myefre

apirchik

It seems like it's not going to rain to heavily tomorrow so we'll try and go on the walking tour. We'll meet at 11 AM in front of the Adiv Hotel, look at the sky and see from there.

To all that arrive today (and yesterday) - Welcome to Israel!!! I really hope you'll enjoy your stay here. Have fun tonight with Dov. I'll see you all tomorrow morning. Please save one of those Tia Maria TimTams for me ...

MSY-MSP

Well I am writing this to you from the comfort of the executive lounge in the Dan Eilat. We had an easy time coming from the US to TLV. However, when we went to make the flight from SDV to ETH the security person just went crazy. First of all after reviewing my passport she refused to speak to me in English, and as Dov can attest my Hebrew is rusty to say the least. She also spoke to Liz in Hebrew and she doesn't even know more than 10 words. It was fun to say the least. After about 20 min of questions they finally determined that we were not terrorists, and decided to let us go to ETH. And they didn't even go through the luggage. I guess that is the breaks. Well now it is off the pool. Will be driving up to TLV in tomorrow. See everyone at the dinner.

Dovster

It was a little rainy this morning but not too bad. We did the tour and then I headed out to the airport to await the arrival of Lili-Dui.

The weather right now is beautiful and I hope it stays this way.

KathyWdrf

Well, I guess I have been lucky so far: no weird boarding procedure at FRA (other than the second security check at the gate), no questions at all upon entering at TLV, nothing. Smooth sailing all the way. And thanks, Dov, for the airport pickup and walking/shopping tour! I'm resting and refueling on cake, fresh-squeezed juice, and cappuccino in the executive lounge at the Sheraton Moriah before heading out for another walkabout while there's still light. Lehitra'ot!

Dovster

We met at the Adiv tonight for the Alysia Seduction and it went very well except for the fact that Alysia refused to be seduced.

Never one to give up, I gave up.

Instead, I turned my attention to an incredibly beautiful blonde, Shirl.

Unfortunately, her attention was not turned to me. Did this discourage me? Of course not. I always appreciate a woman who demonstrates good taste.

Tomorrow, we meet at 11 am for Apirchik's walking tour of Tel Aviv. In the evening, we have the big dinner where I will be on my best behavior and not put the make on any of the women there.

That is not a matter of choice -- both my son and my daughter will be joining us and I don't want them finking to the UIG.

We missed having Canarsie with us. We were going to miss having Cholula but Traveller presented us with a bottle of the new garlic-flavored Cholula Hot Sauce so his presence was not needed at all.

I am about to head back to my hotel room. Shirl has firmly told me that she will not be waiting there for me.

I hope she was lying.

Jakebeth

Thanks for keeping us updated Dovster. I'm green with envy, and living vicariously through your posts. Hope you're all having a great time.

ozstamps

Well it looks like the Tel Aviv weather forecasters are as accurate as the Sydney ones.

9.30am Sat and weather is stunning. ^

Dovster

After about 5 hours of touring Tel Aviv on foot today, we got close to the hotels and Shirl finally found something which impressed her enough to have her take out her camera: There was a fire in a building and the fire trucks had arrived.

She asked me to post here letting everyone know that she took pictures of Israeli fire trucks and will be posting them.

Canarsie

I truly wish that I could have been there now, Dovster. I planned on being there for the longest time and really wanted — and still want — to go to Israel and be with you and everybody else who attended.

Hopefully you will re-consider planning another meet in the future, especially if this one is successful...

Dovster

Canarsie, this meet does not even officially start until the dinner tonight and it has already been a great success!

However, a future Israel Meet is very doubtful. I don't know if I would have hosted this one if I realized what was involved in getting the tours organized and arranging for payment from so many people.

Of course, you are still very welcome to come to the PBI-FLL Meet in December. That will be Monitor's and Socrate's headache.

Canarsie

Poor Traveller...

...or should I say poor KathyWdrf?...

...perhaps it is Alysia or Shirl?...

...admit it, Dovster — with whom did you finally get “lucky” that the meet is already a great success?

Please don’t tell me it is ozstamps...

entropy

I'm really excited for all you Israel-virgins, you're going to have a great time, I wish I was there.

Alysia

Sorry about not making it to dinner tonight but I had a much better seduction experience tonight than I did last night.

Dovster

Cholula

Or perhaps myefre....








Dovster losing his touch, eh??

Hunki

Here is a link to Punki's photosite pictures of our trip to Israel so far.

It has been an amazing time. The weather is fabulous and the courtesy and generosity of our Israeli host is beyond beyond.

Many thanks

Dovster

Three points about those pictures:

1. For those who recognize my DIW (Don't I Wish girlfriend) and have some kind of moral objections based on the silly little fact that she is married, please remember that we are living in the modern world. We are sophisticates and should not let such petty items be obstacles to our happiness.

2. You may have noticed the look of sheer lust on the face of the beautiful girl who is almost dressed in the abbreviated black shirt as she stared at me in admiration. Please take no offense. We agreed that we wouldn't meet until my DIW has left the country. As a member of TalkBoard I do, after all, have to maintain a certain level of decorum. Beyond that, however, the fact that she is about 40 years younger than I am should not be a reason to deny ourselves this liason. Quit being so old-fashioned and prudish!

3. Hey! What was MYE-FRE doing standing so close to my daughter??? I'll kill that lowlife *******!

Cholula

Hey, thanks for the pic's!! Looks like a LOT of fun! Sorry to have missed it.

That was my immediate thought as well.
Make sure it doesn't happen again.....

Canarsie

If Cholula and I promise to come to Israel in the future, could there be a possibility for another Tel Aviv meet, Dovster?

Dovster

Canarsie, it would be rude and nasty of me to point something out, so I will:

You and Cholula promised to come to this meet!

Dovster

Canarsie, it would be rude and nasty of me to point something out, so I will:

You and Cholula promised to come to this meet!

Cholula

We had our fingers crossed on that promise.
But we'll move heaven and earth to attend the next GREAT TLV MEET.

Canarsie

You had to say it twice???

You do not know this, but I tried up until the very last minute to attend. I really wanted to go!

You know why I could not attend, and I do not believe that the niece of Cholula is going to get married again for a while, so...

Dovster

Okay, I agree to discuss the possibility with you two over drinks at the PBI-FLL Meet on Dec 10.

Dovster

Frankly, I don't consider "I have to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Crime Syndicate" to be a valid excuse -- especially when I spoke to my UIG's godfather, Don Guido, and he agreed to let you miss it this one time.

Canarsie

Hey — they made an offer I couldn’t refuse...

Dovster

I have to learn how to do that. I made my DIW lots of offers, but she refused them all.

Jakebeth

I know I already said it, but I really want to thank everyone for continuing to post while you're at the DO, especially for providing pictures. It kills me that I couldn't be there to meet you all and enjoy what appears to be a lot of fun.

I also just learned that I can't take a planned March trip to TLV during which I was hoping to meet the local FT crew (after screwing up my last trip's schedule and missing both Dovster and apirchik). Can you believe my wife doesn't want me to go again in March just because she's going to be six months pregnant? The nerve.

I know that Dov said he wouldn't plan another one, but there are definitely ways to run a low-hassle visit to Israel, Canarsie and Cholula. It wouldn't be as personalized as having Dov and apirchik running things, but it's definitely DOable. Whether I can be a part of it or not, I'd be glad to help with a future effort, even if it has to be from afar.

Canarsie

Congratulations on the announcement of a new little FlyerTalk member, Jakebeth!

Cholula

Let me add my congratulations as well, Jakebeth....and if another TLV Do is doable in the future, let's do it.

Canarsie

I agree — let’s do it.

Hey — what do you mean by if?!?...

Jakebeth

Thank you all very much for the kind words. We're very, very excited. It took us seven years to have the first little Jakebeth (here's a picture of her in Jerusalem this summer), and we're obviously out of our minds with joy that we're going to have another.

nur

Thank you both for the pictures and the link to the site.
It was a great pleasure to meet you all and to pass together the dinner.

And of course, many thanks to Dovster for the organization and the hard work he invested.
The resulsts show it all.

Hope to see you again sometime,
Josie & Nur

apirchik

Dovster and the gang are touring Jerusalem at the moment so it's been a little quiet here ...

I want to take this opportunity to thank Dovster for organizing this event including the excellent dinner last night which was a great success. I also want to thanks all the FT members that came to visit Israel and see our great little country. I had the pleasure of guiding a group of about 15 FTers through the streets of Tel Aviv yesterday afternoon and it was a lot of fun.

Offir

yosithezet

I'd like to thank Dovster for organising this as well. I'm not participating but met people for drinks Friday night. Hope everyone is having a great time and comes back for the DO next year that Dovster organises for the folks that didn't come this time.

Efrem

I couldn't make it this time because I had already cancelled too many classes for the Jewish High Holy Days in October. Given where they fall next year, I won't have to cancel any for them, which leaves room to cancel some for this. Count me in for 2006!

Canarsie

Well, Dovster — it appears as though you have been summoned and automatically selected to host another meet in Israel next year.

It’s not Pesach, but — next year in Jerusalem?...

yosithezet

Might be that Dovster will elect to just offer a tour company to run the show next year of course.

Dovster

We did have a tour company this year and I have to admit that it was responsible for what I see as our first failure -- the tour of Jerusalem.

To start off with, the guide didn't know Jerusalem. She got lost taking us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and had us walking for kilometers without knowing where she was going. When we did get to a few spots, she barely explained anything and the few remarks she made were inaccurate.

Additionally, I had made the following agreement with the organizer:

1. We would pay a set amount for the bus and the guide, which would not change if we had one person or 50 on the tour.

2. In addition to that set amount, each person would pay $28.33 per day, per tour, for vouchers which would take care of admission to the various sites and for lunch. Moreover, any person would be allowed to order whatever he wanted in the restaurant, including drinks, and that this would cover the tips as well. If any person preferred not to pay for the vouchers, he would have the option of coming with us but paying for his own entry fees and lunch.

When we got to the restaurant, instead of being handed menus, we found a "country style" table laid out for us. Yes, there was a good selection, but it was not the same as having our choice of anything on the menu. The restaurant owner told us that he could not allow a free choice without the approval of the organizer, as that would cost more.

I got on phone with the organizer immediately and told him that if we are not allowed the choice of the menu than none of us are buying the vouchers and we will all order separately. Naturally, as he makes a good profit on these vouchers, he did not want that. We came to a compromise for this one day only -- because the restaurant had already put out the food, we would eat it but any member would be free to refuse it and order something else. I ordered a steak instead.

Then they told OzStamps that he would have to pay for his beer. This was not a lot of money but it was in contradiction to our agreement and I told the guide it was unacceptable. She had heard enough from my discussions with the organizer to tell the restaurant to put the beer on the vouchers. Lastly, the restaurant told us that the tips were not included. I got back on the phone and had the same fight with the organizer. I told him that he had agreed that everything, except the tips for the bus driver and the guide, were included. He fought about this but finally gave in.

The guide, who will be with us for all three days, promised to get this straightened out with the restaurants before we arrive for the second two tours and to have menus available to us in English.

She is supposed to be an expert on the North of the country and hopefully will know it a lot better than she does Jerusalem. If not, then I will take over (I live in the north and know it very well) and I won't allow a repeat of the Jerusalem fiasco.