Summary: Twenty hours of travel, door-to-door. Not as brutal as we feared. Sure is great to have friends here!
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Housemate Jonathan drove us to Logan Airport around 4:30pm Sunday, Boston time. Once on the plane I remembered my beloved lavender raincoat, abandoned by the burger joint where we dined. Too late! (It was Christopher's fault -- honest!) Quick flight
to Newark Airport. Free passes to the "Presidents' Club" lounge where we comfortably waited two hours with free snacks and internet and cushy leather seats. At the airplane gate we're already entering a new world: lots of loud Hebrew, mobs of people, babies, men with those orthodox curls and tall black hats, extra security looking through our take-on bags and scanning our bodies for terrorist bombs. Hundreds of us packed in tight on this full, overnight flight. "Dinner" served at midnight, with many passengers receiving special-ordered kosher meals. We watched "Conviction" with Hilary Swank, slept two fitful hours, watched "Babettes' Feast" (both movies terrific!), had "breakfast" and made our way through the enormous, modern, clean, raucous, glass-walled Tel Aviv airport to the train station, half hour wait, half hour ride....
And there he is! Our enthusiastic friend Lior, waving like a tall grinning scarecrow, with delectable six-month old Abigail strapped to his front in a pink onesie. Traffic-filled drive to downtown (me in the back seat giving Abigail her bottle. She falls asleep still gripping my pinkie.) Lior gives us nonstop commentary about the great things to do and see and the history of the place...
And finally, beyond exhausted, aching head to foot, we're in our own sweet little apartment. It's owned by a friend of the director of Lior's Playback company, and we have free use of it all to ourselves for eight days. We really are the luckiest people! The apartment reminds me of NYC. The total square footage isn't much more than our kitchen at home, but it's got everything a traveler could want: tiny kitchen fully equipped, a comfy couch (where I am now), bathroom, little balcony with tables and chairs... Dorit (the Playback director) even left us a bag with bakery treats, bottled water, a bottle of wine, a map and a vase of flowers. (Remind me to do the same if I'm ever hosting people from far away! Such a sweet thing to come "home" to!) Best of all, the apartment offers a double bed with lots of pillows. We crawl into it groaning at 8pm Monday, Tel Aviv time and don't return to consciousness for another twelve hours.
________
Housemate Jonathan drove us to Logan Airport around 4:30pm Sunday, Boston time. Once on the plane I remembered my beloved lavender raincoat, abandoned by the burger joint where we dined. Too late! (It was Christopher's fault -- honest!) Quick flight
to Newark Airport. Free passes to the "Presidents' Club" lounge where we comfortably waited two hours with free snacks and internet and cushy leather seats. At the airplane gate we're already entering a new world: lots of loud Hebrew, mobs of people, babies, men with those orthodox curls and tall black hats, extra security looking through our take-on bags and scanning our bodies for terrorist bombs. Hundreds of us packed in tight on this full, overnight flight. "Dinner" served at midnight, with many passengers receiving special-ordered kosher meals. We watched "Conviction" with Hilary Swank, slept two fitful hours, watched "Babettes' Feast" (both movies terrific!), had "breakfast" and made our way through the enormous, modern, clean, raucous, glass-walled Tel Aviv airport to the train station, half hour wait, half hour ride....
And there he is! Our enthusiastic friend Lior, waving like a tall grinning scarecrow, with delectable six-month old Abigail strapped to his front in a pink onesie. Traffic-filled drive to downtown (me in the back seat giving Abigail her bottle. She falls asleep still gripping my pinkie.) Lior gives us nonstop commentary about the great things to do and see and the history of the place...
And finally, beyond exhausted, aching head to foot, we're in our own sweet little apartment. It's owned by a friend of the director of Lior's Playback company, and we have free use of it all to ourselves for eight days. We really are the luckiest people! The apartment reminds me of NYC. The total square footage isn't much more than our kitchen at home, but it's got everything a traveler could want: tiny kitchen fully equipped, a comfy couch (where I am now), bathroom, little balcony with tables and chairs... Dorit (the Playback director) even left us a bag with bakery treats, bottled water, a bottle of wine, a map and a vase of flowers. (Remind me to do the same if I'm ever hosting people from far away! Such a sweet thing to come "home" to!) Best of all, the apartment offers a double bed with lots of pillows. We crawl into it groaning at 8pm Monday, Tel Aviv time and don't return to consciousness for another twelve hours.
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