This morning I started from Cizre a small town near the Kurdistan/Iraqi border. I decided to skip breakfast as I don't like to ride on a full stomach, this almost came back to bite me later.

So I arrive at the Turkey/Kurdistan border and am queuing to get to the border. All sorts of people come up and talk with me, everyone smiling, some people tried to sell me papers that I don't need, some just wondered where I was from.

An official notices me and tells me to skip the line, I promptly do. Inside the first gate they tell me to stop and they ask me where my licence plate it. I am probably more surprised than them to see that my plate is missing. My plate was attached with 3 zip ties so the odds of it failing off is about 0.



After I show the official a picture of my plates, he makes a few calls, and he says it's ok - I can continue.

The Turkish side of the border is not that chaotic, but it takes extra long (about 2 hours) To get my stamp & registration sorted out. They take notes of my frame number and they clear me on their side.

The Kurdish side is a bit more chaotic. There is a long line of cars, many hours long, but the Turks, Kurds & Iraq:is wave for me to pass them, so I do. On the Kurdish side I do the following:

- Show my passport & registration at the first gate, they give me a paper.

- Then I have to take my luggage off (that. have locked with a steel strap) and put it through an x-ray machine

- After this I queue up for a covid check, I have a EU vaccination cert & they seem happy with it, other have to pay 50euros /80.000 dinars for a PCR test.

- Time to get the passport stamped, 30 minutes of queueing, they tell me that I need to pay for a visa, since I am not from the region. (I checked online an this seems to be standard)

- I go to another booth, no line and exchange euros to Iraqi dinars, the visa costs 150.000 iraqi dinar (around 68 euros)

- I then get to skip the line and pay for my arabic visa + stamp

- There is a small checkpoint, where they take some notes about my missing plate & they write me a note

At this point I have been at the border for several hours & I am starting to get hungry.

I drive forward and there is another vehicle check. A man who works at the border who speaks some english, asks me where I am from and if I would like some tea. I respond with a big smile and a yes, since I am starving.... He makes me some tea & I decide to eat some of my snacks that I always carry with me. On the TV I see news about how Russia has invaded Ukraine and how some of the buildings are completely ruined. The hunger, missing plates, Ukraine news & general chaos of the border gets to me - I feel deeply sad and cry on the inside as I sit there...

But the tea brakes saves me. After about 15 minutes I feel a lot better & the new friend I made at the border guides me to the next place, where I have to get a paper for the road tax.

- The road tax 30 dollars, but it's paid at another location

But I don't have the correct amount of currency... so my friend takes me to a bank where I exchange some more money. I pay for the road tax, say goodbye to my friend & I leave for the exit.


Close to the exit^

At the exit they check my papers one last time and I am free to go. As I leave border it starts to rain heavily, but I don't even care. After 6+ hours I am finally in Kurdistan! I'm tired, nervous and happy.