I've always wanted to go to Israel! Because of political unrest off and on through the years, I didn't think I'd ever get the opportunity. While planning vacation for this winter, I saw a cruise that included Israel. I thought this might be my chance to see the Holy Land. Booking the trip went fine. I felt good about the decision to go and did not foresee any issues. Then, political unrest (for lack of a better description) broke out in the region. The cruise was not canceled, and the unrest seemed to blow over. We were scheduled to fly through JFK in New York. One week before we were scheduled to depart, a hurricane blew through the East Coast, shutting down the airport and canceling thousands of flights over several days. The airport opened back again and all seemed to be well. Then, within days of our trip, I got an email reminding me of requirements to have a valid passport. I had a valid passport and was fully aware it expired soon. But, it was still valid. Then, I read the fine print, "a valid passport is a passport that does not expire within 6 months of travel." I didn't know what to do. I really didn't know if I had any options. And, didn't imagine they wouldn't let me fly, since my passport was still valid. Then, I talked to a friend who used to work for Delta. She said they would not let me get on the plane if my passport expired within 6 months. As ridiculous as I felt this was, I flew to Denver the next day, costing me hundreds of dollars, to expedite a passport renewal. So, 3 days later, we were on the plane to the Holy Land. The coast was clear! Or not! We got to JFK, now up and functioning normally, until a storm hit the day of our flight. Not so "normal" anymore! We were in New York. It was snowing. We boarded the plane. Sat for 1 hour. Got off the plane. Wandered for 3 hours. Got back on the plane. Sat for an additional 4 hours before taking off. Exactly 1 minute to spare before the flight was canceled entirely, because the crew cannot legally work longer than 18 hours. Despite the set back, we arrived safely in Rome less than 9 hours later, and 8 hours late. Luckily, we had planned to spend a few days in Rome before the cruise. Our days were shortened, but we crammed in as much as possible! Now, we could rest easy! Nothing else would go wrong, right? The weather was lovely. Seriously! Sun every day. We cruised to Turkey and saw a castle. Alanya really is a nice town. I was proposed to there. I said, "no", but am not above an Internet relationship. Next, off to Cyprus. Another fantastic day, seeing amazing sights. That night, we were notified that the political situation was not good in Israel. We were supposed to dock near the Gaza strip. Since Gaza was shooting missiles into Israel, our captain decided that wasn't a good idea. We docked at another port higher north on the coast. We still drove into Jerusalem, it just took several hours. Some of the streets were closed, because of Intelligence they had received. That night, there was an explosion in Jerusalem. We missed it! I felt perfectly safe the whole time we were in Israel. On to Egypt. We went to Cairo. Cairo is a big city in a third world country. It is dirty and impoverished. And, the feeling on the streets were very politically charged. I didn't not feel safe in Cairo.We witnessed a scuffle, that added to my unease. We still saw amazing things! I don't need to go back to Cairo. But, I do need to go back to Israel. I think I'll check out a book about it tomorrow! Off to my next adventure!
