Congratulation @ Isaac, for your progress!



Theretically you are able to optain the carnet when you get stuck on a border, because they want a carnet.

When you have a multiple entry visa you can drive back to the nearest city.

Just look that a friend at home who can send the money & application form to the carnet issuer, and sent you the carnet soon it is arrived within TNT/DHL.

If you dont have a multiple entry visa, you could get stuck betwen the borders, because you have to get your leaving stamps before you can optain the stamps for the new country.

When you be able to optain a valid temporary importpaper on each border - you should be fine.

I am very curious if it would work so easily with the car without carnet.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

And here I am, in Aswan.

I've just arrived this morning and my bike was already there, waiting for me. The trip has been awesome, sleeping in the front of the boat, looking at the stars...

Now about the interesting part... Here in Aswan I had Mohammed waiting for me (the fixer), I have explained him I had no carnet and he said "ouch!"... and then he told me I need to get an egypcian carnet. I've tried to explain him i want to pay a temporal import tax to get the money back when I leave Egypt, and after going to talk to 3 or 4 different officials he explained me I have 3 options:

1) Get an egypcian carnet and enter without problems
2) Pay the temporal import tax, but seems like it takes a week or more to complete the paperwork, and I was told it is going to cost me more than the carnet itself.
3) Go to the bank and pay the total cost for your bike, then carry the bike on a truck to the exit border and at there you get your money back, but you have to pay for the truck (expensive), and it takes lots of time also.

So after trying to explain that i do not want to pay a lot of money just to cross the country.... I had no better option than (1), and that means:
+ Pay 3500 LE for Egypcian carnet
+ Pay 200 US$ for all the paperwork, tips and everything..

In theory tomorrow morning I will have my carnet and all the paperwork ready to continue my trip. My initial idea was to go to port said and take the ferry to iskenderum, but I think i will try to go to Israel and then take the same ferry from there (Haifa to Iskenderum), so I exit egypt on a "easy" border and take the ferry from a more easy country...

Well update the post as I advance on this....

Cheers!

Thanks for the update Isaac, this is really very helpful for planning.

So it cost you about $700 US in total for the Egyptian carnet at the border. That is still less than other options for me, for my $3K value DR650 carnet options from Canadian Automobile Association ($USD) are:

Total = $6000, $5000 bond returned on discharge (with Egypt)
Total = $3500, $1100 returned on discharge (with Egypt)
Total = $1500, $300 returned on discharge (without Egypt) + $700 at border

For me, going the same route as Isaac would cost about $900 more than the indemnity bond option, but forgo the risk of having 5K at the mercy of CAA. I may not even make it to Egypt or very possibly not within 1 year anyway.

thanks again for the helpful info Isaac.

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bugsonmyboard.org
two wheeled wave hunting dispatches

Please note that the 3500 LES are just for the egyptian carnet, that means that if I had a carnet, i had still to pay 200 US$, so even if you have a carnet you have to pay 200 US$ at the border (your mileage here may vary, of course!).

Hope that helps! Anyway I still have not finished the paperwork and have not exited the country, so I will continue updating the post as it goes.

Cheers!

ahh, so really only $500 more to get at the border. the Isaac option wins.

good luck getting the paperwork completed and happy travels ahead!

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bugsonmyboard.org
two wheeled wave hunting dispatches

Hi Issac

A few of us here at Jungle Junction have been eagerly awaiting your update. Thanks for this information. Well done!

Look forward to further updates.

Cheers
Glenn

I'm glad it helps someone!

BTW, I was planning to exit to Israel on a land border and from there going to Haifa to take the ferry to Turkey, but seems like this line is no longer working, so only option is to take the ferry in Port Said (I hate that....).

I'll keep the thread updated!

Cheers!