My Iranian Diary

Tensions are at the peak

In 2018, I had stumbled upon a travel influencer on youtube called the Nomadic Indian. I was amazed by his way of travelling. He hitchhiked across countries, living in tents and sleeping on strangers' couches. It justified the name of his channel. But, what astonished me the most, was the kind of hospitality he received in Iran. People helped him in whichever way possible.

After watching his vlogs I decided that one day I am definitely visiting this Persian paradise. I didn't know when. Maybe, after a few months or years or decades, but I was definitely going to take my backpack and catch a flight for Iran.

Now, if you follow the news every day, you would get a feeling that the world is an unpleasant place to exist. You develop paranoia. As if you leave your house and someone's going to stab in your chest for no reason.

When this thought of going to Iran was lingering in my mind, every day there was some news. Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. A war could break out anytime. Then, I searched for old articles on Iran, even then the tensions were at the peak. Tensions were at the peak 5 years ago, 8 years ago, 20 years ago. Tensions have always been at the peak.

When I told my friends at the workplace about my plans to travel to Iran, they thought I was either kidding or I had gone crazy.

Why Iran? Why can't you choose some other place? I am sure you are not gonna go. You should rethink your plan, it's too dangerous. Dude, the USA has a level 4 travel advisory against Iran. That means, DO NOT TRAVEL!

I don't know what kind of image they had in their mind about Iran. Maybe they thought bombings and head-chopping is the norm there.

I ignore everything. And, after tonnes of research, I had made up my mind to plan a solo trip to Iran. I started looking up ticket prices. Mumbai to Tehran was costly, so I looked up a cheap flight via Dubai to Shiraz. As I was staring at my laptop, a piece of news flashed on the T.V. A drone attack had happened on Saudi's biggest oil facility. It was carried out by Houthi rebels, supposedly backed by Iranian forces.

Oh boy, tensions were really at the peak.

My mom looked at me and said, "Do you really want to go to Iran?"

"Yes." I said with a feeble smile.

I did the best I could do. I stopped watching the news and booked my tickets right away. It didn't stop there. Few days after booking my tickets, there was an attack on an oil tanker passing through the gulf. As I said, tensions are always at the peak.

Now, this wasn't my first solo trip. Before this, I had travelled alone within India. Also, Thailand. Yeah, go ahead and judge me, you sick minds. Thailand, because it's often the first international destination for most Indians. So was mine.

This was my second international solo trip. The trickiest part after booking tickets was getting the visa. There was no clarity on the government website. It said Visa on Arrival for Indians, but I thought it wouldn't be wise to do so. So, I applied for an e-Visa on their portal. I kept checking the visa status on the official website, only to find that my e-Visa was rejected after 4 days. With 10 days to go, I had sufficient time in hand to re-apply, which I did. But my e-Visa was rejected again. Although I had the option of a Visa on Arrival, my mind was flooded with all kinds of negative thoughts. What if they send me back from Shiraz! Forget Shiraz, what if they don't let me board my plane. I just have a passport and return tickets in hand. Fuck, I should have applied through an agent beforehand.

I was in touch with an online agent for getting travel insurance, which is compulsory if you are travelling to Iran. I called her up. She said it will take 2 business days, out of which 3 days were holidays. Yes, Thursdays and Fridays are weekends in Iran and Wednesday was a public holiday. It was Tuesday already. I was losing my mind.