Blogs from Israel, Middle East - page 15

Ok, This is the first blog I have ever written and it will center around my trips overseas from the US mainly for business purposes. It is really designed as a helpful tool when traveling through foriegn airports and into other countries. I will talk a lot about the airports I go through and try to give a few tips on how to make it through all the security and other stuff without going crazy! I just got back from a quick trip to Israel, one of my favorite places to visit whether on business or site seeing. Getting through Ben Gurien Airport, Tel Aviv, can be a bit daunting but do not be scared as thousands of people do it everyday. When you get out of the airplane you will head down the ramp towards ... read more

While Aimee toured the apartment with our real estate agent, Israel T., and the boys quickly picked their rooms - thankfully no fight to the death there - I continued with the big shlepp. Happily, and contrary to our expectations, our building has an elevator. Unhappily, the elevator appears to have been designed with Biafrans in mind, holding a maximum of 4 very skinny people, provided that they stand straight with their hands to their sides, all inhale and hold their breath, and are carrying absolutely nothing. But it works. So I loaded it up, pressed the button, and raced it up the stairs to the third floor where I unloaded, pressed the button and then raced it down the stairs. Repeating this five times, I got all our stuff into the apartment. The Apartment. Very ... read more

On the next day, the group of us from the hostel headed out to the West Bank. There were two Brits and two Americans. We took a sherut to the Bethlehem checkpoint, and as usual, it was unclear what to do in crossing into the West Bank at the checkpoint. After we crossed through, we were accosted by Palestinian drivers wanting to show us around the West Bank. We began to walk away, and finally a decent driver talked with us, and offered us a good price to go to Hebron and Bethlehem. The driver ultimately was what made the trip to the West Bank so successful. Our first stop in the West Bank was the “security wall” that Israel erected in order to supposedly protect itself from the people living in the West Bank. On ... read more

On Monday I left Amman for Israel and the West Bank. I had stayed the night with one of Tad’s friends from CIEE who graciously allowed me to stay with him. After waking up early, I took a taxi from Paris Circle to the north station, which I managed thanks to Tad’s Arabic tutoring. Normally people take a shared taxi from the North Station to the King Hussein / Allenby border crossing for like 5JD, but I got really lucky and a bus to the Allenby bridge was leaving just as I got to the station and I was able to hop on for 3JD. The bus wasn’t even remotely full. Quite lucky really. After driving through the desert for a while, with some towns interspersed, you arrive at the border crossing. I have never been ... read more

My arrival into Israel was, as anticipated, a bit tricky… After the flight from hell, where I was bombarded with a continuous promotional spiel from a screeching stewardess, the last thing I needed was a grilling from Israeli security. Unfortunately, a few ‘undesirable’ stamps in my passport meant that I was grilled at passport control for about 10 minutes. She then gave me a piece of paper in my passport, which, little to my knowledge, informed the next set of interrogators that I was ‘dodgy’, and so I was again pulled to one side and grilled by two security staff on the baggage collection floor, for a further 15 minutes. (This was actually quite mild I’m told… some people are held for hours, often without explanation!) However, after pulling out my guide book, making great exclamations ... read more

Dear all, Yes,... I'm away on my travels again! First, I have taken the liberty of adding new email addresses to my subscribers, if anyone (new or old) would like to be unsubscribed from my updates (and you're not able to do this yourselves) please contact me and I can remove your e-mails from the list. Don't worry, I wont be offended.... I know that my blogs can be lengthy at times and you lead busy lives... or it may be that I haven't spoken to you in years and therefore, I probably won't be that @rsed anyway! To all of you who stay with me... Welcome! So, as some of you may know, I recently relocated to Manchester and returned to University to study a Masters in International Development. My course concentrates on conflict and ... read more

So on Tuesday I went to the Carmel Market and craft market to try and talk to some Taglit/Birthright groups. I went out with the other intern Josep and we took some flyers for the West Bank tour that Windows offers. It's a free tour that we offer to Taglit members (and any one else who wants to go) to educate people about the West Bank and the Palestinians and their living situation. It was awkward when I started as I didn't want to step on any toes or offend the people I was talking to. A lot of people that go on birth right are very biased in favor of Israel, not that its a bad thing, but it makes them reluctant sometimes to consider other points of view. The birth right tours are geared ... read more