Israel Travel Diary Part Two

Day 4 | Mon, 17.07. 11:18
I’m sitting on the bus to Eilat. Yesterday ended nicely, I caught up with the friend I made on the aeroplane and went for a nice place to eat with her. At night I met up with another friend I made here and together we enjoyed the sea by night.
After a good breakfast this morning, it was time for me to catch my bus to Eilat. I’m really looking forward to my time in Eilat, I have a lot of fun things planned there. I can’t believe I’ve only arrived in Tel Aviv three days ago. For me, it feels like I’ve already been here for at least three weeks. I think it’s because I met a lot of really cool people, and they all made me feel welcome and comfortable, like I’d be home.

16:55
I just checked in to my hostel in Eilat. When I left the bus, I was shocked by the heat. I just checked the weather and it’s 43° and it will stay this way for the whole week. I like warm weather but this is a lot. During midday and even now at 5 p.m., I’m chilling at the hostel because it’s too hot outside. My plan is to go to the beach in the evening. There is a pool at the hostel but it’s very small.
The first thing I did after checking in was wash my clothes. It’s interesting, I always pack more tops than bottoms but on this trip the heat is so much that all my bottoms became sweaty fast and I ran out of them, whilst I have only used two tops so far. It’s like I told one of the girls on Saturday: You always learn something on a trip that you’ll need for your next one.

Day 5 | Tue, 18.7. 9:29
I’m sitting on the bus to Petra. Last night, after washing my clothes, I went to the beach for a swim. The heat is really crazy. More surprisingly, the sea water was refreshingly cool. I really enjoyed it and went back to the hostel to go to bed a bit earlier because of the Petra tour today. When I came back, my roommate was also back, and we decided to chill out a bit at the hostel’s terrace. We met our other roommate downstairs, and before you know it, three single ladies are sitting down together and chat for hours about travelling, dating, different cultures, and life. I learned so much about the Israeli culture talking to the locals. It’s the best thing about travelling. No school or university could ever teach you those things. Travelling, in the way I do it, is education.
Obviously, I didn’t get too much sleep, but it was definitely more than the two nights before that. In the morning, I packed some breakfast and headed to my pick-up point for the Petra tour. Turns out, they told the driver the wrong pick-up point, but after a few minutes, he called me, and we figured it out. Five minutes later, I crossed the border at Jordan, a fairly…

17:08
During my last entry, I was interrupted by the tour guide, we talked a little bit, and then he let me sit in the front next to the driver to have a better view. I meant to say that the border crossing was a fairly quick process.
On our drive to Petra, a lot of things were going through my mind; it was finally the first time I was alone on this trip since I arrived in Tel Aviv. It all started when we left with the bus at the border, and the tour guide told us what a lucky day we had because they usually don’t leave before 10 a.m. because the border is so busy, but today we were able to leave at 9:15 a.m. The next lucky thing was that today, there was no cruise ship in Jordan, which meant that Petra would be very quiet with 6000 people less than if there had been a cruise ship.
We made a few stops, one of them at a small souvenir shop, where I met a nice guy from Yemen.

We talked a little, and he told me he would love to visit Eilat as well, but because of his Yemeni passport, it would be very difficult to enter Israel. Those conversations are very important for me because, once more, they make me very aware of my privilege and that there’s still so much work to do to make the world a better place and reduce (or in a perfect world have no) discrimination. I feel like travelling plays an important role for the latter, as you actually talk to local people and don’t get your information by news reporters and journalists, who never ever sat a foot in said country. No matter who I have met so far, they all just want peace. Why can’t we have that?
Anyway, finally we arrived in Petra. There was a lot of walking in the heat but I didn’t mind it. It’s true that it is a very beautiful place, but why it is one of the world wonders, I have absolutely no idea. First of all, there are so many souvenir shops that you can hardly take a picture without one of them in it. I don’t mind if there are a few, but Petra was literally full of them, and in my opinion, they ruin the beautiful landscape.

I went up to a very high spot, took a few pictures, and on my way back down, a local invited me for tea. We talked for a while, he was very nice, and he agreed with me that Petra is nothing special. He even said he thought the entrance fee is way too high, and people should rather spend their money on other things. There were also many, many children who tried to sell you a camel, horse ride, or souvenirs. I didn’t think they treated the animals well, which is fair because they’re only kids and don’t know any better, but I wish the adults around them would teach them how to treat the animals right. My absolute highlight, though, was a little girl. Where I walked there were hardly any people and she was sitting at one of the souvenir markets, had a kind smile and asked me to buy a souvenir for one dinar. I said ‘no’, and she said ‘please’. I smiled at her and continued to walk upstairs. I took my pictures and on my way back down I thought to myself, I’ll just give her one dinar without buying anything. But unfortunately, I didn’t see her at the spot before. Then I came to the place where the local invited me for tea and we talked for a while. At some point the girl appeared and I immediately said to her ‘I remember you, you asked me for a dinar and I want to give it to you’ and held the dinar up for her to take it. She was so confused, she hardly understood English so the local translated and I told him to tell her that I want her to have it. She was so happy and thankful, she couldn’t believe that I would just randomly give her money. She said ‘Thank you’ and left again.
After I finished my tea I started to head back to the meeting point, I was about 20 minutes late but tea with locals is always worth a delay, so never miss out on such an opportunity if you ever get one. After walking a little bit, I saw the girl again at a souvenir market further down, and I knew I still had one more dinar, so when I saw her, I gave it to her too. You should have seen her face. You could give me 100 million euros, and it would never fulfil me in the way that girl’s face did. She was THE happiest. We said goodbye to each other and I continued my walk. When I was already pretty far down, I suddenly heard a very loud yell ‘Goodbye’. I looked back up and saw it was the girl, and she was smiling and waving. I smiled and waved back, and just for this one moment, the whole trip to Petra was worth it. 💗

In general wether it was Israelis, Yemenis or Jordans, I only met nice and respectful people, they all touched my heart and it also breaks my heart at the same time because all those people deserve peace. They don’t care if a certain land is called “Israel, ” “Yemen,” or “Jordan”, they just want a peaceful life. The tour guide who was from Petra himself actually said that Jordan and Israel found a peaceful way and that they are a good example of peace and the whole bus applauded when he said that. I wish people like these were in governments and not hungry, powerseeking men.
I haven’t even finished half of my trip, but this area of the Middle East already has a place in my heart. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip will hold for me!

18:06
We just stopped at a souvenir shop for a 20-minute break, and they had a great chess set there. I looked at it when one of the employees asked me if I wanted to play. So we played a round of chess, and we were both equally good (or bad), but unfortunately, the break wasn’t long enough to finish the game. But still, when I thought this day couldn’t get any better, it just did. Who can say they played chess with a local at a Jordan souvenir shop with an antique set of chess? I’m in love with this. Travelling. People. Culture. For the first time in my life, I thought, ‘I am truly grateful to be alive’.

18:13
I’m in love. What I experienced today… You could give me as much money as you want, it could never make me as happy as I am in this very moment. I’m close to tears, I’m very emotional. I feel absolutely privileged to be in a position to make such experiences.

Just when I finished writing the above, the tour guide gave me some nuts to eat. I know now why I did this tour. Not to see Petra but to meet these people and to make these memories that will leave a mark in my heart forever.