Escape from Tel Aviv Airport! (or, how I spent 13 hours with Ben Gurion)

So, despite much planning and getting to the airport with lots and lots of time, I ended up spending more than 12 hours in the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport.

My flight was due to leave at 8:15am. I had been told, by good sources, that it's best to actually leave 3 full hours for check-in there, as Israeli airport security is rigorous.

And it was true. It took me about an hour to get through the first half of airport security, the first of two times I went through it.
After getting through that part (where they remove most items from your checked bag, swipe everything with a wand that has some kind of lint-free cloth on the end, which is then sniffed by a machine that, I assume, detects traces of explosives and the like),
I walked over to the check-in counter for Royal Jordanian.

And, after several minutes and much pensive poking of a keyboard, the counter-fellow called his supervisor. My ticket appeared, in their system at least, to have been canceled the same day it was booked (May 20th). While he confirmed that as the case, I called my travel-insurance's 24-hour number.

The tag-team action of my travel-insurance person and my travel-agency person discovered that, on their end, my ticket looked fine and ready to be used.

Long story short: I couldn't get on that flight, and the reasons why aren't entirely clear.

The worse news: After more waiting around, talking to several people from Royal Jordanian, including their ticketing agent and a representative from their Tel Aviv branch,
there didn't seem to be another flight that day that would work.

After even more waiting around, and more calls to RJ's Tel Aviv reps, I got a flight
that day.

The new bad news: It was, at that time, around 11:30am. The flight wasn't until 5:45.
It takes about 1/2 hour to get to or from the airport, and costs about 130 shekels ($30ish) at least by taxi each way.
Leaving a 3 full hours before the flight meant being back by 2:45, leaving me only a realistic 2ish hours in the city.

And nowhere to put my giant bag.

So I spent the day in the airport instead.
It wasn't so bad. Israel has amazing frozen yogurt.
and honey made from(with? near?) dates, which I highly recommend.

I also wrote a few blog posts and the like.

When it was finally time to start the check-in process, I went through security again. Same bag check, but a bit quicker this time.
And check-in this time was fine.

And the flight from Tel Aviv to Amman was fine - moved into the empty window-seat beside me, and, as per usual, stared out the window like an excited puppy.

The flight from Amman to Cairo, on the other hand, was ridiculous.
Nay, the flight itself was fine. The fellow next to me was friendly, too. The obese young man between our two seats was nice too, though he spoke little if any english.

The other occupants were mostly families, many with very young children who spent the flight screaming, crying, or both at once.
And people were switching seats all around, and there was much chaos before the flight took off.

Sunset from the sky looks different in the middle east. The yellow/orange is more intense, and the blue is pale.

We landed in Cairo, went through a Swine Flu quarantine questionaire, and passport-control.
I worried that my bag had been lost during the flights, but it hadn't.

And, after the most harrowing taxi ride ever (I'm trying to get video of one, but those I've taken since have approached neither the same velocity nor a comparable white-knuckle factor), and some wandering down a very crowded city street, as the only anglo there, with a very large bag ( I ducked and bobbed and walked with a wobble sometimes, so if anyone was trying to open my zipper they'd have a hard time being subtle about it. This A: was probably unnecessary, and B: made me look ridiculous. I'd had very little sleep and spent most of the day in an airport, gimme a break.)
I found the hostel.

I have AC, and three beds all to myself. It's pretty cushy.