May 11th, entering Israel

May 11th

I did not go to sleep last night because I flew out a bit after 3:00 and I had no idea how long it would take me to get through security at the Cairo Airport. It is a good thing too because it took them over 3 hours to process me. After waiting in line forever Israeli security pounced on me. Apparently single males, traveling alone, from Cairo, without any determined place to stay in Israel, raise some red flags with Israeli security even if they look like a BYU Mormon boy. The two female security officers grilled me for over an hour and a half. "Where have you been? Are you traveling Alone? Why? How long were you in Luxor? Where did you stay? Do you have a receipt? Why not? What do you do? Do you have a student i.d.? Where did you go in Cairo? Can you show me pictures? Do you have a bomb? Why are you coming to Israel? Why now? What do you mean you love Hebrew Culture? Do you know that the Hebrew Scriptures and the Old Testament are not exactly the same? How many people are in your family? Where do they live? Why are you coming to Israel again? What were you flight numbers to Egypt? Where were your layovers?....."and it went on. Finally I convinced them that I was not a terrorist and they decided that they would let me on the flight, but only after they searched my bag. So I unpacked my bag and they gave most everything a good chemical swabbing.

When I finally go through I met a very nice older couple who were on the same flight with me. They approached me and chuckled saying that they did not think that I was going to make it through. The woman said that she had watched the whole thing and that she knew more about me and about my trip than she did about her own children. It turns out that she did know a lot. Her next question was a surprise to me when she asked me if I had served a mission. I said that I had and she said that the BYU hat gave it away and that although they were Jewish, they were from Southern California and knew many Mormons. They turned out to be some of the friendliest people that I have ever met. We discussed our different trips in Egypt and what we planned to do in the Holy Land etc...

When I finally got into Tel Aviv I was stopped at the customs desk once again. Well, at least I am out of Cairo and stuck in the airport. It turns out they had more "concerns" about me and my traveling in Israel. So I had three different interviews with three different people over the course of one hour. They finally let me through and wished me a happy trip. Next thing to do was to find my rental car.

I got my car, looked at my map, and was off for Jaffa. At this point I had gone about 28 hours without sleep and was beginning to feel it. Nothing like trying to navigate in a country that you have never been in while trying to drive to a city you have never been to, where only half of the road signs have English translations, on hardly any sleep. Regardless, I made it to Jaffa without any serious problems. Once there however, it did take ma almost another hour to find the hostel that I would be staying at in the heart of the Old City. Once there I was greeted by a very rude lady with a nose ring. (A lot of girls in Israel have nose rings) I checked in but was then informed that I could not occupy my room until 11:00. Great, what to do for three hours. So I wandered the town. I actually met up with some other people staying in my hostel who turned out to be very nice. I actually got to share the gospel with them a little bit. All it takes is for me to say that I am from Utah and the questions start coming. I am a little bit frustrated with myself for not being very prepared. I didn't think that I would be sharing the gospel much in the nations I would be staying in. It never occurred to me to think about other travelers. The best I could do was answer their questions and give them the church's missionary website.

At 11:00 I finally was able to get some sleep. I woke up at about 5:00 and went out for a stroll around Jaffa just before the sun set. The coastal city is beautiful. I walked among the old buildings and had some sea food for dinner. Watched the sunset and just unwound after my two nonstop days of traveling. I wish I had more time to spend there but the next morning I was off to Cesarea and many more sights.