TPE-TLV: Quick trip to Israel on TK in whY

[trentusjuventus]

Hi All. This will be my first trip report here on AFF, I've read many TRs before but never actually had anything to contribute. I know that on the face of it, a whY trip report might not be the most interesting thing to read, many on here have done TK J reports (and so much more), however I do feel like the routing and destination might be something not seen so often here, and therefore be of interest to fellow AFFers.

While the flights will of course be a part of this TR, my main reason for writing is to document my experiences in Israel, especially things such as entry and exit procedures and security in Israel from the point of Australian travelers, which I had a bit of a hard time finding definitive information on before I left.

I've only just returned, so will try and update things here as quickly as I can, not least so things are fresh in my mind when I write them.

Thanks for reading!

 

[trentusjuventus]

Background:
Israel has always intrigued me as a travel destination. Both ancient and recent history, natural wonders such as the dead sea, the unstable political situation and numerous stories of over-the-top security have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I missed out visiting on my last trip to the Middle East, and when a friend from Taiwan was sent there for work for a few months, this constituted the perfect opportunity for a quick trip, as well as ensuring a place to stay, and someone who knew at least a little bit about the place to show me around.
By far the cheapest option TPE-TLV was on TK. The TPE-IST route was only recently introduced, and a combination of heavy advertising here in Taiwan, and cheap prices has made it quite a popular option. I purchased my ticket about 4 weeks out for a price of around $1000 USD, quite reasonable indeed. The original itinerary was as follows:
TPE-IST 2150-0501 (+1)
IST-TLV 0645-0850

However about 3 days after booking, I got a notice that the TPE-IST leg had a change and was not getting in until 0615, meaning that it was not possible to get the early morning flight to TLV, so that was pushed back to a 0915 departure, arriving in TLV at 1120. A shame to miss a few hours, but no big deal.
Then, about 5 days later, there was another schedule change, this time TPE-IST was back to 2015 with an arrival into IST at 0445 (+1), therefore the 0645 to TLV was again possible. I understand that there is a bit of trial and error involved when a route is new, but it was a bit annoying to be constantly getting updates from TK. Alas, it stayed this way until the day of departure.

 

[trentusjuventus]

So the day arrived, having already checked in online and armed with HLO, I left work early in order to get to Taipei-Taoyuan airport for the 2015 departure.

However upon arrival at check in we were informed that there was in fact a delay of two hours due to late arrival of the aircraft from IST, and the new departure time would be 1015, meaning an arrival time into IST of 0645, and therefore no way of connecting to the first flight of the day to TLV. So I was pushed back on to the 0920 flight IST-TLV, no big deal but frustrating none the less.

Flight: TK 025
Route: TPE-IST
Date: 4/30/2015
Departure: 2015 (sched.) 2250 (act.)
Arrival: 0445 +1 (sched.) 0637 (act.)
Flight Time: 12h 47m
Aircraft: A340-300
Seat: 13G

The first thing I noticed on arriving at the gate was the there were a lot of people, more than I'd seen waiting at TPE in a long time, and with good reason; this flight was FULL. I think I counted 2 empty seats in Y (could have just been people using the bathroom) and I'm pretty sure J was 100% full. Most of the passengers appeared to be Taiwanese with tour groups, I'd say about 80-90%. I guess the prices on this newly-introduced route make TK a cost-effective one-stop option to Europe, with a lot more choices for connections than those offered by CI/BR or even CX (through HK).

Looking at my boarding pass, I couldn't help but be curious whether I'd scored a front bulkhead seat, as 13 was quite a low number for Y, compared to say CX who start their Y seats in the 30s. However I soon discovered that on the 343, Y does indeed start at row 7, therefore I was quite a few rows back from the bulkhead.

This particular A340 was not too bad inside, pretty standard for economy, not looking too old but also not brand new. One thing I will say is for some reason this A340 was remarkably quiet when cruising, not a great deal of engine noise, more just the whirring sound of the turbines. Maybe it was just me, but I don't seem to remember other aircraft being this quiet.

To my surprise, amenity kits were handed out before departure. I can't remember the last time I received an amenity kit in Y! Standard inclusions were eye mask, socks, lip balm, toothbrush and toothpaste, and it came in a little 'pencil case' style pack.



Shortly after takeoff there were menus distributed and a first drinks service. Dinner was pretty standard Y fare, but I felt like presentation was quite well done; cutlery was all metal, nicely wrapped and the tray well arranged. Drinks were also offered with the meal, and then there was another drinks run after that, which was nice.



Other than this, the flight was rather uneventful. Most people went to sleep after dinner. There was a little self-serve area for drinks at the back of the aircraft where people could help themselves, although it seemed as if the call bell was going off quite a lot throughout the night as well, which was annoying at times.

Breakfast was served about 3 hours out of IST, again pretty standard stuff but I've had worse.



Overall the TK crew were good without being memorable. They were professional throughout, without being over the top like some Asian carriers can be, but also not rude or disinterested like you might find in Europe. A good mix in my opinion. English level was decent and they still remained visible throughout most of the flight, even when almost everyone was sleeping. We arrived into a cold and overcast morning in IST, taxiing to a remote stand and bussing in to the terminal.

IST is an absolutely massive airport and TK is undeniably the dominant carrier here. There were TK aircraft as far as the eye could see! That said, I also found IST to be crowded and difficult to navigate, not to mention the fact that there is no free Wi-Fi. For such a big hub where so many people are transferring/laying over, I would have thought some free Wi-Fi to pass the time might have been nice.

 

[boomy]

Thanks for taking the time to write this TR trentusjuventus.
The meals on TK look decent and amenity kits are a nice bonus rarely seen in Y. Agree IST airport is too crowded, it simply can't handle the massive growth in traffic over the year.
Looking forward to reading more

 

[trentusjuventus]

Flight: TK 794
Route: IST-TLV
Date: 5/1/2015
Departure: 0915 (sched.) 0959 (act.)
Arrival: 1120 (sched.) 1138 (act.)
Flight Time: 1h 39m
Aircraft: A321
Seat: 20F

After navigating our way through Istanbul Attaturk we managed to find our gate, however there was nothing about the destination on the screen at the entrance to the gate, so we waited until it appeared on the departures screens before going in. At the entrance to the waiting area there was a security desk checking BPs and passports, and asking a few questions about the why I was visiting Israel, where I'd come from etc. There was also an explosives swabbing machine in the lounge, but only certain passengers had their belongings swabbed (and dare I say the selection process may have been the result of a certain amount of racial profiling). Other than this, there were no more visible security measures and things operated just like any other flight.

I'd managed to score an exit row seat in this A321, which at first was pretty good because there was quite a bit of extra legroom, however the downside was that there was no window, even though the exit door was slightly in front of me and it looked like they could have left a window unblocked. As a result I didn't get so see any of the view of the beaches and city coming in to Tel-Aviv, but no big deal.

Food was again decent for economy, a typical Mediterranean cold selection including turkey, cheeses, olives, and bread which was substantial for a short flight. There was also a drink service and despite it still being morning I couldn't resist a can of Effes.



Now came the part I was most worried but also intrigued about. I'd heard many tales about Ben Gurion and the excessive levels of security, as well as the scrutiny of Israeli border control so was somewhat nervous about what I would be asked and in how much detail, and whether any answers would attract further questions. After exiting the aircraft me and my travel partner made our way to passport control. We were somewhat confused at first, as we were not given any kind of landing card on the plane, and there didn't appear to be anywhere to fill one out in the immigration hall, but after asking we were told that there isn't one, which was the first surprise. Luckily there were very few people waiting so we didn't need to line up for long. We went to the same counter together and spoke to a rather friendly young immigration officer. She asked a few simple questions:

What's the relationship between you? (friends from Taiwan)
Where have you come from? (Taipei)
What's your purpose of visiting Israel? (Visiting a friend who is working here)
Where does your friend work? (* insert name of well-known Taiwanese company here*)

She then asked me whether or not I live in Taiwan (which I do) and even jokingly why I'd ever want to leave Australia in the first place.

All in all, no more than about 2 minutes at the counter and we were done. I can definitely confirm that there is no stamping of passports or any evidence in your passport that you visited Israel if you come through Ben Gurion. The issue you a slip of paper about the size of a credit card, which is your entry permit and has all your information on it (even your passport photo) taken from the chip on your passport.



This slip must be kept in your passport, as it's required when leaving the country. Once though passport control, as we were HLO there was no wait for baggage and what appeared to be no scrutiny at customs. We were in the arrivals hall no more than 20 minutes after the aircraft door opened.

The best bet into Tel Aviv city is the train. It's clean and comfortable and a trip into the city costs around NIS16 (A$5) to Tel Aviv Hashalom (there are 3 or 4 stations which run close-ish to various areas of central Tel Aviv). Trains do only come every half an hour or so, so maybe be prepared for a bit of a wait. The staff at the station are helpful and speak perfectly good English.

 

[amaroo]

Keen for more

 

[wooley]

Very good, looking forward to hearing about your experience.

I went flew into TLV a few years ago, great trip.
The Israelis do security like no one else, so in your face in public. But in high risk areas like airport it is almost invisible.
I assume it's still quite similar.

Did they still give you the option of having your passport stamped though? I did it, I can't imagine it will cause me too many dramas in the future...

 

[Fiches Mouser]

A friend and I are planning a ME trip with a visit to Tel Aviv. Very intrigued by this – looking forward to more!

Thanks for sharing trentusjuventus.

 

[RB]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a few challenges just getting there.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Did they still give you the option of having your passport stamped though? I did it, I can't imagine it will cause me too many dramas in the future...

I'm not sure, I didn't ask. I still have about 7 years on my passport and although right now I'm not keen on visiting any countries hostile to Israel, I might in the future so I probably would have passed anyway. If my passport was almost up it would have made for a good souvenir.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a few challenges just getting there.

Yes, as I'll get into later, although the in-flight service from TK was good, the general ground experience was not so good.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Day 1: Around Tel Aviv

We arrived into TLV around noon, where our friend met us and we took the train into town, then a cab to their house in the Yemenite quarter. The area was (and still is) home to many migrants, especially from Africa. It is rather run down on the outside, lots of graffiti and trash on the streets, but is undergoing gentrification somewhat, with cool restaurants and cafes tucked away in the small streets. Being Friday (their "Saturday") the streets were busy with people, and we headed to Carmel Market first up, which was packed with people. The market runs down a single small street off and has stalls selling souvenirs, clothing, cosmetics, cosmetics but most importantly fresh food. The range of fresh produce was just amazing. Tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, herbs and spices and all the smells to go with them! In addition huge bowls of fresh olives, many seasoned with different flavors, and the stallholders were more than happy for us to taste each one before deciding what we wanted. In the end two tubs of olives cost us around 25 shekels and were delicious. Also cabinets full of fresh cheeses, mostly stuff like Feta (I'm not a cheese expert) but there were others available, again very cheap, a large block for about 12 shekels.

 

[trentusjuventus]

More photos from another day when we went back in the morning and it wasn't nearly as crowded:

 

[trentusjuventus]

Another great thing about the Yemenite quarter is its proximity to the beach. Tel Aviv is situated on a beautiful stretch of Mediterranean coastline, and the beach seemed to be packed with people no matter what day it was. There are restaurants and bars on the beach which provide seating, you can rent chairs and umbrellas from guys on the beach, or just bring a towel like we did.



And of course a local beer to sip on while taking in the scenery.



While the daytime offers blue skies and warm-hot weather, as soon as the sun starts to go down, the breeze picks up and it can get rather cool, down to as low as 15 degrees overnight. We took a walk along the foreshore down to the old port of Jaffa (Yafo), where you can climb to the top of the hill and look out over western Tel Aviv and the water.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Day 2: Masada and the Dead Sea

Saturday being Shabbat, we decided it would be best to get out of Tel Aviv and see some other parts of the country. We booked a tour through Rent-a-Guide which was a full day tour to Masada and the Dead Sea, with everything except food included. Highly recommended as the guide was excellent and everything ran as promised. They picked us up from a nearby hotel at 730am and we had a comfortable van with about 15 others, mainly European and Americans. On the 2 hour drive to Masada we passed by Jerusalem and briefly entered the West Bank where we could see the wall around the Palestinian territories. It's kinda of depressing to see how the population is simply divided by a huge concrete wall.





Our guide was an older guy who was very knowledgeable about all parts of Israel and its history, he gave a running commentary as we drove along past Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories and it was also interesting to hear the Israeli peoples' perspective on the whole situation. He was also quite comical in his explanations.

There was a rest stop at the Avaha factory, where you can purchase a range of dead sea cosmetics from a company which is run by a local Kibbutz (farming community). It's just like any other tourist factory visit. They do offer discounts for buying multiple items, but if you have time I would recommend checking out the pharmacies in Tel Aviv first as they tend to offer discounts on the shelf price, which might work out cheaper that buying at the factory. You can also get a tax refund at the airport if you spend more than 400 shekels in one go, however once you get your refund at the airport, be sure to put all your goods in checked luggage as my friend had hers confiscated (even though less than 100ml) by security when she tried to take them carry on.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Masada is a huge, independent table-top mountain in the desert overlooking the dead sea. It was a fortress for King Herod which he built to protect himself from the Romans. Over the years he built a series of aqueducts to bring water from Jerusalem to the mountain, and cisterns to store it in to support the 2000+ soldiers and staff (slaves) on the mountain. I won't go much further into the history, as I'm sure people know it a lot better than I do.

There is now a cable car up to the top of the mountain from the visitor center, which takes about 2-3 minutes, or you can make the long walk up the snake path which looks like it would take in excess of 30 mins and in the 27 degree heat would definitely not be pleasant.



View from the cable car, with some keen hikers making the walk up



The view from the top is magnificent, and you can see quite a bit of the dead sea, all the way over to the Jordan side.



And also off towards the mountains in the direction of Jerusalem

The guide took us around and explained all the history and how/why everything was built, extremely interesting and definitely worth having a guide for that, as there would be a lot to miss if you didn't understand exactly what happened and when.

Cable car back down to the bottom and there is a souvenir shop and food court (including McDonalds) at the visitor center. There are some cheap options, which means that you don't need to bring your own lunch in order to save money (Felafel in Pita 24 shekels).

 

[trentusjuventus]

After lunch we drove 10 minutes down the road to the "spa" where we could go to the Dead Sea. When I say "spa", don't get your hopes up of being pampered or anything. It was simply like a visitor center which had changerooms, sulfur pools, shops, pools and outdoor areas. I'm not sure of the entry cost as it was included in the tour. The thing is that the building is located about 500m from the water, so you need to either walk in the heat or wait for a shuttle, which runs every 15 minutes or so. This was where being on the tour was not no good. We arrived and the guide told us to be back at the bus in 1.5 hours, but by the time we changed, walked to the shuttle, waited, took the shuttle and got the beach we'd already wasted almost 30 mins.

There is one main beach where everyone can swim and today it was quite busy. There are chairs if you can manage to snag a spare one, and I'd recommend not bringing too many valuables down to the beach. Also, bring some flip flops as the hardened salt can be quite sharp. The salt starts a few meters from the water and goes all the way out (I'm assuming). As you get further out you can start to float, and it's just like in the photos, you can literally sit there in a sitting position and float around. We of course did the customary pictures, but didn't have a newspaper so had to improvise.



The view all around is amazing, you can see over to the Jordanian side, and also up to the mountains (which are presumably only at about sea level) on the Israeli side:



There's also the mud which some people chose to smother themselves in. Due to the limited time we had here, I didn't get too much of a chance to do this. If you have the time I'd recommend doing a whole day (or at least an afternoon) at the Dead Sea, as there's plenty to do, and you could definitely just float about in the water for a few hours! Also, bring some food and drinks to really enjoy the experience. Even better would be if you hired a car and drove there yourself, so you're not constrained by a tour bus.

 

[amaroo]

I can tell this will be a ripper of a TR

 

[wooley]

I remember climbing Masada, and having an RAF Tornado belt past, (almost at eye level) with an Israeli F15 in hot pursuit... Best day, ever!

 

[trentusjuventus]

Day 3 - Jerusalem

Sunday being a normal working day in Israel (and in particular Jerusalem), we decided that it would be a good day to leave Tel Aviv and see the old city of Jerusalem. The central bus station in Tel Aviv is located right on the highway which dissects the city, so once you get on the bus they're straight on the highway and out of there. Also being a Sunday , it meant there were many soldiers (both men and women) heading back to base after the weekend. Military service in Israel is compulsory for both men and women, and what's more, if a soldier is assigned a weapon as part of his/her service, they must carry it with them whenever they are wearing uniform, which means even when traveling to/from base. As a result, the bus station and bus was packed with young soldiers carrying weapons. Although they were not loaded, it was still quite a sight to see, both unnerving and comforting at the same time. We saw this both on the intercity bus and the local bus in Jerusalem.






Buses arrive into the central Jerusalem bus station, which is located within a shopping mall. To get to the old city, head out the main exit (Jaffa St I think), cross the road and take the bus #1 right to the end.

There are several gates to enter the city, and unfortunately I was not able to get my head around which gate is best for which area of the city. Once inside the walls, there's plenty to see, as well as more than plenty of souvenir shops selling tacky t-shirts, postcards and magnets.

First up we visited the western wall, and there's a security checkpoint which you must go through to get to this section. As seems to be typical when I visit tourist spots, there was also a bit of construction going on which was annoying.



From there you can easily walk throughout the old city depending on what you want to see. I must admit that I was not fully aware of the significance of a lot of the stuff inside the old city, but it was still amazing to be in a place considered holy to so many people around the world. There were clearly many people there on some kind of pilgrimage, looking at thing with great interest and emotion.

The one thing we did do was walk the Via Delorosa, the path taken by Jesus as he carried the cross to the site of his crucifixion. There are various "stations" along the way, which are marked by round metal signs on the walls, but some of them are easy to miss if you are not sure where to look. If you're not totally aware of the story, I'd definitely recommend bringing a Lonely Planet guide, as it provides a bit of commentary as part of the Via Delorosa walking tour.

After lunch we headed out of the Damascus gate to try and find our way to the Mount of Olives, which is easier approached from the top and walking down, especially in the hot afternoon sun. This was rather difficult as the bus required is not well signed and we ended up waiting quite a while in the sun at what turned out to be the wrong stop. There's a bus station hidden away almost opposite the gate which is where you can take the bus from, the number escapes me but you can ask the driver if they are going there. The bus heads up the mountain into what is a predominantly arab area of Jerusalem. For such a sacred site, the surrounding area is remarkably sketchy. We took the bus to the very end, and as we were getting off, a guy on the bus reminded us to especially careful in this area and watch for "thieves". The entrance to the mountain is not well signed and we were not even sure if we were in the right place, there were also a few other tourists wandering down looking a bit lost. The mountain is pretty much a big cemetery with paths leading down the middle, from the top (and the church halfway down) there is a good view of Jerusalem.



View from the top



View from half way down

It is possible to walk from the top of the mountain all the way down to the walls of the city, which we did, and you can then pick up the #1 bus back into town to get to the central bus station (note that the last stop of the bus is out in the street, and you need to walk through the park and over the road to get to the mall where the bus station is located).

 

[trentusjuventus]

We got on the bus going back to Tel Aviv for what we thought would be a quick 90 minute trip, however approaching Tel Aviv, just past the airport, we suddenly encountered a backlog of traffic and the bus stopped. As some people may have heard, there were quite large protests in Tel Aviv involving Ethiopian migrants and their opposition to police brutality. They closed down the main highway through Tel Aviv as part of the protest, and as a result, no traffic could get into the city. We were stopped in the middle of the freeway for a good 90 minutes, the driver opened the doors and people got out to stretch their legs while we waited.



When we finally got moving it was only 10 more minutes into the city, and by this time was dark. We got a cab from the bus station back home, and as we were waiting at traffic lights on one of the main roads, there was a group of protesters marching down the street inbetween the cars. At this stage they were just chanting and waving banners, but it would turn out that later the protests turned violent and people were told to avoid that particular area of downtown.