I am sitting in Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel's main airport. There is free wireless internet! The train that runs here from downtown is fast, cheap, clean and new. Israel continues to impress, even with my departure imminent.Sorry Ronald Reagan Airport, you lose again. And no, I will not stop picking on that airport until I find a new target. For the meantime, Ronnie is gonna get it pretty hard from the Four Corners.
Well, first off, security at Ben Gurion is tight, and I mean really tight. Your bags have to go through a machine before you get to the check out counters, and security officials ask you a couple of questions while looking at your passport. They then assign you a "threat" rating of one to six, with one being the lowest threat and six being the highest. I got a five. You heard that right folks, the Israeli security personnel were pretty suspicious of my intentions. I am sure it came from the fact I am traveling alone and have an Egyptian visa in my passport. They asked me some questions about my having been to Egypt. In the end I didn't really face all that big of a hassle, after going through the machine my luggage had to be inspected by hand. They were obviously searching for explosives. It worked out kind of in my favor though, because afterward they led me to the front of the check-in line.
Now that I am waiting here in the huge food court, I can take a minute to detail what I did today:
Not much. That is okay though. Tel Aviv isn't really chock-full of must see sights, and I had pretty much covered everything I wanted to see, so I spent most of the day just wandering around, trying to take in as much as I could before leaving. I did start the day of by going down the Jaffa in the south of the city. Jaffa is said to be the oldest port in the World, and also where some believe Jonah entered the whale (Nobody really believes that, right?). Before leaving my hotel it looked sunny out.....but not for very long. Just as I got into Jaffa it started to pour. I ducked into some shop selling Moroccan goods and waited out the storm. Jaffa was okay. There are are a number of arts and crafts shops in the port area, as well as a big flea market nearby. Jaffa also had a couple of spots that gave great views of the city.
After Jaffa I just spent time wandering around. It poured really hard again at one point, but I found some cover in a snack some that actually had wireless, so I could use my iPod touch for a while. Tel Aviv really is a great place just to wander around aimlessly or do some people watching. Your chances of coming upon something interesting or spotting some neat architecture are pretty high. On the way back to my hotel to pick up my luggage I made sure to walk along the promenade a little more. I felt it would be a fitting way to wrap up the trip. It was.
My flight will probably be boarding pretty soon, so look forward to a recap of the whole trip, as well as some photos, after I get settled back in at 7 Bermuda Road.
This is Adam Kwiat reporting for the Four Corners, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Well, first off, security at Ben Gurion is tight, and I mean really tight. Your bags have to go through a machine before you get to the check out counters, and security officials ask you a couple of questions while looking at your passport. They then assign you a "threat" rating of one to six, with one being the lowest threat and six being the highest. I got a five. You heard that right folks, the Israeli security personnel were pretty suspicious of my intentions. I am sure it came from the fact I am traveling alone and have an Egyptian visa in my passport. They asked me some questions about my having been to Egypt. In the end I didn't really face all that big of a hassle, after going through the machine my luggage had to be inspected by hand. They were obviously searching for explosives. It worked out kind of in my favor though, because afterward they led me to the front of the check-in line.
Now that I am waiting here in the huge food court, I can take a minute to detail what I did today:
Not much. That is okay though. Tel Aviv isn't really chock-full of must see sights, and I had pretty much covered everything I wanted to see, so I spent most of the day just wandering around, trying to take in as much as I could before leaving. I did start the day of by going down the Jaffa in the south of the city. Jaffa is said to be the oldest port in the World, and also where some believe Jonah entered the whale (Nobody really believes that, right?). Before leaving my hotel it looked sunny out.....but not for very long. Just as I got into Jaffa it started to pour. I ducked into some shop selling Moroccan goods and waited out the storm. Jaffa was okay. There are are a number of arts and crafts shops in the port area, as well as a big flea market nearby. Jaffa also had a couple of spots that gave great views of the city.
After Jaffa I just spent time wandering around. It poured really hard again at one point, but I found some cover in a snack some that actually had wireless, so I could use my iPod touch for a while. Tel Aviv really is a great place just to wander around aimlessly or do some people watching. Your chances of coming upon something interesting or spotting some neat architecture are pretty high. On the way back to my hotel to pick up my luggage I made sure to walk along the promenade a little more. I felt it would be a fitting way to wrap up the trip. It was.
My flight will probably be boarding pretty soon, so look forward to a recap of the whole trip, as well as some photos, after I get settled back in at 7 Bermuda Road.
This is Adam Kwiat reporting for the Four Corners, Tel Aviv, Israel.
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