Day 0.

Outside Terminal 1 at Dubai International Airport at 11:30pm, ready to begin my trip to Libya.


Libya was my final MENA (Middle East and North Africa) country left to visit, and this was my third attempt trying to enter the country.

After the Libyan Revolution and ouster of Gaddafi, there was relatively stability with airlines such as Emirates, Air Malta, Tunisair and Turkish Airlines flying into Tripoli.

In May 2014 I had booked a three day trip to Tripoli flying from Malta and onto Tunisia. Just before I applied for my visa, visits by foreigners were suspended due to upcoming elections, and soon after the second Libyan Civil War erupted. Tripoli International Airport was subsequently heavily damaged during militia clashes with 90% of the airport's facilities, 20 airplanes destroyed and all flights into Libya by international airlines permanently halted.

For my second attempt, near the end of 2015, I was planning to join Jordan (hauteboy) on a visit to Western Libya, crossing overland from neighbouring Tunisia. However the border was temporarily closed in late November after a suicide bombing in Tunis that killed 13 presidential guards using Semtex explosive traced to Libya. I decided to pull out of the trip due to the uncertainty.

Earlier this year I had read a blog written by an American traveller, Randy Williams, who had flown in from Tunis and spent New Years in Tripoli. After contacting the same Libyan travel agency, plans quickly crystallised for a three night stay in the Tripoli for my third attempt at visiting Libya.

After checking in for my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, I went through immigration, security and then headed to the Marhaba Lounge for some dinner.


With international airlines no longer flying into Libya, the travel agency booked flights for us from Tunis to Tripoli (TUN-MJI) on Libyan Wings (YL). To position to Tunis I travelled on Turkish Airlines (TK) via Istanbul.


After the destruction at Tripoli International Airport (TIP) in 2014, Tripoli's Mitiga Airport (MJI), formerly used as a base by the US Air Force from 1943 to 1970 and located 8 kilometres east of the city centre, became the main international airport for the country.

The Libyan visa was my most expensive visa to date. Unfortunately tourist visas are currently not offered and the only way to visit is on a business visa. The visa invitation and pre-authorisation was $350, and then another $160 payable when I got the visa at the consulate in Dubai.

Our return flight from Tunis to Tripoli on Libyan Wings was $350 and the four day / three night tour cost was $650 per person, including hotel, guide, escort / driver and all food and entrance costs.

The TK 777 waiting at the gate.