Day 16- Travel Home

Day 16. Travel Day

Out of the hotel, onto the Tram and to Atarack Airport.  Not one but 4  levels of security, passport control and onto the 777-300 for the 12 hr flight home. Ive been to 3 countries in the last 16 days and found something interesting in every locale.  My favorite was Jerusalem.  Yes, I am surprised as all of of you.  Israel was not my primary Destination.  In fact it was a late addition.  But the history as well as the architecture of Jerusalem is amazing.  My next favorite was Mykonos.  Beautiful weather,water and beaches and gracious hospitable  host make for a wonderful vacation spot.  Next on the list is Istanbul.  The history is interesting.  It's really not that scenic of a place. If I were to recommend this to some considering a visit, I would suggest taking a cruise that stops here.  Get off and see as much as you can in the stop and leave.  Don't stay here.  Although the hotel and restaurant people are accommodating  there is a language barrier as most of the help don't speak english.  The big problem is the elbow to elbow vendors.  I mean they are everywhere. On the sidewalks, the backstreets, you cannot get 30 seconds of serenity without someone coming up to you and calling you "my friend" and trying to sell you something.  Finally I would place Tel Aviv on the bottom of the list.  It's basically a third world city.  Needs updating and doesn't have anything to offer that you can't find in Jerusalem or some other part of Israel.

Traveling is one of the luxuries of fine living.  I enjoy creating theses trips, and spending months planing and arraigning the details.  It so rewarding.  The next couple of years will probably be good for world travel as the US economy is again taking the lead which creates favorable travel for US citizens abroad.

I was fortunate to be able to spend the second half of my trip with my dear friends Sandra and John Lopez, world travelers extraordinaire .  So until my next overseas trip, See Ya,

PHOTOS HERE