Harassment at Ben Gurion Airport // Going Home

Sorry for posting this last message of this trip so damn late (been back now for more then 6 weeks, the same length of my trip) but better late then never.. right?
Here is my story of the last 2 days travelling back from Israel to Groningen.
On sunday the 26th (of August) I left Citadel Youth hostel in Jeruzalem around 18:30 after saying goodbye to some good lads I met during my week stay in the most holy city of this world.
My flight was planned for 6 o'clock on monday morning to Berlin (this was the cheapest flight I could find to mainland Europe for being back on time in Groningen for Gronings Ontzet (sort of holiday in my city) on the 28th. This 3 hour flight only costed me $ 220,- or 160 euro.
I had to check in 3 hours prior to flight and because I wanted to make sure I was on time and was looking forward to playing some frisbee at the airport I arrived around 20:00 o'clock at Ben Gurion airport close to Tel Aviv.
Had an expensive koosher Big Mac menu and listened to some music on the very uncomfortable chairs at the airport (didn't find anybody who wanted to play frisbee with). Slept maybe for 15 minutes before I queued in the enormous line infront of the check-in around 2:00 at night.
And now the fun starts!
While I was standing in the queue I was being asked by a nice airportlady to show her my passport; some normal questions followed about where I was going to fly to. When she saw my ''coolest" visa of Syria the shit hitted the fan. While still standing in the queue I was being questioned by 3 different airport persons seperately about my muslim country stamps of Jordan, Syria and Malaysia (which I visited in 2004). "Why did you go there","Do you know anybody there", "Why do you fly to Berlin if you live in Holland", "Why do you hitchhike", "What are you gonna do when you don't get a ride","What do you study","Why are you able to travel so much","How much does your school cost","Bla Bla Bla Bla..."
Ok just imagine how I felt being extremely tired, sick of the Israely mentality, and just wanting to leave this "muslim hatefull" country. After being questioned for close to an hour while my back was being scanned I was sent to a special table inside the big airport hall. Here I was questioned again by 2 more persons and I had to empty both my bags. So also my big bag which it took a long time to pack. All my stuff was scanned individually and I had to pack my bag again.
More questions followed about if I met any Syrians or Malaysians when I was travelling to those countries. How can I not meet the Syrians?? They are so friendly and kind people but I just answered with no I only had contact with travellers. They even wanted to look at my photo's on my camera and asked me why I had so much photos of the ''Peace'' wall that the Israely government is building to seperate Palestine and the Israely territories.
They guy who searched and scanned my bag was still sort of friendly even when I was jokeing about if this is the normal airport procedure or if it was just because of my long hair. After that I had to go with him to a small room where I was being searched.... no people not rectally.... only had to take of my shoes.
After getting the greenlight the airport guy let me through hundreds of people waiting to check in and I changed my elektronic ticket to a boarding pass in a few minutes, you should have seen the looks of all the people who were wondering why I could pass the emormous queue.
Waiting for 2 more hours in the terminal in a state of insomnia finding out that my flight had a delay of 2,5 hours wondering what time I would start hitchhikeing that same day from Berlin.

Finally left the airport at around 8:30, fell a sleep right a way so missed my free breakfest in the plane goddamned (and I was so hungry!)

Arriving in Berlin around 11 in the morning and wondering if I ever would make it hitchhiking in one day back to Groningen at this time. Took 3 trains/subways to a station called Nickolasee where I knew from previous hitchhike experience was a gasstation in the direction west. Started hitchhiking at 13:00 o'clock and after 2 small hitches I had a good 4 hour ride to Dortmund with a friendly couple who gave me some food and drinks aswell.

Got some sleep in their car and after Dortmund found 2 more rides to Hoogezand (15 minutes by train from Groningen) because it was already 21:30 ,having hitchiked for over 8 hours, I decided to travel by train to my peacefull Greenroom in Groningen for free because I seriously had no money left.

That night my friends Freak, Reggie and Pappique came by and it was good to see them again. I travelled exactly for 6 weeks had the best time and learned allot! Met some really cool people on the way and learned allot about the ooh so friendly muslim people, the culture, and the religions in the region.
The media really pictures a totally wrong image of the middle east and muslims in general. For the people who hate the islam and muslims, as I know several who do, just go to the middle east and see for your self. My view of Israel has changed after the many stories of people in Palestine and Israel and also the checks on the airport didn't do my perception of the Jewish state good. I had a nice time in Jeruzalem and seeing my friends Avi and Yair again but I can say that I won't ever come back if the Israely government changes their strategy against their neighbours. I am proud of my Israely stamp in my passport but that is also because I have to renew my passport in march. With a stamp of Israel in my passport it is impossible to go to muslim countries like Indonesia, countries in northern africa, or for example Iran. Iran will probably be my next destination next summer.
I had the best time and I want to thank all the people I have met in this trip. I hope you all enjoyed my posts.

Ma'am Salama

Hate and Love in the Promised Land

At the moment I'm already spending my last hours in one of the most religious cities in the world; Jeruzalem. And in this last week of this trip I have seen some amazing sites and experienced some interresting things.
On friday the 17th I arrived back in the West; Israel through the south at a city called Eilat. We (still travelling with Neil and Tom) took a direct bus to Tel Aviv where I met Yair a friend I met in Bolivia 2 years ago. The next 3 days I stayed at his place and met up with Avi and Yaki 2 other guys from Bolivia. Went out a few times and chilled at the nice beaches of Tel Aviv. It was good seeing them again. Yair helped me with finding a flight to Europe on an Israely last minute website.
Tel Aviv is a very modern city with nice beaches. In jordan and syria I heard from several travellers that the security in Israel is pretty tight, and at every busstation, big shoppingmall, club, museum or holy site you have to open your bag or put it through a Xray machine. On monday I met up with Tom and Neil who where staying in a hostel and we took the bus to Jeruzalem. Jeruzalem finally... In this trip I had 4 things I really wanted to see; Istanbul, Syria, Petra and Jeruzalem. Isreal is not a huge country and the busride only took about an hour.
We found a nice hostel in the old city with a great panoramic view on the roof, for 30 shegel (about 6 euro) we had a nice bed on the roof.
The old city of Jeruzalem is not extremely big and all the holy sites are only a few 100 metre from each other. In the next few days saw the the Western (Wailing) Wall, the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We couldn't enter the mosque because we are not muslims; we found it pretty strange because we could enter the big mosques in Istanbul and Damascus, later on we found out it was because of political reasons. Visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre build on the location where Jesus was ''crucified'' and ''buried'' which is suprisely near to each other (about 20 meters).
The old city of Jeruzalem is divided in 4 quarters; the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarter. Many people say it's an international city but it's still completely controlled by Israel. In the old town on many corners you see heavely armed IDFers (Israely Defense Force) and many of the Muslim and Jewish holy sites have check points where bags are checked for bombs or weapons. You can feel the tension is this city.
On thuesday we took a bus to the border with Palestine (West Bank) and saw the other wall the infamous "Peace" wall according to Israel. A huge 6 meter high concrete wall with guard towers on the corners, it reminded me of something I saw last year somewhere in Poland.
In Palestine I visite Bethlehem, the church build on te location where Jesus was 'born' and we took a taxi to Ramalah the capital of Palestine where we saw Arafats tomb and by accident president Abbas in a long row of cars and heavely guarded vehicles. Saw allot of gravity on the wall and some swastikas aswell. Walking to the streets of the West Bank we feld the friendliness of the Muslim population again which we recognized from our amazing time in Syria. I imagined that the Bethlehem and Ramalah would be more poor and dirty but actually it's not. A very interresting place to see and good to see and hear both sides of the story. In this last week I talked to many people who life here of have an opinion about the conflict between the Palestinians and Israely. Many people do want peace but you also hear so much hate from both sides for example few days ago I talked to an American
who moved here and had interresting opinions about that Muslims can't vote if they live in the 'Jewish' state. And yesterday talked to an ozzie guy named Lucas where I smoked a few Shisha (waterpipe) with, he went to Hebron and talked to a Palestinian guy who lost some family members in several fightings/wars with Israelies. I experienced many more of these interresting stories but I think I can better explain them in person.
Went to the Holocaust museum which was pretty impressive and saw some very touching photo's and video material. On thursday Tom and Neil went to Tel Aviv to make their way to the airport for their flight back to England, I had a great time travelling with them.
The last few days I went to the Mount of Olives (visited another church, build on the location where Jesus was ''betrayed and ''arrested'') and took some nice photos of Jerusalem. Bought allot of souvenirs and ate many good felafel sandwitches.
After sleeping for 6 nights on the roof waken by the muslim praying at 4:30 and the many churchbells every half an hour starting at 6 in the morning I had a great time here in this Holy city.
Monday morning at 5:45 I have a flight to Berlin (Berlin?!? but I thought Joost lived in the great nation we call The Kingdom of the Netherlands.....), right... Berlin. This was the cheapest flight I could find costing only 220 US dollar, flights to Amsterdam were more then 400. I started my trip hitchhiking so I want to end it hitchhiking aswell... and Berlin is only a small 600 km from Groningen so I think I can reach it in a day.
Because my flight is so early tomorrow morning and I have to check in 3 hours before flight I will head to the airport in a few hours and look for someone who want to play some frisbee with me across the terminal. I hope checking in will go smoothly if they see that I visited the ''great'' enemy of Isreal; Syria.
My next post will probably be from my own Peacefull Greenroom.
Shalom/Salaam.

Some info about the photo's; A tourist with a God save the Beach t-shirt touching the holy stone, where Jesus was put on when he came of the cross; the ''Peace'' Wall; the Western Wall; Some IDFers eating icecreams and your favorite traveller Joost himself enjoying some amazingly good Jelly Beans infront of the Grotto where Jesus was "buried" and "resurected"

5 Days in Jordan is 3 days to long

Our last 2 days in Damascus, Syria on saturday and sunday we (me, Tom and Neil) spend buying some souvenirs and going to a syrian bathhouse. This was quite an experience; for 400 syrian pounds about 7 euro we got a rough massage from a big arabic dude and a good scrub from another, and we sat in a big sauna which was pretty nice.
On sunday we bought our ticket out of Syria for a busride to Amman, Jordan. Left beautiful Damascus the next day pretty early for the 7:30 bus. After 2 hours we got to the border where we received a pretty cool visa for 10 JD (about 11 euro).
Made it to Amman few hours later and hassling allot with money hungry cabdrivers to get a ride to a cheap hostel. The same day we chartered a taxi to the dead sea, and took a dive. The temperature was over 40 degrees which felt insanely hot coming from an aircon cab. You can really float in the dead sea believe me, the photos will proof it. On thuesday after fighting with some annoying cabdrivers we made it to the minibus station to get a ride to Wadi Musa a small town close to Petra.
Checked in a cheap hostel (we thought) for 2,5 Jordanian Dinnar per person for a matress on the roof. The people in this hostel (Valentine Inn) were really rude and I can highly recommend not to stay in this hostel if you are ever planning to visit Petra.
In the morning we got up at 6:00 to be the first at the gate to the ruines. After walking to the Siq (a long passage between to cliffs) of about a kilometer we made it to the amazing Treasury (the first temple you see used in the Indiana Jones movie The last crusade); Amazing. That morning walked around the main temples and saw some stunning views over the mountains of Jordan and the dessert. Really an amazing experience. At the end of the Petra trip I called my good friend Dutch-formerly-known-as-Dennis the biggest Indiana Jones fan of Western Europe to tell him that I was standing at (for him) a holy site; the Treasury.
In the afternoon chilled at the hostel and booked a desert tour through Wadi Rum, a national park. The following day left by minibus to Wadi Rum with 4 others to do a 1 day 4wd trip.
That thursday saw some amazing locations in the desert of Wadi Rum and the beautifull mountains around it. Running down a big sanddune I destroyed my sandals (for the people who I've travelled with know that my sandals are holy for me) but one of the drivers fixed them with metal wires. Visited some Lawrence of Arabia sites (for the people who have seen the movie) and relaxed at our Beduan camp to see the nice sunset. The chicken in our dinner was specially prepared in a hole in the ground and grilled that way, which made it delicious. At night the sky was amazing, full of stars and you could see the milkyway very clear. Everybody slept outside and this night was one of my best nights of this trip. But before I went to bed did a bit of streaking into the desert; great feeling! 'one with nature'.

Left the next day after breakfest to the taxi in the village of Wadi Rum and to the border with Israel. After being scammed again in the Jordanian taxi we finally reached the promised land. Jordan never again! What a rats, everybody is after your money and we noticed it so clearly because we just came from Syria (one of the friendliest countries in the world) The Israely people working at the border were suprisely friendly, we still had to wait more then an hour for our stamp and were questioned about why we went to Syria, what's you grandpa's name, what is your email adress and have you met anyone in Syria and what are their names bla bla bla. But of us 5 waiting for our stamp I got my passport back first after being questioned last maybe because of the Lion of Zion tshirt I was wearing of the biggest Dub artist in Holland; SlimmahSound.

We finally entered the country and changed our busticket to an earlier time.

Back in the west; western prices, seeing drunken bums again and girls wearing only hotpants and tiny shirts comparing with the many burkas and scarved women you see in the 'real' middle east.

Syria equals Amazing

Salaam Alaykum everyone,

So finally I'm in Syria. At the moment in the capital Damascus and the last week I have seen allot of interesting things and experience the amazing friendliness of its people. About a week ago I left Turkey and arrived with 2 English dudes Tom & Neil ,who I met in the bus, in Aleppo.
Walking around the city and the market gave me the most amazing impression of how kind the Syrians really are. So many people want to talk to you, and ask where we are from or what our names are. Took some great photo's of allot of people and visited the Citadel (a castle up a hill with an amazing view). Compared to Turkey which I thought was a little bit more expensive then I hoped it would be, is Syria a great place to stay on a budget. Food, travelling and accommodation are very cheap here. Kebabs for less then an euro or a kilo of the best baklava for 2 euro, bed in a hostel for just a few and travelling for 3 hours on a normal bus for not more then 3 euro. Tom & Neil came up with a nice name for Israel naming it Disneyland because we don't want to get into trouble if people hear us talking about our next destination after Jordan, so eversince we talk about visiting Disneyland, Mickey mouse, Space mountain (giving names to some places we want to visit in occupied Palestine, how they call Israel in the Arabic world)
On the streets here in Syria you see in general more men then women, and most of the women you see are scarfed or are wearing a burka. In Holland you hear allot of people say that the women with burkas in Islamic countries are being suppressed by men to wear such an outfit and giving women equal rights as men. While talking to so many people in the last week I realized that it's just the way it is in Islamic countries. Women don't argue about it and you don't see any suppression on the street, in contrary I experience so much friendliness which I think gives a great impression of what the Islam is all about. Everywhere you do see posters and portraits of the 'great' dictator Bashar al-Assad and his father.
On our first night out we went to a restaurant and ordered some lamb testicles which we saw on the menu. How did they taste? you might ask .. Well they were sort of baked not the best flavour but I managed, in contrary to Tom & Neil who couldn't finish their portion.
The next day travelled to Hama where some huge waterwheels (up to 20 m high) are spinning around in the river, they transport water from the river to the parks around it for irrigation of the plants. A local gave us a tour through the old city and showed us some more waterwheels. At a sudden point during the walk around the old town we saw a very antisemitic board hanging on a wall near a school. (see the photo added)
In the evening Tom & Neil met a very friendly Syrian named Obida. An amazing guy who showed us his shop and bought a delicious milkshake for us and some kebab. The next day we met him again and he showed us some more of his city and we each got a t-shirt from his shop. Neil bought him a Koran as a gift and we gave a football to his cousins who we met in his shop.
The second day in Hama we did a day trip to a huge well preserved castle on a hill called Crac des Cheveliers, with an amazing view.
On Wednesday travelled to the west of the country to a place called Tadmur/Palmyra to visit some stunning roman ruins. When sitting in a restaurant that night me and Tom decided to buy a fake ISIC card (international student card) for 7,5 euro each. At allot of sites here in the middle east you get a discount when you have such a card. I forgot to get one back home so this was a great possibility to buy one. I bought a fake one in Thailand few years back and it gave some discount back then, but unfortunately it was in my wallet which was stolen in Kiev last year. In Palmyra we started to talk to a dutch guy called Joost aswell.
After an hour the guy came back with the cards but instead of Joost mine said Doost. I wasn't planning to pay for that (I'm proud of the name Joost and so was the other Joost) and he would change it later he said. Later on he came back with the card but the D was changed in a J so badly done with some duck tape I didn't want to pay for it and only Tom got a fake one.
Thursdays we left early to Damascus, one of the oldest cities in the world and explored the old part. Bought some nice souvenirs at the bazaar and visited one of the biggest mosques in the world . Friday is a day of rest in many Islamic countries and hardly any shop was open but the cinema was. Meeting the 2 other dutchies (Joost and his girlfriend) from Palmyra again and after a good meal we decided to watch a movie. In Syria they don't have the latests movies but they showed the comedy White Chicks which I found pretty funny sometimes. The weirdest thing about the movie was that 2 times suddenly the movie stopped and a soft porn movie was showed with Anna Nicole Smith for a few minutes. We were quite confused about this un-Islamic thing but when we left the cinema it got clear to us, we saw a guy walking out of the cinema and zipping up his pants. All the way back to the hostel we laughed really hard about this strange incident and how the cinema covers up these kinds of movies with old Hollywood movies.
In a few days time we are planning to take a bus or train to Amman in Jordan and then straight to Petra, one of the most famous temple ruin sites in the world.
Damascus is a great city and at night time all the shops are open till around midnight. If you wonder if I feel save in this country or city. Well I think that in many western cities you will feel more unsafe then here in the cities of Syria even at night. I think the crime rate is allot lower in Islamic countries then in many Western/European countries, so maybe the world would be better if everybody would turn to Islam. ;) The many Muslims I met here are so friendly and open to tourists and people of other religions. But I still do find there is much hatred here to the Zionists, not even the Jews but the people who are suppressing the Palestine territories.

Hope you enjoyed this insanely long post, when in Jordan I will write again.

Making my way to Syria as a Christian?!?

Friday the 3th of August

The last time I updated this blog was on the 31st of July when I was waiting for my visa for Syria. (At the moment I'm already in Syria but you will read about that in my next post, first one about my way to Syria)
Around 15:00 o'clock I went back to the Syrian consulate and got my passport back with......A syrian visa, yeeahhhaa. A few hours earlier I had small issue with my application form. I filled it in with all my details. But with the question 'religion?'... I stated 'No Religion' because as many as you know Joost is a Pegan, the woman behind the counter said to me 'No you can't fill in No Religion!' So at the moment I thought well.. what shall I write down Atheist/Pegan or a religion, in a haste I just wrote down Christian and a few hours later I got my visa, but it doesn't say what religion I have. I think they just want to be sure that I'm not a jew.
That day I chilled out some more on the roof terrace of my hostel and said goodbye to Alex the funny dude from Wales I have been hanging out with the last couple of days and had a big laugh with about a guy snorring in our dorm and another guy slapping him with a towel.
Jumped on a minibus to the busstation and then a big bus to Antalya (the big tourist place allot of dutch travel agencies promote) and then on a minibus to Olympos. After a journey of 13 hours I arrived in a beautifull valley of some sort with beautifull canyons
and checked in in a sort of treehouse dorm with aircon.
The last 3 days spending my time chilling out on the beach with christal clear water, playing frisbee with a lebanese/canadian dude 'Fady' and chilling out with 2 americans Ben and Eilleen. And I can save some money aswell because breakfast and dinner is incl in the 20 lira (+/- 12 euro)
Saturday the 4th I left Turkey for my big journey through Syria and after 25 hours of travelling I arrived in Aleppo with 2 English brothers I think will spend some time with the next couple of days.
At the moment I'm in Hama and soon I will describe my time in Syria in another post and post some pictures aswell of my eating lamb testis;). By the way Syria is AMAZING!! Seriously.. forget everything what Bush says about Syria. The people here are so friendly and the country is beautifull. Ooh and I hope this story will be posted because I can't visit my blogspotsite to see because it is forbidden it says (maybe by the government orso or just the internet cafe) but I can type new posts... weird.
Ma'is salaama.

Istanbul...The city of 3 million moustaches

So after a few border stops at Bulgaria (shitty small stamps) I had to wait more then 2 hours at the Turkish border and they were checking everybody's bags for alcohol or tabaco. With help of my fellow turkish buspassengers I got send the right way to the hostel I was planning to stay in, Big Apple hostel in Sultanameth.

Istanbul is a real great city, where the west and middle east come together. The city has many mosques and some churches aswell, 5 times a day the muslims pray and the speakers on the mosques are sending the prays all a cross Istanbul, which is not really that bad actually; it doesn't wake me up at 5 in the morning.

Here at the hostel where I have been staying now for 5 days I have met some really nice people from all over the globe. I have been visiting some real nice attractions like Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque with a few backpackers I have been hanging out with. Alex from Wales, Beth and Oli from Canada and Ozzie Dave; really cool guys and at night smoking many waterpipes and drinking turkish beers in the Beanbags (zitzakken) on the roof terrace of our hostel with an amazing view over the river Bosphorus (the river that splits Europe and Asia) and the Blue Mosque in the back. The last few days 2 fellow Dutchies adding to the bunch and my Yoga teacher Gavin from England/South Africa.

Yoga?!?.... Yeah Joost has gone spiritual. I did a small personal course with Gavin of 6 times an hour to learn the basics. I do it mainly because of releasing tension/stress and becoming mentally stronger. Not that I have any stress here but the last years I have created an interest for it and hearing from people that it's really working for them.

I find it really interresting and Gavin is a real good teacher, I plan to practise it further on my own. Saturday bought some nice stuff at the Grand Bazaar like a new cap and shorts and some bananatabaco for the waterpipes and practised my bargain skills at the over 4000 shops.

Eating many kebabs and really experience the Turkish lifestyle here in Istanbul, life is good here and really worth it working so many hours the last 5 months.

Yesterday been walking allot to reach the Dutch consulate to get an recommendation letter which I need to apply for a visa for Syria. Even had a clean shave for it but still had to pay 48 lira (about 24 euro) just to get a letter which says; 'Yeah Joost Copray is a good boy may he enter Syria please'. Bought a busticket to Olympos for tonight (the 31st) to chill out in some treehouses they have there. Got up early today because I had to be at the Syria consulate before 11 oclock to apply for my visa (30 euro), at the moment I'm waiting (and updating this blog) to get my passport back at around 15:00. I really hope I get in because I heard some spectacular stories about Syria. This trip I will skip Lebanon because of the mess the country is in right now, really ashame because Lebanon has some great sights I want to visit. After Syria I will move to Jordan and then to the holy land to visit some friends.

Thanks for the nice reactions on my blog and hope you are all well. The photos are from me standing infront of the Blue Mosque and a photo of some Bananatabaco.

Rushing to the Balkan

Thuesday 24th of July

After watchıng the Ferry depart from the harbour of Barı, I had a good conversatıon with Ina (the Albanian girl I talked to at the busstop) about our studies, life ın Albanıa and travelling. After that night sleeping in a sort of comfort chair I woke up around 8 when the Ferry arrıved in Durres. Walking out I forgot to get my passport back and had to walk all the way back wıth my backpack to the reception through a bıg crowd of people waiting to get out.

Fınally out Ina was waıtıng for me at the entrance to Albania, she lives ın Tirane and hopping with her on the bus and her mother who was waiting for her it took us 30 mınutes to get to the capital. My first ımpressıon about Albania?; Well it's not a rıch country I can say. Allot of houses are being build, and there are quite some people begging for money but life is changing in Albania according to Ina. Ina studies in Rome, she returns back to Tirane a few times a year and everytime she notices new changes in her city.

With approval from her mom I was invited to her home to have a shower,some food and she wanted to show me her city

Tirane is not really a huge city, you can easily walk in a day from one side to the other, but because today is 42! degrees Celsius it's not very pleasant to walk all the time. Ina showed me the National museum and told me some interresting stuff about her country.

Heading back to her house she offered me some real good traditional food (bread;)), fresh milk,fruit and her father offered me some Grapi (strong alcohol) Had some good conversations with her father, sometimes with Ina translating, about the norms and values of Albanians. Ina and her family were so friendly and kind to me they really made my day in Albania unforgetable. Her dad even offered me to stay in their house. Got a real got impression about life here in Albania. Ina helped me to get a busticket to Skopje (capital of Macedonia) and took that bus at 18:00. I want to thank Ina and her family for her hospitality and friendlyness. The busride took about 9 hours and during that ride I had some nice conversations in German with some Turkish guys. Arriving around 3 oclock and buying my ticket to Istanbul for 42 euro departing at 4 oclock, I thought..... Already paid for my ticket and receiving it it said 16:00 oclock!! Had to f%$^ing wait for 13 hours, well hack! Shit Happens.

Slept for 3 hours on a metal bench and then watched for several hours people arriving and departing, writing in my journal and updating my blog in a internet cafe.

Finally 16:00...... Middle east here I come.

Italia Italia, Sunny Italia

On thursday the 19th I left Affoltern close to Zurich. Saying goodbye to Jorine my travel companion for the last 3 days, she will be travelling to Swiss for the summer.

At 8 o'clock I left Mariekes house and quickly I was picked up by a car to being dropped of at the highway 30 minutes later. Twice that morning I was standing at an entry of a highway where cars were driving at speeds of 100 km by me.

But miraculesly I ended up on the good road in the direction of Milano and could hitch at gas stations again. Got a ride from a Italian comediant which I found not that funny and got a ride from a dutch couple who were driving just close by Vada.

Got out, saw the sign for the camping Molino a Fuoco and started walking in 30 degrees celcius because I thought it was close by. After an hour walking Jelke called me and picked me up on the way.

Jelke is a good friend of mine who I travelled with to South America 2 years ago, he is guide at the camping and guides a group of 18 singles of all ages form 27 to 57. He does various excursions with them from mountain biking to city excursions to Pisa or Florence and changes groups per week. He arranged a good tent for me and I met other guides and a group of children entertainers (in dutch; animators) of an agency called Sun & Fun.

The next 4 days were time for relaxation. Swimming in the Mediteranian sea (which I haven't seen in more then 10 years) Playing frisbee and hanging out with the Sun & Funners, helping them with preparing a BBQ and a pastaparty for a group of single parents with children.

On saturday I went with the group to Florence because they had a seat free in the big tour bus. Florence is a nice city, big and full with tourists. Played some frisbee with Jelke in a park, walked around bought an italian flag for my bag and had a 3,5 euro icecream (which is a cheapest one because big ones are over 8 euro!) That night went to a nice club with a big group, the club was at the sea and part of it was outdoor. Allot of young 15 year old italians who hardly reach the 1,70 m but had a nice night.

The last day chilled at the sea playing frisbee, and watched the last night of the single-parent-group-children who performed some funny acts. On the photo added you see the group Sun&Funners singing a song.

Monday the 23th left early in the morning, said goodbye to Jelke and I was dropped of at an entrance to an highway to Grosetto, within no time I past Roma and Napoli sometimes in cars driving 180 km per hour. My last hitch was from an Italian who dropped me of at the good direction to Bari (the harbour with ferries to Albania/Greece/Croatia) even if that wasn't in his way and he bought me some food and drinks. Really kind. And he bought me a busticket from that gasstation to Faggio so I could take a train to Bari because he thought it would be hard to get to Bari in 1 day.

Last year during my eurotrip people said that it would be hard to hitchhike through Italia but I find it really easy actually. Even when the driver doesn't speak english I can still make small conversations with them talking with hands.

Took the bus and then later the train at 19:00 to Bari. Took a bus to the harbour and started to talk to an Albanian girl who wanted to take the ferry to Albania.

First my plan was to try to find a truck and hitchhike to Albania on the ferry by truck. But after travelling a whole day I decided to buy a 70 euro seat for the ferry who left at midnight from Bari, Italia to Durres in Albania.

Had a nice comfy seat to sleep in.

(At the moment I'm in Skopje, Macedonia waiting now for almost 12 hours for my bus to Istanbul when I'm there I will write more about my trip through Ambania)

Journey To The Holy Land

Monday 16th of July;

Jorine already arrived early at 8 in the morning but we left at around 9:30 because I was late with packing

Our first destination first was Munchen, to visit a friend of mine I met in Laos, but at the last moment he wrote me that he had a big test on thuesday so monday would be a bad day to comeby. Friends of Jorine were heading to Brussels to stay with someone they knew so we planned to hitch in the direction of Belgium through Holland; which turned out to be a dumb decision.

After 11 hours of hitchhiking over small distances we stranded at 300 km further from Groningen at a McDonalds near Veldhoven. We should have taken the road through Germany.

Coincidentally we met there 2 French backpackers (Lucas and Susan, thanks guys) just coming back from a festival 'Summer Jam' who had a spare tent with them. We found a nice location near a small forrest and slept there with the 4 of us in the 2 tents. 4 Hitchhiking backpackers with dreadlocks, well ok I don't have dreadlocks but it felt like it because we got a ride in a cabrio that day, but Lucas, Susan and Jorine have.

The next day we were certain to make it to Zurich that day. After being lucky to being picked up be a dutch truck driver at the German border we had less luck because we were in a traffic jam for 5 !! hours getting dropped of close to Frankfurt. From 22:00 to 2:00 we still had 2 rides

getting stranded at a motel sharing it with 2 german hitchhikers (for 40 euro) who were making their way to Vienna, Austria. Bastian and Lisa and almost a drunken truckdriver who wanted to sleep in the same 2 person room, but we kicked him out because he had his own bed in his truck.

Wednesday we planned to leave early but started around 9:30, first person I asked brought us to past the Swiss border near Basel. We had a flat tire on the way but fixed it. He also bought us some food and a coffee which was very nice. After that we were in no time in Zurich centre taking the train to Affoltern a small suburb where Marieke lived.

Marieke is a cousin of Jorine and speaks dutch aswell. Jorine was going to the Gunter festival with her the following days. We could stay there for a night and had a nice pasta meal. Marieke is a nice woman with 2 busy young children, and that day I witnissed how much it takes to raise children.

Tomorrow I will leave early trying to make it to a small place called Vada under Pisa in Italy to visit a good friend of mine; Jelke, who is working there.

Travel Introduction 2007

Aaah finally my blog is working again, had some password problems. I will describe everything per few days)

Finally the date the 16th of July is nearing, the day I'm looking forward to eversince i'm back from my eurotrip.
After 20 weeks of internship at Kameleondorp making days of 11/12 hours a day (incl. travelling to) and sometimes 7 days a week I really needed to get away and this time out of Europe. To the Middel East with my goal making it to Isreal through the Balkan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Why??? ......Why is Joost travelling to this 'dangerous' region of the world, you might ask.
Well.. Exactly; to proof the opposit. Many people only think of the middle east of 'dangerous' muslims, war and bombings.
I heard from various friends that the middel east is amazing and really friendly. Of course you have violent places at the moment in Gaza or in parts of Lebanon and I won't be visiting those places, don't worry.
I will be hitchhiking as far as possible through Europe and continue by train or bus. I'm planning to travel for 6 weeks and hitchhike back but will decide on the end of my trip which route.
For the first 3 days I will be travelling with Jorine a neighbour and recently a good friend of mine. She is going to Switserland to backpack and I didn't find it a problem to make a little detour through Swiss.

Last Friday great party and the weekend busy with arranging/buying things for my trips, sometimes pleasantly being disturbed by my girlfriend (yes finally... I hear everybody say, joost has a girlfriend, for a week now orso)

Tomorrow; Monday the 16th of July I will be travelling again. YEEEEHAAAA!!!