The flight itself was uneventful and after a busy day, I was pretty tired and conked out after my meal. The next time I was awake, the Captain has announced that we were landing in Tbilisi. We parked at a remote stand and as we disembarked, 3 Georgian aviation security vehicles monitored us as we were packed into the shuttle bus. It was quite an intimidating scene as the vehicles escorted the shuttle as we proceeded to the main terminal. Immigration was quick and painless, as we were the only flight that has landed at that time. Despite having read about free bottles of wine being handed out at customs, I had no such luck but received my rather exotic immigration stamp of Georgia.


Hello Tbilisi Airport!

Being a student on a budget, I decided to wait out the 3 hours at the airport before the first public bus departs for the city centre. Tbilisi Airport has several free wifi connections, including Tbilisi Loves You, which is also available in some central areas of the city. I also took the opportunity to change some Euros to Georgian Laris, which is a closed currency. The rates at the airport turned out to be rather competitive, as I observed similar or worse rates in the city later.

As 7am approached, I got out of the terminal and boarded the public bus (No. 37, 0.5 GELs) which was headed to Baratashvili Street, where my hostel for the weekend was located. A short 30 minutes bus ride later, I arrived into Tbilisi. As sunrise wasn’t until 0804H, the streets were still lit. Unfortunately for me, the hostel was full, so I could not take a nap but that meant I forced myself out to explore the streets. As most shops only opened at 10am, this meant I had pretty much empty streets to explore and take photos of.


The sun had not risen yet even though it was already past 7 in the morning