Israel

1usd = 3.50 New Israeli Shekel (NIS)

Entry to Israel is free but they can be strict. They X-ray all your
luggage and they searched my bag. Also if you've been to Syria or
Lebanon or some other Arab countries it can take a long time to get
through. After the boarder it is about 4km to the town of Eliat. A
taxi costs 45 NIS, the other option is walking and hitchhiking which I
did. The bus station is in the center of town. On Fridays and
Saturdays the bus service is limited. I took the las bus to Jerusalem
(4hrs) on Friday at 1pm for 75NIS. The next bus wasn't until 530pm on
Saturday. The buses are modern air-conditioned coaches, no bathroom
but a stop halfway.

In Jerusalem I stayed at Palm Hostel right across from the Damascus
Gate (dorm 50NIS, free wifi, hot water). It was pretty good. Great
location, social atmosphere, my room had 8 beds. They also have free
tea and coffee and two free computers. It takes about 40min to walk
to/from the central bus station. The old city of Jerusalem is really
cool and there are some hostel in there too. Also near the Damascus
Gate is the Palestine bus station which is very convenient to the
Palm.

Dead Sea: I went to a random place on the dead sea with some people
who heard about the location. We took the bus to Ein Gadi but got off
at the checkpoint a little before Ein Gadi (49NIS, 1hr each way). The
place us really cool with some hot spring pools and no people around.
Getting into the sea is a little difficult cause it's not really a
beach but it was a very cool spot.

Jericho: We took a Palestine bus to Abu Dis (7NIS, 30min) and then a
shared taxi ("Sherut", 12NIS, 30min) to Jericho. Jericho is a small
town that is really old but there isn't that much to see. There is the
"Mount of Temptation" with a cable car ride for 55NIS round trip, and
some old ruins but we didn't do any of the tourist stuff. But It was
cool to be really in the West Bank and Palestine and see what it's
like and learn about the Israeli occupation. There isn't much worth
seeing in Jericho in my opinion though but I'm glad I went because I
learned some about the restrictions imposed on Palestinians by the
Israelis. We returned the same way we came.

Going to the airport I took the last bus 950 at 10pm which stops at
the airport (23NIS). Security at the airport is unbelievably tight.
They asked me tons of questions, xrayed and searched all my stuff and
it took 2 hours to get through security at 3am! Security opens 3.5
hours before departure and check in opens 3 hours before. The airport
has free wifi but not very many comfortable places.