TEL AVIV - ISRAEL

The hassle factor had for the third time on the trip drove me to a place I never planned to visit. Bali was so annoying that I got out of there very quickly and had a great time between Lombok and Flores.

Second was the horrible attitude of the people in Vietnam towards tourists that drove me to escape across the border into China and again I had a great time.

Then there was Egypt which was so bad I had the "see the pyramids and get out as soon as I could" attitude.

Now I found myself in Israel, a country that I knew little about apart from what I had seen on the news. It was the biggest change I had ever seen when crossing a land border. The high level of security and the vast number of people carrying guns was a bit of a shock but understandable. I had no guidebook and lost my map in Tel Aviv bus station but somehow managed to find my hostel in the dark.



The town looked a lot like a European holiday resort with a great atmosphere. I liked the place within a couple of hours walking around. Went to explore old Jaffa

A disturbing event took place in our hostel on the second night I was there. A man from Argentina was going crazy, it turned out his whole suitcase had been stolen from our dorm room. In all the time I have been on the road the number of big things stolen from dorm rooms I could count on one hand. This could just as easily been myself as whoever stolen it had to walk near my bag as well.



Had a day exploring a lot of the city on foot with others from the hostel. It was obvious it was a big party place but at this point on the trip I did not want to be spending European sizes bar bills.

I headed to Jerusalem for a few days then back to Tel Aviv for the last few days before flying to Germany. That last few days it did nothing but rain and I did very little beyond talking to other people in the hostel.

TRAVEL BURNOUTWhen I went away for the first time to Australia in 2004, on returning someone said travel is like a drug....you will keep going back for more. I also discovered that like a drug it required bigger and bigger hits to achieve the same "high". At this point I had been to so many different places/tourist attractions etc that I had a feeling that could only be described as hitting a wall. A lot of long time travelers told me about this and some of them hit this stage in just a few months. There was nothing wrong with Israel but after so long on the road I was ready for home.


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