Posts

Into Jordan + Petra

Image
  We’d booked a tour company called EcoTours to handle things while we were in Jordan. This was an expensive decision that wasn’t made by me. I tend to take the economical route when traveling, opting for free walking tours (always Google ‘free walking tour’ when you visit a new city!), cheap hostels, and bringing my own snacks… but Dad convinced me this was a better option given our timeframe. He was right. Very, very right. The company, who had been starved of customers for two years, really took care of us. Step 1 was get us across the border!! Standing at the border crossing on the Israeli side, our guides organized our paperwork, explained security, told us what to say, and spoke to guards on our behalf. There’s a sort of barren DMZ area between countries, our Israeli guides waved at us as we walked away and into this zone. Our Jordanian guide would be on the other side  waiting for us! We were the only people in the weird neutral zone, we were surrounded by the desert, and we wer
Post a Comment
Read more

The Drive Across Israel

Image
  I’m generally fearful of riding with my dad in my own country; he’s kind of an erratic driver. Not only is he accidentally erratic, he’s also got a surprisingly poor sense of direction altogether. So I was definitely uneasy about my job as co-pilot for today’s trip across a foreign land. We woke up and got a taxi from Rehovot BACK to Tel Aviv to pick up a rental car. The car was a little silver Honda. Today we would be driving across Jerusalem, into the West Bank, down along the coast of the Dead Sea, and into the border town of Eilat. Eilat sits atop the Red Sea and hosts one of the very few land boarders in the country. Our mission was to get into Jordan, but first we had to do all this driving.  To prepare for my co-pilot gig I’d been studying the traffic laws the entire trip thus far. Things I’d noticed: The traffic lights go from green to yellow to red, but then back to yellow before turning green again. When the lights turn yellow just before turning green- you better already h
Post a Comment
Read more

Final Day in Tel Aviv

Image
  The morning after my excursion to Jerusalem I got to sleep in. Dad had to finish his time at his conference, so he woke up in the morning and left me be. I relaxed for a few hours, but by midday it was time to adventure some more.  The conference, remember, was held in Rehovot, a town about 45 mins southeast of Tel Aviv. The conference organizers were splendid, partially because they had a lot of money to splurge on the attendees. This is because, from what I’ve gathered, they draw their money from a foundation wherein some rich person/people entrusted their fortune to be spent on science, technology, conferences, and the like. Plus it’s general Israeli policy to show non-Israelis how great Israel is.  So therefore we (as in the conference goers, as in not me really, except that at this point I’ve been adopted by the Society as an honorable conference guest because I’ve been eating their dinners and snacks this whole time) had a big day ahead. The organizers set up this long day of t
Post a Comment
Read more

Jerusalem

Image
I get one full day in Jerusalem and that’s it. My guide came for me in his Land Cruiser at 8am. His name is Reuven, he’s Jewish & moved to Israel 40 years ago. I didn’t ask but I’m almost certain he was originally from New York because that accent was unmistakable. Reuven was a kind fellow and also very happy to see me; I was his first tour since Covid! On this trip to Jerusalem I’m introduced to the pure relief the tourism industry is feeling to know that they are close to having their livelihoods back. This relief remains a common topic of conversation throughout the remainder of my trip.  I should mention, before we actually pulled out of the Weissman, Reuven called someone to check for news coming from Jerusalem. Apparently there had been civil disturbances for the two days prior, so he wanted to conduct a quick vibe check. His buddy didn’t answer the phone, which troubled him, but he turned on the local news radio channel to check there. It was exactly 8, so the news program w
Post a Comment
Read more

Lazy Day at the Weissman

Image
  I legitimately did nothing for the first 8 hours of Sunday April 3rd, 2022. I laid up in bed and lounged around the guest house we were staying in at the Weissman Institute. Dad began his conference on this day, so I got to sleep in and finally recoup from my several days of traveling. I’m not normally one to rest during trips out of town. I generally prefer to absolutely run myself into the ground. But the truth is, Rehovot doesn’t have much to explore. It’s kind of a suburb of Tel Aviv where normal people just live and work. No attractions. Well, if you Google “What to do in Rehovot” the most interesting suggestion is to visit the Weissman Institute. So, I relaxed about and watched IRONMAN South Africa online.  The main task of the day was to actually organize the main task for the next day- a tour to Jerusalem. A colleague of my dad’s got us in touch with a few possibilities, but I had to decide on specifics. Honestly this was a pretty stressful ordeal because it was a pricey ende
Post a Comment
Read more

First Full Day (with photos!)

Image
  I woke up on the first morning in Tel Aviv with a start. Disoriented, I peeked my eyes open to see Dad hovering over me, “Leigh Anna, wake up. Let’s go out to the beach, but are you going to run? They have a great breakfast down there. Why don’t you eat and then we can go out and explore some before we hang out in the beach. I want to explore north of here blah blah blah blah.” My god can you give me a second?! I replied, “Ok, hang on, let me wake up.” I closed my eyes to save them from the sharp morning light. I rest, try to gather my thoughts, a few beats pass. I peep my eyes open again to see dad still hovering over me, silent, just looking at me! “CAN YOU GO AWAY?!”  So I was grumpy, Step 1. Step 2- get ready to run. Since Dad was so freaking pumped about walking north, I took off to the south. We’d meet back up in an hour. The promenade was buzzing with beach-goers, even at 9:30am!! I jogged 2 miles along the sea to Jaffa Port, the oldest part of the city. There was something ne
1 comment
Read more

Flight, Arrival, & Initial Thoughts

  The flight to Israel began in New York at 11:55pm. The plan was to be sufficiently exhausted and able to effortlessly float away to dreamland as soon as we reached cruising altitude. However, that so far from what happened. Mainly because I couldn’t get comfortable, but also because of this: At the exact moment our pilot pressed his little foot (or thumb, or pulled up on the joystick, idk) on the gas of that plane, a group of people in front of me screamed “HELP!” out of the darkness. “WE NEED HELP!!” The force of the plane rushing down the runway has me pinned to the back of my seat, but I look up to find all the crew members sprinting forward into the dark aisles. “Help! We need help!” According to my years of expertise in irrational fears on planes, this cry for help means someone has opened the door to the plane and we’re all going to get sucked out of the vehicle if the pilot continues to leave the ground. So I’m panicked. Literally my first thought was someone opened the door.
Post a Comment
Read more