Day 2 - Friday, March 10, 2023

 The flight was just over 10 hours, a little bumpy but not too bad - the 'fasten seat-belt' sign was off and on. We watched the movies "Where the Crawdads Sing", "Corsage" and "Ticket to Paradise" before getting about 6 hours of rest / sleep on the plane.

We arrived just after 1pm with bright sunshine and an outside temperature of 72 degrees. It was pretty straightforward to go through customs and get our luggage. I was able to get 300 New Israeli Shekels at an ATM with my credit union card.

On my cell phone, Verizon greeted me with a message "Welcome to Israel, you can use TravelPass for $10/day". Unfortunately, as before when traveling, the phone and Internet services didn't actually work. I stopped at a kiosk and got an Israeli SIM card for 8 days for about $50. This is working fine although people are getting texts and calls from me from a strange number.

We decided to take the train from the airport to the Tel Aviv central airport. I had installed the Moovit app on my phone to buy train and bus tickets. I bought one for the train and Carmen used it to go through but it wouldn't let me buy a second ticket - in the process, I canceled Carmen's ticket while she was inside. I had to buy a paper ticket. When we stopped, it didn't feel like we were at the central train station and waited for it to start up again but it didn't. Another couple on the train assumed that we knew what we were doing and that it was ok. By the time we finally realized it was the end of the line, somewhere in Tel Aviv, the train doors were locked and we couldn't get out until someone on the train came to let us off! The next challenge was getting out without two exit tickets but we managed to squeeze both of us through the exit gate which closed on me - I never expected to be a "fare jumper".

We had assumed that there would be a taxi stand to get a ride to the hotel but no such thing, just an exit onto a busy street. Fortunately, I was able to use the Uber app which called a taxi about 10 minutes later and dropped us off at the hotel after about 15 minutes. It was a bit confusing as the driver didn't ask for money - apparently this is done through the Uber app.

We checked into the Prima City Hotel, the same place where my mom and I stayed 5 years ago this month. It is a small but pleasant hotel less than two blocks from the Mediterranean. There are many big hotel chains right on the beach - Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott, etc. The room is nice although the sink was leaking onto the floor.

We went out to the boardwalk to have a beer at LaLa Land, a bar and snack restaurant right beach. Many young people were enjoying the beautiful afternoon. Some people were paddle-boarding off the beach and many sailboats just on the other side of the breakwater. Sadly, swimming is not allowed as it is still the winter season.

We walked north up the boardwalk to the end at the harbor, a little over a mile and were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean. Just as the sun went down, we saw the green flash!

We thought we could easily find a restaurant for dinner on the way back to the hotel but there wasn't much. The hotel receptionist recommended going down a street but we didn't find much until we came to a very trendy an popular hamburger restaurant where we managed to get in for dinner. We enjoyed local draft beer, onion rings, a Cobb salad and a Reuben burger. 

Then back to the hotel where I am writing this up, reading today's Kingston Daily Freeman and relaxing before bed. I got in just over 10K steps during our wandering this afternoon, Carmen over 12K.

Train from airport - our hotel is at the blue dot near the sea

Enjoying a beer





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