Note: This post was published in April 2019. Since then, things have changed. Syria has made attempts to reopen the country to visitors, including Americans. So, please keep that in mind when reading the following.

I started this “around the world in ten years” adventure in 2015. Four years later, I am halfway to the finish line. I still do not know where the time goes, but it sure has been a wild ride! From basic tourist destinations to ones off-the-beaten-path, I have visited some incredible places and met some extraordinary people.

Back in August, I met Jenna and April at a meetup in Chicago. At the time, Jenna was just six countries away from reaching her goal of visiting every country in the world (all 193 United Nations Member States) by her 35th birthday (April 18, 2019). She planned to visit the remaining six over the following months and invited me to join her in four of the countries left on her list (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria). Fast forward a couple of months: by January, we had checked off Saudi Arabia and Yemen, leaving Jenna with only two countries left to visit! Only one problem: she still had Syria left.

Objective: Get into Syria.

U.S. passport holders need a visa to enter Syria. However, diplomatic relations between the United States of America and Syria are currently non-existent—making it difficult, if not impossible (for those not resorting to “loopholes”), for Americans chasing 193 to complete their missions. Given the difficulty of entering Syria, any opportunity to make it into the country generates a lot of buzz in our travel community. In October 2018, we heard about a fixer that claimed he could get Americans into Syria via Lebanon. Sold! That same day, we sent over copies of our passports along with the payment to begin the process.

Since the plan was to travel to Syria in April, we felt like we had a lot of time to make it happen. But, before we knew it, a promise of one month turned into another. And then another. By February, we decided to begin the process with another fixer, simultaneously. This other fixer was even more optimistic—instead of months, he assured us it would take just a few weeks. But those few weeks turned into a few more. With our trip fast approaching, we started to lose hope. Not too long after, we were informed that our security clearances were not approved. Since we had already booked our flights to Beirut, we decided to travel to Lebanon anyway.

Weekend Bender in Lebanon
Regardless of everything, I was still excited for this trip. Everyone has their own way of counting countries. By my count, Lebanon would be country #118. But, by the “official” count, Lebanon would be (drumroll, please) country #100/193!

The three of us were arriving at different times. After missing my connecting flight in Istanbul due to a significant delay leaving Chicago, I arrived at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport around 3:00 in the morning on Saturday, April 13, 2019. Getting through passport control took some time. There were two lines: one for Lebanese nationals and another for everyone else. Like many other nationalities, U.S. passport holders can obtain single-entry visas on arrival at the airport in Beirut for free. No forms needed. Just be sure that you do not have any Israeli stamps, or stamps that would indicate you crossed into Israel by land from Jordan.

April and I booked a three-night stay at the Golden Tulip MidTown Hotel and Suites, centrally located in the neighborhood of Hamra. Getting around is easy—taxis are everywhere and Uber operates throughout the city. Unfortunately, I was not able to use the latter when leaving the airport. My T-Mobile cell phone plan includes unlimited data and texting in over 210 destinations. But, for some reason, Lebanon is one of the few countries excluded from that list. Why? Who knows!

Day 1
I only had two full days in Lebanon, so I had to be selective with what activities made it onto my itinerary.

Day 1 started shortly after I made it to the hotel. Since Jenna was not arriving until later that night, and April had previously traveled to Lebanon and visited the country’s main attractions, I was on my own for the day. Given the time constraints, I booked the “Byblos, Jeita Grotto and Harissa Day Trip from Beirut” tour through Viator for that Saturday. Ideal for first-time visitors, the tour included stops at the following attractions:

Jeita Grotto – One of the “New7Wonders of Nature”. System of two separate, but interconnected, karstic limestone caves. Note: Photography is forbidden inside of the caves.

Byblos – Regarded as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Harissa – Village home to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon.

After returning from the tour later that evening, I was reunited with April and Jenna. It was dinnertime. With a specific appetite, we wandered around Hamra looking for tabbouleh. Before we knew it, one distraction led to another, and everything was closing for the night. At that point, I had to compromise—forget the tabbouleh, let’s just celebrate country #100 with some cocktails. The clock was ticking. As we made our way up to the only restaurant that looked open, I could not help but feel that Beirut let me down. Little did I know, all that would change just moments later. Getting off the escalator, my sense of disappointment suddenly vanished. What tabbouleh?

Walking in, my eyes were locked on the host. Wow. Just wow. Lebanon sure has some gorgeous men. I could not stop staring. And, it was obvious. Before I could even comment, he walked over with some complimentary shots. Totally lacking game, April took the lead and asked him to join us.

Aside from celebrating, we really needed to use this time to think. Since this trip was planned solely around entering Syria, we had no plans for the following day. Given the significance of this trip for Jenna, we did not want to completely give up hope—we held onto it until the very end. While Jenna had a “Plan B”, she did not want to settle until she had exhausted all of her options of getting across the border.

Wait. What? You are probably wondering what could possibly be a back-up plan for checking off Syria? Well, as I have said before, everyone has their own way of counting countries. Some Americans chasing 193 have resorted to visiting the Israeli-occupied and -administered Golan Heights or the de facto autonomous region referred to as Rojava in lieu of Syria proper. Is this right? I think it is safe to say that the average person does not actively count countries. But, when you are on a mission to visit them all, you do. Which leaves the question, what constitutes a “visit”? Well, you tell me. At the end of the day, counting countries is subjective and not consistent among travelers. Some travelers spend a minimum of 24 hours in a country for the visit to count, while others do not leave the airport and still count the country. But wait, there is more! Some also take advantage of other “loopholes”. Some travelers count visiting the Joint Security Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone as entering North Korea. Others count Kish Island as visiting Iran. Iraqi Kurdistan as Iraq. And so on—you get the point. So, what is right? I say, whatever helps you sleep at night!

Anyway, a few drinks in and the creative juices really started flowing. We came up with some elaborate plans—some so absurd that we just sat there laughing hysterically. While we were not being serious, one bright idea just stuck. What if we just showed up at the Lebanon-Syria border and tried our luck? Afterall, it has worked for us before. Just days away from her deadline, at this point, Jenna just wanted to step foot in Syria. Before we could even consider the consequences, we were working out the logistics. Meanwhile, Day 1 continued into Day 2. I did not want the night to end, but we really needed to head back to the hotel to arrange everything for the morning.

Day 2
Somehow, I managed to spend the rest of the night hanging out with our new friend in front of the hotel. Only when the sky started to lighten, I returned to the room to power nap. Before I could even fall asleep, it was time to leave. We hired a driver for the day through the hotel—while he would not drive us across the border, he agreed to take us there and wait. I do not remember getting to the border. The details are all a blur. At that point, I had not slept more than three or four hours in two days. I was exhausted. So exhausted that I left the hotel without my passport and only realized it after leaving Hamra.

Arriving at the Al-Masnaa border post, the adrenaline started to kick in. Now what? We had no plan. The plan was to show up at the border. But, then what? We stood huddled outside the immigration building discussing the game plan. Before we could try our luck at entering Syria, we needed to first get stamped out of Lebanon. Easier said than done.

We entered the building and carefully studied the faces of the officers. We were looking for a friendly face. One that would stamp us out. Before we could choose our guy, we were directed to a booth. We stood there frozen, watching the officer flip through our passports. “Visas?”, he asked. Trying to look as relaxed as possible, we explained that we were getting our visas at the border since we could not obtain them in the United States. He looked confused. While he doubted our ability to do so, he did not stop us! All smiles, we could not believe that really just worked—even though we were willing to try anything, we never actually thought any part of this plan would work. One down, two to go.

To get to the Syrian checkpoint, we needed to cross an 8-kilometer (or about 5-mile) stretch of no man’s land between the two countries. Leaving the building, we hired a taxi to take us across. But, before that, we needed to make it past the final checkpoint on the Lebanese side. Pulling up, we were prepared to give our speech again. We handed over our passports and waited to be questioned. To our surprise, the officer quickly glanced through the pages before handing them back. That was it—we were out of Lebanon! Two down, one to go.

Driving through no man’s land, we could not contain our excitement. I pulled out my phone to turn on the GPS and see how close we were to the actual land border. As we approached the line on the map, I noticed a sign in the distance. “Welcome to Syria”.

Shortly after, we arrived at the border post on the Syrian side. Right in front, huge letters spelling out “Syria” with a giant picture of Bashar al-Assad. Walking up, we discretely snapped some photos and continued into the building. We followed the same process—we looked for a friendly face. Determined to help, the taxi driver joined us. Again, we stood there frozen, watching the officer flip through our passports. Before the officer could even question us, we explained that we thought we could get our visas here at the border. Without letting him respond, we pulled out cash and said that we wanted to pay for our visas in dollars. The boss came over. I tried to crack a smile, but I knew there was no chance that we could win him over. He told us to apply in our country. We explained that we do not have an operating embassy in the states. He told us to apply at the one in Lebanon. Knowing we had to be careful not to cross any lines, we thanked him and said we would follow his instructions. Instead of handing back our passports, the boss called someone over to escort us out. The escort held onto our passports as we walked back to the car. I tried to lighten the mood by cracking some jokes. He probably thought we were crazy, but we finally got him to smile. We managed to convince him to at least take a picture of us in front of the “Syria” sign before escorting us out. You win some, you lose some. While we did not make it past the checkpoint on the Syrian side, we sure made it farther than we thought.

Back in Lebanon, we were reunited with our driver. It was still pretty early in the day. Since we had hired him for the day, we figured we should check out more of the country’s main attractions. On the way back to the hotel, we made stops at the following attractions:

Stone of the Pregnant Woman – A Roman monolith. Together with another ancient stone block nearby, it is among the largest monoliths ever quarried.

Baalbek – Large archaeological complex encompassing ancient ruins of the Roman Empire.

Pigeon Rocks – Iconic rock formations off the coast of Raouche in Beirut.

We made it back to the hotel just as the sun was setting. What a day! But, it was not over just yet. We quickly freshened up, met up with our new friend, and headed out into the city to celebrate before parting ways. I did not want the trip to end. I stayed out until I had to leave for the airport for my early morning flight home to Chicago via Istanbul. Not sure how I managed, but I think I set a new personal record for the least amount of sleep in five days. But, that only means I rang in UN #100 the right way! I could not have imagined it any better—this weekend bender was definitely one for the books. Be back soon!

FYI
Did you know that more people have been to outer space than have visited every country in the world? And that, of the people who have accomplished this, almost all were men?

In case you are wondering, Jenna did reach her goal of visiting every country (and all 12 Disney parks in one calendar year)!