Israel: Arriving

When we landed at David Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and deplaned we were supposed to be in the best and most secured airports in the world. What I found was complete chaos and not an organized chaos. We had to walk about 35 minutes from our plane to Israeli Immigration and then we saw what can only be described as Hell on Earth. 800 people from many international flights pushing and shoving in a small room with no AC and no airport security, Immigration guards (except in their booths) and no signs or even lanes to get into. People (mostly the Russians and Ukrainians) were elbowing and cutting in front of people. I had to use the skills I learned when I lived in Russia and when I visited the Ukraine (no, not my Russian language skills, but my “keeping people in their place by blocking them with my elbow and my body skill.”) We waited just over an hour to get to the Immigration officer (a woman) and then in less than a few minutes (even with me stupidity replying that we were there for “Business” instead of for “Pleasure”   - I blame being tired from the flight, from being in the heat and smelly Immigration Hall for so long and for having to push people from pushing us – we were given our passports and left. We were only asked if we were there for Business or Pleasure and if someone was picking us up. I have been to many Immigration/Passport Controls around the world and Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport is the most disorganized and worst of any I have used.

Right after Passport Control there were automated gates with no signs and no airport employees to tell you what to do. Apparently, you just had to know that you needed to scan your Arrival Card (that they use instead of a Passport Stamp and is the size of a postage stamp) to open the gate and go to the baggage area. Once we realized what we had to do and went through we saw a very old man holding a sign with my name on it. I had booked and pre-paid for 4 tours as well as pick-up and drop-off to/from the airport and our hotel.  The old man asked, in very hard to understand English, where we were coming from and when we said “Zurich” he replied “Sydney.” Once he finally understood he told us to get our bags while he waited there.

We got our bags quickly – not surprising since Passport Control took so long – and went back to the old man. The old man then took out several pieces of paper and gave us a brochure of the tour company (Bein Harim – more on them later) that we were using for the transfers. He made 4 calls in Hebrew and nothing was happening. He didn’t even tell us a thing until I got annoyed with him and started asking him what was taking so long. He, like many Israelis I would later encounter, just kept saying “Is Ok. No worries. Is Ok.” After about 20 minutes of things not being “Ok” I finally shouted to the old man that I was beyond mad and if he didn’t get our driver in the next 5 minutes we wanted a refund and would take a taxi to our hotel. Finally he called another person and then a light bulb seemed to click in his head – not sure what was inside it before. He said he found our driver and used the excuse we would hear over and over again throughout our trip: that it was because of the holiday.

He walked us out of the secured area and took us to a man and woman. They only spoke Hebrew to each other and would only tell us what was going on when I asked – which was very annoying. They tried to place the blame on us, but apparently they had been waiting and the old guy just didn’t have his senses with him to know what to do. We then followed our driver (the man) to his car. He didn’t even offer to take my sister’s (or my) suitcase. He drove us out of the airport and into Tel Aviv and I thought everything was going to be better – I was wrong. He stopped on some random street and said that it was our hotel (De La Mer.) I had seen pictures of the street and the hotel before booking it and knew it wasn’t our hotel and told him that. He argued with me and I stood firm that he needed to take us to OUR hotel and that he wasn’t to leave until I had made sure he was dropping us off at the correct place. He mumbled something in Hebrew and then drove to our hotel as though nothing had happened. At the hotel he got out. Again didn’t touch our bags and walked into the reception. I knew from the sign outside that we were in the correct place and I allowed him to leave. I was glad we hadn’t shut the door of his van because when he drove away he then had to stop, get out and close it himself. Serves him right for how he treated us.

That was our official “Welcome to Israel!!” It was one of the worst welcomes (both the chaos in Passport Control and the transfer to the hotel.)

We checked into our hotel (the receptionists changed every few hours – there was only 1 working at a time – but they were all friendly and all spoke: Hebrew, Russian and English. We went to our room on the first floor (second floor to Americans) and instead of using an electronic card to enter the room you had to use a small key and turn it twice to lock. You had to lock the door both when you were entering the room and when you were inside the room. The room was small, but had two beds, a TV (at least the TV had many channels in English or at least the American shows  - like “The Big Bang Theory” - were shown in English), a micro-fridge, a bathroom with shower and a small balcony.

Once we got settled we went out of the hotel to see what, if anything was open (because of the holiday.) We walked down our small, one way hotel road (which had 3 other hotels on it and cars, vans and buses parked everywhere) to a larger street where we found lots of businesses, stores and restaurants/cafes – most closed. Nearly every sign was in Hebrew, Russian and English – I thought we were in Little Russia or some neighborhood like that, but later found the same thing around the whole country.

We went into a little market where you could barely walk down the small aisles and got some bottled water. We later learned it was a Russian market (well a regular market run by Russians) and it was the first time I used the New Israeli Shekels I had brought with me. Afterwards we found an open bakery/café. We learned they were open 24 hours and so went back to them a few times during our stay - - at least we knew we wouldn’t starve. We noticed right away how expensive everything is in Israel from clothes to food. I have never spent so much money on food and gotten so little food for what I paid as I did in Israel.  We also saw how bad and dangerously the Israelis drive. Huge buses tried to outrun other huge buses and fit into tiny spaces and onto tiny roads. People on bikes - both motorized and regular – didn't follow any of the signs and just did whatever they wanted to. Also every second person you met or heard talking was a Russian-speaker. In most of the stores and restaurants cashiers have to know Hebrew, Russian and then English (in that order.)

After taking a quick walk and noticing those things  - that were later reinforced throughout our stay in Israel – and since it was getting late and we were tired from the flights and the bad arrival experiences we went back to our hotel. That was our first taste of Israel and Israelis.