“Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits once said that we may live in one country but we can still seem to be in two different worlds. This is certainly true of Israel.”

Israel

One thing you will need from them is an official stamp on your passport and a sticker on your luggage. Of course if you have any intention of later travelling to any Arab country then this sticker is better removed.

We went immediately by train to the north of Israel and noticed that everyone on the train seemed to be preoccupied with their mobile phones. It is a country with the highest per capita frequency of electronic gadgetry. Our destination was only a few kilometres from the border with Lebanon, whose proximity could not be missed – miles of barbed wire that looked extremely unfriendly. If I did not know where I was, I’d think I was on the border with Slovenia! Although ostensible friendly with these neighbours an Israeli wishing to travel to Lebanon cannot go directly but needs to travel via Cyprus or Turkey.

Our next destination was our kibbutz, close to the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. Not only is the country surrounded by barbed wire but kibbutz but there is another security fence around the kibbutz. You would think that this would be the ultimate level of security – but even so our apartment had its own bomb shelter that we could retreat to in the event of an attack!

Egypt

The population of this northern region is mostly composed of displaced Jews from the former USSR who are mostly engaged either in tourism or in growing bananas. Golan and Galilee are part of the occupied territories of Syria and Palestine. We drive along a half-empty highway which follows to border fence. So much history, so many stories, in one place. We then head towards the coast, driving though scattered Arab villages.

The process of departure was not simple either. We were required to get to the airport five hours before our flight to go though the security checks.

Ivan Vuković, travel writer

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