I made it to Turkey. I ended up with my own sleeping compartment which ruled. Although getting woken up at 4am and having to pay 20 dollars to enter the country wasnt that great.

My flight to Dubai is later tonight, should be an interesting time.

Ive sent out postcards to almost everyone who gave me their address, so expect them in a week or two.

Greece is frustrating

So we went to get my tickets for tomorrow and the train was again sold out. I tried to get a bus but found out the roads are all blocked for some protest so all the buses are canceled. So now I am getting on a night train to Northern Greece in a few hours, then one of George's friends is gonna pick me up and let me sleep at his house, then tomorrow evening I'll be getting a sleeper train to Istanbul. In total it's only costing me 70 euro so I can't complain too much.

Scratch that

The train was sold out so I'm here for another day. Now I'm only going to get one day in Istanbul but it will do.

Goodbye Greece

In a few hours I will be embarking on a 22 hour train ride from Athens to Istanbul. Should be pretty interesting, I will update when I reach my hostel on Tuesday morning.

Cyprus Review

I was only in Cyprus for twelve hours but it still gets a review.

I landed around 8am, went through customs which was surprisingly easy for a European Union country, and found a shuttle into Nicosia (the capital). After a 45 minute van ride I was in a dusty parking lot behind the Hilton. After getting directions, I walked into the city. It took me about 45 minutes and a few wrong turns to find the center. I got lunch and wandered around until I found the border to North Cyprus. Time for a quick history lesson: Cyprus has two types of people. Greek and Turkish. In 1974 Turkey invaded and took over the northern half. So now all Greeks live in the Republic of Cyprus in the south, which is part of the EU and uses the Euro. And all Turks live in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is basically an illegal country that no other country recognizes, aside from Turkey oddly enough.

Anyways, the border is now open and tourists are allowed to walk across. I did so, and walked around for an hour or so. Took a few pictures and walked back across the border. Then my day started to suck. I bought some souvenirs and tried to walk back to the Hilton so I could catch the shuttle back to the airport in Larnaca. Problem is, everything in Nicosia looks the same and I quickly got lost. After making a huge circle I was back in the center, two hours later. I eventually made it back to the parking lot, after a few more wrong turns. I at least got to see a lot of the city, even if it was annoying to be lost. Once I got back to the airport I sent out some postcards and checked in for my flight on Cyprus Airways. My flight to Greece was another quick one, only about an hour and a half. I slept for most of it, thankfully.

Israel Review

Now that I'm in Athens and have access to a computer I'm going to review the places I've been.

First up is Israel. I was there for 10 days on a Taglit Birthright trip. Very interesting country, if you've ever complained about being searched at the airport or having cops follow you, don't go there. On the way in I was questioned twice and had my bags searched. Then I was escorted to the gate. Which means we were not allowed to leave the gate, to go to the duty free shop, or even use the bathroom. I was on a tour group with about 45 other 18-26 year olds. Surprisngly Dave andI got along with everyone pretty well. Even if we spent hours laughing at them all in private.

The first few days were spent in the northern part of the country, the Upper Gailee and the Golan Heights. We saw wreckage from the 67 and 73 wars, which still litter the countryside. We visited Kiryat Shomna which is where the 2006 Lebanese War started. Interestingly enough Hezbollah militants fired three rockets into the town a few hours before we arrived.

We spent the weekend in Jerusalem, visited the Western Wall/Kotel on Shabbat which was like being in another world. We got to spend some time in the old city but most of our time was either at the hotel, or the Holocaust Museum nearby. We had one free night in Jerusalem, Dave and I were gonna try to fight some euro trash but it didn't work out.

After Jerusalem was Arad, boring town but it is near the Dead Sea and Masada. After hiking Masada we drove to Eilat, which is basically the Miami of Israel. Dave and I were going to ditch the group on our free night and walk to the border with Egypt (Eilat is the southernmost city, bordering both Egypt and Jordan). We ended up not doing it, which was a good idea since the border was 10 km from town, as opposed to the 2 I thought it was. We spent two days in Eilat, then drove to a Bedouin theme park type thing a few hours north. Spent the night in a huge tent and went for a camel ride. Kinda cool.

After that we were finally in Tel Aviv. Best city. We didn't really do much on the tour there as usual but we did see Independence Hall and a few other sights. We had another free night which was spent at some shitty tourist bar near the beach. It was cool to chill with everyone for the last night. I fell asleep around 3am, and was awoken by our dumb roommate being drunk. After shutting him up (sort of) I was able to sleep a little until we had to wake up at 6 to head to the airport.

About 12 of us on the trip extended our plane tickets so we could stay. My flight to Greece was the next morning at 7am so I was planning on staying at the airport to make it easier. I spent the day hanging in Tel Aviv. It was about 80 degrees, so Albert, Tiffany and myself hung out at the beach and then wandered around. I took the train back to Ben Gurian Airport around 7pm. I slept for a bit, and then my favorite Israeli ever, Yael, came and hung out with me for a few hours. Shes one of the soldiers who went on the trip with us. After she went home I slept for a while, and then checked in for my flight around 4am. This is where it got ugly. First off, before you can check in, you are questioned by Israeli security. They grilled me about what I was doing in Israel, where I was going and why I was on the specific flight that I was. Then they x-rayed my bag. Then swiped it for explosives. Then made me take everything out. Then repack it and check in. So after getting my boarding pass, I had to pass through the real security. Where again, my bag was gone through, I had to explain everything and they questioned me about my trip.

So after all this I ended up having about 45 minutes to kill before my flight to Larnaca. The duty free store sucked, and I ended up paying about 20 shekels for an orange juice and a muffin. Fail.

All in all I really enjoyed Israel, friendly people, everythings modern, and beautiful girls. But I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing dirty cats and soldiers around everywhere.

Today we're in Eilat, Israel. Only a few more days left of this trip. As of Thursday morning I'll be on my own for three weeks.

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So we get yelled at everyday for wandering off from the group. Today we bailed in Afula and went to the Arab side of town and hung out at a pet store.

Yesterday we were in Kiryat Shemona right after Hezbollah bombed it, no one seemed too affected. Now we are in Jerusalem at a fancy hostel.

Israel Day One

Dave and I have already been yelled at for leaving the group and walking where there 'could be mines'.

Also, we have armed guards.

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Getting grilled by Israeli security is way less fun than you'd think.

So this warning came up as I was booking my hotel room in Dubai:

IMPORTANT :

To comply with religious law, UAE hotels may require that couples sharing a room present a marriage certificate upon check-in.To prevent any problems, we suggest that you bring along a copy of your marriage certificate.