"Squeeze the World"

Well, we just checked into our hotels and our adventures have already begun! It started out with our bus being about ten minutes late to pick us up, which wasn't a problem since we had planned at least thirty minutes of leeway. The bus was full for the first half of the ride, but after stopping by an army base we finally had seats. As we neared Haifa, where we planned to catch a train, we realized that the approximate travel time didn't include extreme traffic jam. The trip which was estimated at an hour ended up lasting over two and a half. After pushing and lunging through the crowd at the train station, we stood next to the rail and tried calling the travel agency to make sure our plane tickets were still available. We had just missed a train to the airport, and the next one would arrive at the station at the same time we were supposed to arrive at the airport. So it was another forty minutes of anxious waiting. When the correct train pulled into the station, the massive amount of soldiers was completely overwhelming, especially since we were still unsure if it was the correct train. We ended up being literally shoved into an overflowing car as the conductor closed the door. So we were standing in the step between the door and several soldiers for about half an hour, occasionally getting nudged by a rifle or watching people playing with ammo magazines. Eep! Most of them got off at the stops before the airport, so we had a moment of luxury in chairs.

We managed to get to the airport alive, and thought that we had everything under control until it came to Israeli security. Every place we had visited, person we had talked to, etc, was under question. Then they scanned and rescanned our possessions as we anxiously watched the status updates on the planes. We explained to the head interrogator all our delay woes, and she ended up arranging someone to escort us through the rest of security. Thanks to her help, we got to the gate with twenty minutes to spare. Hooray! The plane of course delayed as well, apparently because the runways intersect, but the rest of it was rather tame.

*Later*
Man, this place is amazing. We've made friends with a receptionist who has given us several tips for where and how to travel in the area. The hotel is ridiculously luxurious, and you can't even tell that it's Turkey. So, thanks to our new friend, we'll get to investigate the town center and some ruins nearby. The mountains are really pretty, hopefully I'll get some good pictures later.

luckyyyy