Tag Archives: City

Travel

Tel Aviv

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Tel Aviv. Self-proclaimed as “The City That Never Sleeps”, it’s name is a combination of two words and two ideas. Tel, meaning ancient, and Aviv, meaning spring, combine the old and new. The Jews have returned to this ancient place, but the city is built on modern ideas and lifestyles.  Tel Aviv is Israel’s center of entertainment, education, fashion, finance and politics. The apartments are small and overpriced. The streets are narrow, the traffic thick and close. This much I learn from my tour guide, Susan.

Tel Aviv is also the launching pad for bus load upon bus load of Holy Land tours.  Pilgrims, as tourists to this place are often called, lay their heads on Tel Aviv hotel pillows for their first sleep in this awe-inspiring land. Most have been awake for far too many hours, or even days, and can’t be trusted with any responsibility or further information.  Wake-up calls are pre-scheduled for every room according to tour request, and instruction is given to keep awake until at least 9 p.m. The body clock needs resetting, and early bed time will result in a long nap but not an overnight refueling. This much I learn from experience.

Of course, there is always confusion about time when jumping several hours ahead and losing a night of sleep.  I heard tell, today, of one traveler who forgot about resetting her phone’s clock before setting the alarm. Unable to keep her eyes open until the suggested 9 p.m. bedtime, she had been happily dreaming for quite some time by then. When her dreams turned on her and told her the bus was leaving without her for the morning’s tour, she awoke with a start at 5:30. Relieved that it was thirty minutes before the wake-up call and thankful for the extra time to be prepared so as NOT to be left behind, she turned on lights, rummaged through her suitcase and showered. It was only after her preparations were nearly complete that I was able to ask my roommate if she realized it was only midnight. Oh, what a sinking feeling. Instead of all night, she had slept only two and a half hours. Deflated, she turned off the lights and put her head once more on the pillow.  Apparently, this is an all too common phenomenon.

Tel Aviv may hope to leave a very different impression with their motto, but I have no doubt that it lives up to it’s reputation; and little wonder with so many weary and confused travelers from around the world. The City That Never Sleeps.

 

©Erika Rice 2014

Travel

Pack Light

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I’m standing here buying toothpaste, mouthwash, and pocket journals. There’s a suitcase lying open at home on my bedroom floor.  My packing instructions say, “Pack Light. Do not take more than you’ll for-sure, no-doubt-about-it-need! […] Lay out all the clothes you think you will need on a bed, then pack half of those and put the other half back in your closet.” I’m not even sure where to begin with what I need.  How can I put the other half back? I have an electrical adaptor set out. My waterproof Israel North and Jerusalem map is beside it. Soon I will choose my shoes. I thought I would pack one good pair of walking shoes, ignoring the directions to put half of what I think I need back in the closet when it comes to shoes. But then I read to pack two pairs, twice what I think I’ll need. It’s all a bit complicated.

Which is why I’m standing in a Walmart pharmacy aisle buying mini-size essentials. It just seems safe. Especially now that I’m confronted with a variety of travel-sized containers. I like options! I reach for the larger tube of toothpaste. I’ll be gone for two weeks, after all. Ooh…and I can even buy twice as much mouthwash for the same price. I’ll be sure to have enough! Then “pack half of what you think you need and put the other half back” flashes through my mind. To be clear, that directive was related to clothing. The instructions told me to be sure to pack enough of my regularly used medicine-cabinet items for the whole trip. So I add the larger travel-sized bottle of each of my toiletries to the cart. But I don’t stop thinking – thinking about how my freezer never gets below half-full, and my closet seems a little smaller every year, and my pantry too often holds an expired box or two of something; thinking about the sentence in the travel hints that says, “If you just think, ‘Oh, I might, somewhere or sometime need this’…you won’t, so don’t pack it.”

No one wants to run out of essentials in a foreign land. Discerning what is essential is the sometimes tricky part. It’s good to take stock of what I need and make sure I have enough. But as a stranger and pilgrim in this land, with my eyes on a Heavenly city, I can’t afford extremes. Everything I pack is my responsibility, my load to carry. I don’t want to be weighed down with more than I need. I tend to pack with reserves, prepared for every scenario. How wise and full of foresight I think I am to bring a little more than I know I need to be sure I always have enough. But I have a sneaking suspicion that more often than not I need to put the other half back, and trust the One who supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory. Pack Light.

 

©Erika Rice 2014