So after another night of depleted sleep numbers in our silly Amman hostel, we prepped ourselves for the border crossing into Israel. We knew it was going to be another early morning as a supposed Jett Bus was leaving for the border at 7am. But in the interest of playing it safe, we decided to get there at 6am, just in case. This meant another 5:30 wake up and it also meant we made sure to clear our bill the night before, so we were done with the place and could just drop off our key at reception and be gone. Well the bus did end up leaving at about 10 after 7 so we spent some extra time at the station, but the relief of knowing there was a bus going at all (which apparently wasn’t an assured thing because of Ramadan) was enough for us not to care.
There was definetly some anxiety and nerves abounding in anticipation for the crossing. The main reason being Kris’s prior trips to the area that included plenty of time in Palestinian areas and a lot of tense check points and situations, including a brief detainment once. We weren’t sure if that was going to make this time around an issue. Fortunately, everything went fairly smoothly. I did the talking when we got to immigration since I had never been and was on a “clean slate” so to speak. That was enough for the officer. She didn’t feel the need to question Kris. Other then Kris losing one of her expensive clogs in transition, we made it through unscathed. The only thing worth mentioning is the length of it all. Good grief! I’ve had surgeries go quicker than this. It really is like a 15 point process. Something like this:
1. Take Jett bus to border
2. Exit bus, enter station to clear our leaving from Jordan (Baggage check, pay border fee)
3. Get on another bus to next checkpoint
4. Exit bus, have passport checked for a second time, guard with gun clears bus of whatever
5. Get back on bus, cross 40 foot bridge, now in Israel, reach customs/immigration building
6. Exit bus for the final time, get in line for a third passport check and brief luggage check
7. Report to another line to have 2nd of 3 stickers applied to our passport. Allowed to cut all local Pastinians in line for this (Not okay with that)
8. Hand off big luggage and passport to an officer. 2 minutes later get passport back and move on to security checkpoint.
9. Send small bag and metal objects through beltway. Hand off passport to someone else (for the 5th time I think?)
10. Use the john
11. Buy more water (its hot!!!)
12. Proceed to customs and get drilled about our purposes in Israel and our proceedings in Jordan. Get officers cold approval and stamp
13. Head to line where we are told it’s not time to pick up big bags yet.
14. Wait in chairs for 10 minutes
15. Try the line again, get clearance to pickup baggage
16. Get baggage (sans one shoe) and make for exit
17. Buy a ticket for Sheirut and get gone!!!
So there you go. I know how jealous you probably are now after reading that. Let me ease your envy. NOT FUN!
After taking the Sheirut into Jerusalem and getting dropped off outside the old city, we made our way to the Arab bus station and followed our host’s excellent directions to get to their place. Eager to stop carrying our bags and generally stop moving at all, our friend’s apartment became an immediate sanctuary for us. After catching up on each other’s lives, they graciously made us breakfast for lunch and we spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, cleaning and generally doing as little physical activity as possible. We made our way with them over to our other friends in the area, who coincidentially know each other, as they teach at the same school. (Everyone now: “It’s a small world after all…”) Dinner was great, convos were awesome, and sleep came soon after. A wonderful night’s sleep that lasted more than 5 hours in a bed for 2!! We would be ready to tackle the old city the next day.
Pictures: King Hussein bridge from Jordan to Israel, hanging laundry the old fashioned way on our friends roof
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