Day 5, 08/04 - Patience is my new friend:
Things went more or less as expected: At 08:00am sharp Mohamed Salim picked me up to take me to the Durra border where my Jeep was still parked.
After finishing the paperwork from this border and installing the Jordaninan license plates (for a 10km drive only!), we drove to the Wadi Araba border point. Because they seemed to have issues
with their electronic system, things were going slow again and we had to do what I'm really good at now: We had to wait. So we chilled for a bit with a nice coffee at a café near the harbor and
returned to the border point a bit later.
Here, my luggage was checked again and presently we're waiting for the customs office to reply and give me the exit approval.. Hope it's gonna happen today! ;)
Day 5, 08/04 - Stuck in Jordan:
I'm laughing and shaking my head while I'm writing these lines: I'm feeling a bit like Tom Hanks in "The Terminal"..
Mohamed and I had been waiting for about 5 hours at the border point for the processing of my customs declaration. Well, it turned out that not only the electronic processing system is really
slow, also they informed me that somebody made a mistake entering the data into the system.. On a specific paper, there was another number confusion which could not be resolved today, preventing
me from exiting the border. As hard as I tried, but there was absolutely nothing I or they could do about it. At least I got a special approval to drive around Aqaba with the Jordanian plates..
Yay!! So once again: Change of plan!
I've booked myself into the Double Tree Hilton and will have to spend another night in Aqaba. Tomorrow morning - so they promised -
the issue will be eliminated and I'll hopefully be cleared to exit towards Israel. They better make it happen, otherwise the schedule is really getting tight in terms of catching the ship in
Haifa on the 11th..
Wish me luck!
Day 6, 09/04 - Progress!!! Dead Sea:
This morning, Mohamed Salim and I came early again to the Wadi Araba border checkpoint. To my surprise, the issue was all sorted out and within 45 minutes, my Jeep and I were processed to be able
to exit Jordan!
On the other side, at the Yitzhak Rabin Border Terminal, the processing went a lot faster than I expected! I had a short interrogation about the purpose of my visit, my background, etc. and was
immediately forwarded to unload the car for all my luggage to be scanned. When the car was empty, they took it to a workshop for a security inspection. After the baggage check was done, I got my
entry visa and could proceed to buy my car insurance immediately. A helpful lady told me to wait for a bit and offered me a coffee. While I was waiting near the workshop (all doors closed due to
confidentiality) I figured that they were giving it a very thorough check (I could hear them taking off the wheels - including the spare wheel since a guy asked me for the nut lock that's holding
it).
All in all the whole process (baggage check, visa, insurance, customs declaration, inspection) only took less than 2 hours!! And off I went to En Bokek!
The single lane road was not that spectacular, but the more spectacular was my car to the security guards upon arriving at the hotel that I booked myself into.. When checking in, they seemed to
be a bit mistrustful - which I totally understand since you don't see Arabic license plates in Israel that often.. A short explanation and showing my documents soon eliminated their doubts.
I couldn't wait to take a dip into the Dead Sea - another tick on the bucket list!
It feels really funny! You can't really swim using your legs since they hardly sink under the water level! And beauty fanatics would probably enjoy this place a lot: The ground is not sand, it's
all salt in this area! perfect for a free body scrub.. ;)
After playing around a bit I went back to the hotel to wash off that salt and look for a decent place to have some dinner..
Day 7, 10/04 - From the Desert to the Sea:
After a quiet night in En Bokek, I departed the Dead Sea around 09:00am and drove towards Arad for a fuel stop and thereafter for a short visit to Jerusalem where I initially had planned an
overnight. Due to the circumstances in Aqaba, the plan was changed again, but I still didn't wanna miss out that historical city.
Upon arrival, I parked the Jeep and walked for about 2 kilometers until I reached the Old Town nd strolled through its little souk-like alleys to the Western Wall Plaza. The square in front of
the famous Western Wall was not very busy which gave me the chance to quickly pass the security checkpoint and actually stand right in front of the historical place of worship. You can notice
that all the gaps and crack in the wall are stuffed with noted containing prayers. The notes (over a million per year) are collected - including those who fall back on the ground - twice a year
and buried on the nearby "Mount Olivet". After respectfully watching some men (locals as well as tourists) doing their prayers and following their action, I slowly started walking back towards
the newer city center. There, I listened to some really good street music for a while on Zion Square. Unfortunately I was tight on schedule since I still had to make it to Haifa today, so I
enjoyed a last great interpretation of "Nothing Else Matters" by the Jewish ensemble of a male guitarist & singer and a female violinist and departed on Highway 6 again, passing Tel Aviv and
continuing on Highway 2 along the shoreline. Finally, I had a view over the Mediterranean Sea!!
After another quick fuel stop and a well-deserved car wash (I still had hundreds of Saudi butterfly corpses splattered all over the Jeep which I caught in the windy mountains shorty before
reaching the Jordanian border) there were only 70km left until I would reach Haifa. Since I had been traveling without mobile internet and my GPS database didn't include Israel, I decided to stop
in the "German Colony" in Haifa where I randomly picked a very recommendable restaurant - "Fattoush". A decent meal, a beer and a wifi-connection later, I found the address of the Rosenfeld
Shipping Company which was nearby and got an idea about where to be in the morning to hand in my documents and get the shipment of my Jeep done.
So far, I am a bit proud to actually have made it all the way up here despite the two little setbacks (the initally declined Saudi transit visa and the customs declaration issue in Aqaba) which
had cost me 4 days after all!
• 3263km
• 4 countries
• 3 major bucket list items
• already a ton of experience
Let's hope tomorrow will run as smooth as the last two days. Have to be at Rosenfeld's office at 10:00am. The plan is to put the
Jeep on the ship, let it sail to Lavrio, Greece where it's supposed to arrive on Sunday night (while I will spend two nights in Tel Aviv). Then I'm gonna catch a plane to Athens, go to Lavrio,
release the Jeep and continue towards Larisa and Thessaloniki.
But now it's time to catch some sleep first..
Day 8, 11/04 - Smooth Operator:
Another sunny morning in Israel for the early birds. I had a short semi-satisfying breakfast and departed the hotel early enough to the Rosenfeld Shipping Office. Long beforehand in the
planning stage I had been in email contact with Galina for the reservation and clarification about which documents were required for the shipping.
Went to finally meet the nice lady from St. Peterburg in person at 08:30 eventhough they had told me to be at their office at 10:00. You might imagine that I didn't want to take any chances
to miss the ship since it only runs on a weekly basis from Haifa to Lavrio. So we had enough time to settle the fee payment, documentation and permission to enter the port and a little
chitchat. She told me there is another guy from Sweden (Jonny) who is shipping his BMW motorbike. He arrived together with his girlfriend Jennifer, and they will take the motorbike up to
Sweden. Jonny and I took our rides to the port to get the paperwork done and put the vehicles on the vessel "Alexo" operated by Salamis Lines which was supposed to depart Haifa in the late
afternoon at 17:00.
While the customs paperwork for my Jeep was handled pretty quickly, Jonny had some bureaucratical issues with his bike (funny story), but eventually everything went well and the vehicles were
loaded onto the vessel.
About Jonny's story: Strange regulation - If you import a vehicle into Israel, it cannot be older than three years. After that expiry, you have to take the vehicle out of the country and are only
allowed to bring it back in again after it has been outside the country for three months! Apparently he should have done that one and a half years ago, which he obviously didn't.. So quite
recently the police knocked on his door and were going to confiscate his bike! And here we are.. ;)
After everything was sorted, the three of us had a drink at a café near Rosenfeld's office and went to the nearby train station to depart Haifa.
While we were standing on the platform waiting for the train, we could see "Alexo" departing the Haifa port. The train ride to Tel Aviv took about an hour, Jennifer and Jonny continued to
Jerusalem where they have been living for the last two years. On Sunday, we will all meet again at the Ben Gurion Airport to take a flight to Athens, then take a bus to Lavrio to stay overnight
and release the vehicles on Monday.
I just arrived at the Armon Yam Hotel where I'll be spending the next three nights. Finally some time to relax after the first half of the mission is completed!!
But let's check out Tel Aviv's nighlife first..
Day 9, 12/04 - Tel Aviv:
After finding a nice hotel in Bat Jam last night, one of Tel Aviv's beach areas, I met up with Romy and her friend Kate, who happen to be on vacation in Israel and we went out to experience
Tel Aviv's nighlife. Romy was part of the Etihad Snowteam a couple of years ago before she left the company and started her new job in a European airline, her being based in Lyon. It was
great to catch up after not having seen each other for three years.
We went to some nice places, had dinner at the "Room Service" and afterwards headed to "Sputnik", a place the waiter recommended to us.
It's a great club with a nice and chilled atmosphere. There are several outside and inside areas with all kinds of music, depending on your desire to just chill or dance. We stayed till dawn,
shared an Uber to our accommodations and then said goodbye since the girls continued their trip to Jerusalem today while I will stay in Tel Aviv until Sunday.
After a good rest I went out to the beach in the early afternoon where I found several cool beach bars playing some good chill out tunes. While enjoying the mediterranean vibe, it was hard
not to spot the 80-100 kitesurfers on the water enjoying the stong breeze and the waves. Stayed there for a couple of hours until sunset, then decided to go back to the hotel for a little
rest and to get ready for the night, but I completely passed out and woke up at 6:00am on Day 10! :D
Day 10, 13/04 - More catching up in Tel Aviv:
How small is this world?!? This morning I saw on Facebook that a former colleague who I did my A330 training in airberlin with is on a layover in TLV and staying in Jaffa! So Hardy and I met up
in the early afternoon and had lunch in a cool marina café ("The Container"). Turns out he now works for the same company I will be flying for! Former and future colleagues!! :)
While he had to get some rest before having to fly back to Germany, I found a cool beach club near to the Hilton ("Hilton Bay"). It's so great to see the positive vibes in this city. Smiling
faces everywhere, locals enjoying their time off, dancing to the music and having fun!
Lateron, I met two Germans from Munich who told me there's gonna be a rooftop party at their hotel.. Went there after a relaxing afternoon at the beach bar. The location
was really good, but it was a little suspicious that the percentage of male guests at that rooftop party was at about 90%.. Sebastian and Wolfgang soon called it a night and - no offense! -
after I felt myself surrounded by too many male guests hitting on me, I quickly decided to take off.. I googled for a place with live music and was
lucky: Found
the "Barby"! Yeaaah, I know, the name doesn't sound too promising, but there was a great soul/funk/rock band rocking the place! The 11 people combo from "The Paz Band" really knows how to
entertain their audience! The front singer, Gal de Paz, has such an amazing voice - something reminding me of a mix between Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Anastacia, and many more!! :) The
place was packed and again you could feel the people's vibes and how everyone not only enjoyed, but LIVED their music!! Stunning!!
After the show, I met Ayelet, their manager and also "Gal de Paz", their front singer! They're gonna be touring 3 shows in Germany in July: Hamm, Hannover and Bielefeld!
For tourdates, see their facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/thepazband .
Day 11, 14/04 - Off to Europe:
After one night at the Dead Sea, three nights in Tel Aviv, some random catching up with old friends, quite a few good memories and experiences richer, it's time to say
goodbye to Israel. I have been in touch with the Swedish couple Jennifer and Jonny whom I'll meet at the airport since we'll share an El Al flight to Athens at 14:00. Since apparently there
are special and independent security checks for El Al, it's recommended to be at the airport earlier than usual. So I had a quick breakfast and took an Uber to Ben Gurion Airport, Terminal
3.
And the recommendation was worth a lot! Before checking in, I was interrogated agsin for about 10 minutes, then checked in my bag and proceeded to the security checkpoint. The check was very
thorough, every item in my hand luggage was checked by taking swipe samples and scan them for traces of explosives. X-raying my laptop took them about 10 minutes.. Some 20 minutes later I was
good to go and started walking towards gate E9. Then I spotted that the flight is delayed by two hours - not really a big deal since we weren't planning to release the vehicles before
tomorrow morning.. Time for a snack and a drink.
In the past two days I have been tracking our vessel "Alexo" to confirm no major acts of nature would happen resulting in our vehicles to be found at the bottom of the
Mediterranean Sea.. ;)
The vessel's ride seemed to have been smooth so far. It had a stop in Cyprus yesterday and is supposed to arrive in Lavrio on time this afternoon.
