More unscheduled stops in Israel's most laid back city

My home from home in Tel Aviv.....its bus station
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Day 44

Oh the joys of conflicting information on the internet - the Egypt website in England appeared to suggest that I could obtain a visa for Egypt at any land border crossing. However, all blogs and other internet sites were saying that I could not obtain a general visa for Egypt at the Israel border, only one for the Sinai peninsular (ie not Cairo or Luxor).

There was no information on the internet from the Egypt embassy in Tel Aviv or its consulate in Eliat at the border with Tel Aviv. All I knew was that it was a Thursday and the embassies and consulates would be closed tomorrow and Saturday.

Mug shots with half a bouffant
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Lonely planet guide suggested that the Eilat consulate closed at 11am and the 4 hour bus journey from Jerusalem would mean that I would get there as it was closing. Tel Aviv was only an hour away so I was in line for another unscheduled pit stop in Tel Aviv.

More drama ensued when I realised that I could not find the passport photos that I had done in England. Still when I arrived in Tel Aviv, there was a photo booth on hand. I followed the instructions in the booth and had my eyes at the eye level indicated. The booth then proceeded to take photos that cut off the top of my bouffant. Given embassies can be fussy about these things, I had some more done and ensured that my eyes were well and truly below eye level.

Warning - there is a 'Danger of Death' on the Streets of Tel Aviv
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Due to all the bomb threats, Israel does not do left luggage at its train or bus stations so I had the joy of carrying my rucksack all the way to the embassy (which was a nice kilometre away from the nearest bus stop).

And what joy at the embassy, there was quite a few people there who were all asking questions in English to the guy behind the counter. The man behind the counter spoke very little English and what very little English he spoke, he spoke it badly as well. The guy always had a smile on his face and looking back now, I reckon that he could speak perfect English but was just having plenty of fun getting everyone flustered.

There's always a sunny side of the street in Tel Aviv
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And people were getting flustered as loads of people were having a quite a few attempts at having their forms accepted - not enough photos, photos not glued to the form, photos not cut properly, photocopies of passports needed, photocopies of application, the list goes on.

Mine was not straight forward either when he started asking me to answer questions that were not even on the visa application form. I could understand that he was saying the word, "Job" but kept telling him that I was a tourist and not wanting work. After much confusion, I wrote solicitor and Peasegoods on the form and my application was accepted. However, I had very little optimism about my passport being ready at the 1 o'clock that he had said.

And then to exploring the party capital of Tel Aviv in the space of two hours in the midday sun with heavy rucksack in tow. The place seemed very relaxed and laid back even though there appeared to be short on sites.

The amount of military people carrying guns had gone right down and the amount of women in army gear had shot up markedly (and the women did look kind of good in them). The place was definitely alot less religious as well.

In a short space of time, it was getting close to 1pm and so I headed back to the embassy not convinced that my passport would be there waiting for me with an Egyptian visa in. But it was......whahoo.