Ok, we are in Israel. Thank you everyone for the nice comments. I am receiving them in different places. If Sarah(Dallas) says I am sounding like her, uh oh. I can't afford the Four Seasons, save to hang out in the lobby and steal their pens, LOL

Thank ya dear.

____

The bus made its way to the terminal. Again, more stares at my lapel pin.

It was dark and a little cold. I assume most, if not all of you, have seen some pics of the famous Ben Gurion arrivals hall. It says Welcome to Israel in English left, Hebrew(Ivrit) right. It is on the airport website.

There are several Israeli flags, wanted to kiss one, but they were on the other side as there are 2 main staircases going in. I have always used my imagination as to what was beyond those doors. A series of hallways, escalators, this and thats. No.

You walk up the emotional staircase and into the building into a giant arrivals hall.
It is huge, well built, good design, and with high ceilings.

I had to go to the desk and finish writing my passport #. I had half of it memorized. I think I can do it all now as I tried it coming into NY.

Not a bad thing to memorize. That and your DL and of course your American and Starwood frequent flyer and hotel cards. I forgot my stupid Hilton # and didn't have the # with me, oy.

My friend went to the Israel Inspass machine and was gone like a flash. I could NOT say the same. I did take some time to check it out and I was impressed with the place.

A question on flyertalk was do they have a transit area? Yes, they do, they had a big sign for transits, I guess for Europe to Jordan, Cypress, or what have ya.

Ah, the lines were long, I mean really long, and they were not moving.

Israelis to the left, all of us here foreigner people to the right.

I am curious that they don't have a special desk, pre-passport control, for those making a real Aliyah or moving to Israel. I use the term loosely for my visit. It is also what you do at a Bar Mitzvah ceremony when you go up to read the Torah.

I was not pleased with the slowness. --- I had this at Narita. I had one hour to change planes going to Hong Kong and thought, hey, let's go landside and get a stamp. Big, big mistake. Til this one, slowest lines ever and then customs there, too. Barely made it back. Ouch ---

I also know, with all due respect , of the Israeli (and Arab) culture to cut in line. It is a national pastime. Well not in front of me, well, so I thought.

I don't know how they did it but 3 people very subtly cut in front of me. 2/3 was an older couple. I wanted to tell them to go somewhere but passed. I am not in a hurry. Who knows what time the hotel will check me in. I did request an early check in.

When we got up to the railing, thank you for having them!, I put my hands out to both sides, carry on draped over my shoulder and Duty Free bag on the floor. You ain't gonna get past me, ha ha.

The officers, and all women( I like that part), are in very narrow cubicles and you have several cubicles bunched together, kind of weird, to be honest.
An American girl(and cute) in the line to my left looked to her neighbor and said how the officer was being very thorough. Oh yes. The line to my right had an Algerian family, Orthodox Jewish, kippot and all, which had passport problems. The officer would hold up the passport behind the window and point to something. I am sure they were hating life. You could see it. They were there a long time and there were there when I finally left. God bless them.

The sun was coming up in this long wait, I am guessing about 45 minutes or so, maybe more, who knows? they did have a clock in front. I could see the BA logo at the baggage claim ahead where the Israelis were getting their bags, no foreigners, we were all here.

Our line was actually moving. I was wondering what on earth are they doing up there? having tea? LOL (line from a tv show)

Quick flashback. On 2 occassions, one at Zurich and one at Paris CDG. I was in line for passport control when respectively, an ELAL plane came in. Several of the arriving passengers ignored us and went for the front.

I was furious on both counts and at Zurich people made a fuss. The Swiss P/C and police de l'air did nothing, sitting behind the windows. I like how in England and the US we have a gatekeeper who controls the line and sends you to your desk. Then it is harder to cheat.

I will say this politely and carefully. This behavior just doesn't inspire positive feelings for Israelis who do that crap, especially in a foreign country. What are ya thinking? Moving on...

When I got to the front of the line a Hassidim was at the front of his line. He then stood out in front of the railing thinking he was going to go to the first booth that opened. Nah ah. I stepped up and held my ground.

When the dear, cheating older couple who had cut in front of me moved on, it was my turn, and I jammed up.
he he he Don't take me on, LOL.

Ok, now let us see what on earth is taking so long. You look at the passport,check the computer, move me on.
NOT Not here anyway.

She took the passport. I said Shalom but showed I needed English. She took a while and checked my passport, looked at me, checked. Then asked me several questions. How long? why? where? how? blah blah
Do you know anyone in Israel? yes, 2 guys, Dov and Ophir. but I don't know their last names. sorry guys. Probably can't pronounce them either. smile How did you meet them? From an internet travel group(flyertalk).
Do you have any family in Israel? No. (well, technically, I have very distant cousins, relatives that I learned about in our family history) A bunch of Latvians got tired of the place, smile, some went to South Africa, most came to Canada(and then some here, obv), and some went to Israel/Palestine at the time. I have seen pics of them, but I don't know them. So, I said no, which is fair.

I forgot what else but it was a fair amount of questions. I did explain it was my first trip to Israel and she noted that I am alone, something that seemed to be somewhat of a concern. I asked for a stamp and "you want a stamp?"
Ken(yes). Boom. That stamp just knocked me out of most Arab/Muslim countries. The question I have most is with Malaysia, which is Muslim. ( A Canadian was arrested arriving in Lebanon with an Israeli stamp, fyi)

I am done! NOT! First, as long as that took, I was faster than the average person. I would not want to do this on a regular basis. Sorry to say.

Then you head to the exit and there are security people standing there. Ok, they want to confirm that I have been cleared. Nope.

A very cute girl and she reminded me of a beautiful Iranian girl that I knew in college(one of the clubs I was in)
took me to the side. She took my passport and asked me the very same questions that the passport officer had asked me, wow. She was cute, she was polite, and she was professional, but it was a security interview like I have never seen in my life. I assume that if you fly ELAL you don't do this as the first officer asked me what flight I came in on, BA. (note, I say girl to show younger, vs. woman, older)...

She asked me the questions, the biggest one why am I alone? I explained quite frankly, no one else wanted to come.
She dropped it. I also explained that while my stay in Israel is short I am on a long, overall 2 week trip to Europe.
She asked about who I knew in Israel. Explained how we met. I think last names would have helped. Then she could have called Dov at 6am and yanked his chain. smile.

She had a piece of paper in my passport which I wish I had looked at before going to the exit. The first officer makes notes on what they ask you, which the 2nd officer duly looks at. If you are inconsistent with your answers, you ain't gonna like life!

She also asked me if anyone had given me anything to take off the plane. No, I am alone. Think French Kiss where Kevin Kline puts the plant/diamond in Meg Ryan's bag. Something to think about. He gets stopped at customs, she doesn't. Because she is so innocent looking. smile

My cute officer goes and confers with a supervisor in Hebrew. They yacked for a bit. yikes Longer than I would have thought necessary. She came back, handed my passport, and said "have a nice trip." Toda rabah
( by the way, her accent was sexy, too)

Whewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

If I went through that crap everytime I traveled I think I would travel less. Too much. Never expected it on arrival, but on departure, and they ask you more on departure. Oh joy..........

Now to bag claim. It has been so long(same with Cairo) that the BA sign is now down completely. Fortunately, I saw the sign from inside P/C. Now it was an ELAL flight from Bangkok.

However, my bag was not there. Uh oh.

I had that 'prompting' to go check the other caroussel and there it was. I had put a big (kiss up) I love Israel or something sticker on it, maybe that helped.

I walked around the bag claim a bit and grabbed a cart. I can roll the suitcase but took the cart. I saw the way to the Aliyah/Absorption office for immigrants, which is exciting itself.

It is a nice arrivals hall, not too shabby. I should have exchanged money here but there was a line.

I also want to say that I had been strengthened spiritually. I usually get nervous at security, customs crap, but as the religous people on here can confirm, the Lord had blessed me that I was very confidient and relaxed.

If you arrived nervous or fidgety, I think you would get nailed. So I am very appreicative of the strength that I had.

Out to the green channel at customs which I expected would be another E ride at Disneyland. To my surprise, it was empty with one guy sitting in the middle yacking with a woman. Not the dreaded customs hall of LAX Bradley, which I don't care for (too strict) that I was thinking and out the door.