Let the adventure begin.

Let me start by saying that I'm really not fond of Tel Aviv, but our trip there today was necessary in order to get our visas to Egypt. After taking a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, we hopped in a taxi and soon arrived at the Egyptian Embassy. We thought that we would be in and out because we had already filled out visa forms from the internet.

How wrong we were.

First, we needed real passport photos for the application. We were anticipating this but had no idea how long this would actually take. After getting some advice from a couple British guys at the embassy we took off in search of a photo place. We walked about 5 blocks and asked for some assistance and were told that we needed to walk 10 blocks back the way we just came. After about 7 blocks we checked the time, 10:10, and turned our power walk into a jog. Oh, did I forget to mention the embassy was only open from 9 am - 11 am?

Yeah.

It was 10:20 and we had our pictures in hand. Frantically, we ran back to the embassy and handed our papers in only to be confronted with several more obstacles. We had to fill out another form, looked just the like one we had already filled out, and we needed a photo copy of our passports and Hebrew University student cards. It was 10:45, but luckily there was a place on the corner to make copies. After paying a ridiculous price for copies we shoved our papers to the Arab man in the glass booth. He had one more hoop for us to jump through. Along the side of the application he wanted us to write down our university and what we were studying. 10:58 and finally we had meet all the requirements and just needed to pay. With cash everywhere, I just grabbed the largest bills in front of me and handed it to the Arab man in the glass booth. In return he handed me a little yellow ticket and said, "Come back tomorrow to pick up your visa." 11:00. Slam. He shut the blinds.

What. You have got to be kidding me. We ran up and down the street to find pictures, meet all of the outrageous requirements, and you want us to do what?!?

Come back tomorrow.

So tomorrow we are going back to Tel Aviv, getting our Visas, and this time tomorrow we should be in Egypt. This story was much more stressful in real life, but I hope I was able to convey how crazy of a day it was. I'll try to keep this updated during the trip whenever I can get online so keep checking back.

Until next time, take care.