"It's all about the journey, not the destination" ❤️

Tomorrow, I will be wrapping up my 2-month solo Africa trip with a big happy smile! This trip has been life-changing.. I've been reading, listening to podcast, and meeting a lot of wonderful people aside from learning a lot of lessons from the challenges I experienced here! ❤️

Anyway, I finally made it to SOMALILAND, which used to be part of Somalia until they formed their own government and called it a country but sadly they are not internationally recognized. The journey was incredible after I crossed the border from Djibouti, I already shared the story of my not-so-good experience at the border in my previous post)! I changed the car to a 4x4 Landcruiser and glad I paid extra so I could get the front seat. I randomly paid a guy in Djibouti for 12,000 Djibouti Francs which is around 68$, no receipt or anything.. just trust! Ha :)

I got stuck for an hour at the Djibouti Immigration and it was already dark when they released me, the immigration was already closed when they agreed to let me out but they stamped my passport as long as I will make sure I will not come back there because the officer was very firm when he said that he will NOT let me in! Hahah (the border is only for Djiboutian and not for foreigners)😂

I really thought that the car going to Somaliland already left me so I had to think of my Plan B -- I won't be able to enter Djibouti so just in case I have to spend a night sleeping at the small border town. If you love traveling by land then you know that towns in the border are not always the best and sometimes dangerous.

I was able to hitchhike from the Djiboutian side to the Somaliland immigration office, it's not that far maybe 15 minutes walking but it's very dark so luckily a car let me in! No questions asked at the Immigration aside from my passport with the visa I got from the Consulate and the receipt of my payment (didn't know it's required but glad I have this habit of keeping receipts). After I passed the Somaliland Immigration, I was looking and shouting the name of Abde-Aziz, the only English-speaking passenger I met! I couldn't remember how he looked like, I just know he speaks English. He heard me and glad that he told the driver to wait for me (but he actually thought that the Djiboutian people won't let me out, they always do crazy problems like that) I wanted to cry with happiness, I had to give him the chips that I bought! Haha 😂🤗

So, at 8 pm we set off on an incredible drive in the desert, mountain, and sand dunes! After 13 hours of off-roading, seeing a lot of camels, gazelles, local’s houses, and helping other cars who got stuck in the dunes! We stopped for 3 times so the driver could take a nap.. the AC stopped working as well so the windows were fully open because it's really HOT! There's a baby in the car but he never cried (what a traveler!) even though his mom together with other 7 people were placed in the backseat because they paid less! Random locals were giving me food and drinks during the entire trip which is very contradicting to what Djiboutian officers were saying that Somaliland is dangerous and bad. Completely opposite!

When I arrived in the capital of Hargeisa, the first thing I did was to look for a travel agency to book a last-minute flight ticket for me to fly today to return to Djibouti where I will be catching my flight to Istanbul tomorrow! It's Friday so it's a holiday for a Muslim country like this so there's no office.. we had to go to the airport, asked help to get some contacts, and found one who opened his office for me to book my flight ticket and luckily there is one leaving today! 🙏 I will share more story about that later.. how I wish I have proper clothes (my luggage is still missing) so I could have gone hiking yesterday but I'll do that next time when I return!

Positive vibes! ❤️