Middle East

We broke our first promise already, namely that our next update would be from Israel. This is partly due to the fact that there is just not that much to say about living on a ship for a week or so. You get up, have breakfast (08.30 am), go to the gym (10.00 am), have lunch (11.00 am), watch a movie/sleep/read/bronze (optional), have dinner (18.00 am) and go to bed. The vessel we had, the Grande Europe of Grimaldi Lines, was gigantic. To give you an idea, the car was on deck 3, our cabins were on deck 10. We had enough space to walk around and it was actually quite relaxing, because there was really nothing to do. The food was good, Guiseppe, our steward, was fantastic and the only other passenger aboard, the Cypriot Hermes (messenger of the Gods), kept the scene very lively.

Then the day came we disembarked: D-day. After getting up at 3 A.M. to prepare for the Israeli interrogation, which was due at four o’clock, we could leave the ship with our car at roughly 8 in the morning. First step was to relocate our keys, which had been taken by the customs lady to the port authorities. After sorting that out, we went into the visa-customs-import-export-gate pass-carousel, which delivered us early in the afternoon at the customs authorities, where the designated officer was happy to tell us that our car could not enter Israel. Come again?

Apparently we arrived in the largest car importing port of Israel, which, combined with the age our vehicle and the fact that the carnet de passage is not accepted in Israel, meant that we would have to make a new deposit from an Israeli bank account, which we obviously didn’t have and could also not acquire. Hence we were in a bit of a pickle.

Fortunately, via a lot of other offices and various intermediates, we got hold of Ammar, an Israeli-Palestine with a transport company (Tahhan), who could transport our car on a trailer to the Jordan border at Eilat - Aqaba. With that arranged, we arrived late at night in a Hostel in Tel Aviv, which completed our first 24 hours on Middle Eastern turf.

The next day, Ammar was running around to arrange all the necessary papers, the hours slowly ticking away. We spent our day near the beach in Old Jaffa Town (Tel Aviv), waiting for a positive call. Late at night we finally received the green light: tomorrow we would leave Israel!

On November 7th we teamed up with Ammar’s crew to collect our car from the harbor. Apparently things went way too smoothly, because word got out that the Jordan border was closed that day (reason unknown), implying that we would be stuck for another 3 days since the Israeli side would also be closed during that weekend (Fridays & Saturdays).

Not really looking forward to spend that time in Tel Aviv, we got a lift from Ammar to Jerusalem where we walked around the Old City the next day. With Jerusalem being rather quiet on Sabbath, we decided to lift the invitation from Ammar to spend the Saturday with him and his family in Ramallah, where we had a wonderful time.

Two days ago we finally had the luck we needed, and the car got to Eilat without any major issues. Border crossing into Jordan proved a piece of cake; within two hours all the papers were arranged and we were happily driving our way into Aqaba. Spending the night in our own rooftent on a beach along the Red Sea felt like heaven. Whilst being in a good mood we tried this morning to arrange for our car and ourselves to be transported on a ferry to Nuweiba (Egypt). Then another stroke of bad luck struck us.

Since three weeks Egypt has allegedly banned 4x4 cars from entering the country, for the fear of rebel fighters stealing and using them in the fights. This being the case not only in the Sinai region, but all over Egypt, we now face the problem of being unable to get into the country at all!

Luckily, every bad situation has its upsides. We found out that a Belgian couple ran into the same trouble three weeks ago. They were able to ship their car to Port Sudan, while another group of travelers shipped theirs to Mumbassa (Kenya). At present, these are the two options we are pursuing (we are in contact with shipping agency Amar Khawar and Sons Inc. (something something), which is investigating both options).

Eventually the car will be shipped as cargo in a container (the very last thing we actually wanted, but yeah…) and we will fly to the designated country.

All in all, we do not have to complain about an adventureless trip, although the adventures are of a different nature than anticipated. Fortunately we are still in good health and spirit, our car is running like a saw and our passports are free of any Israeli marks. Being in less of a rush than the previous time we visited this country, we will take our time for the sight-seeing and plan our camping areas wisely, in order not to get arrested on accounts of espionage again. The beaches and Wadi Rum fulfill this requirement and are around the corner, so we should be fine. Masalam from Aqaba!