Syria – our forbidden fruit brought about a few changes in plans
Between the numerous stories other travelers have shared about how difficult it is to get a visa to get in, particularly for Americans right now, and getting denied a few times ourselves, we had embraced the idea that we wouldn’t be able to make it to Syria on this trip….Surprise!
The best laid plans of mice and men….Ok, it’s overly cliche but the well-known phrase really does justice to our recent experiences planning our travels in the Middle East. Here’s a little taste of what we went through…
In case you’ve been keeping score, we had originally planned to visit Israel after a couple weeks in Jordan by going over land from Amman to Jerusalem fully prepared to plead with the Israeli immigration official not to stamp our passports but instead stamp a separate piece of paper. We didn’t know this before we started this trip but if you have an Israel stamp in your passport then all Middle East countries (except Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey) won’t let you in to their country. Fortunately, we’ve heard that Israeli immigration officials are well aware of this stamp issue and usually grant the request to stamp a separate piece of paper.
After traveling around Israel the plan would be to then go by land back to Amman (for immigration process, see above) and ideally no one other than us and you our beloved readers would ever know we were in Israel and we shouldn’t have any problems getting into any other Middle East countries.
Next, our original plan had us crossing from Jordan north by land over the border into Syria, spend a few days in southern Syria, cross by land into Lebanon for a week or so, then cross the border back into Syria for a few more days in the north, and then eventually cross the border from Syria into southern Turkey and take our time working our way up north over land to Istanbul. All this land travel would allow us to move as cheaply as possible but more importantly allow us to take in the wonderful scenery and get a chance to interact with many locals along the way as spending countless hours on buses is one of the best ways to meet people.
Sounds good right? Not if you’re an American.
We had planned on getting a Syrian visa while in Cairo, but after doing a good amount of legwork, we were denied repeatedly, “No visas for Americans here. Go home to your embassy in DC to get the visa,” we were told by the Syrian embassy. Deflated and discouraged, we reluctantly scratched Syria off the list upon leaving Egypt but kept wondering if there might still be a way in.
Next, we met some American study-abroad students on the ferry from Egypt to Jordan who heard that it was next to impossible for Americans to get Syrian visas just about anywhere these days, though the few success stories they’d heard usually involved approaching a small border crossing with Turkey armed with a fistful of bribe dollars just in case.
We hitched a ride in southern Jordan from an American that had just gone to Syria last fall after paying $125 for a visa in Amman (which relatively speaking, is pretty darn expensive for ANY single entry tourist visa), but who then told us that Syria closed their borders to Americans right after he went.
In Petra, we met a Canadian couple who were burdened with a heap of paperwork and ended up waiting for a total of 6 weeks Instanbul for their Syrian visas. Another American that we met in Amman (and ended up traveling with thru Lebanon) had tried for 3 days to get a visa into Syria at the Jordan/Syria border, and was told to come back each day to wait for an answer, only to be rejected at the end of the third day. These are just a few of the discouraging stories we heard.
What made these worse is that in between all these discouraging accounts, we would hear third hand from numerous people about other backpackers, even some Americans, that had been successsful in getting their visas at the Syrian border usually with Turkey or Lebanon. Many travelers we met in Jordan raved about how wonderful Syria was, which just added salt to the wound. Along with these third/fourth hand accounts we got a lot of advice too – “This border is the best.” or “Slip your passport over the counter with some $$ in it.” or “Don’t go to rural border crossings, always try at the busiest ones”…on and on and on.
By our second day in Amman we had finally decided we were going to have to skip Lebanon and Syria and started making plans to fly from Israel or Jordan to Istanbul and backtrack south to see the rest of Turkey and then double-backtrack back up to Istanbul. Not a great way to spend money or time but maybe our only option of seeing Jordan, Israel, and Turkey.
Then after more travel planning and research in Amman we learned that we could fly fairly cheaply from Amman to Cyprus with a long layover in Lebanon (where Americans can get a visa easily at the airport) and then be able to take a ferry from Cyprus to southern Turkey to save some money and time by not having to fly to Istanbul and backtrack down to southern Turkey.
So our plans changed again and we decided to skip Israel and instead fly from Amman to Lebanon and after a few days we’d fly to Cyprus. We loved Lebanon so we stayed longer then we thought. While we were there we talked to more people about our chances of getting into Syria from the Lebanon border and heard lots of people saying it would be possible, but we would need to be prepared to wait a few hours or even an entire day at the border if necessary to get a visa. We decided to go for it.
Between the crazy horror stories about how difficult it is to get into Syria, having to strategize to increase our chances, combined with every traveler having nothing but incredible things to say about it, Syria became our forbidden fruit, our Mission Impossible. Frankly, the harder we heard it was for us to get in, especially being Americans, the more we wanted to go. Finally, in Beirut, together with the American we’d been traveling with – we put our hands together and made a pact to try. After 8 great days in Lebanon we made a full withdrawl from our good karma bank and jumped on a bus to Damascus from Beirut. We applied for a visa at the Syrian border and after waiting for 3.5 hours because we were Americans they gave us a visa and let us in! And just to add some icing on to our cake, we only paid $16 for our visas whereas a Canadian we met in Lebanon had to pay over $50 for his visa into Syria at the same border. However, he didn’t have to wait 3.5 hours like us, they gave him his visa instantly because he wasn’t an American. We still think we got the better deal.
If all of this sounds confusing, exhausting, comical, and exciting all at the same time join
the club. And if you know anyone wanting to fly from Beirut to Cyprus anytime soon let us know as we have two unused tickets 🙂
– Shan and Anthony
Tags: Middle East, Syria, Travel
Shan
May 17th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Syria’s odd that way, no? I spent $70 (CAD) per person to get our visas in Canada, plus postage, which was a bit of deterrent, and might have stopped me if I hadn’t been determined to get from Cairo to Europe overland. Then you get here, and everyone’s thrilled you came. Our driver today told us that the government actually really wants tourists, since it seems the only way a positive image of Syria ever gets out into the world.
June 11th, 2006 at 6:20 am
Current 11 June 2006. If you are an American with a UAE Residence Visa, single entry Visas to Syria are issued in Dubai for 370 Dirhams (a little more than $100 USD). It previously took 3 hours to have the Visa issued; however, all Americans must now be approved by the office in Damascus. This process can take up to 10 days. If you don’t have a UAE Residence Visa, Americans are told to contact their Embassy in Washington, DC. July 2006 will make my 4th visit to wonderful, beautiful, and friendly Syria. It’s a historical and culturally rich country that everyone should visit! For more details, email Stewart at Braswell@eim.ae
June 30th, 2006 at 8:58 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LUV YA
June 19th, 2007 at 9:46 am
One year and eight days have passed since I posted the last message here regarding Syria. The United Arab Emirates continues to fail to provide VISA for native born US Citizens who lack Syrian ancestry. Last year, I had to Fed Ex my passport to Washington, DC to obtain the visa. It was processed within 2 days in the USA. This year, I have also sent my passport to the Embassy of Syria in Washington, DC vis Federal Express. It costs me $100 USD for the visa plus the expensive International shipping charges. The Consulate of Dubai does not actually deny a visa to US Citizens; however, it never calls you to come and submit your passport or the fee for the visa after you leave the application. They continually say that the Embassy in Syria has received the application but hasn’t responded. This is the second year I’ve had this issue. I’ll make my 5th visit to Syria this August. If you’d like to have details about Syria, feel free to email me as follows: Stewart Braswell at Braswell@eim.ae