I left early in the morning in the hope of getting a bus to Caracas, little did I know that the only direct bus left at 8.30am and there was only one a day, I didn't get to the bus terminal till about 10.15am. I got a bus to Maicao near the Venezuelan border, then from there I planned to get a bus to Caracas. No such luck, the bus terminal was closed, I got a lift to Maracaibo by some random man, paid him $80 Bolivars, about £25. The journey took about three hours and was in no way comfortable, it took me about twenty minutes to get passed the Colombian customs to get my exit stamp, the bloke working was eating, then the lights kept turning themselves on and off. Finally done I still had to go to the Venezuelan checkpoint, get my entrance stamp, then have my things completely unpacked, searched and then pack them again. This happened three times along the way to Maracaibo, plus the inconvenience of having to get my passport out and show it every ten minutes. Things didn't get much better for me when I finally arrived in Maracaibo, the bloke who gave me the lift just dropped me off in some random place, I had get a taxi to the bus terminal where there were no buses running that night, I had to rough it on a bench till morning. It was so hot and uncomfortable on that bench, I was surprised with myself the fact I kept on falling asleep. When I woke up about 5.50am there was quite a lot going on all around me, I was desperate to get a bus to Caracas as quick as I can, I really didn't want to miss my flight and have to deal with some more inconvenience and spend some more money that I would rather not spend. Some man selling tickets for a bus company said that he had a bus going to Caracas, I got on, confirmed that it was going to Caracas and set off, 6.00am plenty of time.