Feb 20th, 21st and 22nd – Back to Israel and Transition

We awoke early to make it back to the village and into a cab to the Israeli border. We said goodbye to our Aussie friend who also joined us in the desert. We crossed the border without major incident (though the Israelis unpacked my bag more than I had the whole trip...apparently I look sketchy). We took a cab directly to our hostel in the Israeli Red Sea coast city of Eilot.

It was a super modern, western and touristy beach town. We spent the afternoon walking around the shopping districts and sitting by the waters edge.

We also walked down and found a quiet place to lie some of my late grandfather's ashes. He was a very special man and it was important to my sister and I that we have the opportunity to do that together. I believe he would have enjoyed the area we were and had been traveling in very much.

We ended up napping away most of the evening before heading the nightlife area just to grab a quick dinner before sleeping for the night.

We took a morning bus that took about 6 hours to make it back to Tel Aviv. The ride was alright except for a screaming baby that was getting on my sister's (who was ready to get back home at this point) nerves. We made it back to a nice hostel in Tel Aviv before sundown. That evening one of the soldier friends we made on our Israel trip would come and join us for coffee and dinner. We were going to have to get up very early to get my sister to the airport, so we didn't go out too late.

I accompanied her to the airport in the morning and said goodbye. It really had been good to send so much time with her over the few weeks we were together. I made my way back to the hostel by train and then bus.

I spent the ENTIRE day updating the blog to at least get it into the right month. Luckily for me it was pouring down rain the whole day so it wasn't too much of a loss. I worked until I needed to sleep