Yes, my smartphone is just for managing my vacation. . .

Sasha:

We sat down this morning to map out the rest of our time in Israel, and to book an upcoming hotel or two.  I've had a a few people ask us to post our schedule so they have some idea of what our plans are, so here is the next couple weeks, beginning Sunday, Nov. 21

Sunday: Caesaria
Monday: Jerusalem
Tuesday: Dead Sea/ Masada
Wednesday: Last day in Israel
Thursday 11/25: Take a bus, a taxi, then another taxi to get from Tel Aviv to Petra
Friday: Petra
Saturday: Petra
Sunday 11/28: Take taxi, another taxi, then a bus to go from Petra in Jordan to Eilat, then cross the border and head through Egypt
Monday: Cairo/ Giza
Tuesday: Cairo/ Giza
Wednesday: Take the redeye from Cairo to Mumbai
Thursday 12/2: Flight from Mumbai to Goa, and crash in Anjuna

Whew. At that point, I'm pretty sure we'll need a few days sitting on the beach in Goa to recover.

In the meantime, we are having a great time with Tom and Penguin here in Israel.  We got to go to the movie theater to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  It turns out that there is assigned seating, and intermission for your bathroom/cigarette/popcorn break.  Also, the 9pm Friday showing is when all of the 12-14 year old kids in the suburbs go to the movies.  Today, we explored Jaffa, a city that predates Tel Aviv by decades, had a beer, then met up with Ra's older sister Nurit, then had coffee with Ra's parents, then had dinner at an arab restaurant, then had sangria with some friends.

In the beginning portion of our trip, we took it easy and let ourselves recuperate from our jetlag.  At this point, every afternoon and night is booked until we leave for Petra.  Last time we were in Israel, 2 weeks felt like a long enough trip. This time, there have been so many people to visit with it feels like we could stay for an extra two weeks just to fit everything in.