Indiana Hughs

I arrived in Israel without knowing what to expect. You see things on the news and hear about all of the crazy political and war-related issues going on and think it's too dangerous and it's not worth visiting. It's definitely different to see so many armed soldiers walking around, and there's a lot of them everywhere, pretty much all over Israel. That was something quite different that I'll remember from visiting this place and it definitely took some getting used to after I first arrived. 

But Israel was always on the list of places to visit, with Petra being a mandatory side trip (it is one of the 7 wonders of the world). I was really excited for this part of the trip and had been looking forward to it for quite some time. I booked a round trip ticket from Istanbul and decided that 12 days would be enough time to see everything I wanted. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out logistics and where to go and how to get there and decided that I would tackle Petra first, just after arriving in Tel Aviv, and then make my way to Jerusalem after that.

Tel Aviv

I arrived in Tel Aviv in the morning after taking a flight that was WAY too early out of Istanbul. I had a solid day to see some of the main sites of Tel Aviv and was really impressed with what I saw. The Old Jaffa (old town) of Tel Aviv was really nice and sort of reminded me of the old towns in Croatia. Right on the water with a modern feel, but the history is still recognizable as you walk around. It was a solid first day with not too much busy stuff on the schedule. I also ate what was quite possibly the best hummus in the world (I was pleasantly surprised to find out how popular hummus is here).

But I continued on my way to Petra, and after organizing a bus ride down to the southern tip of Israel, walking across the border into Jordan, and hopping in a car to Petra, I had finally arrived. I stayed at a hostel for the night and woke up early the next morning to check this place out with my buddy Michael, a friend I made at the hostel.

When we got into the park we began our day of nonstop walking, all the time, all day, everywhere. We walked a lot that day, and we were absolutely exhausted by the end of it. It was well worth it though, and one reason why we walked so much was because we couldn't stop. I really underestimated just how massive this place was. It was HUGE and there was so much to see. We easily spent an entire day there. And yes, it was impressive, worth it, and I would recommend going to this place whenever anyone gets a chance to see it. Petra was seriously one of the coolest places I've been to on this entire trip and it blew my mind. The Treasury and the Monastery are incredible structures, the most famous in the city that you've probably seen pictures of or seen in the Indiana Jones movie. The entire city is carved into rock, and how the people here constructed these structures a couple thousand years ago baffles me.

It's Indiana Hughs!

Tons and tons of rock-engraved tombs and rooms with their little windows peaking out from the cliff faces. It gives a sort of character to the natural landscape here, and the natural beauty really begins to come to life. The climax of the walk for me was the Monastery. Mind-blowingly massive, so much detail carefully carved by what seemed like some mysterious giant who could even reach so high as to create the huge facades that overlooked the entire area that this thing dominated. It was impressive to say the least, and the views of the entire desert valley below that accompanied this already amazing location just added to the insanity.

Yea, it was a good day. We got back in the late afternoon, and while Michael and I were walking around in Petra earlier that day we ran into some fellow Americans he had met when he crossed the border the day before, and they invited us to come to their Airbnb accommodation to take part in a traditional Jordanian dinner feast later that evening. We decided to make it happen, and I was very happy that we did. The food was amazing, the company was amazing, and we had a fantastic evening. Rachel and Devin were the fellow Americans staying at this place and they were great people that I ended up traveling back to Tel Aviv with the following day. Allison is another fellow American that joined us in our feast, and she was living in Petra doing archaeological research, so she had a ton of great knowledge about this place. We engaged in memorable conversations that ranged from our stories of travel and life situations to hilarious philosophical discussions that weren't necessary but happened, and I'll remember that memorable meal for quite a while.

The next day was one of the most nerve racking days of my entire trip. We had to drive back from Petra to the border in the middle of a whiteout-snowstorm-blizzard-mess that closed most of the roads in the area and should have prevented us from going, but we went anyway. Rachel and Devin organized a driver to take us and Michael joined in on the fun as well, and we hopped in the car in the morning to begin a 6 1/2 hour drive that would normally take only 1 1/2 hours.

The long, stormy road ahead...

The beginning was the worst part. Our driver had driven in the snow once before and this whiteout was the worst I think I've ever driven in. I knew from when I arrived in Petra that these were winding roads, and if you veered too far off you were headed down a steep slope into the snowy abyss, and this frightened me a little bit. It was so windy and foggy and there were moments where you couldn't even see a single piece of the road in front of you. We just had to keep driving straight, slowly, and hope that we were still on the road. It was crazy. After making it through the worst part, waiting at another section of the closed road for about an hour until they opened it, and making our way down to lower ground, we somehow survived.

After being stuck in a car all day trying to survive the long, arduous drive through the tremendously unpleasant snowstorm in Jordan of all places, we finally made it to the border and had to stay the night in Eilat, on the southern tip of Israel. It’s a cool tourist trap that sits on the Red Sea, lined with resorts that reminded me of Cancun on a much smaller scale. After that night we made our way back to Tel Aviv. Michael ended up flying from Eilat to Tel Aviv to catch his next flight, so Rachel, Devin, and I took a bus instead. I wasn’t sure what the heck I was gonna do next but when Rachel and Devin told me that their couchsurfing host was able to host me as well that night, I tagged along and we got to his place in Tel Aviv.

The best view in Tel Aviv

This was maybe the coolest place I’ve couchsurfed so far. Pavel lived in the tallest building in Israel, on the 59th floor. The view was stunning, and I could’ve just stared out that window the entire time I stayed there and been happy. As if things couldn’t get any better, he brews his own beer, and he’s damn good at it too. He fed us beer all night and we had a great time getting to know each other. What was also crazy about this experience was that there was a huge coincidence that would happen between Pavel and I, and I wasn’t even the one that found this guy on couchsurfing. Turns out that Pavel went to Burning Man last year too. And when he showed me pictures of his camp I recognized it immediately. I had been to his camp at burning man last year, and although I didn’t actually meet him when I was there, I met his friend and definitely hung out at that spot. He called the friend I met to see if he could meet up with us that night, but unfortunately he was busy. Things were crazy enough as it was, and I guess this really is a small world.

The next day I got to help Pavel bottle his newest batch of beer which was super fun. I didn’t think I would be bottling some homemade beer in Tel Aviv, but there I was, bottling away and having a blast. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay longer because Pavel had some other surfers coming through that night, so I booked the cheapest hostel I could find, stayed the night, and headed off to Jerusalem the next day, mentally prepared to be overwhelmed with history, culture, religion, and asking myself more questions than I could imagine about the existence of this insane city I was about to visit.