Friday, August 26, 2022

Telaviv airport summer 2022

On my latest trip across the Atlantic ocean, I was in 6 countries - 7 airports. There were no issues or any problems anywhere except of Tel-Aviv. Being middle east country, they try to keep travel safe, but it just so chaotic and unorganized. You are usually advised to arrive to the airport at least 3 hours early.  You can't check in online and print boarding pass, because they have to check your passport. If you arrive early, it won't help as airline counters open 3 hours before the flight. 
So, when you arrive, first check point is safety interview. There is ONE attendant per queue. You will be questioned about who packed your bag and if you have citizenships of other countries. They only asked me about the bag, but other people where questioned much longer. 
Next you can go to the airline's counter to drop off bags, if you have any and get a boarding pass.
Third lineup or rather big crowd of people is at the entrance to the area where is passports controll and security check. This line moves very slow, attendants take their time. At this point many passengers after or without waiting start to cut the line. Then others  who were in line and  their herds instincts wake up, started to do the same. All the people who are still in line not even moving anymore.
If you make it through this madness, you have to survive one more - passport scan. Same thing, people just pushing and cutting lines everywhere.
The last one was security  check. After 3 hours of queues. I was still far from check up, when I heard final boarding call to my flight and just did the same as everyone else was doing - cut the line. 
When you arrive to the gate that was printed on your boarding pass few hours ago when you checked in, it is probably wrong, so you have to check that and go to a new gate.
I was flying by Ryanair from terminal 1 and my sister was flying by Finnair from terminal 3, but unfortunately we had exact same experience.

Walking to or from the airport to in Bergamo, Italy

Of course  you can use bus for a couple of €, but it is also very walkable.
It is about 4km from train station in Bergamo to the airport terminal.
I spend a day in Bergamo, was packed light and had time, so decided to walk. I used Google maps to get there. First you have to go through the train station tunnel to pass tracks, then it is a trail along the river for quite a bit. Then a sidewalk. You will cross first highway over the bridge and second under the tunnel with some graffiti. There is a small section  maybe 100 meters that you have to walk on a road and last part is around airport runway.