How was Israel?

Some initial thoughts on the weekend's adventure.

Great trip. Good Friday in Jerusalem was amazing. Great sing song in the Buzz Stop bar (beside Mike's Place) on Thursday night.

Their stadium makes Lansdowne Road look great. Dissappointed with the vocal support the team got at the game. I know we were miles away from the pitch but it never seemed to get going.

Great to see fans swapping jersey, scarves, flags etc at the end of the game. Got one of the free t-shirts from one fan in return for my Rovers scarf. I'm told the t-shirts were given out free by a communications company. Friendly banter outside the ground and in the pubs before and after the game. The Israelis were delighted with the point.

Israeli's were very friendly towards us. Lots of locals stopped to chat and welcome us to their country. Security was polite and professional at airport in Dublin (where everybody was questioned for about 5 mins) and in the massive (but empty except for Ireland fans) airport last night. My views on the complex Israeli/Palastinian conflict have not changed. I went for the football, enjoyed my stay but won't be back.

Great trip one of the best. I really enjoyed the hospitality. The security was a pain but they were very polite. People stopping us on the street to thank us for comming was mad. Jerusalam was amazing. I certainly would go back if the security procedures were'nt so long.

As for that muppet on the plane comming home "yes he does like the sound of his own voice" I have being on a number of flights he has being on over the years and he is painful, Thankfully he was pretty quiet for once on sunday probably because he made a smart comment about the air steward looking like sammantha Mumba and it did'nt go down to well with her.

Class trip from start to finish.

Deadly craic in Mikes place then we flaged down a local
who gave us a lift to Cheers and had a bit of a sing song
there aswell.

Freindly locals, cheap food and beer, deadly weather. Couldnt have
asked for more (apart from a win at the game!)

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Originally Posted by the_bonk

So , how was Israel?
Did you enjoy your stay here?
Do you think differntly about Israel now? ( security and stuff like that )
Would you say its one of the top 5 or top 10 trips you hade?
If we ( Israel ) well meet you at the qulifiers for Euro 2008 , will you come??
Please answer all 143 foot.ie fans that came to Israel.... :D

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Great trip.

No issues with security - actually much less than I expected - 45 minutes from security check to duty free shop going home. No problem going in.

Would definitely come back if we play again and probably anyway even if we don't.

Would have been in the top 3 away trips but for THAT goal.....

Tel Aviv is the 3rd most dangerous city we've played in in this group - much safer than Paris or Dublin but not as safe as Basle because the Swiss are far better drivers. :D

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Originally Posted by Ash

Class trip from start to finish.

Deadly craic in Mikes place then we flaged down a local
who gave us a lift to Cheers and had a bit of a sing song
there aswell.

Freindly locals, cheap food and beer, deadly weather. Couldnt have
asked for more (apart from a win at the game!)

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We met!!!!! - Friday night - great craic but it was Buzzstop next door and not Mike's Place which was a bit quiet. Buzzstop was abaolutely rocking. Needless to say my 7am trip to Jerusalem the following morning got changed to a 1pm breakfast in Old Jaffa.

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Originally Posted by joeraki

What a bell end, Talk about a bloke who loved the sound of his own voice... The whole trip I seen him !! Heard a sham rovers fan told him "where to go" one night in mikes bar and he nearly started crying

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I also heard he was giving others some grief. I know people were laughing at him on the plane but for the rest of the weekend he was a pain in the arse. A mate of mine said to me "you have to go on an organised trip occasionally just to remind yourself why you dont do it " :)

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Originally Posted by gspain

Great trip.

No issues with security - actually much less than I expected - 45 minutes from security check to duty free shop going home.

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Thats because you only brought a toothbrush (which was x rayed twice ) :)

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Originally Posted by gspain

We met!!!!! - Friday night - great craic but it was Buzzstop next door and not Mike's Place which was a bit quiet. Buzzstop was abaolutely rocking. Needless to say my 7am trip to Jerusalem the following morning got changed to a 1pm breakfast in Old Jaffa.

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Got them mixed up, Buzzstop it was.Massive craic in there.
I didnt make it to any trip the next day apart from the game!

Cheers was deadly cos it was full of locals who didnt quite know what to make
of 3 buck edjitts from Ireland singing "Ohhh Yossi Yossi, Yossi Yossi Yossi Benayoun" :)
A few of them nervously joined in then they started singing "Keano Keano"

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Originally Posted by Tuff Paddy

Boys, I wasn't there but I think in the interests of everyone going on the Faroes trip (me included) this joker should be named and shamed. Someone out there knows who he is . . .

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I've never seen this guy on any trip without a travel agent so perhaps we will be lucky and he wont make it. Some of his mates are just as bad, I remeber arriving in Albania and being help up by imigration because one of his mates was shouting and roaring at 6 AM in the arrivals hall. I've no problem with someone havinga bit of craic but this guy just ****ed off the border guards. They were with 747 on that trip.

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Originally Posted by pronane

what do you mean by that, up for a bit of the irish steak?

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no, pork :)

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Originally Posted by pronane

irish steak?

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What when you get around all the fat theres f**k all meat left ;)

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Originally Posted by pronane

i wouldnt know about that, you must have more experience than me eire06 :p

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Experience in what I'm just chattin about eating dinner :confused: what you on about :confused:

Hi bonk lad,

Had an absolute ball like everyone else who went.

The security on the way over was a bit hairy... we were the only 2 paddys on a scheduled El-Al flight and we got the third degree for about half an hour. But, that was the only down side. Once on the flight, we were treated like kings!

The buzz in Tel Aviv was special and all the Israelis were fantastic.... Friday night was rocking! And the ladies are without doubt the nicest I've ever seen and very friendly! The city made a huge effort to make us welcome... it was unforgettable. I just hope we could do the same.

Came around on the beach Saturday morning, not knowing how I got there! If anyone can shed any light, I'd appreciate it!!

Match was... well... hmm.

Will love to go back when the political situation changes.

Definitely the best away trip I've been on...

Take care...

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Originally Posted by Cowboy

The only downsides were the exteremly long security procedures on the way back but the staff were polite so I guess its just a minor annoyance.

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I was through security and passport in under 15 minutes.
No bother at all and got a big smile from everyone.
The airport is well posh!

On the way over from Heathrow to Tel Aviv, I got a full body scan.
Anyone else get that?
They take 3 full images of you in different standing positions and it can see under your clothes.

I was coming back from Heathrow last night to do a bit of work and got searched twice.

Hopefully our Israeli friends will make the return trip to Dublin in June.

Hi Bonk,Eldad,yigal..israeli guy
What can I say the country pulled out all the stops for the Irish. You must have got loads of positive publicity about it.
Security
Everyone was interviewed at Dublin airport for at 15-30 mins. it seemed immigration was carried out in Dublin, a bit like travelling to the USA. As the previous people said it was mild and professional. Including Victoria and the guy from Laos... ;)
Passport control was light on the arrival at Tel Aviv, mainly because it was done in Dublin.
Coming home it was a different matter. X-Rayed the luggage which is fair enough, then had to go to another desk here everything was taken out and sniffed using a handheld gadget and then put through the gasspectrometer.Some of my stuff 'failed' god knows why and had to be boxed separately.Then at passport control they did it again with my hand luggage !!
The hospitality was unbelievable, everyone was friendly and went out of their way to help. Everyone was polite and could not be helpful enough. Many were delighted that we came to Israel.
As for the young ladies they were the best I have seen on any away trip
People stopping at the roadside, blocking the traffic and taking photos of us outside the pub was something else !!
No complaints about the food, could if done with a good fry which I believe was on offer at Mike's Place.Missed it :mad:
Weather was fabulous, even at night time, though a little cool it was fine compared to Dublin standards.
Beach was excellent, walked along it to Jaffa.
The driving in Tel Aviv is mad, stop where you want, drive where you want.Best example was young people on moped driving on the path to avoid going down a one way street. A police traffic division would not go amiss.
Jerusalem was also friendly enough, visited Yad Vashem. was not as graphic as I thought it would be. Did the usual tourist things around Jerusalem, wailing wall,Church of the Holy Sepulchre...missed out on the Al Asqa Mosque, but it was their holy day so I doubt if I could have seen it anyway.
One regret was that I did not visit more sites in Tel Aviv. Ben Gurion's house. Haganah musuem, knesset and that building up at King Saul Boulevard, but I doubt if they do tours !! LOL :p
I enjoyed my stay, no complaints.
Would I come back ? as many Israelis asked me, if I win the lotto I would come back. One problem is that their are no direct flights to Israel and it cost me over €800 to get there.You have everything in Tel Aviv, weather, infrastucture, beaches..women..LOL..
Many Israeli people seemed surprised that the Irish came. Personally, I am not surprised. The Irish people do not find Israelis bad people. The argument is more with the government of Israel and not even with there being a state of Israel. I expected the Israelis to be friendly and they were. One thing though, nobody spoke about the Israel/Palastinian problem. It was avoided like the plague by both sides. Not that it should be at the forefront considering we were there for a football match.
Anyway, Toda raba to all the Israelis on the website who help us so much and to all those Israelis who made our stay so memorable
Pity about the result and where we locate at the end of the stadium the acoustics were crap and it did not help that the pilgrimage crowd did not roar and chant, but as they will say tomorrow c'est la vie
Best of luck and hopefully you will do the business :)

PS - Yigal, I never got to Caesaria :(

Well, first of all, I want to say that it is great to read all these wonderful things you have to say 'bout Israel. Really warms up my heart...
I'm really glad you had a great time here and hope that you'll come back to visit Israel on your vacations. And spread the word about our wonderful country, our hospitality, our sun etc...

2 tall chapy
It's 2 bad you didn't make it to Caesarea, it's a really beautiful place! I actually went there Saturday morning with my folks and apparently they made a new presentation over there, something digital, I think... Didn't go to it as I didn't have enough dough with me (the entrance to the site itself is free for me as a citizen of the nearest city), but I'll go there one day...
If you want - I can mail you some pictures of Caesarea. Just mail or PM me if you want it...
And I hope you'll make it to Caesarea one day by yourself, without your national team has to play here! :)

And if somebody comes to visit Israel again - you just have to visit Eilat! You wont regret it! Beautiful place! Just be prepared to the heat... Ask me if you want more details!

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Originally Posted by Peadar

On the way over from Heathrow to Tel Aviv, I got a full body scan.
Anyone else get that?
They take 3 full images of you in different standing positions and it can see under your clothes.

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I had no problems going or coming back through Heathrow, They search my bags and x-ray my shoes, body check by hand. You must have been extremely dodgy character or very nervous.
We never got to meet for that free drink. ha ha :D

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Originally Posted by donalfitz

I had no problems going or coming back through Heathrow, They search my bags and x-ray my shoes, body check by hand. You must have been extremely dodgy character or very nervous.
We never got to meet for that free drink. ha ha :D

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Well, when I went through Heathrow to Dublin they almost had me taking all my clothes off there, and I'm a very innocent looking girl...

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Originally Posted by Shae_B2D

Well, when I went through Heathrow to Dublin they almost had me taking all my clothes off there, and I'm a very innocent looking girl...

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:eek: :D :D
All I can say to that is: What are you doing tonight? :D

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maybe that was for a different reason!!!! :_

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Oh well. I could see that one coming :)

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Originally Posted by donalfitz

All I can say to that is: What are you doing tonight? :D

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Getting drunk and booing the French team, I believe. :)