Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: Will we get on a ferry today?

The big question today was: will we actually get on a ferry to Turkmenbashi?

We were told that there would be a ferry and that we could get on the ferry so we were crossing our fingers from the early morning.

Around noon the first group of five people were picked up from the hotel to go to the port even though the ferry wouldn't sail before the afternoon – at the earliest. But it was important that we were all there in case somebody else showed up and wanted ”our” tickets. It's not possible to buy tickets before the ferry is actually in the port and since it is a cargo ferry tickets are limited. At 1.30 we were all in the port and the first couple of hours of waiting started. Not too bad actually. We were sitting outside in the sunshine and had access to our truck which had been parked in port for 3 days and we were also able to buy lunch at the canteen. Very important to get food….as we didn't know if we would get food other than our cup noodles, fruits and snacks on the ferry.

In the early evening we could finally drive to the ferry. But only to wait outside for a while. They still needed to unload more from the ferry. We did have company of a drug sniffing dog and the captain who collected our passports. Hooray it was now time to board. Our truck still had to wait as the procedure for loading the cargo trucks was ”a bit complicated” and thus very slow. Some trucks had to reverse on to the ferry, others has to be lifted to the upper cargo deck using a very slow lift. So Bob – our driver - had to wait with the truck until around 10 pm. He was the last vehicle to enter the ferry. Ramp up – and then nothing happened.

As we were told it was a cargo ferry and not a passenger ferry and the only other passengers than the crew were 10 truck drivers who were quite nice. We did get cabins, there was a common room and we were allowed all over the ship. Also to the see the loading of the cargo from the lower deck to the upper deck.

After a little ”misunderstanding” from the kitchen/cabin lady who refused to give us dinner or sheets as we were supposed to according to our tickets our guides called the Customer Relation Manager of the ferry company whom they luckily had a business card from (a new company had just bought the ferry company) and magically we got dinner and sheets. The kitchen/cabin lady was not all happy with this arrangement - maybe she normally collects extra money for this on the ferry – so she was furious and slammed the plates on the tables. And what a treat for dinner we had pasta, a fried egg, ketchup and feta! Just like being a student at home.

At midnight we were still not sailing. When we went to sleep we knew we had a whole day ahead on the ship since the sailing time is around 20 hours. Again depending on the weather. And that's sailing time - not necessarily hours until docking in port.