She became lost in Damascus while riding towards the Jordan border. Without a guest house
on sight, and no sign of good place to camp, it
was well after dark when she found a pile of dirt
that would shelter her from the busy road, and unwanted attention from opportunists.
“In the night I heard dogs barking and guns firing around me but it never sounded like it got too
close. In the morning, when I was packing up my
tent and move on, I could see a small village in
the distance. Two local men walked over to me,
again they didn’t speak any English, but I knew
what they were trying to tell me. “Why didn’t you
come and sleep in safety with us?””.
After India, Danielle spent 6 months living in Pakistan
waiting for the war in Syria to come a natural end,
but when her Pakistani visa ran out and it looked
like an end wasn’t coming anytime soon, she to get
on with it, and proceed into the war-torn country.
“My biggest concern was just getting into the country. I had no visa and at the time they were considering people with laptops and cameras journalist
and kicking them out of the country.
After almost a whole day at the border, with all my
gear completely stripped down they didn’t find my
hidden laptop, or my camera and they finally let
me through with a police escort to the nearest hotel”.
“Once I was left alone, I was
stopped occasionally by the
military at checkpoints - they
also asked if I had a laptop or a
camera and let me through. After Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, I was
used to these
military checkpoints and didn’t
really blink an eye. Oddly
enough, it had become normal.”
As she rode deeper into the country, Danielle could
see people were interested in her, and when she
stopped for fuel or a bite to eat, they would come
over and try to interact with her.
“I absolutely loved it! They always invited me in for
a cup of chai (tea), even if we don’t understand
each other’s languages. Having a cup of tea is a
language spoken by everyone”.
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“In retrospect it would have been better to have
asked if I could sleep there but it was too dark to
even see the village. Later that day at the border the guards asked me where I slept that night.
When I told them they were shocked I was still
alive” she said.
Syria was an interesting country, but overall I
didn’t really experience it for what it could offer.
The small connections I did make though, meant
the world to me, and at no time did I feel unsafe even if I was riding through a war zone”.
For the everyday person, having a support team
with you all the way on a journey like this, would
be of the utmost importance. Danielle’s support
team included friends and family back home.