policy was only valid ‘All around the world’ which Iranian authorities did not consider good enough. Iran is NOT part of the world, or wait, is it? 🙂 Well, what can you do? You want to get in, you pay.

And then the waiting began. More moments of stress. Joanna got the visa first. Even people who came after me got visas first. I started to think they had lost my passport. Finally they called my name and handed me the passport with a beautiful Iranian visa sticker. YESSS!!! I AM IN IRAN!!! They didn’t check whether we had booked accommodation, a common practice just a few months ago. They didn’t care that I was going to leave the country overland but didn’t have a ticket yet. Nothing. It was an unexpectedly easy process. I was really glad I avoided the hassle of going to the embassy in Prague.

While I was waiting to get the passport stamped I met a girl from China who had been to Iran once before. We agreed to share a taxi as it is the only way to get from the airport to the city. A few minutes later I found out that Joanna’s backpack had been lost. Oh, boy. Everything went so well and the first moments in Iran brought problems. While Joanna was talking to the lost and found staff I and the Chinese girl went to exchange money. In seconds I became rich as I was handed 8 million rials (200 €). And then we just waited.

It seemed to take ages before Joanna joined us. Without luggage. It was to be found out the next day what had happened. So we left the airport building and were immediately approached by taxi drivers. We agreed with one of them to take us wherever we needed to go and we left for the city. As if the trouble with the luggage were not enough, after perhaps ten minutes of driving the taxi got a flat tire. First we didn’t know what had happened but soon we found out. The funny thing was that the driver was trying to change the tire while we were sitting in the car unaware of what he was doing. It seemed to me that he was worried we would run away or something. I had no idea.

The situation was less funny when he was unable to solve the problem and started stopping cars driving past us. The first man that stopped his car failed to help us. Fortunately, a second car stopped and the man that got out was kind enough to help us out. He had better tools. So after being stuck perhaps for 20 minutes we finally went on. We reached the house of Joanna’s friends at about half past three in the morning. We were so happy to finally arrive and have a rest to be ready for the first day of exploring Iran.

Joanna’s backpack was delivered two days later. It hadn’t left Warsaw when she flew but fortunately hadn’t been lost. How to avoid this? Travel light. This is what I started doing a year ago. I only take as many things as I can actually carry with me all day without getting tired. And I take my bag on board. No checked-in luggage means saving time and money and avoiding problems.

Initially, our plan was to leave Tehran on the first day. But because of the lost luggage we spent the first days in Tehran and did some sightseeing. The pictures in this post are from these first days in Iran.