A blog about not going to Iran

When we started thinking about the route home we had three absolute definites: avoid the bureaucratic headache of driving in China, visit Mongolia again and travel through Iran. In fact, I would go as far as saying that Iran was at the ‘top of the list.’

To taste the food; marvel in awe at the architecture; wonder the cities; meet the people and be ravished by the natural beauty of the landscape. Indeed, on our travels we had met several Europeans: all of which had travelled through Iran and all of which, without exception, said it was the most amazing country they had visited. Mostly there were stories about the Iranian’s hospitality; of not being able to sit for more than two minutes in a public space without being offered shelter and food.

However, we knew before we left that Iran was going to be the most difficult country to visit. It is the only country on our route that requires the car to have a Carnet de Passage and, as English citizens, one has to be part of a preplanned officially sanctioned guided tour. This entails signing up with an agency who will pre-book all accommodation en-route and then use all this information to issue a special code. Only at that point can you try to apply for your Iranian visa. Expensive and restrictive.

Through our research we discovered that there were some potential ways around this. Some people had managed to find an agency that would book them on a ‘very short’ tour (thereby enabling them to apply for the visa), arrange to meet them near the border and then basically let them go off independently. Our problem of course was that we also had the car and no Carnet. We had read that if you turned up at the border without this then you just had to ‘sit it out’ and eventually the border guards would have no option but to let you in on a ‘temporary import.’

So you can see how, being utter romantics, we thought that actually it could be done. A fake tour to obtain the visa followed by a charm offensive at the border for the Carnet …..easy;)

Well…unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Firstly, trying to organise it all while travelling, with intermittent internet, proved to be the first big challenge. Secondly, the two websites that documented stories of Americans managing to travel independently weren’t able to help particularly. The fabulous Facebook group ‘See you in Iran’ went unusually quiet when I asked about this grey area on a FB feed. And lastly all three of the Iranian Tourist companies I emailed, after explaining what we were looking for, just pulled out the official ‘no visa without a tour’ line.

So, after some reflection, we have come to the conclusion that it is just going to be too difficult…if not impossible to travel independently in our own car through Iran. Of course we could stump up the cash for the Carnet and the tour and go; but we neither have the money nor the inclination to do that to be honest. (The Carnet itself would involve a deposit of 5 times the value of the car!) Actually the only English couple we ever heard of, who had managed to enter Iran with their car, basically started up a small film company (with an accompanying small Iranian crew) to gain independent entry on the basis that they were making a documentary.

So, with a heavy heart, we’ve given up. See you another time Iran – I’ll write a blog all about it……