[TEHRAN] Budget and Itinerary

SATURDAY: 26 March 2016

Accommodation (2 Nights) - 54.00

USD54.00

Aseman Airlines (Shiraz - Tehran) - 2,381,000.00

Metro Line 4/1 (Mehrabad Airport - Azadi - Imam Khomeini) - 8,000.00

IRR2,389,000.00

[TEHRAN] Hunger Games Iran

Yahoo, we now take a break from the usual ranting and nerdy verbal diarrhea you see on this blog, because we have a sob story to tell! Oh wait, technically, it’s still ranting but with the hidden agenda of eliciting sympathy from you. To tell you the truth, I’d rather you give me food right now instead of sympathy but if Cirrus debit cards just can’t penetrate Iran, I don’t think your food package will make it here in time either until I leave or starve to death. And so the Cashless in Iran saga continues!

[FARS] Budget and Itinerary

WEDNESDAY: 23 March 2016

Qatar Airways (Istanbul - Doha - Shiraz) - 217.61

Accommodation (2 Nights) - 20.00

USD237.61

Visa Fee (Iran Embassy Rabat) - 40.00

Agency Fee (Pars Tour Agency) - 30.00

EUR70.00

[MARVDASHT] The Ruins of Persepolis

I could have chosen a better time to go to Persepolis. I mean, who chooses a national holiday to contend for a selfie spot in a popular tourist destination like this, right? But this Iran trip has been badly planned from the very beginning anyway. So what’s the use in complaining, really? I guess I just found it a bit surprising because almost every blog entry I’ve read about the place said that it’s almost always empty. But then again, they probably didn’t go on a national holiday, now did they?

[SHIRAZ] Cashless in Iran

I’m not a big fan of money changers. It’s been a habit of mine to leave a country without money in my wallet, which means to say that I also land at the next airport WITHOUT any moolah. I’m not broke, I just believe that in a modern world like ours, ATMs serve this very purpose. Once you are done with immigration, you claim your baggage from the carousel and then you go to the arrival section where an ATM with a cirrus logo is happily waiting for you, with matching blinking lights and a drum roll.

[VISA] Iran (Single Entry)

There are several websites saying that we’re still visa-free in Iran, but almost everyone I know who has been there opted to get their visas in advance so as to avoid hassles at the airport. I decided to do the same. Let’s make this simple, shall we? First stop, you need a visa authorization code, which you can get through a travel agency. Iranianvisa.com will be the first in a long list of Google search results. Avoid that one like the plague. I got mine from Caravanistan, and I am really satisfied with their service.