And here we are once again. Since our last trip together was already quite a while in the past and Andreas urgently needed a vacation, we decided to dare a new travel adventure at relatively short notice. As there were still several countries on our to-do list, however, due to external circumstances everything was a bit difficult, this time we decided on Pakistan – in the middle of Ramadan and this time not on our own, but with a Pakistani tour operator: DiscoveringPakistan.

No sooner said than done, we took the train to Berlin (once again BER) on April 12 and boarded the plane to Islamabad via Doha with Qatar Airways. The outward journey was quite uneventful, at the airport we had a last snack at Kamps bakery before the flight, which started in the evening. The entertainment program was as good as usual and so Andreas spent the entire flight with movies, while Melanie slept a little from time to time – we were only interrupted by the culinary highlights that were offered to us – the desserts were particularly good and so Andreas was happy about a second dessert of the seat neighbors from next to him, who had probably noticed his greedy looks.

At about 08 o’clock the next day we finally arrived in Islamabad and immediately started to enter the country. We had read on the Internet that there should be no real experience with the pre-applied e-visa and indeed we were sent somewhat chaotically from counter A to counter B and back again – all in all, however, it was an uncomplicated procedure and was completed relatively quickly.

Directly in front of the baggage carousels we were already welcomed by 3 airport employees, who had in some way acquaintance with our tour operator. However, we waited a while for our luggage (about 30min) and as soon as we discovered it, the 3 young men had already organized a small luggage cart, loaded the bags and stormed towards the exit. On the way there, the customs and the station for screening the luggage was simply cleverly bypassed, no one was interested in this – at this moment Andreas regretted having left the drone at home.

Hardly stepped through the door, we were handed over with luggage to the next two gentlemen – the first three said goodbye friendly smiling and waving. So now we stood in front of Ahmad – our guide for the next 14 days – and his father. Both introduced themselves very friendly and smiling broadly – at least with Andreas, Melanie was at first somewhat “ignored” (culturally conditioned at first not much more than a light nod was possible). The two also had a bouquet of flowers in their hands – this was also presented to Andreas and he passed it on to Melanie. So the four of us started the tour to the first stop: our hotel in Islamabad.

Actually, we wanted to withdraw or exchange money and get a SIM card, but at the airport directly we could not find a way to implement even one of these plans. On the way to the hotel we got a little lost and so we could already admire the road conditions. Arrived at the hotel, the check-in went very quickly, the room was very large and we got (despite Ramadan) a small breakfast with chicken in spicy beans and chapati (local bread).

After we had strengthened and refreshed ourselves a bit, we started our first exploration tour through Islamabad together. After a slightly sobering visit to an exchange office (the exchange rate had dropped overnight), we visited the Shah Faisal Mosque together. A really impressive building. To explore, we had to take off our footwear and Mel had to cover her hair with a headscarf – little tip as an aside, if you ever visit this mosque: be sure to stay on the paths that are easily identifiable by the white marble. The rest of the floor is so hot that you will get blisters on the soles of your feet in no time (own experience). Ahmad and his father always had a little anecdote to tell. Especially Ahmad’s father was a super likeable guy who always had a little joke to tell and also made fun of a few locals when he told them that Andreas was Pakistani.

By the way, Ahmad’s father was not really a part of our travel group for the next 14 days, he had traveled from Lahore especially. to see us and welcome us – wow – 400km traveled by bus (one way), just to greet us. We should be able to experience the incredible hospitality of the Pakistanis several times in the next few days.

We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a way to get a local SIM card. This endeavor turned out to be very time-consuming at first – a visit to a mall and to several street vendors brought no success. Only after we actually found a branch of Telenor, everything worked out quite smoothly. 700 PKR (Pakistani Rupees), about 4 Euro for 8GB and one week were once again an unbeatable price. Afterwards, we took Ahmad’s father to the bus station so that he could start his journey home.

Back at the Grand Islamabad Hotel, after sunset, we enjoyed the extensive iftar – dinner after fasting had ended for the day. There were appetizers, main courses, fruit, vegetables and dessert at the buffet and plenty of everything. Since we were once again too hasty, we were actually already full after the appetizers – but it helped nothing, we had to try everything. As a drink we tried a super tasty mint margarita and a reddish drink: Rooh-Afza. At first it took a lot of getting used to, since the taste reminded a bit of urinal stone, Andreas would learn to love this drink over the next few days.

Meanwhile, two nice gentlemen had taken a seat at the next table, who after a while wanted to introduce us to Pakistani food in particular and therefore ordered a special plate for us, which was extensively filled with local specialties. We didn’t quite manage the plate – Andreas also had to capitulate to the amount. But we had made the calculation without the 2 gentlemen, who let us come also still another special dessert. Stuffed full we fell into bed, the alarm clock should ring again at 05:30 the next morning.