With much trepidation, I must admit that the time has come for my first blog entry. Not having kept as comprehensive of documentation as we'd have liked during our adventures in China, and now living in Israel with a newborn son, we decided that it is now or never--otherwise, Sam's grandmothers might have it in for us.
Logistics
We spent our last night in Portland at a hotel near the airport. That way, we could take the shuttle to catch our flight, since our array of bags and baby-related "essentials" seemingly would not fit into a car. Speaking of essentials, here is a visual...
Fortunately, an unnamed Delta employee turned a blind eye on two of the 55lb bags. Traveling with a 3-month old seemed to garner an extra bit of grace, which was much appreciated
We flew from Portland to Atlanta, where we had a three hour layover. Thinking that we'd have time to use the last of Nicki's Starbucks gift card (since they don't work overseas--or at least, not in China), we were surprised to find that boarding for our flight started 1.5 hours prior to take-off. This was due to the fact that all passengers were required to go through security again--which, per a Delta agent, was unique to Israel-bound flyers. We were yet again a spectacle, going through security with our "essentials"--but Sam was behaving, so it was fine.
Prior to boarding, we were enternained with some songs/prayers by several cabinmates. We quickly realized that many of our co-passengers were Orthodox Jews.
It was also evident that Hebrew was the first language of most passengers. When elbowed in the head from a man in the aisle behind me, he exclaimed סליחה ("slikha"). Fortunately, "excuse me" is one of a handful of Hebrew words that I've recently learned--otherwise, I may have thought he was adding insult to injury.
Aside from the American woman complaining about losing her water bottle due to the double-security, most of the passengers were quite friendly. Somehow we managed to broker a 5-person swap that enabled our family to sit together. In doing so, I met an Israeli girl who had been vacationing with her family in the States. They were supposed to have flown home on 8/27, but due to Hurricane Irene they had been stuck for 5 days. Now, on 8/31, her and her sister were able to catch standby seats on our flight--but her parents and brother were forced to try again the next day. One bright spot is that our power-brokering allowed her to sit by her sister during the flight.
We also made some new Jewish friends. A man next to me offered his contact information and any help that we might need. The family in front of us with two (noisy) kids did the same, and I ended up taking them up on their offer by using Mordecai's cell phone to make a call once we arrived.
Our little Sammy was as good as can be throughout the trip--he slept a lot and barely cried at all. We tried to stay awake, thinking that we'd get a full night's sleep upon arrival, but neglecting to factor in Sam's jet lag. He seemed to think it was mid-morning when we arrived.
Arriving in Tel-Aviv, Israel
Upon arrival in Tel-Aviv, we picked up our bags and waited for a driver who was supposed to meet us.
Some miscommunication resulted in about a 45-minute wait, so I killed time by giving myself a geography lesson. Here's a list of some of the "Arrivals" at Ben Gurion (Israel's only international airport). Do you know which country each is from? Answers appear at the bottom...and yes, I had to google most of them...
- Heraklion
- Bourgas
- Sofia
- Liege
- Tbilisi
- Istanbul
- Dnepropetrovsk
- Amman
- Bucharest
- Luton
- Seol
- Rhodes
- Antalya
We arrived safely at our new apartment, unloaded the essentials, and tried to get some sleep. More on our new digs in a future post... Let the adventure begin!
Answers to Geo-Quiz from above (confession: I only got 2 right - how about you??):
- Bourgas (Bulgaria)
- Sofia (Bulgaria)
- Liege (Belgium)
- Tbilisi (Georgia)
- Istanbul (Turkey - easy one!)
- Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine)
- Amman (Jordan)
- Bucharest (Romania)
- Luton (London...2nd to Heathrow, apparently)
- Rhodes (Greek Island)
- Antalya (Turkey)
What a handsome baby in his little flight suit! So glad everyone arrived safely and with minimal fuss. Let the adventures begin.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog! Keep them coming!!
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