We have had some crazy Thanksgivings while we’ve been abroad. But this one has been, by far, the most unconventional. Usually, we move Thanksgiving to a Saturday because the children are still in school. We invite friends over – American and otherwise – and we eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal together. It is always a great time and we love to spend time, eating a wonderful meal with friends, and give thanks for all the blessings we have. We feel truly blessed and thankful to have the experiences we have and to be able to share those experiences with friends around us and our families back home who are always in our hearts.
But as mentioned, we decided to do something a bit different this year. Miracle of miracles, the children didn’t have to go to school on Thanksgiving, so we planned a trip! Since we’ve been studying the New Testament as a family this year, we decided it was high time to get on over to the Holy Land to help us set the scene for Biblical stories we’ve been hearing since childhood. We were not disappointed!
We packed the car early Thursday morning and headed over to the border. It didn’t take long to get there. The northern border crossing is about 1.5 hours from Amman. We don’t have any pictures of the border crossing. We weren’t sure if that was allowed. But don’t worry, we have plenty of pictures on either side of the border.
One thing is for sure, if you travel with kids, you’re stopping to use the bathroom somewhere along the way (at least once). We did so on the Jordanian side just before the crossing. The kids were anxious to get out of the car and use the bathrooms….until they saw what they looked like.
Hahaha! I haven’t seen a bathroom like this since my missionary days in Madagascar! Needless to say, the kids were a little freaked out. They wouldn’t go in. Luckily, there were normal toilets in the stalls on either side. Crisis averted.
The border crossing is kind of like what you’d experience at an airport, but without the plane and instead of a luggage cart, you have a car. Here’s a taste of what it was like: get out of the car, unload the bags, get the bags checked, reload the bags, get in the car, move the car 20 feet, get out, do paperwork, get back in, move the car about 100 yards, get out again, get passports stamped, get back in the car, and take a deep breath…..you’re half-way there! Then drive to the Israeli part of the crossing where you do it all over again to enter the country. The whole process takes a considerable amount of time.
All in all, crossing the border normally takes about 2 hours. But who travels normally?!?! Not us! And to prove it, Reed lost his drivers license between the car insurance window (yes, they made us pay for Israeli car insurance for the three days we were there) and the customs window. Mind you, the distance between those two windows is literally about 4 feet. How the heck do you lose your license going from one window to the next?!?! If you’d like lessons, Reed has the experience. After running around like typical American tourists, backwards, through immigration, for 30-45 mins, we finally found the license…..with the documents Reed handed over to the customs guy. That’s right, it was right where it was supposed to be – on the customs desk. Nobody cared to check. So what would normally have taken a couple hours, took more like 2.5 – 3. Hey, go big or go home, right? Relieved, we piled into the car and headed out of border control. Free at last and on with the adventure!!!
Since the Palestinians were not very happy about some of the things the Israelis were doing at the time, Embassy security counseled us to stay out of the old city in Jerusalem, as well as everything in the West Bank. Consequently, we had to drive all the way out to the Mediterranean coast and the city of Tel Aviv before we could make a turn and head into Jerusalem. We decided to take advantage of this driving route and head north to the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. And, boy, were we glad we did! After about 20-25 minutes after we crossed the border, we got a glimpse of the sea.
We decided to pull over and take a look. So we found a place for cars to pull off and we got out. It was amazing! The parking lot had a great view and a walk down to the shore. It was so fun to get out and see the sea.
I can honestly say that the Sea of Galilee was my favorite part of this trip. It was so peaceful to listen to the waves lapping up on the shore of pebbles and shells and to contemplate the events that happened here in the New Testament. We had heard from other visitors that the orientation of the mountains create the perfect funnel for wind to come rushing in. Storms arrive in a matter of minutes and can cause 7-10 foot tall waves! It brought a whole new meaning to “Master, the tempest is raging!” Apparently, this body of water is not one you’d want to be on when the clouds come rolling in. Thankfully, it was calm and beautiful for us to enjoy. And we got some amazing pictures. Though, believe me, they don’t do it justice. We are definitely coming back to take in more of the Galilee region.
After all the talking and playing and watching, we decided to get back in the car and make our way through Tiberias and turn south toward Jerusalem. We wanted to get there before dark. Driving in Israel is much more organized than driving in Jordan, but it’s still tough to drive in a foreign country in the dark. So we took one last failed attempt at a family photo…..
And looked out over Tiberias for the last time. I cannot tell you how beautifully this city rolls up and over the hills of Galilee. I won’t soon forget the feeling of seeing it as we came up on the sea. Truly impressive. We’ll be back Tiberias!!
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