Exiting Israel, only for now
Previous post: Jaffa – my last stop in Israel
My plane too off the runway and as I watched the land of Israel from my window growing smaller and smaller, I inadvertently found saying to myself:
“येतो मी…” (yeto mee) – An informal ‘good bye’ in Marathi which roughly translates to ‘I shall return.’ *
Sounds melodramatic to me too 
but if my 20+ blog posts on different travel experiences in Israel were any indicators of how thoroughly I enjoyed that country, the actual feeling was many times more.
Israel is heavily Americanised (obviously) but their style of working is wayy more Eastern. I claim this after having worked with an Israeli company for five months and ofcourse you are welcome with insights. They have about the lowest city crime rates but extremely sensitive borders. The people appear to be rude but infact are simply straightforward. With Jewish immigrants from all over the world, one can never tell what an Israeli looks like. A traveler in Israel is often confused about what the country really is. The more time I spent, the more confused and curious I got 
Exiting Israel is tedious. All non Jewish non Israelis are subject to questioning at the time of departure. I was interviewed for forty minutes straight. Repetitive questions are asked and someone had advised me to lie and not disclose details of my backpacking – esp going to West Bank. Thankfully I replied honestly because it is simply impossible to lie and lie again for that long! It is natural to have so much security given how much problems the country is subject to. Once the interrogation was done, they assigned a guy who bypassed all standard airport barriers and took me straight to the immigration. That was cool. The Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv is wi-fi enabled and okay comfortable.
An average Israeli is extremely aware about India. But then don’t forget – there are more Israelis in India than in Israel itself. hahaha, I’m kidding ofcourse. There are very few travelers who travel to Israel on an Indian passport and time and again the security guards simply let me pass without checking, ‘Oh you are from India?’. They added a comment like ‘I am going to India next year’ or ‘Goa is very beautiful’ or ‘Namaste’ etc.
So much still to do in Israel:
- Golan heights: See Syria from the forested mountain top
- Negev Desert: Camp in the beautiful sand and natural formations
- Eilat: It’s more of a romantic place so I won’t go alone
- West Bank: Explore more cities
- Gaza: Whenever possible…
All this shall be done soon * 
At Mount of Olives, with Dome of the Rock in the background, Old city of Jerusalem.
° Here is the link to all travelogs on Israel.
° Here is the link to the Photo Gallery.
I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing this travel series. Your comments/critique is solicited and greatly appreciated. I am sure there will be bits and pieces that I will keep writing about.
cheers,
Priyank.
* I will be going back to Israel in the Fall of 2009 for a whole semester at Tel-Aviv University!
Previous post: Jaffa – my last stop in Israel
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You know I talk when I leave countries to myself in the plane as well. When I left Tibet I was like “Thank God, Freedom!!!” When I left Japan I said pretty much the same melodramatic “Bye Bye thing…”
I was going to ask you if you flew EL AL and how the security is but I pretty much get the idea. Hey I could use the Diplomatic exit when I entered Tokyo this time for some strange reason. A guy came saw my passport while I was waiting at the immigration line and pointed me towards the diplomatic immigration fellow. I guess they do a lot of profiling by face. Although my worst airport experiences have always been right here in good old India! One immigration guy even accused me of using my brothers passport. He didn’t expect me to be snappy though, I gave him quite a talking to.
↵Mitraa….the travelogue for Israel was very interesting and informative indeed…..gr8 job…cheers !
↵Odzer:
Yes, I flew EL AL!
Forgot to mention it here but my Toronto to Israel EL-AL flight is described here.
Immigration authorities can be anal in India. I guess they are only looking for money under the table. I am looking forward to seeing them soon
↵Himanshu
↵Thats nice of you, thanks
yeah I like it when u mention this kind of stuff, n I am in the process of developng a fast-scan to spot these parts in ur travel writing fastr
so I can skip the travel-travel-this-is-here -that-is-thr-parts wh one can get in any stndrd travel journal/ the geog books anyway…pl dnt scream, u do knw I enjoy ur blog immensely othwise n been here for nearly two yrs now, rt?
↵Hey Priyank,
I am following on your blog rather Israel Series past many days but commenting today. You write simply awesome. Hats off to you and your photography.
Keep up that good work (so we will be updated)
Take care,
↵So another travel comes to an end!
waiting for the “So much still to do”……….
↵Trisha:
↵haha, no why would I scream! Everyone has their own purposes, some people comment some dont, some comment so that I can visit them back and so on. I value your visits.
Annie:
↵So nice to see you here, I thought you disappeared! I promise more ‘good work’ in the future, thanks
Swapneel:
Your comment brought a big smile! Amen to that.
↵Shalom PRIYANK, it is nice to read so much lovely things about our country from travelers veiewpoint. I am looking forward to your next visit to Tiberias and as promised, I will show you new places around. Thankyou once again, I loved every bit of it, you are a gift with photography and perfect using of words
I must tell my friends already about this site !!
↵Lets see if you come to ‘Israel first or I come to Canada
↵Priyank,
I’m fascinated by the security procedures you had to go through at the airport. I know Israel’s airport security engages in profiling, so I suspect that looking like you or I probably makes getting through the airport a bit more tedious.
Was this the case?
↵Yair:
Nice to see your comment here after a while. It will be cool to catchup and go to Golan together.
I understand how it feels to read a third person’s view on your country. I love reading about India and increasingly, Canada
↵Anil:
At the time I was leaving, every non Israeli passport holder was questioned regardless of anything. I was told that this is a ’standard procedure’ and was especially strict on EL AL flights. On my last day, the Tel Aviv University issued a letter to ‘make my exit easier’ but they said ‘good luck getting out!’
Since other visitors over the years have similar comments, I guess this is very normal.
But lol., I might have been better off with a distinctive Indian look. People usually confuse me as Iranian or Syrian or Turkish
↵Working with Israeli people is a lot of fun … offices in Israel tend to have rooms rather than cubicles …
so you have 2-3 people in every room and those are awesomely decorated … many people have their own fusball tables, dartboards etc, some have special coffee machines in which they brew coffee for friends… lunch time conversations are a lot of fun too… very few people do desk lunch which is so prominent here in the USA …
Sporting events are taken very seriously… major Maccabi Tel Aviv games mean a half day holiday at work and (almost) curfew over the entire city
About security checks in Ben Gurion… I’d say I was among the lucky few who got things pretty easy because I had sort of Diplomatic clearance…
so i was just waved through all the procedure … though I’ve seen … if the baggage contains something even remotely suspicious, all that diplomatic clearance wont help… some of my colleagues have been interviewed the same way you were… which due to existing conditions is pretty acceptable. Finally those guys are just doing their job… and its for everyones safety.
And about immigration authorities in India… donno about other cities, but Bombay has never been a problem for me … the immigration authorities have always cleared me in a minute . Until a year ago… it took a lot of time for the bags to arrive at baggage claim … but that aint the case no more …
this month when I landed in Bombay … I was out of the airport within 20 minutes of stepping on the Jetway!!!
I think Bombay airport is more efficient in clearing people than american airports where immigration is so slow due to lack of manpower (never have I seen all counters manned, its always 30-40%) and slow procedures (photographing and fingerprinting) and same goes for baggage claim … every belt has 4-5 different planes to service so you need to wait atleast 15-20 mins
↵Harshal:
That was a nice tour of your office
Thanks for the comments and notes on immigration!
↵Nice blog and information on Israel, I will be entering Israel mid november for three months.
I added your like to my travel blog and subscribed.
↵Hey I liked the information about exiting the country, do they question people that enter the country at the airport.
I have been to Lebanon and Syria, although I have asked many Israeli tourists about if it’s a big deal and they all said no.
What do you think, I am an American Citizen.
↵Hey Enlight:
Welcome to Priyank.com and thanks for the comments
I was not questioned at all at the point of entry. For your case it would be better to ask this question on the Israel Trip Advisor Forum. It is a fantastic resource and people are very prompt with replies
↵Great ending , 40 mins exit interrogation, I’d be sweating bricks, Great shot of you and the Dome Of The Rock, sums it up nicely.
↵Hey Priyank yahhh still alive? Your travels are so coooool, and you are so adventerous, must be fun to be interrogated, lol. I was once in Amsterdam, lol. Thanks for sharing your learning experience, and most of all sharing it with us. Anna
↵Bob:
Otherwise, no chance! I’d be 
↵I stood patient only because I was told about this over and over by many people
sweatingswearing bricks [haha, that's not even an expression.] Thanks for staying with the blogAnna:
Thanks for the encouraging words. cheers!
↵Yes I am still alive and hopefully will survive three more countries in this last quarter of 2008
By the way, did you ask what their concern was? Why they were questioning you, after all you were leaving the country.
You would think it would be the other way around, question when you arrive.
↵Hi Priyank,
Well curtains on yet another travellogue. I must say, it was like visiting Israel myself. Thoruoghly enjoyable.
It is nice to know that India is so well known amongst people there. I guess at any point of time half of Israel must be in India, either at the beaches or up in the mountains.
Away from public eye there is also very close co-operation between Indian and Israeli governments and companies. There is also frequent interaction between various agricultural universities in the two countries.
Just toback up what Harshal mentioned, I too have never had any problem with the Immigration at Mumbai. They are fast and you are literally sailing through.
↵Hey Enlight,
I also sent you an email, just in case
They interrogate everyone who is exiting. The reason is probably to ensure that the person is not leaving after committing any crime. In the background they open your bag and check each and every little thing in it. EL AL airline was subjected to hijacking and threats and they want to be absolutely sure that I am not taking anything risky on the plane. Heck, they made people undress and checked the insides of stitching on their clothes too!! That’s paranoid!
But I didn’t think it was worth mentioning here.
With your case – Syria and Lebanese stamps on passport – still shouldn’t be a problem. It is a standard practise with travelers. Many people I met in Israel did various Muslim countries around middle east and finally entered Israel since they couldn’t do the other way. So I am led to believe that you won’t have entry problems either.
Thats all I know. I encourage you to post on that forum. All the best man.
Priyank
↵Hi Mavin,
Correction. It is I who must thank you for making me move my ass and start writing rest of the travelogue. Otherwise I would have procrastinated
Seeyou soon.
↵Thanks Priyank — I look forward to hearing about your 2009 visit.
Exit security is done only to be sure nothing dangerous is being taken on a plane. Certain types of travelers are profiled — Arabs, single men or women in certain age-ranges, etc. depending on likely risk. (It’s sort of actuarial, like how your car insurance rates are determined.) And you are so right — never try to lie, because they are trained to read body language and expression, and when they get seriously concerned, 40 minutes is nothing, from what people say.
Entry security does exist, and occasionally people are interviewed at length, or even refused entry, so once again, just be honest about everything. In that case, they are making sure people are not there to cause trouble.
Again, todah rabah for the blog! You’ve inspired me to maybe do a little more to plump up my own travel blog.
↵AZZenny:
Thanks for your words of encouragement and staying with me on the blog posts all this while patiently.
I must ask you for your blog url… what is it?
↵It was a wonderful exp readng Harshal, and Yair and Enlight here. Didnt knw tht its difficult to enetr muslim countries aft Israel. This is what is so spl abt ur blogs, whts at Tel Aviv, dnt knw tht yet.
↵Hi Trisha:
Most Muslim countries, excluding Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and maybe a couple others, will disallow anyone who has an Israeli stamp on his passport.
While people from Western countries can bypass this by getting a stamp on separate piece of paper, people from other countries (India included) need a Visa to visit Isarel. So they are left with no choice but to not visit any Muslim country until you get a new passport.
What a hassle
Before going to Israel, I spent some time to re-think if I wanted to visit any Islamic countries in the immediate future.
↵That interrogation technique used by El Al apparently is much more effective than the Xrays and frisking have been.
↵Reading your posts makes me want to go back.
↵Shantanu:
↵I bet! Its pretty intense.
Wendy:
↵WOW! That’s the biggest compliment a travel blogger could get! Thanks
How can I disappear like that?……..I am here pretty much here, just got messed with Work (as usual)
↵One of the best posts ..sometimes information is more interesting than just descriptions
↵Annie:
↵O. yeah. I hope things are better now
Lakshmi:
↵Thanks
Oh gosh… you travel so much. Comment or no comment I enjoy reading your posts.
↵Shivanand:
Thanks!
↵Nice to see your comment here
hi
↵you took me there!
when you are there next time i expect much more.
on local economy and daily life out there.
[...] Me ← Charms of Tel Aviv city : Older post Newer post : Exiting Israel, only for now [...]
↵Thanks Shree. I hope you read the individual chapters too, they provide a fair amount of depth into the daytoday living in Israel. In case you have questions, please contact me
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