What day! Leaving Portland Airport Monday morning at 7am, we arrived in Tel Aviv at 5:30pm on Tuesday. Of course time changes had a lot to do with this but there was also an 8 hour lay over in New York that didn’t help.

After we arrived, we were greeted by our tour agency. They ushered us through security and customs. Israel has one of the most sophisticated customs checkins I have ever seen. There is no awkward discussion with an custom agent. You simply scan your passport and the computer compares all the captured images of you and approves your stay.

Apparently, customs does all their work behind the scenes before you arrive and you are given either a blue visa or a red one. The red one requires more screening with an agent before you are granted entry.

We arrived to our hotel after a 45-minute bus ride and had dinner and walked the town a little bit before bed. The Mediterranean is pretty warm but sea shells were hard to come by.

Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow!