Disaster. (And we haven't even set off yet.)

It seems our plans may be scuppered.

Hope springs eternal, but the chances of going to Iran are looking disappointingly slim right now as the Iranians, bless them, have decided that two-thirds of Team Bernard will not be issued with a visa.

OK, so I'll try to calm down now and assess the situation dispassionately. We have applied for reference numbers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, an essential prerequisite for the issuing of a visa. Ed's application is coming along nicely. Emma and I have been rejected.

We do still have options:
1. Appeal against the decision - which is utterly useless according to my contact at Shiraz Travel, the agency who were supposed to be getting us the reference numbers.
2. Apply again in one month's time. Which would be less than 3 weeks before departure, and even if we are granted the reference number, it does not leave us enough time to get the Turkmenistan visa, which can only apply for after we have the Iranian visa.
3. Go later in the summer
4. Go anyway and hope we can get the missing visas on route
5. Try to find another way of getting the reference number through other (more helpful/influential) agencies
6. Forget Iran and choose another route

Clearly, only the last two are viable options, and these are where I will be spending most of my waking hours over the next few days. (However, this week I am doing a First Aid course with St John Ambulance. A good course, and naturally I hope I won't need it, but I'd rather have the skills just in case I do. The downside is that visa-nightmare-solving-time is restricted to lunch and evenings. Not what I need right now.)

Fingers crossed that option 5 produces fruit. Otherwise, it's time to re-examine the world map.

Updates will be provided.


G.