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Eilat / Tel Aviv

Thursday 27th

View from our camp

View of our camp

Wadi Rum Village ahead of us on the way out

Caroline and Olivier were kind enough to give me a ride to Aqaba where they were headed to finish out their stay. I then took a cab to the Israeli border (Rabin border) 6JD, transfer from there to hotel 40NIS taxi (probably should have been more like 30)

Hilton Queen of Sheba Hotel, 35k points

Got to the hotel by 11am and they checked me in right away, great view and access to free drinks, snacks, internet at the excutive lounge right down the hall. After some time too shower and relax, I hit the KFC I could see from my window.

Turns out this is the most expensive KFC I have ever been to, with extremely slow service to boot. 39 shekels for a zinger and two seeds- that's about 10 bucks! You can typically get a meal for $4-6, maybe $3 if the exchange rate is good. This place had a good view, but that is really crazy expensive.
There was almost a theme of 40 shekels- cab ride from the border and the cheap sunglasses I bought- also 40 shekels each.

I can say I've dipped in the Red Sea

At night walked left from my hotel down the promenade. Only place with people was the "Three Monkeys Pub" which was crowded and had a decent cover band, a melon ball cocktail was 32 shekels. On walk home got a slice of pizza for 10 shekels.

Eilat info
Wiki info
Wiki Travel

Friday 28th

Tel Aviv

Flight to Tel Aviv via Israir ETH to TLV 1435-1535 $82
Yes, this is one of those airports where you really should get there two hours early. Having seen I was just in Jordan, the infamous Israeli security kicked in. They went through all my stuff, looked at the pictures on my camera and hotel receipts, asked the names of people I had met...I got to the airport with plenty of time but still almost missed my flight.

This was my seatmate Einav, an Israeli of Russian decent who is a nurse for Pfizer.
I did notive several passengers on the plane had tote bags advertising Viagra and Cialis, so I thought "wow, must be a big erection convention in town." Well, there was. A urologist convention.
Einav was able to give me some great tips, and was kind enough to drive me about two-thirds of the way to my hotel. From there, the taxi cost, you guessed it- 40 shekels.

Sheraton Tel-Aviv
Reviews
Excellent hotel- right on the beach, nice facilitites.

It was nice to be able to leave the sliding foor open and fall asleep to the sounds of the waves

At 7pm the Gate 1 group met up for the first time for a quick briefing. I was disappointed in that it seemed a group of all fairly old folks, but the trip would turn out good. Common theme of wake up call at 630am, buffet breakfast, on the bus by 8am...

Walked down to Mike's Place and ate schnitzel/fries/mashed potatos for dinner.
Food was excellent and cover band was good.