Day #243 - Tel Aviv, Israel

Nice beach chairs and umbrellas

Great sand and very clean beach

A look down the coastline of Tel Aviv

Sailboats everywhere today

Israel flag - flying at the beach

A view from the cliff above

Sunrise over Israel on my Tarom flight

Friday, November 12th

I'm coming to you live at 6am aboard Tarom Flight 155 bound for Tel Aviv, Israel. I feel really good considering my 4 hours of sleep last night.

I've been anxious about this trip the past few days. But, this morning, things have changed. I was sitting in the waiting lounge before boarding. The area was packed - 4:45am. There were 2 huge tour groups heading to Israel on my same flight. One group had on bright yellow caps for identification. They were all seated - dutifully reading through their travel itineraries. The second group gathered in a circle. They were hurriedly filling out a form handed to them by their guide.

I was melting away in my chair. 'I can do this'. 'I belong here'. I put on my headphones. If I had a wing-man along - I would have simply said: "We're gonna have a good time." The response I'd be looking for: "Always". This is the most relaxed and confident I've felt in days.

LATER

It's 7:30pm. I'm sitting here in my hotel in Tel Aviv. Today was a great day. I honestly think this is partly true because I had a good attitude coming in. I landed at the airport at 8:30am - a 2-1/2 hour flight from Bucarest, Romania. I got the third degree from the customs folks on my way to baggage claim. They are always fascinated with what I'm doing. "So, you're by yourself, you have no friends, nobody is waiting for you. How do you plan to manage? What are you going to do right now?" I simply state: "I plan to go pick up my bag and get some money from the ATM. Then I plan to figure out how to get to my hotel. And then -- we'll see". I had to show him my credit cards. This guy ended up being very nice. He suggested a way to my hotel and gave some other tips on travel.

I took a taxi to my pre-booked hotel. I show up to find out there are no rooms available. Someone had instantaneously booked a room on Booking.com right before me last night. The hotel had sent me an email and called the number I provided - but I had went to bed right after I made my reservation. The number I always provide is to my parents home - because I have no phone with me. This is the second time on my journey someone has called my mom asking weird questions. I believe I failed to mention that my sickness prior to the Machu Picchu Marathon was some strange water-born bacteria that I had picked up in the French Riveria - presumably from drinking the water from the hotel. They were calling to ask where I had been so they could warn the authorities in the area. They asked my mom where I was currently. She said: "Ummm. He's currently in Peru participating in a marathon". Very nice.

The cancelled booking wasn't a problem. It was very early in the day. The people at the hotel were very helpful. They felt bad - although it wasn't anyone's fault. They helped me get a hotel in a good neighborhood. I then took a taxi up the road.

I found out my room wouldn't be ready until 2pm - it was about 10am. Where do I go? I went to one of the best beaches I've been to on the entire trip. Wow. Tel Aviv, Israel is a sleeper city for sure. This place is great. You can walk around town with no worries. I had been told by others that this city is very near western cultures. I'd agree. The beaches were awesome. (see pics). And - they extended the entire coastline of the city - probably over a mile or so. I walked the whole thing. And then just relaxed for a while.

I'm trying to learn about world religions and the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the next 4 days. It's a cram course. The major religions ranked in order of adherents (2009): Christianity - 2.26 billion (33.3%), Islam - 1.43 billion (21.0%), Hinduism - 900 million (13.2%), Atheist - 799 million (11.77%). These 4 categories make up about 80% of all the people in the world. Judaism is made of 15.6 million (0.23%). I was really surprised to see this low number.

I'm also learning alot about Israel itself. First off, The Gaza Strip is a slender piece of land located on the southwestern portion of the country. It locks up against Egypt. I've been informed that this area is certainly a "no travel zone". Actually, you couldn't get there if you wanted to because of all the security. I'm still having trouble with the West Bank. I'm learning that there are 2 different Palestinian factions: Fatah (the traditional dominant party) has control of the West Bank and Hamas (later electoral challenger) has control of the Gaza Strip. It appears that the West Bank is not as volatile. Then - there's East Jerusalem - not sure yet how this fits into the picture.

Anyway - a really great and interesting first day in Israel. Tomorrow I head into Jerusalem to meet up with one of my sister's friends - Debbie. She will be meeting me at the newly renovated Israel Museum. I'll then be staying at her place tomorrow night. I have so many questions unanswered. It's embarrassing at just how little I know about Judaism and it's customs. Debbie picked up on this pretty quick. She was like: "How are you going to get to Jerusalem - no one drives on the sabbath (Saturday)." Whoa -- I've got alot to learn.

Good night from Tel Aviv.