Possible to go from Egypt to Israel direct to ship to Turkey or Italy?

[michnus]

We are stuck in Egypt on our way to Europe. One easier option seems to ship from Israel to Turkey or Italy with Grimaldi ferry. Rather than ship from Port Said to Turkey which according to reports are a horror story.

EGYPT | Tincaninafrica
The Thousand And One Egyptian Sins | Into The World

[Richard-NL]

Hey,

Why are you stocked in Egypt???

A solution could be, enter Israel by the Taba border and heading north to Haifa.
In Haifa there is a shipping company called "Salamis shipping" which is very reliable and not to expensive. The can sent your bike to Cyprus or even better to Athens. It takes only three days. The paperwork for my shipping was done within 15 minutes. If necessary the copy your papers for you. Getting your bike in Greece is piece of cake. The help Salamis shipping offer you is formidable.

For more info please sent me a PM.

Cheers,

Richard

[michnus]

Hi Richard

Thanks for the information, it's a great help. I was under the impression that the road through Sinai is closed and we can not go that route to Taba or Agaba?

I would really hope it is possible as it would be the best option to cross into Europe or Turkey.

If that route is a no-go are there any other border post to between Egypt and Israel that is open which you know of?

[dstehouwer]

We're almost in Egypt, and I DON'T want to take the ferry to Turkey.

So, I investigated a lot of options....
israel seems doable to me, and from Israel you can take the Grimaldi Lines. Not supercheap, but in 6 days orso you'll be in Italy. These standard ferries Haifa-Cyprus.... well, some say they do exist and run, some say they don't.

We want to get to Tunesia, via Libya. 400USD p.p. + embassy fee (will be <100 euro's @ Cairo I reckon) for a business visa... you'll need two weeks to arrange it. Contact 'Jill' at Libya Travel and Tours and day 'Hi' from me :-)
Libya Travel and Tours: Private Libya Tours and Holidays - Travel Libya

Maybe it seems expensive, but hey... once you get to Tunesia, all is simple, plenty of options to get to Italy!

[michnus]

Libya is out, tried the embassy and our embassy in Libya and they do not issue visa's now, not even for business. Also got a letter from Libya Travel and Tours: Private Libya Tours and Holidays - Travel Libya, saying they do not operate now due to visa restrictions.

Seems there are enough ferries and ro-ro's to Turkey and Europe from Israel at not a too bad price.

Just saw this on Lonely Planet. Taba-Aqaba tourist route opens after lengthy closure

Petra | Sep 30, 2012 | 23:46 Updated: Sep 30, 2012 | 23:46
TABA — The Taba-Aqaba route re-opened on Saturday after nearly a year and a half of closure.

During a ceremony in Taba, Egypt, on Saturday, Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez said re-operating the route will have a positive impact on Jordan and Egypt’s tourism sectors.

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said more than 250,000 tourists use the route annually, generating about $250 million of revenues for both countries.

BTW: Where are you now? If you go into Egypt from Aswan do not use Mohammed Abdou as fixer!

[Chris Scott]

I take it Taba-Aqaba route is a land route via Israel (Eilat), so a way into Israel if land borders further north in the Sinai are closed following the events in August.

May not be much good to you now if Taba has reopened, but if Israel was/is inaccessible from Egypt overland there is always the option of the ferry from Nuweiba across the Gulf of Aqaba to Aqaba in Jordan (an old dodge to get around Israel). And from there overland into Israel.

I know it was a Ramadan summer, but that '1001 Sins...' post sounds like hard work. The Aswan link seemed like business as usual.

Ch

[achim-in-jordan]

Taba to Aqaba is for foot passengers only! No cars or bikes!!

I am surprised that Salamis takes tourists again. They stopped at one time. In addition, there were some posts suggesting a real rip off, by Salamis and in Cyprus upon immigration as well. Would be great if this would be a new and exiting option.

Greetings,
Achim

[michnus]

Currently it seems shipping from Israel to Italy is the best option. Got a quote from Grimaldi in Israel and it looks like a 120euro's exercise. if not then the only option is shipping to Turkey from Port Said.

[Richard-NL]

Hey guys, all this suggestions like "seems to be", doesn't work. Please comment only if you have it recently experienced yourself.

As told the border is and is been open for the last year between Egypt and Israel and the other way. The only time that this border is closed is during Yom kippur, during this time there is no activity on the roads at all and so also not at border crossings. The customs are friendly and if you ask them not to stamp your passport they will not do it.

Taking the ferry from Haifa-Israel, isn't a ripoff unless you are a miser yourself.

Good luck !!

[achim-in-jordan]

@Richard-NL:

You MIGHT be right that they don't stamp the passport in Israel if you ask them not to. But there is NO GUARANTEE! They have done it often even though they had promised not to!

And the problem is that even if they do not stamp the passport, the Egyptians will do which means that other Arab countries will see where you crossed the border.

This is no problem on the way north if you ship the car from Israel. But if you are on the way south it is a problem!

Greetings
Achim

[Chris Scott]

What Achim says it true. Even without an Israeli stamp subsequent border posts can 'join the dots' if they really want to, but if heading south this is only likely to be entering Sudan at Wadi Halfa.
Never crossed at Wadi so I could be wrong, but if you give them no reason to play it by the book, it's hard to think they'll closely scrutinise your Egyptian entry point to try and catch you out - or at least I've never heard of this from people taking the Eilat land border short cut. Blatant Israeli entry-exit stamps might be different.
As mentioned earlier, if you feel the need you could muddy the waters a little more by going Israel (no stamps) to Jordan and Nuweiba ferry to Egypt.

Ch

[Squire]

I did ship my Land Rover from Alexandria this summer as I relocated for work. A colleague did the same last December for approx 1200 USD. Sure it's SH...T dealing with the Egyptian bureaucracy but there are good fixers there, hassle free for not too expensive. Not all of them are good though, the shipping agent from Egypt "United Trans" screwed up right and put someone else vehicle in my container to Europe, and my Defender apparently went to Lebanon. Fun fun fun. Still is stuck somewhere, no where near. Should have hired that Capt Hassan my colleague used instead. He shipped straight from Alex to Genova in no time.

[dstehouwer]

Originally Posted by michnus

Libya is out, tried the embassy and our embassy in Libya and they do not issue visa's now, not even for business. Also got a letter from Libya Travel and Tours: Private Libya Tours and Holidays - Travel Libya, saying they do not operate now due to visa restrictions.

BTW: Where are you now? If you go into Egypt from Aswan do not use Mohammed Abdou as fixer!

Hi Michnus,

Could you please inform me about the info fom LTT? They state today that they can still issue our stuff... and we've paid a shitload of $$ a few days ago!

Also, we just bumped into Mohamed Abouda @ Aswan, what went wrong and what should we look out for?

[michnus]

Daan, as for Mohammed the man is a royal scoundrel! He overcharged us heavily and it was the old story, he start with a decent rate and prices and then all oes wrong and people must be paid and there are no receipt and you do not understand the ones that they do give you.
Then as we were waiting in Aswan another fixer, Kamhal I think or something like that showed me prices he charged and it was half the price. Also Mohammed charged us for stuff we did not had to pay for.
PM send.

Lesson learned.

I think we will stick with going to Agaba or Taba and try and get into either Jordan then Israel ship to Italy. Or if possible go straight to Israel then ship to Italy.

There's too many hassles with the Lybia route and the Port Said ship to Turkey looks like a hellova headache. I will leave that option as plan B

Surely going North is not a problem with Israel passport stamps?

[chris.perjalanan]

Originally Posted by michnus

Currently it seems shipping from Israel to Italy is the best option. Got a quote from Grimaldi in Israel and it looks like a 120euro's exercise. if not then the only option is shipping to Turkey from Port Said.

Does anybody have a confirmed price for shipping Israel to Italy ? 120 Euro sounds like a bargain, although I cannot really believe its going to be THAT cheap. Anybody with experiences shipping from there, I would highly appreciate any kind of informations.

greetings from Ethiopia
Chris