Road to Turkey

I found myself kept on hesitating and failed to make up my mind as to which border crossing point I have to cross to Turkey.

1.       Option 1: Bab Al Hawa/Kilis border

-There are Aleppo-Antakya buses cost SP 250 which run at 5am in a bus station 8km away from town centre where no other mode of transportation to get me there except taxi. Though this is not time-convenient, it’s perfectly hassle free. But I’m pretty sure that Antakya is not on my list.

2.       Option 2: Tell Abiad/Akçakale border

- To get to this border crossing, I have to backtrack to Raqqa which is around 150km away from Aleppo. There are buses and train from Aleppo where train is the cheapest way, only SP 50 for a second class seat but it only runs twice daily from Aleppo’s Baghdad Station, at 4.00pm and 10.10pm which are both completely difficult for me to cross the border at the same day as from Raqqa, there is another 90km to the border in which I have totally no idea of how to get there. I assume there will be microbus traveling on that road. This border crossing is straightforward for those who want to get to Sanlıurfa.

3.       Option 3: Kassab/Yayladaÿi border

- There are buses and train from Aleppo to Lattakia where there is a cheap microbus running to the border and once across the border, I will have to hitch to Yayladaÿi to catch an onward dolmus(minibus) to Antakya, but Lattakia is currently in tense of demonstration and is certainly not a city to mess with.

So, I chose Option 2. I don’t think I want to be in Antakya. Neither do I want to visit Gaziantep. No, no, no, I meant Option 1. Antakya might be worth a visit as, being a multi-religious city where many locals still speak Arabic, it was the place where the term ‘Christian’ was first used. If I don’t feel like to stay in Antakya or Gaziantep, I can just hop on a bus and leave to Sanlıurfa. Sorry sorry, I think I will stick with Option 2. Traveling in Turkey is very expensive. I don’t want to stop by a city for one or two hours just for some meaningless sightseeing and yet, I still need to do it with my backpack…

Arghhh…I have been sick of making decision. What do you think?