Far From home

Being a single, male, somewhat well-traveled back-packer of Asian appearance in the Middle East, I can understand why I would bring attention to myself in the airport. I had no idea how much however.

I arrived at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv about 2 1/2 hours before departure knowing I might need it. I had a large hiking backpack and a small carry-on bag. I found my check-in area and was immediately taken aside for questioning. As the customs agent and her trainee looked over my passport I could see the red lights begin to flash over the former's face. "Here we go," I thought. "You've been to Egypt? What did you do there? Why were you in Jordan? Did you meet any people in Israel? You spent a lot of time in Galilee, what were you doing? When was the last time you were home? 1 1/2 years?? Why so long?" My story was rather complex which only complicated the interrogation. I didn't want to give away the fact I'd worked on an organic farm because I'm pretty sure "organic" is just an synonym for "terrorism" to the agents. Anyway, I was slightly amused by the whole affair considering I had [little] to hide.

Next, I was taken aside and both my bags and their entire contents were searched and inspected for chemical residue. This was very unamusing. In fact, I was quite vexed because I had spent an hour packing to get it just right. They spared nothing however. It was sheer ruthlessness. They scanned all of the electronics I was carrying and made me take out all my clothes, rain gear, presents, etc.

Then, as if I hadn't been completely violated, they took me into a separate room and had me take off my shoes, my neck wallet, my watch, and scanned these items. Then they patted me down; they went so far as to feel the cuffs of my sleeves and pants!

When I returned to my bag, its contents spilled carelessly around the inspection desk, I took my time repacking. I could hear the customs agent sighing in frustration which made me feel better. The whole process took about two hours. I knew I wasn't missing my plane so I couldn't be too upset but repacking my bag was annoying. When I was cleared, the check-in counter had closed and the agents took care of it. Then they took me through most of the checkpoints to get me to my plane. That was nice of them.

When I stepped on the plane, I felt like I was on the Fiesta deck of some giant cruise ship. There were kids yelling and people talking loudly. "Great," I thought. It gave me great reassurance to know I had my MP3 player. As I pulled it out and tried to turn it on, the screen stayed black. When I tried to turn it off, no luck either. It was broken. Just what I needed.

When we landed, people were clapping. If I ever wonder why I have a disposition for disliking transit in traveling, that day was all the reassurance I need!

Jerusalem! I've dreamt of walking through the city gates of this city for 6 years, and now I'm here! To explain everything in detail is impossible so I'll highlight a few of the main events over the past several days of my time here. In a different post.