Benque Viejo del Carmen Belize to Melchor de Mencos Guatemala Border Crossing
From San Ignacio Belize the border is about 20 minutes drive along the beautiful Mopan River. At the check point one walks into the Belize immigration, there are 2 windows you'll need to go through. The first one is to Pay an exit fee, When leaving Belize you will have to pay 40 Belize dollars as an exit fee. Next window is where they stamp your passport. There is an Exit forum everyone has to fill out.
There are unofficial money changer there, to change money into Guatemala Quetzal. Most of them will give you a good rate. I used the money changers in central America before, so basically changed small amount to get me by.
Belize Side of the Border Immigration office
After getting your exit stamp, you'll walk through no man's land a few meters to Guatemala Immigration, this is hassle free for me as I have a US passport. There were other European and Asian tourists, they didn't have any issues either.
Guatemala Immigration
Guatemala Immigration there are no entry exit fees.
Entry Back into Belize, the only question the immigration officer asked me where I was going, I replied San Ignacio, there is no entry fee back into Belize.
When flying out of Belize city there is no exit fee.
Hope this helps any fellow traveler, feel free to ask any questions
Woke up late and headed to breakfast down the road from the hostel at a local Kazakh for Almaty for some coffee and snacks, bus station coffee is usually shitty. Got Uber to take me to Sairan bus station to get a bus to Bishkek. At Sairan bus station no one spoke English, everyone understood Bishkek and pointed me a minivan, the driver said 3000 Kazakhstani Tenge, I agreed. i was the first one. then came another tourist she also agreed to go, later she asked me if I would rather share a taxi with her and get to Bishkek Sooner. I told her once we agree with someone on a ride and fare we should not go back on our word. Besides I was playing it safe. Unlike Yerevan to Tbilisi where I had to wait 3 hours for the van to go, this van filled up fast and we were on our way. Important Tip - Use the bathroom at your hotel before going to the bus station
Above the minivan and the driver. we drive for almost 2 hours and stopped at a shitty rest stop. Armenia and Georgia has clean rest stops, Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan are dirty, glad it was only a 3 hour drive.
Finally we arrived at the border, first you will need to get an exit stamp on your passport from Kazakhstan side, that was somewhat quick. Then you need to walk through no Man's land to the Kyrgyz side. 2 pictures below.
At the Kyrgyz side of the border control a Army officer took my passport and asked me to wait, I was a little nervous, but he was back in 2 minutes, handed me and 2 others their passport, opened a side pathway door and we left.
I turned on my gopro and was about to film when a Army soldier approached me, and told me not to. I quickly put my Gropro away. We walked 100 meters and were approached by several cab drivers.
Then I waited for a good half an hour by the road side (above picture) with others riding from the van, finally the driver showed up and were on our way to Bishkek.
To get from Yerevan to Tbilisi, One can take either train, bus or taxi. Train takes longer than bus or taxi, with bus or taxi it take around 5 hours. I took the minivan, they leave from Kilikia station. The morning ones often are nicer minivan that go for 8,000 AMD - 10,000 AMD. Noon to late afternoon are the cheaper Marshutkas from 6,000 AMD.
I had met a traveler in Tbilisi in my hostel who took the night train, they loved it. I wanted to experience the drive through the mountains and took the minivan option. The minivan I was travelling in was a nice Mercedes, Natural Gas powered.
Night before my trip to Tbilisi, I had gone out to a couch-surfing meetup in Yerevan, after the meetup we went to an Irish pub and cut a long story short, by the time I got back to my hotel it was 2 AM, I had a hard time getting up. Dragged my self out of bed by 8 AM, and there was no hot water for a shower, it was a cold October morning. Should have never stayed at a hotel next to a massage parlor. They the hotel did have a good breakfast though. The hotel was full of Filipinos waiting in Yerevan for their Dubai work visa to come through, nice folks.
Kilikia Bus Station Yerevan
I arrived at the bus station before 10 AM, there is no information desk and no one spoke English. So I looked for minivans with Georgian, the number plates have Armenia and Georgian flags. Then I met an Italian tourist who pointed me to where I would find my ride. And I found to Tibilisi Van. The driver told me 8,000 AMD. I was the first one, he said we'll leave in 10 minutes. So I waited 10 minutes, an hour and another hour, minivans will not leave till they are full. So 3 hours later I decided to find another room for the night and try again tomorrow when 2 cabs with Brit and Iranian tourist showed up and wanting to go Tbilisi, we had a full VAN and wee off to Tbilisi.
I got to give it to the driver, he drove fast and had good control of the vehicle. We drove a good 3 plus hours and stopped twice to stretch our legs and if someone wanted to get a coffee/snack or use the restroom.
Then we arrived at border control, first you go through Armenia side to get an exit stamp. At the Armenia side the immigration officer asked me to remove my cap so he could verify my picture, stamped my passport. I exited and got in the van, the van drove a block and we were at the Georgian side. The immigration was quick and easy, got my passport stamped and got in the van, and off we went. At the Georgian side the customs will scan your bags, I only travel with a handbag and didnt have any issues.
In Tbilisi we did meet some rush hour traffic, I am working on a video I took of the whole trip and will post it, so check back in a few days.
I started in Granada Nicaragua, took the bus for 30 cordoba till Rivas and from there shared a cab for 15 US$ till the border, my share was 7.50 US$. Get to the border early, if not expect long lines.
At the Nicaragua immigration exit point, fill in a forum, you can get one from the official at the window for FREE, or you can buy one from the kids asking for money, usually less than a dollar. Once the exit fee has been paid and your passport stamped for exit, you walk a dirt road for 100 meters or so, you'll see lots of 18 wheelers along the road.
At the Costa Rica side, you need to fill a similar forum for entry, there are no entry and exit fees in Costa Rica.
Money Changers - You'll see a lot of money changer with currency bills in their hands, for the most part they will give you a good exchange rate.
The border crossing is easy.
Crossing back into Nicaragua from Costa Rica is even easier, the entry fee is US$ 12.
In the Nicaraguan side, I found going to the border or from the border, shared cabs to a easy and cheap way to travel to Rivas or even San Jorge.
In Eilat, paid 25 Israeli shekels for cab driver to drop me off to the Border crossing. Israel Exit fee was 31 US dollars. You have to pay to leave, really. Anyways its Quick and easy, walked to the other side, there is no visa fee when crossing into Jordan from Aqaba.
Once in Jordan, took a cab for 10 JD, bargain and you can get them down to 5 JD. Ask the cab driver to drop you off to the Tourist Information office, where you can get a map and other useful info on Aqaba.
Border Crossing from Eilat
Once you are done with Immigration exiting Israel, you have to walk the no mans land
The Allenby Bridge or the King Hussein Bridge is a bridge that you will need to cross to get to Jerusalem, from Amman Jordan. Took a cab from my Hotel in Amman and the cost of the cab was 25JD (Jordanian dinar). Woke up early and was at the the border crossing at 7:30 AM. The Jordanian Immigration does not open till 8, no point getting there early.
There are no long lines, if you are there by 8 or 8:30 AM that'll work. Exit fee from Jordan is 10 JD, I was in Jordan less than 24 hours, and the fee did not apply to tourist in Jordan less than 24 hours. The immigration office will keep your passport and only hand it to you in the Bus that will take you to Israel Immigration check point. The cost of the bus is 4 JD, the bus will not leave till it is full. My Bus left at 9:30AM and was the first bus with Tourist to leave.
Once on the Israel Side, there were maybe 20 or less Arab families ahead of me in Line, due to my East Indian Origin I was subject to a lot of questioning. The immigration process took 30 minutes.
Once out of the immigration office, changed money to pay for my ride to Jerusalem.
The Mini Bus, picture above, will not leave till it is full, the cost is about 40 Israel shekels, the bus did not leave for an hour as there were not enough people and we had to wait till it was full. While waiting, drank a coffee which was I much need of.
The Bus will drop you off across the street from the Jerusalem old city gate called Damascus Gate.
My Passport was stamped by the Israel Immigration, Which means, will have trouble getting Entry into a few Middle Eastern Countries.
Damascus gate Started my Self walking Tour of Jerusalem old city, in short, it is worth going to Jerusalem.
From Jerusalem took a bus to Eilat and Went to Aquba Jordan from there.
