From BATUMI, Georgia to KARS, Türkiye via Hopa | Sarpi border crossing (WORST border crossing yet)

To clarify - Georgian and Turkish hospitality is a beautiful thing. But you will not find it in the crowds trying to get through the border crossing, specifically from the older women. The customs officers were fantastic though!
Things we did to prepare for the Sarpi border crossing:
1. Got our eVisas for Türkiye (super easy) and printed
2. Got bamboozled at a currency exchange in Baku to have some cash on hand upon entry. (the ATM we found near the border was in fact not an ATM)
3. Read reviews/reddits/blogs anything that talked about the Sarpi border crossing and how to get to Kars.
From Batumi a blog said you could take the number 16 bus from town to the border but it was too early for us to take it so we used Bolt which was super easy at 5:30 am. The Sarpi border was awful but that's fine. The customs officers were pleasant but people in line will treat you awfully (mostly the older woman and I'm not sure why, maybe the duty free shopping?). The dogs will treat you worse (hopefully that gets figured out haha).
After you get through the hellish exit of Georgia and into Sarp, much more peaceful. After fully crossing over we got out to the buses and were told that there was no Hopa bus and we had to take a taxi. We walked past them and to the bus stop where there was in fact buses to Hopa. We got on, paid, and eventually made it to Hopa. The bus driver tried to ask us where we were going and I said the words 'Hopa otogari' and it seemed to make enough sense.
At the Hopa bus station we immediately went to the Yesil Artvin (or the first office on the left when facing the building) and bought our bus tickets to Kars. Waited around and then hopped on a bus to Kars! That bus took about 6-7 hours when plenty of stops along the way and took us to the Kars bus station.
Leaving at 5:30 gave us about two hours of relax time once we got to the bus station of rest.
Thankfully, this was the worst border crossing we've encountered. Many people encounter much worse so I'll stick with the angry dogs and rude women and slow computers any day.
Episode 180
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About Us
We met in college and started a five year journey to graduate, get jobs, pay off student loans and save money to travel. After getting married we bought a one way ticket to Greece in July of 2021 and have been traveling around the Globe since. Living abroad definitely brings some unique experiences.
These laidback UA-cam videos will be our way of keeping in touch with family and friends as we explore different countries, try new and strange foods (and of course pizza), and see how many times we can avoid airplane fares. These homevideos will be the only souvenir we end up with at the end (only because nothing else will fit in our bags).
Thanks for watching!
(pro tip: if you click on ‘settings’ on the youtube video and put the playback speed to ‘2’ it goes by faster!)
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/ curtandbriannaseestuff
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Want to Volunteer in Peru at the same organization we did? Join WindAid and Light Up a Life by volunteering or donating!
windaid.org/
(by far one of our favorite experiences abroad!!!)
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Music Credit:
Music by Epidemic Sound - www.epidemicsou...