I woke up in Israel this morning...

Getting on the plane in Bulgaria was quite an ordeal, but not in the way you might assume. I had read that Israel security was strict, but, 1) I thought it was once you arrived there, and, 2) I had no idea it was THAT strict. I thought I was getting lucky when they took me to the front of the line for check-in, little did I know I was in for serious scrutiny. A young Israeli girl, who warned me that she was training, "so it might take awhile", began to ask me all sorts of questions, insisting for exact details such as names and addresses of people I have stayed with and such. It was kind of cute at first, as she was a bit shy and nervous, probably more so than I was at that moment... and she was asking rather personal questions with no apparent relation to security as if we had met at a bar or something. Once she had written down everything about my life, past, present and future, I was taken to a small area to wait while they examine my bags. They took both of my bags, I was patted down, scanned with a metal detector, they took my shoes and returned them 5 minutes or so later... meanwhile, the other people were busy removing everything from my bags just around the corner out of sight. Every few minutes they brought me an item from my bag and questioned me about it. What is this? a water filter, What do you do with it? filter water, Why do you need it? for emergency, Have you ever used it before? yes, When? about a year ago, Where did you buy it? USA, How long ago? 2 years ago, Have you ever loaned it to someone or has anyone else ever used it? no, Will you show me how it works?.... this went on for about 2 hours with every electronic item I own as well as my chalk for rock climbing and a flavored packet of Ceralyte(an oral rehydration drink), both of which they took a sample to analyze. Finally they brought back most of my items in baskets and gave me my bags to repack. The final basket they brought back was of items they insisted I put in my luggage that would go below and observed me as I put them in the bigger pack before taking it away from me again. I was not allowed to board with any electrical equipment(camera, cell phone, iPod), and they even took my lighter. At that point I felt priviledged to get on the plane fully clothed.

So, some of you may be wondering... "but what about the Bulgarian visa?" Well, after being detained for over 2 hours, it finally came time to go to the gate, as the plane was leaving in 20 minutes or so. I thought there was no way I was leaving the country... for sure it would take more than 20 minutes to deal with Bulgarian border guards... first the questions, then the obligatory reprimand, then the bureaucracy, then the whole process of paying the fine(which of course would be in a different building), getting the receipt, etc, etc, etc... and this was assuming I would have enough money to pay the damn fine. The Israelis gave my carry-on and my passport to another young Israeli girl who would have to escort me to the gate. "Now I'm really screwed!", I thought. Even if by some miracle I could make it past the Bulgarians, surely the Israelis would change their minds now knowing that I had overstayed my visa here in Bulgaria. As I waited in line I noticed the sign clearly stating "No payments here!".... typical. I offered to take the bag from the girl, hoping that maybe this was someone sort of courtesy to ease the fact that I had just been brutally examined, and that she would leave me to the Bulgarians... no such luck. Sensing my uneasiness, she apologized for the security measures and asked if this was my first visit to Israel. I said yes, and she jokingly responded, "... and maybe the last?" "We'll see after I get there," I responded, "IF I even get there." Then, in a CLASSIC case of travel irony, the Bulgarian guard took my passport, ran it through his machine, found the page with my visa and stamped it straight away without even looking at the dates. God only knows what that girl thought when I was now suddenly laughing. After boarding the plane, we were delayed for awhile as they searched for the bags of a few passengers who were "denied by local authorities". HA! but they didn't get me!

So that's the story of my escape from Bulgaria. And once again, it is proven that I never know what to expect. All that fuss over my bulgarian visa... I should have been worried about the Israeli security instead. All is well, I am in Israel.... and I have $300-$3000 more than what I expected to have! Time to explore.... the next post will be something positive about Israel, I promise.... :-)