Preparation for what some of my friends including myself called the "Mission Impossible" is almost completed! Last car service: checked! International insurance: checked! Export inspection, export certificate, export plates: Checked, checked, checked! Saudi transit visa (the most challenging part): DONE!! 

Day 1, 04/04 - Abu Dhabi to Al Batha:

To my surprise, my friend and Wrangler Buddy Stephan planned to escort me all the way from Abu Dhabi to the Al Batha border. Tschuggi's girlfriend Cata decided to join us, too! So we departed Al Bandar at 7:30am and did a nice Wrangler Formation for 370km. Although there would be a lot of problems to face I still did not know of at this stage, saying "goodbye" was probably the hardest part during the entire trip! 

Arriving at the border, there is a loooot of paperwork involved: I needed to get a clearance form for exporting my Jeep. Only then I noticed that the new export certificate which I needed for the Saudi Embassy had a number confusion in the license plate number.. "Aaarrgh!!" Why haven't I spotted that earlier? Got the issue sorted pretty quickly and finally got the admission for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Here, the stamp marathon started: You have to pass several gates, at the third one they told me to go to the customs office for more paperwork. After explaining that I intend to export my car to Germany and need to cross the KSA on a transit visa towards Jordan, the next issue appears: They (still) don't have "Germany" in their computer. So he manually wrote "Jordan" onto the paper which I had to confirm by putting my fingerprint next to it.

With more papers, I was forwarded to a checkpoint where my car was first inspected visually and afterwards put into the most massive X-ray machine I've ever seen! About a dozen stamps later, I'm almost done and clear to continue. Just waiting for the customs officer who will issue my transit paper and I am on the road to Riyadh ..I hope.. ;) 

 

Day 1, 04/04 - Al Batha to Riyadh:

Well, turned out there was more waiting involved: After I got the next paper, they had to do another vehicle inspection and check all my luggage, then I was given a tracking device which was fixed to my car. After that, I was signed off again and had another three papers with at least four stamps each. Now, last thing was the car insurance for Saudi Arabia: I was sent to a specific "office", but of course the guy in charge was on break and would only be "back at 5 or maybe 6 o'clock".. As humble and compliant as I'd been throughout the day, I was starting to lose my patience. Went back to the customs officers who were very friendly and invited me for a tea into their office. After a little chitchat one of them (Abderrahman) took me in his patrol car to another insurance office and the deal was done within a (comparatively) short time.

I was finally good to go! 

I wish I had seen more of what is said to be the longest straight highway in the world. But dusk already started to settle in as I left the Al Batha Border Point at 5:30pm KSA time. 

The following 600km drive itself was not very eventful except for a massive thunderstorm to my right side about half way to Riyadh. Every bolt of lightning seemed to be only a few meters away! Stopped for some junk food at a local Burger King (Male Section) and waited for the rain to stop. 

Reached Riyadh a couple of cheeseburgers and Red Bulls later - at about 11pm - and spent another hour avoiding road closures and constructions, taking wrong turns, following an outdated hotel address etc. until I reached the Holiday Inn Meydan where I had a good night rest to recharge my batteries...

Day 2, 05/04 - Riyadh to Ha'il:

Good morning! Freshened up with my batteries fully charged! Let's see how we get on today. Next stop is Ha'il or, if the roads are good and all goes well I might want to knock off some more miles and continue to Tabuk.. 

Day 2, 05/04 - Reaching Tabuk:

Wow! That was a long day!! Reached Ha'il after around 660km around 2:30pm. I figured the day is still young and I still need to catch up on my delay from yesterday, so decided to hit it for Tabuk! Same distance again!

After Ha'il, the landscape finally started to change and what was only sand and flat land before now all of a sudden turned into mountains and pretty interesting rock formations. The quality of the road deteriorated significantly as the road between Ha'il and Tayma is only a single lane track with lots of improvised repairs. Felt a bit challenging for the shock absorbers, but in the end - It's a Jeep!! ;)

Enjoyed a nice sunset view shortly before reaching Tayma. Another uneventful 220km until reaching Tabuk - The capital of crazy drivers!! While (after a 13 hours drive) I was already looking forward to my comfy bed in my booked hotel, this was a real thriller! I felt like in the middle of a Super Mario Kart Challenge! Cars crossing lanes from left to right, right to left, squeezing 6 cars into only 3 lanes.. And then the roundabouts!! The roundabouts may give you a heart attack if you weren't used to that driving style before.. :) After all, I've reached the hotel unharmed! Ready for day 3!

Day 3, 06/04 - Off to Jordan:

All ready for the next leg. From Tabuk to the Halat Ammar border checkpoint it's about an hour drive. Let's see if the border circus will be as crazy as entering KSA..

Day 3, 06/04 - Game Changers:

Okay.. Day 3 is another adventure! I made it within 50 minutes to the Halat Ammar border where I had a nice Arabic coffee and tea with a friendly Saudi Customs officer. He told that on my Saudi customs declaration (only written in Arabic) it states a different exit point from Saudi and they can't process my exit here. So he sent me off to the Haql/Durra border which is next to Aqaba. Only another 180km drive - peace of cake compared to the last 40 hours Cannonball Race through the Kingdom! Still can't believe it!! :D

Kilometer 2620: Arriving at the border, the exit procedure was surprisingly easy, just took me 30 minutes to get the car checked again, the GPS tracker removed and my passport stamped.

Then the real thing begins! Upon entering Jordan, I was asked many questions like where do I live, who do I work for, what my travel plan is, etc.. Then my car was inspected again (by the time now I'm really good at un- and repacking the Jeep).. They also made me empty my auxiliary fuel tanks into my car since it's apparently not permitted to carry extra jerry cans outside of your car.. 

30-40 minutes later, I was good to go for the customs officers and should proceed to the customs declaration office where no one was working today. My new Jordanian friend Mohamed Salim, who also works at the border, told me they could only process my car transit papers in the morning and I have to leave the Jeep at the customs area.

So I thought I could release the Jeep in the morning and continue to Petra and Wadi Rum which reveals the next problem: The transit license plates that I need for my car only allow me to drive it within 4 hours to the Aqaba/Eilat (Jordan-Israeli) border. In other words: I will now spend two nights in Aqaba, start off early morning to Petra without the Jeep, come back to stay overnight again and release it to continue to Eilat on Monday, 08/04 (Day 5).. 

I just arrived at the beautiful Al Manara Hotel Aqaba where I'm gonna have a cold one by the pool now! Cheers!!

Day 4, 07/04 - Oh wie schön ist Aqaba

Didn't take long to meet a couple of new friends at the Al Manara poolbar. Ran into a crazy bunch of people from the US, UK and Australia. Went Josh, Jason, Diman, Owen, Jordan and Matt. After a crazy night out to the Mövenpick Hotel, I'm sitting in a Taxi with Ahmed going to explore Petra..

Day 4, 07/04 - Facettes of Jordan:

Ahmed and I reached Petra around 10:00. Ahmed, whose contact I got through Mohamed Salim, is a very nice and sympathetic guy with a Masters degree in engineering. He has been to Petra a few times before, but even he was still stunned by this cultural monument!

After arriving in Petra, we walked about a kilometer from the entrance to the canyon which leads to the former capital of the Nabataean Kingdom. Petra was established in the 4th century BC, but the first inhabitants are backdated to around 9000 BC. 

While we were walking through the canyon I was only trying to imagine what it would be like to finally see this place live.. Another couple of turns through the canyon, and there it was! Al Khazne Al-Firaun, the Treasure Chamber of Petra!! What I only knew from photos and (of course) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was now right in front of me! Absolutely breathtaking! We sat down and just enjoyed the view and the atmosphere for a while before we continued to stroll along the massive complex of caves, tombs, the roman theater and of course the souvenirs stands and the Bedouines who were trying to get you onto a horse, camel or donkey.. ;) 

It is hard to imagine how this place was carved and hammered out of the rocks with all this precision and attention to details such a long time ago! The word "impressive" doesn't even remotely describe it! 

After a couple of hours, we continued our journey to Wadi Rum. A friendly guy took us on a tour on his some 30-40 years old Toyota 4x4 and we got a rough idea about how Mark Watney must have felt like on Mars. No wonder the film producers chose this place for filming "The Martian". With its red sand, open wide desert areas between the exceptional rock formations which emerged some 30 million years ago, this place seems perfect for resembling a Mars-like scenery..

Definitely a day to remember!! Thanks again to Ahmed for taking so much of his time to take me around! I wish him all success in his career and the best of luck with everything!

I also was in touch with Mohamed who said the customs declaration for my car is ready and I'm good to go to the next border. I'm already wondering how smooth/difficult the entry procedure to Israel will be.. That's why I'm starting early tomorrow. Mohamed will pick me up at 8:00am. And off to the next chapter!!! :)