It's 7:24am in beautiful and warm Tel Aviv this morning. This is Joni typing. We had a very long and interesting journey to Israel and arrived earlier this morning around midnight (Israel time).
It is a story best told in a series of pictures ....
After a bit of a hecktic schedule trying to get to LAX, thanks to my mom we got there in perfect time to catch our flight. We checked in our luggage (more on that later) and headed up to the security check. They took Michael's deodorant, which was in his carry-on, because it was too much liquid but other than that, security was a breeze, B"H.
We waited for our flight and called our friends and family to let them know we got through security and that we were about to board. (the photo to the left is us in line at the Virgin Atlantic gate) Our first stop was London with a 2-3 hour stop over.The flight was long and difficult. I still have my cold so I was chewing gum like a fiend to ensure my ear would not blow out or get infected. After take-off I wolfed down a delicious (and disgusting) pastrami burger that my mom got me from Jeff's Sausage in LA (the chicken apple sausage sammich didn't make it to be eaten).
During the "night" everyone else slept but me. I use the term "night" loosely because it was bloody daylight outside the window that the flight attendants forced us to keep closed. Michael said it was common courtesy. I wanted to look outside!Michael was so tired and he slept peacefully beside me and I could not settle down. I watched "Be Kind Re-Wind" on my ipod touch and started watching "The Spiderwick Chronicles" but only got part way because I was not in the mood. Towards the end of the flight, I did watch on the monitor in front of me "Persopolis" which, in my opinion, was very very good. I highly recommend it.
They did feed us dinner on the flight. I was excited to eat again (because my sloppy burger simply wasn't enough) but I feared that the kosher meal was not going to be as good.
Unfortunately, it would seem my suspicions came to fruition. Nastiest chicken ever. (big surprise) I don't think a single thing was edible in that meal. The only thing that we did like about it was the name. "Kosh-Air" ha ha ha. Even the little cake was like sugared Styrofoam. yuck.
"We want better foods!"One very cool thing about flying Virgin, though, is the monitors. They had this really cool feature where you could track the progress of the flight in real time and it told you all sorts of things about the outside temp and what not.
After not having much to do all night, this thing became my best friend. I could zoom in manually and see the land we were flying over. It even told me at what altitude we were flying at. Now many of you reading this who fly uber often are probably thinking that I'm silly. Keep in mind, I haven't flown since G-d knows when so these things are new toys!
We were fed an actually very nice breakfast before we landed. The cinnamon bun from this kosher meal was fantastic. Really hit the spot. Believe it or not, I also drank coffee (dun dun duuuun) because I wanted to stay awake for the connection flight when we hit London. Suffice it to say, it tasted slightly less disgusting with tons of cream and lots of sugar.
Michael was still sleeping when breakfast came by so he didn't get one but I really should have taken one for him. Michael doesn't eat on airplanes so he didn't want it. I just wanted another cinnamon bun!
I would like to point out at this time how much we really love taking pictures of our food. LOL!
Finally, we were allowed to have our windows open. Michael went to daven at the back of the plane and I took the gratuitous "airplane wing out the side window" air shot. It was lovely. Bright beautiful sun over cotton clouds. You could see Ireland under these!
When we touched down, it was a different story. Another kinds of beautiful awaited us. A very wet and beautiful London!
We took a shuttle to the connecting flight for El Al. Here's some more London rain shots ...
We hung out in the air port for a little bit. Michael wanted to visit Whiskies of the world, of course we did. Got a bottle of Black Label and some Malteasers -- Avigail, those are for you!!! :D :D Something I found hilarious was the warnings they put on cigarettes.
In the U.S., it's "Smoking may cause 'x-problems'" In Europe, it's "Smoking will kill you!!!!" Right on the packaging. LOL!
Anyhoo, the El Al flight was late (big surprise) so we had plenty of time to goof around. We did have some trouble finding the right terminal, as there was this troll of a nasty German woman who would not let any of the people for El Al pass. She was from United and had a very, very bad attitude. A bunch of Israelis were arguing with her, but I had no idea what was going on and just wanted to find the terminal. I walked up to her and asked very sweetly if she just knew where the terminal was and she was very rude and nasty. I couldn't believe it. She was telling us all to sit on the floor. The others had been there for over an hour. I started antagonizing her a bit. Telling her that I was being nice to her and it wasn't right that she be so rude. Of everyone there, I told her, I'm the only friend she's got because I was being nice. Then the mob of Jews started threatening to bum rush her. In the nick of time, the El Al terminal agents came and let us into the El Al wing. I should have taken a picture of the rude German woman. We asked for her manager and she said there was none.
Anyhoo, here are some pictures waiting for our very late flight.
Finally, the flight came and we boarded. The flight to Israel was a bit bumpy at times and I got a bit nauseous so there's not many pictures of that.
They had a similar navigation system on the El Al flight that tracked our whereabouts.
Finally, we arrived in Israel at about midnight (Israel time). We went all through the air port and got our passports stamped. I changed in the bathroom because I couldn't stand it anymore. I thought this picture of a goat was particularly creepy so I had Mike pose with it. The Ben Gurian airport is beautiful!
Unfortunately, we ran into one last snafu. . .
We got all of our luggage back, except one. Michael's. My poor husband has only the clothes on his back. Needless to say, we were not amused. They said they thought it would be on another flight because our itinerary changed. That flight was due to arrive at 5am this morning.
Now that I'm at the end of this blog, it is now 10:00am and still no sign of Michael's luggage. He borrowed some clothes from his Uncle, who we are staying by right now and are about to leave for Jerusalem. Looks like it might be on another flight this evening.
Looks like we're going shopping. I feel awful because everything in his bag was brand new, purchased for this trip specifically. I'm being told I must get off now so we can catch our taxi to Jerusalem. Will write more later!!!
After not having much to do all night, this thing became my best friend. I could zoom in manually and see the land we were flying over. It even told me at what altitude we were flying at. Now many of you reading this who fly uber often are probably thinking that I'm silly. Keep in mind, I haven't flown since G-d knows when so these things are new toys!
We were fed an actually very nice breakfast before we landed. The cinnamon bun from this kosher meal was fantastic. Really hit the spot. Believe it or not, I also drank coffee (dun dun duuuun) because I wanted to stay awake for the connection flight when we hit London. Suffice it to say, it tasted slightly less disgusting with tons of cream and lots of sugar.
Michael was still sleeping when breakfast came by so he didn't get one but I really should have taken one for him. Michael doesn't eat on airplanes so he didn't want it. I just wanted another cinnamon bun!
I would like to point out at this time how much we really love taking pictures of our food. LOL!
Finally, we were allowed to have our windows open. Michael went to daven at the back of the plane and I took the gratuitous "airplane wing out the side window" air shot. It was lovely. Bright beautiful sun over cotton clouds. You could see Ireland under these!
When we touched down, it was a different story. Another kinds of beautiful awaited us. A very wet and beautiful London!
We took a shuttle to the connecting flight for El Al. Here's some more London rain shots ...
We hung out in the air port for a little bit. Michael wanted to visit Whiskies of the world, of course we did. Got a bottle of Black Label and some Malteasers -- Avigail, those are for you!!! :D :D Something I found hilarious was the warnings they put on cigarettes.
In the U.S., it's "Smoking may cause 'x-problems'" In Europe, it's "Smoking will kill you!!!!" Right on the packaging. LOL!Anyhoo, the El Al flight was late (big surprise) so we had plenty of time to goof around. We did have some trouble finding the right terminal, as there was this troll of a nasty German woman who would not let any of the people for El Al pass. She was from United and had a very, very bad attitude. A bunch of Israelis were arguing with her, but I had no idea what was going on and just wanted to find the terminal. I walked up to her and asked very sweetly if she just knew where the terminal was and she was very rude and nasty. I couldn't believe it. She was telling us all to sit on the floor. The others had been there for over an hour. I started antagonizing her a bit. Telling her that I was being nice to her and it wasn't right that she be so rude. Of everyone there, I told her, I'm the only friend she's got because I was being nice. Then the mob of Jews started threatening to bum rush her. In the nick of time, the El Al terminal agents came and let us into the El Al wing. I should have taken a picture of the rude German woman. We asked for her manager and she said there was none.
Anyhoo, here are some pictures waiting for our very late flight.
Finally, the flight came and we boarded. The flight to Israel was a bit bumpy at times and I got a bit nauseous so there's not many pictures of that.
They had a similar navigation system on the El Al flight that tracked our whereabouts.
Finally, we arrived in Israel at about midnight (Israel time). We went all through the air port and got our passports stamped. I changed in the bathroom because I couldn't stand it anymore. I thought this picture of a goat was particularly creepy so I had Mike pose with it. The Ben Gurian airport is beautiful!
Unfortunately, we ran into one last snafu. . .
We got all of our luggage back, except one. Michael's. My poor husband has only the clothes on his back. Needless to say, we were not amused. They said they thought it would be on another flight because our itinerary changed. That flight was due to arrive at 5am this morning.
Now that I'm at the end of this blog, it is now 10:00am and still no sign of Michael's luggage. He borrowed some clothes from his Uncle, who we are staying by right now and are about to leave for Jerusalem. Looks like it might be on another flight this evening.
Looks like we're going shopping. I feel awful because everything in his bag was brand new, purchased for this trip specifically. I'm being told I must get off now so we can catch our taxi to Jerusalem. Will write more later!!!
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