It's Tuesday afternoon in Israel, I've been here a few days, and it seems like a good time to write. This post will mostly be about my actual journey to get here and the first couple of days getting acclimated.
So last week, some of you may have heard, the volcano in Iceland was erupting and there were some fears it may disrupt travel in and out of Europe. I was scheduled to fly through London (with a 12 hour layover, perfect to go and see a bit of the city), so I was a little concerned that there might be trouble with my flight. At the airport in El Paso I asked if perhaps I could be moved to a different flight that would not have to stop in Europe. They told me, however, that nothing could be done unless the flight was actually cancelled, and there was at that point no indication that would occur. So I left El Paso bound for Dallas where I would connect for London.
While I knew there had been some weather concerns in the Dallas area over the prior couple of days, I had checked the forecast and there were no storms predicted, only some wind. I thought maybe the worst that would happen would be some turbulence. But when we landed in Dallas, it was a fairly sunny day with no indication of trouble at all. The volcanic ash was shifting away from London, and the flight was scheduled only about a 10 minute delay for cleaning. I ate one last BBQ meal (they just don't do it the same outside of TX) and boarded my flight. It was nice, I had a window seat, lots of leg room, personal TV screen with on-demand options, and a nice view of the clouds outside...wait a minute, where did the clouds come from? Dark clouds too. I thought to myself what a good thing we are leaving now before it gets ugly. But then I saw some flashes of light. Lightning? Or maybe just the lights of the plane? Nope - it was lighting. Which meant the ground crew would not be able to stay outside and the plane could not leave until the lightning passed. Oh well, I thought - what's another half hour or so? I've got plenty of time to kill anyway. But the rain started, and then something happened that I've never seen before. They told us to gather all of our belongings and get off the plane. And quickly! I thought, usually, once you're on - you're on, you don't get off unless there's a serious problem. That's when the hail started. As we re-entered the terminal, they told us to stay away from the windows and announced a tornado warning. In fact, they said a tornado had been spotted in the immediate vicinity of the airport! So everyone in the airport gathered around the center of the building to wait it out. Nobody seemed particularly scared or worried, but neither did anyone seem annoyed. After about an hour, the storm moved on and we awaited news of our flights.
Because of the hail, they had to inspect each and every plane before they could leave. Luckily, ours was one of the first to be inspected. Unluckily, we didn't pass. Even more unluckily, most of the other planes didn't either. Which meant a lot of people had to rebook. And these were people that had been rebooked from cancelled flights from the day before. Some people had been waiting to get out since Sunday. So there were really not a lot of available options to get out of Dallas. I made some friends in the terminal and we discussed renting a car if need be to drive to Austin or Houston, just to be somewhere we could get out of. But they ended up being rebooked for later that night. After waiting on hold for about two hours, I finally got through. I was put on a flight the next day that would fly through Paris and then arrive in Tel Aviv Thursday evening, only 15 hours later than originally planned. Not too bad! They even gave us our luggage (most of the domestic flights did not get their luggage back).
After a night at a hotel, I returned to the airport to find massive lines for everything. Nevertheless, I made it on board. I had requested a window seat (not that I had my hopes up considering the circumstances) and they told me they had one near the front. My excitement, however, was short lived as my 'window seat' had no window :( I guess there are worse things. Anyway, during the flight, I asked the flight attendant about beverages, and he recommended some kind of Chilean wine that was supposed to be delicious (being on an airplane in coach, I was surprised that the selection was that inclusive), and he gave me a small bottle...then another. And he didn't charge me for them (he was charging other people, though I kind of thought it's free on international flights anyway, but whatever). Then later as he passed by he offered me another bottle...seemed like he was trying to get me drunk! so I quickly put in headphones and went to bed - very awkward.
Woke up in Paris. Was somewhat excited about going through the airport there as I understood it to be a really interesting airport - an international hub. Sadly, I was disappointed. It seemed like an old bus station. In fact, the only food was either cold bologna sandwiches, or what looked like microwaved airplane dishes. Also, I had no euros on me, so I'm still not sure how much I spent on lunch, but I really wish there was something more appealing...more Parisian. Oh well.
On El Al to Tel Aviv, sat in the very last row (but got an actual window seat!) Before take off, the guy next to me (religious Jew) had put his backpack on the floor next to him. The flight attendant came by and told him to put it overhead and walks away. He yells out to her "Miss!" And motions for her to take care of it. She ignores him (rightfully so) and later comes back to tell him again. He says "so do it!" she says "so do it!" he says "so do it! what, you want me to have to get up every time to get a book?" "She says you have to" Later, she comes back (he still hasn't done it) with a small woman who has a larger bag. She helps the woman make space in an overhead bin, but gets called for something else. She quickly leaves momentarily, and the man, instead of helping this woman put her bag above in the newly created space, gets up and shoves his bag in there. Who does that? Anyway, rest of the flight was uneventful...though I was the very last one off the plane, haha.
Anyway, I figured out the train system at the airport (although the system is designed only for those who already know what they're doing) and headed to Rehovot to see my cousin Ron. I'll catch you up on the next few days later - for now, I'm going exploring!
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