Sweaty, smelly cankle girl
Our bus approached Dubai and out of the hazy smog I could see the worlds tallest building sticking out above the rest. We were dropped off somewhere in the middle of who-knows-where. A bland street with lots of banks and no soul. I wasn’t confident I was going to enjoy Dubai. I had 9 hours until my flight left so first priority was to store my very large bag at the airport and do something…not that I was at all sure what there was to do in Dubai other than shop.
Turns out not much. After taking the metro to one of the smaller terminals where my Iran Air flight would depart from and storing my bag for the day I tried to get off the metro somewhere central. I never did succeed in finding what I was looking for. I kind of assumed Dubai to be all gleaming streets and expensive shops but down on street level it was like any dusty dirty big middle eastern city- but only the worst bits, no culture or history and lots more cars. By this stage my ankles were swollen and I had developed some sort of heat rash that was making its way up my legs. I was tired, it was hot. I was over Dubai within about 15minutes. I never achieved my one job of posting a few things onward to London to avoid carrying them, never seemed to find a post shop. I ended up escaping to a mall and spending all my money on expensive juice then heading to the airport early to escape the dodgy men, traffic and the heat. You would think given the amount of westerns who pass through Dubai a lone white female wouldn’t attract too much attention, but despite me being sweaty, smelly, cankle girl it was the same usual BS from men on the street.
The Dubai airport I had transferred through in previous trips was not the one I checked into, There were several terminals on the metro and I was at something much smaller seeming from what I had been to before. However once checking in I followed the signs to the gates and ended up walking around 25mins (that is a long time through and airport) to come out in the big departure terminal. I was a bit worried about the flight to Iran, I was counting on getting a visa on arrival, a privilege granted to only a handful of countries- and not many western ones. Normally the visa application is a long expensive hit and miss process. Checking in had been fine and now waiting by the gate ready to board I was hopeful it would be OK . I had heard stories of people being denied boarding because they didn’t have a visa. I pulled out my head scarf and tried to look natural draping it around my head, adjusting it awkwardly and realising, looking at the other women, I had no hope of fitting in. My one appropriate outfit was not cool, most women wear jeans and a hip length fitted coat with a loose headscarf. I just looked like a dirty backpacker with a scarf I found. ..that’s actually exactly what I did.
I handed my boarding pass over but was asked to wait aside where eventually after phone calls and discussions amongst themselves a guy was sent over to tell me that I couldn’t fly without a visa. I was prepared. I pulled out a printed copy of an email from the NZ Iranian consulate confirming the VOA situation and a page from their website which explains the visa rules.
No visa, no plane he said.
I explained my friend was already there and she got a visa on the border, I smiled nicely and tried not to stress out too much. He made another phone call. Then handed me my boarding pass. Success.
I hadn’t heard amazing things about Iran Air, later confirmed when an Iranian told me they have regular crashes- but only with domestic flights she assured me. The plane was straight out of the 70’s. The overhead lockers had insulation coming through the broken insides. I was seat 15F. I counted the rows 12, 13,14, 16…..hmmmm no 15. After a bit of confusion and a lot of Farsi being yelled I was shown to a new seat. I thought I should pay attention to the safety briefing for once but quickly fell into a slightly delusion sleep which I think I was talking to the guy next to me. It was all good though and touched down into ‘Axis of Evil’ country number 2. My visa was surprisingly straightforward, just required patience while a power tripping official behind a glass window processed my visa then made me wait (with my passport ready sitting next to him) until he processed a big group of people from Oman. But stamped through, Shiraz, Iran!
Alice had made it through a few hours earlier and was waiting at the gate, we got out taxi into town down some very thin winding roads to Niayesh hotel, a beautiful little hotel in the historic town center. I was exhausted, it was been 48 hours since I left NZ. My ankles were huge, my legs were red with heat rash and started to blister like sunburn, I was sweaty and desperately needed a shower. But…I was in Iran, our hotel was amazing and tomorrow we could start exploring.
Tags: 1, 2010 travels, blogsherpa, Dubai, Dubai 2010, iran, Iran 2010, Shiraz, united-arab-emirates, visa
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This one is meant to go before the next one in case anyone is confused
Oh boy do I love power tripping officials… Just been spending hours in African banks again with similar results.
Sound like awesome time though! I’ve yet to met a person who likes Dubai either. Have fun!
Hey Arnika!
Fellow kiwi here, living in Istanbul (English teacher, what a shock). I found your blog on the LP website, ’cause I’m thinking of going to Iran for my summer break (in late July). Reading your post on Shiraz makes me reeeeeeeeeeeally want to go, and I’m glad that you got your visa issued on arrival too.
The thing that has me hesitating is the weather – I’ve read it may just be too uncomfortable at that time to move around (last July in Istanbul was similar to being in an oven some days). Have any of the locals talked much about what Shiraz (or Iran) is like in the peak of summer?
I’ll be watching your blog with interest. Kia Kaha!
Simon.
Hi Simon, just writing this from Istanbul, such a nice city! I do hear its pretty hot in summer in Iran…but things are always possible, I travelled the rest of the middle east in July/August and it was hot but do-able, you just probably can’t go to the desert, and need to schedule in seistas everyday, but even now everything shuts down for the afternoon when it gets hot, so mostly I would always go back to the hotel for a few hours then go out again. But yeah people were saying it gets very very hot…on the otherhand, its always better to go than not to go. Hmm.you probably should talk to some people who have travelled then and see what they say. Also from Istanbul, unless you have load of time, I hear its best to fly to Van then bus to Tehran. Flights are expensive straight there and the train is looooooooong, interesting but long….I’ll write about it soon.
Whoo hoo!!!! Thanks for the reply, sorry for the delay.
You’re post has filled me with enthusiasm again 🙂 I’d more or less decided to go back to Budapest and Belgrade to visit friends (plus go to Bosnia for the first time, but noooow I’m back to reconsidering).
Glad you’re enjoying Istanbul. Believe it or not, I’m actually hosting THREE friends from Canterbury Uni at the moment in my apartment. I’m not sure how long you plan to stay here (I should go read your other posts) but if you wanted to her more of the Chch brand of Kiwi Twang, you can contact me at detsha @ gmail dot com (I think if I spell it like that then I won’t get spam? Here’s hoping).
Haha..Iran…so much cooler (OK I haven’t been to Bosnia before). Already left Istanbul unfortunately, in London where there are far too many kiwis! But thanks for the offer, hope whatever you decide to do works out well 🙂
Hi Arnika!
Just wondering, did you apply for a visa beforehand to Iran or did you avail of their visa on arrival? Thanks!
I got a visa on arrival, but like this post explains, its a little bit dodgy. If whatever country your from allows you to get a VOA then make sure you have some official looking info from an embassy website/emails as back up. You can only get VOA when you fly in, so you’ll need to get one before hand if you’re going overland regardless of where you’re from. But…its not too difficult a process so don’t let it put you off 🙂
Hmm, może tekst jest przyzwoicie zapisany, jednak czego tak de facto dotyczy? Autor do końca nie przemyślał problemu. Osobiście całkiem odmiennie bym go ujęła.