Monday, February 18, 2008

Tel Aviv to Newark--Worlds Apart


Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel

"Strange Travel Suggestions Are Dancing Lessons From God."
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.


It's 10 a.m. in Tel Aviv. I can see an Israeli military plane dressed in camoflauge, taxiing down the runway. Here, in side the Dan Lounge, I'm guessing easily 1/3 of the people sipping coffee here are waiting for Continental 85 to Newark. This is a surprizingly small airport.

But what isn't surprizing, is that the security surpasses anything I have ever experienced--in the world. The sensitivity of the equipment isn't to find sharp objects. They're clearly looking for bombs.Or, as a fellow traveler from the Italian market section of Philadelphia, wearing a Penn State sweatshirt said: " They're definitely not looking for 3 ounce tubes of toothpaste."

Curiously, I haven't seen a single armed guard at the airport sporting AK47s. Not one. Remember how I described Jerusalem and the rest of Israel as having a heavy military presence? This is just the opposite. And just for the record, I did check the top of the terminal as best I could to see if there are gunmen up there. I couldn't see any. But I'm certain that this is a fortress. Five checkpoints between the front door and my gate that want passport and handbaggage.

( Later, in the plane, I was seated next to an Israeli who was the bomb squad in the Israeli Navy for thirty years. He explained the low visibility of weapons. "Remember the incident at the airport in the 70s?" has asked. " There was a gunfight in the terminal. Everyone had guns--off duty police, army, navy--legal, but still. They heard the gunfire and started shooting. But no one was sure who was causing the situation. We didn't know who was the bad guy. We learned. Now, no one can carry a gun, even licensed, in the terminal. The only armed police are the airport guards." Thus, the low profile of guns. )


I left Cairo late last night on the one flight daily that travels between the two countries (who keep trying to get along ). At Cairo, every piece of my luggage was wanded after 50% of the contents were removed, then tagged, before they went through another xray device. ElAl doesn't mess around.

It was a busy night at the Cairo airport--which is huge. On the departure board was the following, all leaving at 10 or 11pm:
Khartoum
Luxor
Nairobi
Sanaa
Addis Abbaba
Dubai
Bangkok

How many of those places are safe tonight, I thought to myself?

Last week at this time, I was cruising down the Nile. I watched the fertile Nile pass by on my way to more of the world wonders: Tut's mummy, Tuttenmoses III's tomb which I climbed all the way down, down, down into. And the reward? The most stunning blue field of stars on the tomb ceiling that I've ever seen. For the record, I wouldn't have made it without Dennis and Nicole, my new Quebecoise friends, and Ralph, from California, sticking right by me all the way.

It's time to go home, though. I've seen enough.

Time to distill it and discern what the dance was about this trip.
M.C.

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