17 B. Driving, Damages, Departure (From Dead Sea to Amman Airport to Tel Aviv) 1/4/23

Greetings – and Hope all of you in California are dry and safe.

4 January 2023 at about midnight in Jaffa, Israel, following a great dinner.

We left the Kempinski Ishtar at about 1:30 without ever having a massage and without our feet touching the Dead Sea… but that’s fine. We had a bit of a mishap as we left the hotel. Like all “tourist hotels” (those that are large and foreign owned) in developing nations, there is a lot of security (due, I suppose, to fear by the hotel and a sense of security for guests). We generally don’t stay at these hotels and find the whole process quite annoying and unnecessary. Anyway, to get out of the Kempinski Hotel, cars must wait for physical barriers (that are electronically operated by security guards) to be lowered so that the car can move forward. At Kempinski this barrier is actually in two parts. In addition, there is a vertical electronic gate that slides. For cars, they just lower the right-hand half of the barrier, and they open the gate. We waited while they did this, and the guard motioned for us to move forward which Mike did. But as he moved forward (with the guard standing directly in front of the car) we scraped against the vertical fence which was not completely retracted into its slot. 

We got out of the car, surveyed the damage and then the guards came to look at the car. It was scraped and dented as well. The guards initially stood there and talked to one another in Arabic and said to us “Everything OK?” I said, “Not really, we followed your directions and that caused us to scrape the car on the passenger side.” Finally, they said they needed to call a manager and we waited a few minutes and then said we had to leave to get to the airport, for fear we’d miss our flight (there is only one nonstop flight a day from Amman to Tel Aviv). We said we’d deal with this with management when we got to our destination, and off we went. We felt pretty confident that everything would be OK, especially since we paid for extra insurance, in addition to whatever coverage we have from American Express or our regular car insurance. And remember— the car was all scratched before we started to drive, so in some ways we figured no one would even notice more scratches.

The drive to Queen Alia Airport (Amman) was quite easy. The road is good, and the signage is excellent. Hard to get lost. And we used GPS in addition to the road signs.

When we got to the car return, they immediately saw the damage and said these “particular” scratches and dents were not on the car when we picked it up. We didn’t have much to defend. So, we were charged 350 JOD (about $500) immediately for the damages. We had no choice except to pay and to deal with it later. Actually, I just sent letter to Kempinski asking them to take responsibility for staff errors. We shall see what happens. 

While at the rental car return desk, after we expressed disappointment with the immediate payment and the fact that the insurance we paid for didn’t kick in (apparently, you need to contact the police for any damage to the car and then the insurance will cover this; another thing that the Kempinski people didn’t do or tell us to do… and that the rental car folks didn’t tell us. They did tell us that if we were in an accident we needed to call police.) Mike was irritated and I suggested he take a walk at the airport while I talked with the guy. He was just doing his job. Later, as we settled on the fact that we had to pay the bill in the moment, the guy asked if we had enjoyed Jordan and I said “very much.” He asked if we’d return and I said we’d love to but it’s a long trip. He gave me his personal information and said his family has a big house and that if we return (which he said he hoped we’d do), we need to stay with his family!! I said we travel a lot, so he should be careful what he offers. He said.. that he was totally serious and hoped we’d come and visit and stay with them. They enjoy meeting foreigners. 

Anyway, made it to Tel Aviv quickly; the flight is about 45 minutes and they serve a snack! Royal Jordanian Air is very efficient and organized. Airport security at Amman is tight and you go through about three security checks. Arrival in Tel Aviv was a bit chaotic, but easy – lining up to get the B2 Card and then some kind of entry pass from one guy which you then hand to another guy about two minutes later. No hassle with bags or with additional checks at Tel Aviv. As we emerged into the airport waiting area from security, there was a lot of singing and dancing—a group of about 40 youngish men (conservative Jews) in a big circle. Not sure if this is a common occurrence, but they were definitely in fine spirit. Passengers emerging from flights included a lot of orthodox Jews and Hasidim (bedecked with large hats, women in wigs, and lots and lots of children)— a lot like Boro Park, Brooklyn, where I grew up.

Anyway, we got into an “official” taxi and headed to our hotel in Jaffa – Market House Hotel. It’s a small hotel with a little bit of an artsy approach. Quite laid back with 24-hour lobby bar that serves complementary wine or other drinks (which is nice, especially after coming from two countries where alcohol is not necessarily served). Our room is fine, but a far cry from the Kempinski or the W (and less “elegant” than the Riad in Cairo).. but from what we could tell in the dark—is located in a great area here in Jaffa, that I’m sure we will love walking around tomorrow.

We have a long list of recommended restaurants, but while in the taxi I googled for restaurants close to the hotel and we wound up at Old Man and the Sea which would be open til midnight and sounded good. Apparently, there are two locations and we thought we were going to the one that is at the port and nearby, but we had called and made a reservation (which we certainly didn’t need) at the other location which was about 20 minutes away. Mike’s developed a bad cold and didn’t want to walk, so we hailed a cab (although we walked back). It turned out that the driver had lived in the states (Boston and DC) for about 5 years,. He was working with some Jewish organization that encouraged Jews to visit (or maybe to move to) Israel (Aliyah?) 

The restaurant was very large and unadorned… Nearly all the patrons were Arab/Palestinian; we were definitely the only non-locals. The space was a bit reminiscent of the old Spengers in Berkeley—bright lights, big tables, lots of waiters milling about. Our table was immediately filled with literally 24 small bowls with every imaginable dip, spread, marinated vegetable, and fresh pita bread—definitely enough for a full meal, but then the menu came. We had a very simple grilled sea bass and Israeli wine. Everything was great, and we enjoyed watching the families eating at 9 and 10:00. We also indulged in a chocolate souffle for dessert (which came unexpectedly with two scoops of ice cream). We rolled out of the restaurant at about 10:45 and walked back to the hotel. Now the hassle of dealing with the car issue.

Best-

Fern