Georgia was beautiful. My biggest regret, if any, was just how short the trip was. We arrived in Georgia on Friday night at about 10:00 PM, having left Abu Dhabi at 6:30 PM, so the flight was about 3.5 to 4 hours. We flew with our trusted Wizz Air, and other than my travel buddy and I arriving at the gate during the last call, despite being at the airport three hours before, all went well.
Lesson learned: before you start drinking, check the boarding time and make sure not to confuse it with the gate closing time. Running across the airport may look cute in movies, but when you’re in the situation, it’s a lot of heartache due to how unfit you are and the dread that you may not make it in time.
We landed in Kutaisi as Wizz Air doesn’t have flights to Tbilisi. We had read up that those with UAE residence permits get a VISA on arrival to Georgia, and this turned out to be true. Other than being kept to the back of the line and grilled on our return ticket, hotel booking, and the funds we have and whether they would be enough to sustain us, we ended up getting into Georgia VISA-free. We weren’t happy about the former, but getting in VISA-free and saving the buck we would have spent on the VISA did well to soothe the wound 😂.
What you will love about Kutaisi airport is that there are regular buses to and from Tbilisi, timed to align with the flights landing at the airport. So after we were done with passport control, we found a kiosk within the airport that sold tickets to Tbilisi for 25 GEL per person. With tickets booked and cash withdrawn from the ATM, at about 11:15 PM, we set off on our journey to Tbilisi. On the three or so stops we had on our way to Tbilisi, one thing that stood out was just how massive the dogs were; awfully cute too (for how massive and a lot like wolves they looked), but being scared of dogs from an ordeal when I was younger, I just admired the beauties from afar.
We got to Freedom Square at about 3 AM. The bus had WiFi, which came in very handy for us since we didn’t have time to buy a SIM card at the airport. So before the bus set off, I used Bolt to book a taxi, and we were off to our hotel. Let me tell you, Maina, we were not ready for the roads, especially as we got to our accommodation, which was a pretty hilly place. At some point, I was praying the driver wouldn’t get distracted by anything, otherwise, we would go back the way we came.
A blocked road, phone calls to the hotel, and Google Translate, we made it to the hotel. We got three hours of sleep, and the next morning we were up and on our way to the meetup for our day trip. We got tickets on getyourguide.com, and they indicated the pick-up and drop-off point. Maps showed us that we could easily walk there, but after getting directions from three different people and still finding nothing, we took a taxi and headed there.
Our day trip was amazing and had a wide range of tourists. There was an old German couple, three sisters from Singapore, a Chinese guy who works in Berlin (yes, he made sure to mention that in his intro, which is why I add it), a Georgian couple, a brother and sister, and their cousin all from Germany, and the both of us from Kenya. We started off with wine tasting in Kakheti. This was around 11 AM, and by noon, after four glasses of wine, one shot of chacha (the local drink with an alcohol percentage of about 50%), and a shot of brandy, we were goners. This, coupled with the fact that our last meal was a shared McDonald's Happy Meal at the airport, did not help.
We stopped for Georgian bread and cheese, and the bread helped absorb some of the alcohol in our systems. Or at least for one of us. After the monastery visit, we went on to a nearby town where we walked along the wall of Georgia, which George from Georgia (I bring it up because he mentioned this), our guide made fun of, walked around the town, and were told the sad story of a great Georgian artist who sold all he had and bought lots of flowers (and this was a lot because apparently the dude was rich) for a French woman who rejected him.
After this, he turned to the bottle and used to sleep under bridges and tunnels (which did I mention Georgia has a lot of) till he died. He continued to paint, and as most great painters' stories go, his paintings became worth a fortune after his death. In conclusion, fear women and travel to Georgia, my loves. Our trio ended in Signagi where we did another round of wine tasting, had some food at the beautiful restaurant.
See pictures above of the hotel rooms they had there, and then set off to town to hug the 900-year-old tree. What? Tradition is tradition, man!
That marked the end of our trip, and we got back to Tbilisi at about 8 PM to protests, which, according to George from Georgia, were about police brutality against women. What was intriguing for me was that they had the protests in the evening, post a workday, and that they went with their kids. Can never be me going to a protest in Nairobi, let alone with my child. After getting ourselves a nice bottle of red wine for 7 GEL, we got back to the hotel to chill and rest up for the next day.
Sunday came with finding a way to explore, get back to Kutaisi so we could make it for our 10 PM flight. After breakfast, getting ready, and packing up, we set off to town. We wanted to book the bus ticket before, but when we got to Freedom Square and asked, we were told that you buy the ticket inside. With that, we set off to Narikala to walk around and get on the cable car.
It was beautiful getting an aerial view of Georgia and being in nature. Reminded me of my days hiking with Let’s Drift- Good times those ones!
From our research, we thought we would check out the church, hike around, and then catch the cable car down, but when we asked a British couple that was also hiking there, they let us know that we couldn’t access the cable car from there and we had to go down. This was at 3 PM, and by the time we got there, there was a long line, and we had to get back to Freedom Square for our bus.
Turns out Georgian bus does not stop there and is somewhere else (I write somewhere else because I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the place). Ask the city bus tour guides at Freedom Square, and they will guide you.
All in all, we made it back to Dubai, despite a turbulent flight! I hope this sold Georgia enough to you. If not, the VISA-free part and the amazing wine should have, no?
