Nir - Our Excellent Driver

Since our arrival in Tel Aviv last week we have been blessed to have an excellant driver.  His name is Nir (pronounced Near) and he is an Israeli whose parents emigrated from Uruguay in 1962.  In fact, he tells me that is parents met on the boat of immigrants enroute from Uruguay.

Nir lives near the Negev desert with his wife and two children, 11 and 5, with another one due in June. I kidded him because I don't know how he can have a family because he is never home, always on the road traveling with tourists to Israel.

While not  very tall, Nir is very well built with big biceps, forearms and no neck. He looks like he could be in the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) or as a linebacker for the NFL. You would feel safe with him in any dark alley, I'm sure.  His main claim to fame is that he is the World Champion Arm Wrestling Champion in 1992.  He won his championship in Geneva, Switzerland and two years later won as European champion at the tournament held in Israel.

I am always amazed at how the drivers maneuver the big, 50 passenger coaches. Nir said that he was a driver first of a small mini-bus and then graduated to a larger coach.  Now for the last 2 years he have been driving the biggest coaches allowed.  His bus is always clean and he washes the floor every day. One evening after visiting Genesis Land where we had walked behind the camels, he made sure he had a wet rag so everyone could wipe off there shoes as they entered the bus.  Smart driver!

Over the years I have enjoyed having many good motorcoach drivers, but Nir is different. He speaks excellent English and is very pleasant and accomodating to all in the group.  Today, for example, we had a free day as we wait to go to the airport this evening.  Nir volunteered to adjust his scheduled day off and take a group back to the Israeli National Museum and drop another group at the old city.  As he dropped us off he said "you have my cell phone number. Call me if you need a ride or anything else."  It is that kind of caring attitude that has endeared him to all the members of the group.

These small things help make touring an enjoyable experience for everyone.