A week in Israel

Why Israel, of all the destinations?

December 4 is our wedding anniversary. 27th edition of it.  Yes, we are still celebrating the day.

There was no virus doing the rounds at this point of time, it was a kind of a lean season in the hospital and we had about ten days at our disposal to do a trip.

Israel popped into our radars immediately. (As it does in the “Breaking News”!). It is also smallish, you can do it in a week or so. Area wise, almost that of our Coimbatore - Erode (Kongu) region, with just half of that population. That’s it.

It is a kind of fact finding mission too. Even in our many conversations, we often talk about the gutsy nature of the Israelis (remember Operation Entebbe?), their technological prowess, their agricultural ingenuity etc., Politicians, especially the right wing fellows, (out of their perceived, shared hatred for all things Islamic) cite Israel as an inspiring country for India, the way to go. We wanted to check it out.

Getting a Visa was a little troublesome, we had to travel to Bangalore to submit the application. (You can fill it up online, but you must submit it in person! Exactly the Indian Government Administrative Services way).  There is a separate visa facilitation office there. May be it is because they want our biometrics. Then after a few days, we had to go to Bangalore again for a personal interview, this time at the Consulate. Suffering Bangalore traffic twice in a span of six days is a real punishment. And then, there were the consulate security checks and all the Tamashas. Getting a US visa (10 years multi-entry!) seemed much easier for us. They wanted us to come to Chennai only.

Pre-tour and research planning was easy. There is always my Lonely Planet. There is plenty of material out there in the net also. Many people have written so adoringly about Israel, but I relied upon Lonely Planet, my consistent favourite. It is simple, elegant and, unbiased. (Some people advise not to go by Lonely Planet Israel Guide, as they think it is biased against Israel. I found no such thing. But there are some factual inaccuracies).

We bought tickets with El Al, the Israeli airlines flying from Mumbai. Air India is not flying as of now. (The Ethiopian Airlines has a cheaper flight, but with a long lay- over in Addis Ababa. We did not want that).

We started on Saturday, (3 December) from Coimbatore. From being one of the world’s most lovely little airports, Coimbatore’s, is on the process of transformation into the one of the world’s lousy little airports. And the Coimbatore traffic! It is a perfect example of why urbanization is bad for human civilization. Who knows, one day it might edge out Chennai and Bangalore in the race for the most unlivable city of the subcontinent.

Indigo is another cheap airlines which sells utterly tasteless sandwiches or chewy samosas for 250 bucks. I wouldn’t advise anyone to travel in it, unless you are at a gun-point. Even if you are subjected to such a thing, please don't eat that food. Suffer just one harassment.

We flew to Mumbai to catch the El Al flight to Tel Aviv. Hmm, Mumbai is another strong contender for the race for unlivable cities. It is just the place you thank God for not having to live there. Noisy, humid and crowded as hell. Thank God.

Mumbai terminal 2

But, Mumbai Airport’s new, swanky terminal 2 is a world apart. It did not look like it is in Mumbai. Better than many top airports in the world. By design, classy shops, breezy work flow, all fantastic. I was impressed. 

We boarded the Tel Aviv flight after the modern day nuisances of security, emigration and boarding.  The El Al guys are the type who will do serious frisking even when you go there nude. One security fellow seriously palpated the entire length of my leather waist belt for any hidden weapon! And everywhere you go, the El al guys would ask you a set of standard questions. One of them was "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?" (If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?).

The El Al flight was a basic one. Certainly not on par with their Middle East cousins like Emirates, Etihaad or Qatar. Food was different but not great. (But then how can any food, however tasty it is, be great, when it is not fresh (all reheated) and you eat it half asleep, seated in those cramped seats?) 

Being a night flight, we slept it off.  It was an 8 hours long flight, and as Indian Standard Time is three and a half hours ahead of Israel time, we reached Tel Aviv in the wee hours of our 28th wedding anniversary day.