
An American Making Friends in Iran
After waiting 30 minutes in the immigration line, it’s finally my turn. The officer sees my American passport and curtly asks me to step aside. Here we go. Filipinos, Indians, and Bangladeshis on visa runs all breeze through with no problem. But not me.
Once the hall is clear of other passengers, the officer summons me to a back room. In halting English, he asks me why I am visiting Iran.
An antiquated fingerprinting machine cracks his resolve — he’s now smiling and giggling while holding my hand and trying to use it. Explaining the concept of CouchSurfing only further lightens the mood. They have no idea what I’m talking about, so one of his colleagues makes a phone call to my host. Both laugh when they finally understand my plan to intentionally sleep on a couch instead of at a hotel. Minutes later, he stamps my passport with a resounding thud and wishes me a pleasant stay in Iran.
“Death to America”
Iran is most often seen in the Western news for either harboring an alleged nuclear weapons program, denying the Holocaust, or holding a “Death to America” rally.
Sanctions — led by America — have hurt both the government and people. The Iranian Rial has lost about 2/3 of its value over the last few years; 2013 inflation soared past 40%.
Yet, despite these headlines and the adverse impact American policy has on the lives of ordinary Iranians, I somehow managed to make friends at every turn while in Iran.
CouchSurfing Iran
“Our governments do not get along, but the people know better. It makes people want to get along even more.”
My host Masoud attempts to explain the difference between the Iranian government and people.
This feels like an apt description of my experience thus far.
Masoud is not exactly what you might expect when picturing a young Iranian man. Our first phone call ended with “see you soon, bro.”
He spent his teenage years calling American customer service 1-800-numbers, eager to hone his English. Via chat roulette, he made American friends across the world that he regularly calls but has never met. The man has watched more American movies in his 22 years than I will in a lifetime.
During lunch one day Masoud tells me, “After watching all four American Pies, I knew I had to go to America.” His favorite author is Stephen Covey and food is KFC. I begin to suspect Masoud is more American than I will ever be. On our last day together, Masoud insists we watch a Harold and Kumar movie together so I can explain pop culture references to him. I instead find myself asking him for clarification.
Despite limited civil service salaries, Masoud and his wife Mahboobeh go out of their way to demonstrate incredible hospitality. I quickly make my first Iranian friends, or “doosts”.
“My first American”
Masoud fetches a taxi when he heads to work. The driver, Reza, had never before met an American.
His first question: “So do Americans think all Iranians are terrorists?”
Taken aback by his candor, I barely manage to stammer out “of course not.”
His smiles and nods. “I think all people in the world are friendly. But I wish the news would not make it seem like people hate each other.”
He proceeds to invite me to stay at his house. After insisting I could not abandon my hosts, he finally relents, disappointed.
But before he lets me go, he insists I take a picture together to share with his wife and children. He then bids his farewell and asks me to invite more Westerners to Iran.
Parasailing
Iranians can be quite chatty. While standing on a pier watching Iranian tourists zip by on jet skis and banana boats, a couple who had just been parasailing approaches and insists I give it a try.
They tell me the local price ($30) and seem ready to negotiate on my behalf to ensure a fair price. While the price seems inexpensive by Western standards, it is quite expensive for Iranians given the devaluation of the Rial.
The crew of the boat seems excited to have Westerners on board. They cannot recall having any other American visitors. Much to my chagrin, they insist on blaring American pop music continuously.
Helping hands
While walking back from the beach and looking lost, an Iranian woman asks if I need help. I need to change US dollars into Iranian Rial but unfortunately cannot find a currency exchange. The woman ultimately packs up her two year old baby, older brother, and friend into a public bus. We drive across town to a mall with a currency exchange, conveniently located next to a knock-off Abercrombie & Fitch.
Every time I looked even slightly confused, someone would approach offering assistance; everyone seemed to be an unofficial tourist information volunteer. Many Iranians have traveled abroad, especially to Europe, and wish more people would visit their country.
Family style
Nightlife on Kish revolves around sprawling restaurants with live bands. I pick a restaurant that looks “hopping” and sit amid hundreds of Iranians, clearly standing out. While Iran holds a reputation of being devoid of all fun, the crowd eagerly dances at their tables and claps their hands to a raucous band.
The family next to me speaks no English but insists on sharing their food. They seem disappointed when I only take a few bites, already full from my own massive portion. Despite the language barrier, many warm smiles are exchanged.
Favorite flight
While waiting in the airport security line, the man behind me starts talking to me. He runs an import-export business. We chat briefly; he casually mentions that Iranian news reports that the American economy has collapsed. Biased and negative reporting can clearly go two ways.
He proceeds to invite me to visit him in Tehran. It seems like a cursory invitation, until 15 minutes later he returns with his business card and earnest look. Over and over again I meet Iranians who are quite eager to show off their country.
Upon boarding the plane, the purser looks surprised to see me. He inquires about my nationality; I respond, “American”. He smiles and offers a warm welcome. I think nothing of it.
The same flight attendant is on this leg as the inbound. She approaches nervously and asks, “Was it… okay?” When I say that I had a great time, her face goes from anxious to beaming. She too extends an invite to Tehran and offers to be a personal tour guide.
Toward the end of the flight the pursuer comes back. He says the pilot would like to see me. I respond, “That’s nice, I will say hello after we land.”
He responds, “No, now.”
Am I hearing this correctly?
I remember visiting the cockpit of planes as a kid and being giddy beyond belief. There is something magical about looking forward out of a plane versus sideways. I thought it would never happen again. But like a kid in a candy store, up I went, almost speechless. The pilot told me he loved America and hoped to one day visit again. This was unquestionably my favorite flight.
Can you imagine an American pilot inviting an Iranian into the cockpit of a Delta flight?
Friends
Everywhere I turned I found Iranians who had a deep respect and love for America and Americans.
Despite harsh rhetoric between both nations, the visit served as a reminder that while governments might clash, people can still be friends. Nowhere else in the world have I met people so willing to offer their friendship to complete strangers. A sincere thank you to everyone who helped along the way. I only hope that I can one day return the hospitality.
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Great Read!!
I have lived overseas for 8 years and always tell friends and family back home that they can not believe everything they see/read on TV/internet! Your experience in Iran is another one of those examples.
I’ve found that in all the places I have lived and traveled to, the “Common” folks around the world like you and I; the greater the difference the more we are actually the same!
Howdy Paul,
Found your blog thanks to Kelly Penrod’s linking to it on Facebook. Your experience in Iran was similar to our experience in Serbia two years ago. A (non-American) friend told me that there were still a lot of hard feelings about Americans after the NATO bombings of the late 90s. But everywhere we turned, we found nothing but warm, friendly people wanting us to tell everyone back home that Americans were welcome.
http://danube2012.com/2012/06/10/day-16-mohacs-to-apatin/
Looking forward to reading your postings.
Joe
SRC ’89
That was a great read! I’m glad you’re having such great experiences over there. I would love to be able to do the same!
Really enjoying following your entries – keep them coming!
I just watched Lone Survivor on a plane ride from Australia to the US and thought of you towards the end of that movie. (don’t want to give it away if you haven’t seen it)
Cheers
That was an amazing read! Very insightful. I’m an American with Iranian-born parents. I’ve only visited Iran once, and I was eight years old.
I’ve been planning and looking forward to visiting in the next year or two, but your post has me even more motivated and excited now.
Thanks for including all the details and being transparent about your adventure. Love the Iranian hospitality. The ‘tarof’—although a bit over the top sometimes (by our standards)—is a beautiful part of the culture.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful post, Paul. It’s such a privilege to follow your journey, and an inspiration to watch you help build bridges between the peoples of the United States and the Middle East.
Paul, I love reading your blog and seeing your photos. What a fantastic experience. Thanks for sharing! I haven’t been back to Iran in 12 years and hoping to go back with Stephen next year.
This literally made me cry: “Can you imagine an American pilot inviting an Iranian into the cockpit of a Delta flight?” Our walls are so high and fortified, but you, Paul, are punching out bricks, one by one. Thank you.
Love this! My Dad spent a year working in Iran in the 70s, and he keeps saying he wants to show it to us “one day when it’s safe.” I just sent this to him, and hopefully we can convince a family trip to happen soon 😉
Thanks for sharing Paul. I’m amazed at the warmth of the people despite the relationship between the two governments.
Thank you all for the kind words — I hope this is the first trip of many to Iran — perhaps I will see some of you there!
Reposting my comment from the Contact section here in hopes that someone can answer.
Hello Paul,
As your direct contact link does not seem to be operational, I figured I’d pose my question to you here in the comments section to see if you or one of your readers would get back to me on the topic. I’ve wanted to travel to Iran for a long time but have been reticent on account of the seemingly strict regulations and requirements for US passport holders when travelling to the country. After pouring over internet sources ranging from Lonely Planet to Iranian tour operators, your account of unfettered travel access through couchsurfing appears to be the only case I can find of a US passport holder being able to go for travel and touristic purposes who did not have to shell out for a private guide/minder or have to go on one of those awful group tours. As such, I am wondering what you did that allowed your entry visa to be processed smoothly, as I want to go for 2 or 3 weeks at around Christmastime of this year. Did your couchsurfing host sponsor you to the Interior Ministry, or did you still use a travel service to sponsor your visa and just not buy a tour package? Did the contact information and locations of your couchsurfing hosts prove enough of an ‘itinerary’ to satisfy the demands of the Iranian government on us Americans? Someone let me know the answer to these things!!
Hi Robert- thanks for the note on the comment form. I will take a look. Honestly, I did very little research in advance. Since I was visiting so many different countries, the requirements for Iran also seemed onerous and I decided I did not have enough time or money or patience for group travel to make a trip to the mainland work. That is why I only went to Kish, which has an entirely different set of regulations (visa on arrival for Americans). That said, my host did mention that back when he was on the mainland he had heard of Americans CouchSurfing through Iran, so it must indeed be possible — but I cannot personally comment on it. Sorry I could not be of more help — please report back on what you find. Best of luck!
[…] and beautiful stories and photos to show for it. And, perhaps my new favorite blogger, Paul of Beyond the Headlines, has been traveling to various “dangerous” countries and writing about his […]
Paul, thanks for sharing your awesome experiences. So much great stories to read. I got to meet you today in one of the ride sharing platforms. Keep doing what you are doing. You are good peeps.
Thanks, Nelson!
“Our governments do not get along, but the people know better. It makes people want to get along even more.”
thank you, I am happy that there are people who understand what is happening to people around the world.. it is politics which is ruining our lives… I am very grateful to you for your kind words.. wish you luck
I always thought that as an American you had to go into a tour group to be in Iran. Just came across your blog searching about Eritrea. I hope you will keep updating your blog, you always chose nice destinations 😉
The internet needs to know more about those destinations!
Cheers from Brazil
What forms did you use to get a travel visa without a tour group? Just curious?
Actually, Kish is considered a “free trade zone”, so does not require a visa.
This is so encouraging. I wish you well in your travels and thank you for letting me live vicariously through you. I look forward to sharing your blog and travel experiences with my 3 children. I hope they develop a love of this big world too without too much fear. Safe travels and wonderful memory making!