I slowly walk up to the immigration counter, nervous as hell. “Please don’t stamp my passport, I work in the UAE and if you stamp it, I can’t go back.” I had heard horror stories from other travelers who mentioned that when they had asked for no stamp, some had gotten stamps on every page. I got grilled for a good 10 minutes on the nature of my visit to Israel, what I would be doing there, if I knew anyone, etc. The immigration officer said the only problem was that I didn’t have a ticket out of Israel to Egypt. I tried to explain to him that I could not buy direct tickets in and out Israel from any GCC countries and that I was told to purchase a ticket from Air Sinai (a part of Egypt Air, though the airline tries to distance itself from the connection to Israel) once in Israel. Finally, I showed him my ticket from Egypt to Dubai, and he let me go.
Other than this minor hold up, stepping out of the airplane into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel-Aviv, I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. People are eating and drinking ,wearing shorts, tank tops revealing shoulders, embracing each other..and I feel FREE. Finally, I can eat and drink in public during the day, do what I want, wear what I want, and not feel that anyone is watching me. Luckily my hostel was right on the beach and I walked around just to get a sense of Tel Aviv. There is a group outside of the hostel playing loud music, but I don’t mind, it is refreshing to hear music in the streets. I am genuinely looking forward to the next few days of freedom.
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