Day 10 - February 28 - Back North

A bus was departing the Eilat Central Bus Sration at 10 am - so I was one of the first ones at the delicious breakfasts at the hotel (I would not have want to forgo it) and I was riding back towards Israel at 7:30.

A miracle - the entry back into the country took only an hour, just 5 minutes by the Israel authority, the rest by the Egyptians. Once again, I had to get some sort of customs clearance, but overall, it seemed like a breeze compared to Sunday night. On the Israeli side, the officer takes my passport and asks me for my name - was a bit surprised, as he had all the info in front of him. I tell it to him and smiles - telling me his father is from Hungary. We chit-chatted (as part of the 5 minutes) and told him about the ordeal of two days ago He says, "Don't tell me about it, the Egyptians are 1 kilometer away, but about 3,000 years aback". Well, a bit of an exaggeration, but not entirely without merit. Also included me in the 5 minutes was that I forgot to reclaim the money I paid as deposit and had to re-enter security, but traffic was very light, so it all went brisk.

I rode back to town along a ferry port importing passenger cars, the white ones seemed to be very popular.

I got some food and drinks for the long-long bus ride, and off we went, pulling out exactly at 10:00, en-route to Tel Aviv. It was really inexpensive, somewhat surprising, the first leg cost only €10 or so, bike carriage included for free, it being tossed to the bottom. Many parts of the journey were on roads I had earlier ridden on, e.g. the section where I struggled from the Dead Sea to Dimona. What for me were 2-3 hours, was just a couple of minutes for this comfortable bus.

If I recall, some five hours later we arrived in Tel Aviv, where I switched to a another bus going to Kyriet Shemona - a few kilometers away from HaGoshrim. It was a rather uneventful trip - luckily, no major traffic jams. The one thing I do remember is that two soldiers, one in uniform, the other one in plain clothes, travelled in the back row, both having a machine gun - its barrel pointing at me.. The plain-clothed guy fell asleep - I thought it would be the best not to peek-a-boo at him while asleep.

The bus arrived around 5:30, so with the change in Tel Aviv, it took just 7 and a half hours to cover what I had ridden in some 8 days, for a total cost of €20. Now, in the darkness, I found my way back to HaGhoshrim, where my relatives greeted me and I told them all about my experiences.