luckykaa

So it's my last day in Tel Aviv. 

Tink took me back to her parents place for a fantastic barbecue lunch.  Ate steak!  And pasta and salad and potatoes and ice cream.  And made sure there were no leftovers.  Saw the place.  It was lovely.  Chatted to the family.  They were lovely.  I'd met Tink's family before and am very fond of them all.

Then it was time to take the car back.  Found my away back to the airport easily enough.  They don't seem to have noticed the extra scratch so that's all fine.  Discussed terrible service in Israel with another passenger.

Then onto the airport. This was extremely tedious. 

Asked a bunch of questions by a security person.  Asked the same bunch of questions and asked why I'd been to the UAE.  Bag went through scanner.  Directed to the search area.  Bag was searched.  Odly enough there was a remote control in there which caused confusion (I'd left it in there when I moved back from Cheltenham).  Got to passport control.  Was pulled out for further checks.  Finally got the shuttle bus to terminal 3 (EasyJet obviously aren't willing to pay the price of a check-in desk in the prestigious international terminal).  Dropped car off at 1527, arrived at gate at 1715.  Have decided to sit down rather than queue for a better seat. 

Sun's setting and it's a Friday so the airport is pretty much closing down now. 

Bought a coffee at the airport.  Order was taken, I was given change and the girl who took my order disappeared and left everyone else to deal with me without actually explaining that I'd made the order or giving me a receipt.  See earlier comment about customer service.

One plus side - free internet. Why do British airports not provide this?  I think it's the only country where this is the case.

Did have a lovely time in Israel despite taxi drivers (that really deserves a rant on its own but not yet).  Really tiring.  Thanks to tinkerbell1980  and medium_jock  for their tour guiding.  They really put in a lot of work.

Up early to set of for the Dead Sea.  Me, Tink, Jock, and

Car troubles as we had a parking ticket (I really don't get the parking restrictions.  Other cars were parked.  There was no sign indicating limitations).  On the other hand, the fine wasn't a terrible price for 32 hours parking.  So, we got into the car, started it and it seemed dead as a dodo.  Thought perhaps the battery was flat but I think it's something to do with the immobiliser.  Called Hertz.  Gave it another go.  It started.  Called Hertz again to tell them we don't need their help after all and we set off. 

Had to fill up and we had service which was annoying.  Would have preferred self service since I speak the same language as the pumps and had more time to work out what I wanted. 

But anyway - enough of that - The trip:

Masada

A UNESCO World Heritage site.  This is the ancient fortified palace in the Judean desert.  Watched a movie about the history of the place.  Well, most of it.  The power went off just before the end.  Took the cable car to the top and saw some history.  Some of the bits of the site were remarkably well preserved.  The site is at the top of a mountain and about 33m above sea level.  This part of Israel is very deep below sea level.  Fascinating place.  Well worth a visit  Overheard someone guiding people talking abut the bathhouse.  And asked them to work out what the question they hadn't asked was (how did the water for baths and the several hundred soldiers get to the top of a mountain in the middle of a desert).  Still don't know the answer to that one.

Dead Sea

So the Dead Sea has resort hotels and a small mall next to it.  Palm trees by the side of the road, showers and changing rooms.  It's clearly pretty popular in-season.  Right now it's off season.  During the winter there's a lot of construction going on and it's pretty empty.  It's a chilly 21 degrees (or perfectly pleasant for hardened Brits). Neta is Costa Rican/Israeli so considers this to be cold.  Tink managed to brave the water.  We eventually persuaded Neta to come in as well. 

Swimming in the Dead Sea is fun!  You just need to sit and you float extremely easily.  It's actually quite hard to stay stable.  Had a lot of fun playing in the water. 

So, have been to Masada and the Dead Sea.  I think those are the remaining Must See places in Israel. 

Hrm...  Hope the hire car's okay.  That crunching noise as I tried to pull onto the kerb did not sound good.  Oh well.  Seems fine.

It's been an enjoyable day.  Am getting to grips with the driving now.  So we drove to the sea of Galilee.  Some 200m below sea level.  It being a tourist destination by a body of water, it has a feel much like any other waterside resort.  Lots of hotels and shops selling buckets and spades and restaurants.  Had a very nice grilled Sea Bass.  Ambled around town.  It's off season, being the middle of winter, so there weren't a lot of people about.  Would have been nice to swim but there's no lifeguard so there was no swimming.  It's pleasant enough in the winter.  Bet it's great in he summer.

So we chilled out in Tiberias a bit, then drove along to Haifa to meet some friends of Tink and Jock.  Two geeky guys with a bookshelf full of RPG gamebooks and a lots of geekery.  After a somewhat roundabout route back the their place, we went out again.  Ate tasty Japanese foods.  Wandered along and saw Haifa from the top of a cliff edge.  Also saw the Baha'i gardens (but only over the wall.  Still a nice view). 

So, got up at 0-my-god-its-early, got the train, then tube to St. Pancras.  Tube took about 20 minutes.  National rail enquiries told me it would take 45.  Had enough time to catch an earlier train and have breakfast.  St. Pancras has been done up nicely since they added the "International" bit to its name.  Had done the online check-in thing so just needed to dump my bag.  Could probably have had another hour in bed. 

Luton airport has the oddity of check-in/baggage drop on one side and departures in a completely different direction.  Was hardly any queue when I got to departures.  About 3 groups of people in front of me.  The people in front of me had a problem so there was a substantial queue by the time it was my turn.  Was flying easyjet, so don't exactly expect any bells or whistles.  As long as they take off at about the right time, and land at the right place I figure they've fulfilled their end of the bargain. 

Arrived at the other airport.  Passport control seemed too easy.  Was squished to death by tinkerbell1980 and said hi to medium_jock .  Went to hire car place.  Was a bit confused because I assumed that I'd already sported out all I was getting with the reservation.  Had fun relearning to drive (automatic on the wrong side of the road (the wrong side being the right side)).  The brakes are a bit sensitive so need a little practice getting to grips there.  Drove fairly gingerly to Tink and Medium's place making sure I had lots of space to slow down and stop.  Relaxing evening - had spaghetti and then saw Little Shop of Horrors.

Now - need sleep!

Things to do:

Sort out hire car*.
Pick up travel money.
Work out train times.
Check travel insurance.
Print plane tickets.
Buy rail tickets.
Print off car reservation confirmation.
Recharge batteries
Add more things to do when I think about them

Things to remember
Passport.
Driving licence.
Plane Ticket.
Car booking reservation.
MP3 player
Money
Washbag.
Clothes**.
Self.
Camera.
Batteries.
Phone
Charger
Hugs for Tink and Feegle.  If anyone wants me to give either of them one (fnar) I'll see how many I can pack.. 
Sandals
Hat


* Not sure whether to go for a Mazda or a Skoda or some cheapy Korean thing.  Went for a Mazda 2.  Hope it's the 1.5 Litre version.
**Just what do I need in Israel in February anyway?