Does our journey end here?

We planned to take the ferry from Iskenderun to Port Said, Egypt. But we learned here in Istanbul, that all ferry services are cancelled until further notice. SAY WHAT?!

Due to the political situation and turmoil in Egypt, the combination of car + driver isn’t transported there anymore. Italy already stopped its ferry services shortly after Mubarak was forced to leave his position. Supposedly because they had such tight connections. Soon other European countries followed their example and so we are here, in Istanbul, with all ferries docked in the harbours.

We have tried everything. First we called and mailed several operators in Turkey (quite difficult due to language), Greece (even more difficult). We looked at shipping possibilities in containers or RoRo (these are large vessels that only transport cars that are rolled on and rolled off). We tried the ports in Egypt, Sudan Djibouti and Kenya, but all without success. All countries around the Mediterranean sea avoid Egypt, and to the surrounding countries we only found connections from Hamburg or Antwerp. With every ‘No, sorry’ our hope diminished and we became at first quieter and quieter.

After this was a definite dead end, we looked at an overland route: taking the ferry to Lebanon, drive through Israel and Jordan and then take the ferry to Egypt.   ‘That should work!’ we though hopefully. Although the ministries of foreign affairs advised strongly against travelling to most parts of these countries, it seemed the only way to us so we were willing to take the risk. Main obstacle would be Sudan, which you aren’t allowed into when it becomes apparent that you visited Israel before. But we’ll sort that out once we get there, we figured. “Shit!” a loud swear from Connie. “The borders between Lebanon and Israel are hermetically closed.” Less hope at the table…

Looked at the route of driving through Iran or Saudi Arabia, but this last country is not accessible unless you are married. We considered driving through the Caucasus to Asia, an interesting challenge as well. (Pity of those hundreds of euros spent on malaria pills, lonely planets and vaccinations). But there is just too much yak tea, too little people. But most of all the language forms a barrier. In practically every country your visit is anonymous, impersonal. No reading newspapers, no talking to people. Like watching a theatre play with no sound. That’s at least how we imagined it, also after experiences Turkish camping with enormous problems to communicate.

So basically we are stuck here in Turkey!

You can imagine how we feel a little fit. First 2 weeks of our grand adventure and already bound due to political affairs. It’s the first time that we experience to be unable to visit a country, or that we in a situation that we can’t talk our way out of with a big smile. Physically limited. A whole new experience.

As a last resort we looked at shipping from the Netherlands, Antwerp or Hamburg. That was expensive and time consuming, but our only option. This would have looked like this… (car on the blue line, we flying on the red line) Then we found a ferry from Salerno, Italy to Alexandria with Grimaldi Lines. And just minutes before Conny booked the ferry to Italy (we felt slightly defeated but also confident that we had done everything in our power to get on a boat), we though: let’s just try this one phone number we got from some intermediate guy in Turkey.

And it seems like we are off! Hopefully! From Izmir to Alexandria. Bushi only, of course, we’ll fly and collect him in the port of Alexandria. Wednesday we’ll know for sure. And otherwise: see you soon in NL/Germany during the shipment of the Bushi to Djibouti. We’ll keep you posted.

We are drinking some celebration beers tonight!