David Foran and Fintan Gillespie
WEEK 10:After our remarkable trip through the untouched sultanate of Oman we were still in Muscat, attempting to bypass the need for a return car ferry to Iran by obtaining a Saudi Arabian transit visa. This would enable us to drive overland to Jordan and Egypt.
We had heard many stories of failed attempts to obtain such visas but were determined to give it a go. Requiring letters of recommendation from the Irish Embassy, plus Jordanian visas as proof of passage, we spent a manic two days trying to organise our transit visa.
Full of optimism, we headed early to the Saudi embassy to apply. Our spirits were quickly dampened when the first official we met wouldn't even let us into the building. He explained that unless we were Omani citizens we would be unable to get a transit visa.
In a last-ditch effort we contacted the Irish Embassy in Riyadh, but after a few days we realised our attempts were futile, and with tails between our legs we headed back to Dubai, hoping to catch the next car ferry back to Iran.
But one debacle led to another when the shipping firm told us that our ferry was stuck in Kuwait, which left us not knowing when we could return to Iran. We arranged for the Hummer to travel on another ship, giving us two more days in Dubai. We made the most of this by spending a day on a desert adventure tour that kicked off with a dune buggy drive.
Bouncing through mountains of sand at more than 60km/h in little more than a motorised cage is one of the most thrilling ways to experience the desert.
Then we took a camel ride to a desert camp and gathered with other travellers for a barbecue, belly dancing and some shisha, or flavoured tobacco.
We hope to have travelled through most of Iran by next week. If not, we may as well start looking for jobs in Dubai, because we can't seem to leave the place.
See www.crazyjourney.com for updates and to donate to Aware