Tuesday, November 15, was a blur. The day started over the Atlantic ocean. The pilot actually asked everyone to close their window shades as soon as we took off; since by flying east, we would be experiencing the sunrise in just a few short hours. We were served supper, then breakfast on the plane; but due to the time change (7 hours ahead of USA), we skipped lunch and didn't even miss it.
The flight took over 10+ hours, and we arrived at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv at just before 3:00pm Israel time on Tuesday. We collected our luggage, gathered everyone together, then passed through Customs as a group. It was seamless and surprisingly easy.
After Customs, we left the airport and immediately boarded a Mercedes brand charter bus where we were introduced to our Arab driver, Adel, and our Italian guide, Fabresio. The bus took us to the Grand Beach Hotel in Tel Aviv. The hospitality of the Israeli people is admirable and we were greeted with drinks and desserts in every hotel, and even in some shops. In the hotel lobby, we were handed an envelope with our room keys and luggage stickers with our room numbers printed on them. We put the stickers on our luggage and the hotel delivered the luggage to our rooms. That especially worked well, since you could only get about 6 people on the three small elevators, and there would have been no room for people, plus luggage. We were given about an hour to freshen-up, then we met in the dining area for our first Israeli buffet. It was delicious... especially the array of desserts! Water, juice and coffee were included with most meals; and Coke products could be purchased for $3-$4 each. (That only sounds high, until you hear that gasoline is $12 per gallon in Israel.)
After supper, several of us took a stroll to the Mediterranean Sea, which was located just across the street from the Hotel. We then retired for the night, and and prepared for the next day that would start at 6:00am. Oh... I must confess that in misreading my watch, I was up MUCH earlier than we needed to be, and checked it carefully in the days that followed.
1 comment:
Oh, we just "took a STROLL to the Mediterranean Sea"... Are you kidding me? Do you understand how epic that sounds? With the advent of mega-hotels and beach chairs, I know that the Sea probably doesn't took as fantastically biblical as most of us picture in our heads... but that doesn't stop me from being so superbly jealous right now.
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