Airport Adventures

I'm in Israel! That one is sinking in really, really slowly. Hopefully my comprehension will improve with some sleep. That said, I take little responsibility for what's written here...

I got up at 5 am Tuesday to get ready to head up to Newark Liberty International Airport. (New fancy name, same old EWR.) Already in a sleep deficit, I got there at 10:30 and met then-future-roommate Amy. We went to check in, where before check-in, they ask you all kinds of personal questions: where are you from? Why are you going to Israel? How long are you staying? What's your Hebrew name? Where do you go to synagogue? How often? Amy also got hassled by the guy cross examining her for being a future female rabbi. My check in girl left me alone about that. Once we finally got to the front of the real check in line, the adventure began. I was told that my ticket wasn't valid. I had been booked twice, on different dates (huh?), and when this happens, El-Al automatically cancels the reservation. And apparently doesn't tell you. Or your travel agent. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. Nothing could be done, so all of a sudden I was flying to Israel on Standby. They don't start taking standbys until 1:30. At the same time they start boarding. Except standbys are not allowed through security, since we have no boarding passes. Nor can we check bags. So for the first hour or so, I hung out with my overly full luggage cart and some other HUC people who had met up. Then we realized it was dumb for all of us to stay outside security, so they went in and I stayed by the door. About 1:50, they started to take standbys. I had been told I was first on the standby list. I was the last one handed a ticket. NOT HAPPY! In any case, the flight was scheduled for 2:30, and I still had to check bags and get through security, all of which was surprisingly uneventful. Then I got on the plane...

I found my seat, amazingly it was on the aisle and at the front of a section, with extra leg room. Yay! But since I was one of the last ones on the flight and my carryon was not exactly little, it didn't fit in the overhead compartment. So they took it to check it, and gave me a gate check tag, meaning it should reappear after the flight, at the gate, with the pile of strollers. (Side note. There were SO MANY babies on this flight! Wow.) El-Al, possibly because of the large number of babies, also has what amount to wall-mounted temporary cribs in about 5 rows. The ones at the front of a section with extra legroom. Needless to say, I was in a mom-with-baby seat. So once we had taken off, a flight attendant came over to me to see if I would switch to a different front-of-section aisle seat that apparently was missing the hooks for the crib. I did. So I moved forward 20 rows. (Another side note: we took off about an hour and a half late...and nobody seemed to mind.)

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I slept for some short periods of time, but mostly kept fidgeting. The HUC people, 5 of us and all over the plane, kept visiting each other's seats and annoying people who were sleeping more successfully. Not a bad ride.

We arrived in Tel Aviv! On El-Al, everyone applauds when the plane touches down. That's pretty cool. I got off the plane and went to the pile of strollers to grab my carry-on, and, of course, it's not there. I'm not such a happy camper at this point. Then we had to go through passport control (more lines) and then on to baggage claim. After a flight with at least 600 people, the crowds are, to say the least, pushy and large. Happily and, apparently, amazingly, all five of us found all of our bags! (Yes, that includes the one that was supposed to be gate checked.) After that, customs was easy, and then we took a group van to Jerusalem. Basically, anyone going to Jerusalem piles in, with luggage (a fun challenge) and then it drops everyone off wherever they're going. We were last. So we got a tour of alllllll of Jerusalem. (For the record, the flight landed around 8:45 am local time, and we got to our apartment around noon.)

The afternoon has been visiting the campus (it's beautiful) and hanging out with some other HUC people and exploring a little bit. It's fun so far, but weird to be so far away.

This is a long post. I think it's time for dinner/shower/sleep. Mmmmm sleep.

Talk to you soon!!

Packing, slowly

Clearly, I'm not making much progress on the (too?) large piles on Becky's bed. It seems I haven't forgotten everything I learned in Procrastination 101 after all. It should serve me well in the next five years.

I'm leaving for Israel on Tuesday morning, and I'm excited to start my new adventure, but also not so excited about leaving all my friends and family for so long. Come visit me:) But tell my mom first. She'll give you a bottle of hair gel to bring me.

Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to write once I get to Jerusalem and get internet up and running. Actually, from what I've heard, just getting internet up and running might be story-worthy.

Don't forget the seven hour time difference. When your cell phone is free at 9 pm, I'll be sound asleep...hopefully...at 4 am. Find another time to call. Once I have a phone number. And a phone.

Goodnight.