Leaving Frankfurt for Tel Aviv, when I checked in my bag at the counter, the El Al employee marked a code on a plastic card which I gave to the guy at the security checkpoint. And based on that code, a bunch of us got selected for additional security screening. We were made to sit and wait for "English security screening" and so we talked among ourselves and figured as much, that if you spoke English and traveled by yourself, then you will be subjected to additional scrutiny, regardless of whether you are male or female, American, German, Norwegian, .... My plane was supposed to be taking off at 14:20 but I didn't get on the plane until 16:10. When we told the security guy about our worry of missing our plane, he assured us if that's our main concern, put it out of our mind and do not worry about it. And true to his word, they held the plane for us. And the passengers on the plane were pretty good sport about it. No one grumples, no weird look, .... I guess they've learned to get used to it. And it wasn't just me, there were like 15 people on that plane being held up by security. The security staffs were courteous and kept it pleasant. They went through everything and swiped for explosive residue very carefully. Checking out all the batteries, for my camcorder, my laptop, my camera, ... through X-ray machine.

The flight obviously arrived late at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Adam didn't find his bag from the baggage claim so he went to lost and found. His bag never left North Carolina so they compensated him a few Euros. I picked up the rental car and since I had forgotten all my MapQuest printouts at home, we had to ask for direction to my hotel before we can figure out how to get to Adam's hostel on Ben Yehuda street. Adam and I met on the plane coming in from Frankfurt. He too had been subjected to additional security screening since he spoke English and traveled all by himself. He's from North Carolina, had one more semester in college and he's going to bump around Israel for two months, trying to learn a little Hebrew and working whatever jobs he can find to get some money for room and food. Got to my hotel, which is the Crown Plaza at 145 Hayarkon St. in Tel Aviv, right on the beach. Asking for direction is rather involved since we have to listen to what people say, and write down best you can the name of the streets in Latin alphabets because people can't spell out the street name for you since they only know it in Hebrew. I managed to drop off Adam after a few rounds driving around the three main streets, Hayarkon, Ben Yehuda, and Dizengoff, and many smaller streets, a lot of which are as narrow as alleyways in the US.

Got back to the hotel, which I got the night for free since I had converted my AA frequent flier miles into hotel points before they expired. Took my carry on bags up. I was upgraded to a suite, 1705, so I checked out the suite and all the goodies left in the room for me by the general manager. By the time I got down, my car was gone, with my big checked baggage with all my clothes still in it. Talked to the valet guy in front of the hotel, he told me he saw a car got towed, maybe it was my car. Found that the towing company had a lot at 5 Hayarkon St., a good half hour walk up the street. I found out that the city of Tel Aviv generates their revenue through towing fees, about 260 shekels per car every time. Walked to the lot, asked the guy who ran the place, he told me to go around the lot and find my car, then I can pay the fine and have the car back. I walked around twice but couldn't locate the car. He walked also but couldn't either. Since it's a rental car I just picked up, I don't remember what the license plate was. All I can recall was that it's a white Fiat with the middle number on the license plate is 108. Israel plate's format is xx-xxx-xx. So he told me to wait until all of his drivers came back to the lot and if I still couldn't locate my car, I need to call the police and report it stolen as well as notify the rental car company. All three of his last drivers came back, this is about 1:00 am already. I walked another half hour back to the hotel, called the police and reported the car stolen. They came by, asked me exactly where I parked the car. They showed me the sign in Hebrew said that the handicapped lot was 12 meters long, not one car length like I thought. They called the towing company and the company said they have a record of my car on the lot. So they took me back to the lot. I was told to walk around and locate my car. I told the same guy I had talked to earlier that I couldn't find it just an hour ago, after all of his drivers had come in. The police officer was going to leave me there but I asked him not too because if I couldn't find my car, I was going to call him again. So the police officer walked with me, with his flash light. This time I had the full license plate number. We still couldn't locate it. The police officer went back and spoke to the guy in Hebrew. While they were talking, since I had no idea what they were saying, I took one more walk around the lot, a prayer walk it was, then I saw the license plate. Stuck my key and the door opened. So I went and paid the fine, drove back to the hotel, after getting lost for a few minutes as well as getting something for dinner.

I forgot all the MapQuest printouts I had of directions to places I want to visit, among them Independence Hall, where David Ben Gurion read the declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, declaring the establishment of the modern state of Israel. So I called tourism information desk, they told me it's at 17 Rothschild. I was advised that it's closed at 2:30 and that the parking situation is hopeless there. So I checked out of the hotel, stuck all my luggage in the car, left the car at the hotel and took a taxi to 71 Rothschild since the taxi driver didn't know there Independence Hall was. It ended up 17 Rothschild was not the building. Talked to some people around there and they said maybe it's 70 and I had heard it wrong. So I started walking down the street to 70 Rothschild. Along the way, I stopped in to buy a water bottle, now that I had changed my US dollars to Israeli shekels, to prevent a repeat of the problem I had the night before, when some place I wanted to get something for dinner didn't want my US dollars. I asked the guy selling the water bottle and he told me Independence Hall would be back in the direction where I came from. So I went back, stopped by some kind of Jewish museum, asked the staffs there and was told it's 16 Rothschild, not 17. Maybe the girl I spoke to on the phone at the tourism information translated into English wrong. Anyway, I finally found it, paid the 17 shekels admission and was shown a film and then self guided myself on the tour to the main room and we see that picture of David Ben Gurion stood in front of the microphones reading the declaration of independence. There were about 60 to 70 Jewish kids in the room, all singing Jewish song. I spoke to them and found out later it was a ceremony where they got their identity cards at 16 years of age. I found out the night before from talking to the police that the official independence celebration was according to the Jewish calendar, which is the 5th of Iyar, not the Gregorian May 14th, which had happened five days before. Such a disappointment because I was hoping to see the fireworks and witness for myself how wild the Jews celebrate. Well, I learned something new. Afterward, I walked back to the hotel, checking out all the shops along the way and grabbed lunch as well. Saw a whole bunch of IDF gals doing their job at an open market on Allenby street. Had a picture taken with them, check it out on my Facebook, along with many other pictures I update each day as I tour Israel with Precept. Picked up a local SIM card so I can use with my unlock blackberry and Pingo to make cheap phone calls home to the US. Got back to the hotel, picked up the car, drove back to the airport, returned the car, found the Precept folks, got on the bus with them and was taken to Tiberius for a good dinner and good night sleep at the Gai Beach Hotel.