JUC booked my roommate's and my sherut for us - her flight was only an hour before mine, so they put us on the same bus. They normally book the sherut for four hours before the flight is scheduled to leave, the sherut tells us to be ready 15 minutes before they are scheduled to pick us up, and the school tells us to be ready 10-15 minutes before that, and since there isn't an 8 am sherut because of heavy traffic, we were standing below Jaffa Gate and 6:30 am ... and my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:30 pm! The sherut arrived at 6:35 am, so it's a good thing we were there that early.
We arrived at the airport around 7:50, but we weren't allowed to start the security/check-in procedure until three hours before our planes where scheduled to depart. Since my roommate's flight was earlier, we said our good-byes (in case I didn't make it through until after her flight had left), and she started the security screening at 8:30 while I sat and waited for another hour.
After sitting in the uncomfortable seats with all my luggage for almost two hours, I was finally able to line up for the first round of security. While standing in line, everyone gets questioned by security guards who also check your passport. The security agent I got asked a few basic questions (how long was I in Israel, what was I doing, etc.) while she flipped casually through my passport ... then she got an odd look on her face and started going through the passport again, this time a lot slower and stopping when she got to the page with the stamps from South Sudan. She then asked if I spoke Hebrew (no) and told me to wait there and walked off to the security desk with my passport. She came back a few minutes later, asked some of the same questions, including if I spoke Hebrew, and then some other girl came up and chatted with her in Hebrew for a while. I'm not sure what it was about, but I have a feeling it was to see whether or not I really spoke Hebrew or not!
A guy twice her size then came up and took my passport from her, and asked me the same questions again. Then started questioning the South Sudan stamps: Why are there so many? Why were you there? Where did you stay? I was getting some odd looks from the other people in the line ... they just got the basic questions like "did you pack your bags yourself?" He was finally satisfied, stuck stickers on my bags and passports, and then I continued with the line to get my checked bag x-rayed. My sticker started with a 5 ... on their scale of security risks, 1 is no threat, 6 is high threat ... apparently, I'm dangerous!
Most bags, after flying out the other side of the x-ray machine (they were airborne for about a meter!), got a security tag attached to them ... I was sent to another area to have my bag searched. It took about 20 minutes for the lady to go through all the stuff in my bag, swabbing everything and testing for explosives, I assume. Since I knew that I had plenty of time before my flight left (it was advertising that it was going to be an hour delayed), I didn't really care - it's for my own safety that they do all these checks. After everything got swabbed, she watched my pack up the bag and escorted me past the line-ups to the check-in counter. Again, I got some odd looks from the other passengers waiting in line - how come I got to jump the line? and why was I accompanied my a guard? She finally left after my luggage was checked-in, and I headed off to the next security inspection.
The next security check was closer to what is at every airport - my carry-on bag went through and x-ray machine (though they really take their time to inspect the images before the bag comes out), my boots and passport were swabbed. The big difference was that there were 6 armed security guards watching the whole thing and a big 5 sticker was put on my backpack ... just to make me feel special, I guess. I had no questions at immigration, just a stamp in the passport, and I was off to find my roommate. She also rated a 5! We chatted a bit, then she boarded her flight and I went off to find some food - I can only last on granola bars for so long.
It was a long wait at the airport - at 12:30 when the flight was originally supposed to depart, the plane hadn't even landed yet! It ended up leaving around 2 pm. Ben Gurion is a fairly nice airport - very clean and modern. But I had to laugh at their no smoking announcements - with the accent, it sounded more like they were saying "Your attention please. 'Smuggling' is permitted only in the designated areas." This is also the only airport where I've heard the announcement that "Weapons are not allowed in the terminal area."
The flight finally left, and I managed to have an empty seat beside me so I could spread out a bit. The flights was long (12 hours) but uneventful. My brother-in-law and niece met me at the airport and I stopped by my sister's place to chat a bit about Israel and to have a snack before finally going home.
We had no issues going into the States – no line ups to cross way up here! The gravel road was much worse on the American side, but other than that and the numerous hunting groups we saw, there wasn’t any difference – the road was still running along a ridge providing awesome views. We were also able to see a couple groups of caribou in the forest and on the road.
We bypassed Chicken (it looked too touristy and tacky!), hit the paved road, and drove down to the Alaska Highway and back into Canada. Canadian customs isn’t at the border along the highway – its 26 km southeast in Beaver Creek! Along the way, we saw a mother and baby moose. Again, no problems getting back into Canada and we stopped at the first campground in Beaver Creek.
The next stop was at the border with Tanzania. We left most of our stuff on the truck, and walked with our passports to the Kenyan customs office to exit the country. The officer I talked to only seemed interested in knowing if I (or anyone else in the group I was with) was from Nunavut! Then we walked across the border into Tanzania and went into the customs office there. I had bought my visa in Canada so didn't have to buy one there, but the few people in our group who needed a visa didn't have any hassles getting one. Then it was back on the truck and off to the shores of Lake Victoria where we spent the rest of the day.
After lunch, some of the group did a bicycle trip through the neighbouring town, but I decided that I'd seen enough African markets, so didn't feel like paying someone to go see another one. Instead, I found a comfy spot to sit and relax while reading my book and listening to the waves lap against the beach. (There's nasty things in the water, so no swimming) The others got back form there bike ride at sunset, which also happened to be the same time a massive thunderstorm rolled in. We all made our way to the bar at the end of the beach, and sat around chatting in the dark (the power went out) for at least an hour. Then it was back to the cook shelter where we all squeezed in around the massive wood boiler for supper. We then had a hot shower and were in our tents by 9:30.
