| Submitted by: Mark NowakUnited States |
| Submission Date: 11 February 2005 |
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Copyright 1995 Mark S. Nowak
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February 23, 1995: Chicago -> Amsterdam
February 24: Amsterdam -> Tel Aviv
February 25: Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Caesaria, Mt. Carmel, Haifa
February 26: Haifa, Akko, Nazareth, Cana, Sea of Galilee
February 27: Capernaum, Jordan River, Bet Shean, Jericho, Jerusalem
February 28: Old City, Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, Bethlehem
March 1: Kennedy Memorial, Chagall Windows, King David's Tomb
March 2: Masada, Dead Sea, Caves of Qumran
March 3: Mount of Olives, Holocaust Museum, Valleys of Elah + Ayalon
March 4: Tel Aviv -> Cairo, Suez Canal, Ismailia
March 5: Egyptian Museum, Pyramids of Giza, Memphis, Sakara
March 6: Old Cairo, Alabaster Mosque, Sadat's Tomb, Cairo -> Aswan
March 7: Abu Simbel, Aga Khan Mausoleum, Temple of Isis
March 8: Unfinished Obelisk, Philae, Aswan High Dam, Kom Ombo
March 9: Edfu, Esna, Nile Locks, Luxor
March 10: Deir El-Bahari, Valley of Kings, Colossi of Memnon, Karnak
March 11: Karnak, Luxor -> Cairo, Pyramids of Cheops + Kephren
March 12: Homeward Bound
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I recently returned from an 18-day vacation to Israel and Egypt. I took a packaged Globus Tour. The basic tour cost me $3376.65 (the single supplement was a painful $663 and my airfare was $971). This included all airfare (except for the optional excursion to Abu Simbel in Egypt), hotel stay in 5 star hotels and the boat in which we cruised down the Nile, a good number of the meals, transfers, buses and local guided tours. My Egyptian visa cost me $15. I spent another $315 ($62 in Israel and $253 in Egypt) on optional excursions (tours, dinners and sound and light shows). I estimate I spent another $267 in Israel and $236 in Egypt out of my own pocket while there as well.
Armed with various travel brochures collected over the years, printouts of the wealth of knowledge I collected and compiled from the more than generous people on the net and a very handy and helpful Baedeckers travel book on Israel, I felt confident I had enough information. As far as luggage went, I had my backpack and a sort of rolling duffel bag that could be carried by hand or via a shoulder strap.
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Thursday, February 23, 1995
CHICAGO -> AMSTERDAM
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I took KLM flight 612 to Amsterdam from Chicago at 4:35 PM. I had a window seat on the Boeing 747 (12A). True to form I was sleepy within a half-hour of getting on the plane (perhaps it's reminiscent of being in the womb). At one point during the flight I was having a beer, and I remember being hit with the idea of how cool it was to be traveling -- one of those I'm having fun kind of feelings that brought a smile to my face. Every now and then our position and various flight information like air speed (719 mph) and altitude could be seen on the monitors. The movies were 'Only You' and 'Clear and Present Danger.' We had a tail wind that I heard was 160 mph, so we arrived in 6 and 1/2 hours -- a full hour early. Consequently, we didn't see the end of the second movie. I had seen it before, so I didn't mind. The two others guys in my row were going on to Sweden. We arrived in darkness at 6:30 in the morning (Amsterdam is 7 hours ahead of Chicago).
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Friday, February 24
AMSTERDAM -> TELAVIV
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I had to go through a fairly intense security check before I could board my flight to Tel Aviv. A woman in uniform with short dark hair took me aside and asked me all kinds of questions. There were plenty of guards caring some serious weaponry around. She asked me things like who packed my luggage, how I got it to the airport, why was I going to Israel, why did I choose to fly KLM, what was my itinerary -- when I showed it to her, she commented that I was staying in some nice hotels. When she was through with me, she attached a sticker to my boarding pass that allowed me to enter the gate without going through the same check again. KLM flight to Tel Aviv (flight 507) wasn't until 8:55 in the morning, so I had time to explore the terminal. It was a gloomy rainy day in Amsterdam. There were many duty free shops around, but after checking some of the prices, I decided 'duty free' must be Dutch for 'ridiculous.'
I entered my gate with plenty of time to spare. I was glad because it seemed like they were checking people more thoroughly after I sat down. I even saw them frisking one of the female flight attendants fairly well. I was able to get some sleep on this flight (despite the boy next to me playing with his noisy Gameboy which was nothing less than a tool of the devil). When we flew over the sunny Mediterranean Sea, memories of a wonderful vacation in Greece less than two years ago came rushing back. I could see Greek islands going by, and I started to think worse things could happen than having to land on one of those islands and staying there awhile. We were given entry cards to fill out and keep with us during our stay.
We flew over Tel Aviv and made what seemed to be the lowest turn (to the left) I've ever experienced in a Boeing 747. It was beautifully sunny. One of the first things I noticed when I got off the plane at Ben Gurion Airport onto the rolling step platform were the palm trees. (Why do I live in Chicago? Oh, yeah, ... job, family, PhD work.) A people mover took us to the terminal where a woman with a Globus sign gave me and a few others the scoop about what was going on. While waiting for my bag to arrive, I noticed an advertisement on the wall for the Hard Rock Cafe in Tel Aviv and memorized the address. Our Globus group was small, but we took two shuttles to our hotel. I took the shuttle with Shelley Siskin and her parents, Lois and Lester (Aaron) Deets from Florida with whom I would end up spending quite a bit of time. After me (28), Shelley was the next youngest tour member at 39.
During our drive to the hotel, we noticed cylindrical water tanks and what looked like large rectangular solar cells on rooftops. We would later find out that this is how water is heated by law in Israel. Just three hours of sunlight gives you enough hot water for a day. During cloudy times they have an electric backup. We also noticed that much of the landscaping had hoses running along it. This was part of their water conservation effort. There were holes in the hoses. Water is sent through them at night to cut down on evaporation. We saw these throughout our stay in Israel.
Our scheduled hotel, the Ramada Continental, was apparently booked up, so we were upgraded (so we were told) to the Carlton a few doors down the street. Both hotels were right on the beach. From my room (#829) I could look out over the Mediterranean and see where the sun would set. We wouldn't be meeting until 6:30 as a group, so I quickly got settled, grabbed a map, noticed the Hard Rock Cafe was within walking distance and set off on foot. I didn't take the best route, but I eventually got there. It wasn't until I was on my way that I wondered if there was such a thing as a bad neighborhood in Tel Aviv. I walked past a Subway sandwich place which was encouraging. I saw a lot of cats on the streets. I noticed that a lot of the women wore shoes with huge heels, some fanning out somewhat towards the ground. At the Hard Rock Cafe I sat at the bar and talked with the bartender while enjoying a Hard Rock Cafe Hurricane. Since I worked for Motorola, he told me that recently a competitor had come in with drastically reduced cellular prices that had made cellular phones much more affordable to people there. Before I left, I bought another Hurricane glass for my friend Marion at home. I used my VISA card and tipped with American dollars.
At the 6:30 orientation meeting, 38 of us sat in a square against the wall of fairly large room in the hotel, sipping wine and getting briefed by our 62-year-old Israeli tour director and guide, Rami Gal. Rami told us we didn't have to change money, that everyone would accept American money and give us change in Israeli shekels if they didn't have change in US dollars. I asked if that included fast food places, and he handed me 50 shekels, telling me that he wanted it back if I didn't have any trouble paying for food. The currency exchange rate was about 3 shekels to the dollar. Throughout my stay I noticed rates that ranged from 2.75 to 3.01 shekels -- the 2.75 was at the Ginosar kibbutz on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We talked a bit and started to get to know each other. Then, Rami took some people to a restaurant for dinner. I was able to convince Shelley, Lois (68) and Lester (75) to walk to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner since I now knew the shortest route. Even so, the length of the trip generated some complaints. We had a coupon from the hotel for a free drink with dinner. Shelley and I had something local made with oranges. The Deets treated me to dinner. On our way back we walked by the theater near our hotel and noticed that 'Nell' and 'Forrest Gump' were playing there. I wasn't able to convince the others to see 'Nell.' I turned in around 10:00.
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Saturday, February 25
TEL AVIV, JAFFA, CAESARIA, MT. CARMEL, HAIFA
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I woke up around 1:15 in the morning unable to sleep. I was wide awake. I could hear a night club outside my window playing music with the same repetitive beat hour after hour. It ended up making for some hilarious conversation later on. I ended up watching two movies I had already seen -- a WWII bomber movie and 'Henry and June.' After an American style breakfast, I gave Rami back his 50 shekel note before we got onto the bus. Our bus driver's name was Baruch. Israel has about five and a half million people, over four million of them Jews. We started our tour with a bus trip to Jaffa where we had a great view of Tel Aviv, saw some date palm and fig trees and some artwork and the Church of St. Peter (Peter raised the girl Tabitha from the dead there). Napoleon had been there, Jonah is supposed to have set sail from there before being swallowed by a fish and according to Greek myth Andromeda was chained to the rocks there until she was saved from a monster by Perseus. It was also the site where pilgrims would begin their two-day journey to Jerusalem. It would take us about the same time, but our route would cover a lot more distance.
We learned that the word tel as in Tel Aviv meant that the location was the site where up to something like 20 civilizations had built on top of each other. |
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| Copyright © - "Mark Nowak" |
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