The first two days are merged into a blurry singular long and exhausting trip!
I left Bellingham at 6am on the shuttle. My seasick patch had not quite engaged apparently — I got fairly queasy but managed to make it without creating a memory that involves me puking at some point. Most of my travel memories are punctuated with puke stories.
I checked my bag and headed to the gate to wait for Savannah to arrive. I ate a bit of breakfast and we met up, then soon realized our gate had been moved to the opposite end — so back we went.
We tried multiple charging stations before successfully recharging all our devices. And off we flew. Five and a half hours to New York. Pretty uneventful. I watched a couple movies and relaxed.
Upon arrival at JFK we ate at the Five Burroughs Hall. Greek Mediterranean was my choice – tuning up for Israel! Hummus. Babaganush. Pita. Yum!!
Before we knew it we were getting a second X-ray screening and boarding the ten hour flight to Tel Aviv.
It was the longest ten hours of my life. I felt fidgety- like restless legs — could not get comfortable enough. Watched a movie called Lion. So well done! I appreciate true stories. And subtitles.
We could watch the flight progress around the globe at a snails pace! We got up. We sat down. We tried to eat but it was not good food. We got up some more. We stretched. We nearly cried. It was super hard to get anywhere near comfortable and falling asleep seemed impossible.
Finally finally we were in Israeli airspace. At that point NO ONE can be out of their seat. For any reason. So the final bathroom call was a line down either side awaiting their final flush. Then as we were landing a lady got sick and got up and people were yelling at her to sit down.
Once we landed we met our travel company rep in baggage claim. A thirty minute bus ride took us to our first destination- Herods in Tel Aviv. A beautiful old resort hotel right on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. The cool breezes and smells of sunshine filled us up with joy at having made it!
We attended a delicious buffet dinner then walked in the post sunset sandy beach. Picked up shells. Admired the amenities. And now – having been awake over 24 hours it’s time to crash. For this is not meant to be a relaxing vacation but a spiritual experience and an historical treasure of activity and learning and experiencing the Holy Land!