Swimming in the Red Sea and Returning to Tel Aviv

In the morning, Asuncion and I begin our journey back to Israel. With the last of our Jordanian money we manage to buy four kebab wraps and a taxi ride to the border.

Once back in Eilat, I visit a beach near the Egyptian border that had been recommended by a long-term traveler I met at the hostel in Jordan — a man originally from a small Pacific island.

The most remarkable thing about that beach is the fish. The moment you step into the water, you can see fish of different colors and sizes swimming around your feet. Many people are snorkeling nearby with masks, exploring the underwater life.

After spending some time at the beach, I catch a bus back to Tel Aviv, arriving about five hours later, right on schedule.

On the way to Eilat earlier, I had met a Ukrainian couple on the bus. We talked for a while and I learned that they were from Kyiv, where both of them worked as financial analysts. They said that Kyiv itself was calm, though the situation in eastern Ukraine was obviously very different.

I asked whether they knew that Estonia strongly supports Ukraine. They said they knew that very well. When we got off the bus our paths separated, but before parting I learned that the cheapest hotel they had found in Eilat cost 70 USD per night, while I was paying only about 15 USD at my hostel.

Later that evening in Tel Aviv, I meet another interesting person. A white South African named Andrew stops me on the street to ask about a bar nearby. It turns out he works at Microsoft as a Windows software engineer and also travels widely to train other employees.

He tells me that, in his opinion, Microsoft is the best company to work for. According to him, Apple is slowly running out of new ideas and will begin to decline, while Google, on the other hand, is a competitor Microsoft takes very seriously.