Hi everyone, been a long time since i've posted anything on here(june 12) though i've been logging on and following various blogs and posts.

as the heading says is anybody travelling through iran,pakistan on the way to India as i would love to have another 1 or more vehicles to travel with through this countries as the swambo says the trip is not happening unless i find another vehicle to travel with through this countries
I'm hoping to travel later this year(sept-nov) so hope there is someone out there who is travelling through this countries around this time

Ram

Iran is actually quite safe. If you have the UK nationality I'm not sure how free you can travel. But Iran, up to the city Bam is very safe and so you could go to Bam and stay at Akbar's guesthouse to find other people to cross Pakistan with.

are you British passport holders and paying the guide costs for Iran?

I'd personally avoid riding in convoy with others, it draws more attention to yourselves. Its easier alone.

If you are riding from the Iranian border through Pakistan then there is a compulsory convoy with the police.

I rode with convoys through China with a guide and I was on the slowest bike. All the other big BMWs could cruise at high speed and I was slowing the group down.

I rode alone (solo female) down the Karakoram highway. Security was tight up there as there was infighting between Sunnis and Shias. At each checkpoint every 10 kms or so, I had to check in, and sometimes for my safety I had to ride with the cops. Sometimes it was a cadet on a moped with a rifle, and sometimes a ute with RPGs on the back driving at breakneck speed where I could barely keep up. I was told at times to ride on alone without the coaches that they were enforcing into a convoy as these were the vehicles being targeted by terrorists. Other times I was with a big convoy, which I ended up overtaking and riding ahead because the dust was intolerable.

Have a good browse on the forum, you will find specific and varying accounts of the security convoys through southern Pakistan.

Iran is incredibly friendly, if anything you will be flagged down with people offering sweets, food, accommodation, frequently. There is no need for safety to ride with others.

Pakistan there are more safety concerns in some areas but again on the whole people are very friendly. At the checkpoints I was being stopped and offered tea and games of chess. I had to protest to leave as time was slipping away.

What specifically is your other half concerned about? I suggest she reads Lois Pryce's Revolutionary Ride as a starter for 10.

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Hi lovetheworld thanks for the input and yes i have read a lot about the iranian hospitalityand hopefully i'll get to experience it later this year.

Hi Fern i think she is just a bit wary about the unknown but she was like that 3yrs ago when i took her to east africa and we drove around uganda,Rwanda, kenya and Tanzania including a ferry trip to zanzibar, we drove around for 6 weeks but it took me 2-3 yrs to convince her to do the trip

Anyway i'll keep plugging away and hopefully we'll go. I just wish i could i could ride a m/bike so i could travel by myself but then i'll hear no end of it from her and the kids like i never take her anywhere.
Funny world, just can't win

Hi Ram,
I'm leaving for India around October 15th, driving a defender and taking a dog from the shelter with me. I will be taking it slow as I got more than a year to make it back to Belgium. I'm thinking 1 month to Turkey, 1 month in Turkey, one in Iran and by February in India, as the monsoon starts in june, and I want to be out by then.
It would be great to have a driving partner for at least some of the way. In june I will be attending the hubb meeting in the uk, are you going?

Cheers, Tony

Here's me on Instagram
@tony_ontheroad

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http://tony-ontheroad.blogspot.com/

Hi,

I'm new here, and starting to plan my first really big trip by bike. My plan is to go from Belgium to Australia, travelling through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India etc., and to leave +- in november 2018 if I manage.

Since I'm a woman traveling alone through these countries, it might be interesting to find some travel companions, so I'm game!
(And of course, company is always nice :-)).

If you are interested to travel together, just PM me!

Tony, I see you are leaving from Belgium as well? But you are leaving in October already. Since I have to work until November 2nd, I can only leave by mid-November, but maybe I could catch up somewhere on the road since you are taking it slow.

Also, do you have anything sorted out yet (visums, carnet, etc.) or not yet? I'm trying to assuage if it's feasible for me to leave by November, since I am only starting out with my planning.

Cheers!
Kim

Hi Kim, would love to have your company along the way,my problem is that we both hold british passport but of indian decent so a bit confused as some posters on this site, and some iran visa agencies are saying that if you are a british passport holder but of another origin then you don't have to pay for a guide and some are saying that it doesn't matter where you come from as long as you hold a british passport you have to pay for a guide. Because of this i am still not sure what to do as i really don't fancy taking someone i don't know along with me. (I've been driving myself in India for the past 15yrs as i hate to
take drivers along)Also there is a question of Pakistan visa as the situation with india, whether we will be able to get the visa's at all so i won't know until i start applying for the visa's and the time scale would be around sept/oct as the weather would be ideal in that region around this time,so why not, we could definitely meet up and travel to together with Tony you and us
Ram