At the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi we were told, that one can only apply for a visa for Pakistan in his home country. In the end we flew to Dubai from where we could take a ferry to Iran two weeks later.
Luckily the embassies in Dubai are in walking distance from the main beach, where we spend our nights. Unfortunately it is prohibited to pitch a tent there. We simply slept in the sand or found shelter in empty containers from an event that took place a couple of days before. Well, “simply” is a bit exaggerated as those containers were watched by a security guy who couldn’t speak English, at all. But the weather wasn´t really pleasant. After some kind of pantomime act we simply went inside one of them, where we found a spot next to a glass wall, facing the Persian Gulf, and crawled into our sleeping bags. Suddenly, a flash of light woke us up. Someone was flashing a torch-light right into our faces. It was Mohammed, a police officer, of course. After he checked our passports we told him our story. He seemed impressed, but acted rather worried. He really wanted to buy us food or drinks, but we only wanted to sleep and eventually he left.
Those days were definitely the most challenging on our hitch hiking adventure from Kuala Lumpur to Berlin in the beginning of 2014. After 4 stressful and unpleasant days and nights at Jumeirah Beach we wanted to spent the remaining days away from the city center. When we finally managed to get my visa for Iran we had to find a ride.
Just outside the Iran embassy we found a plate number that we knew belonged to a quiet area further away. As the car was just parked with no human in sight, we decided to wait. A while later we introduced ourselves to the driver and kindly asked him to take us along in case he is headed in our direction. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were when he said yes! After a few minutes of driving, the guy, who was from Iran but lives in Dubai, asked me to pass him the shopping bag that was next to me on the back seat.
The man gave us a gift. A fresh, brand new, never-been worn pair of socks for each of us. It was pointless to refuse, he insisted. Even though he had already made us the biggest present of all by simply taking us, two strangers that were waiting for him at his car, along. Oh, I loved those ugly men socks (which are way too large for me) when I put them on for the first time. It felt like a new beginning. It was kind of the sun after rain-moment that is promised to come after difficult, challenging phases in life.
I don t know if you can imagine how It feels like to live on the road for so long. I am talking about everyday camping, washing your laundry anywhere possible by hand, barely having a shower and everything else that comes along with it.
The picture shows exactly the pair of socks that guy gave me in Dubai 3 and a half years ago. Even though I didn’t like them at all, I did wear them. By now the band is loose and the heels are about to fall apart and I will happily throw them away. Yes, I already bought a new pair of socks to replace them. A pair that I really like, in my size 
😎 (Reykjavik, 2017)
