Israel Trip, Day 1

Tim and I recently returned from our first trip to the Holy Land, Trip of a Lifetime, and for the first time I didn't want to just file away the pictures in a box and find them in 3 or 6 or 10 years, when I'm cleaning out a closet. Our oldest daughter, Ryann, who is a passionate blogger, helped me set this up so I could attempt to capture our memories. Israel was such an incredible experience for us, I never want to forget.

So first, let's get a bit of background written down. Tim and I traveled in a tour group, our very first "tour group" experience, and it was fantastic. The trip was just $2000 each, which covered round-trip airfare, hotels, breakfast and dinner, all site visit tickets, tour guides, transportation, tips, etc., for 8 days. All we had to pay was lunch, which averaged about $10/each. How can you lose? The initial plan was for about 20 people on the tour, but there was so much interest it quickly grew to about 80 people, though a few ended up dropping out. Most of us didn't know each other and only about 8 folks had ever been to Israel before, so it was ideal for meeting people, making friends, and learning from each other .

We flew out of Dulles on Friday evening, February 15, and though it had been snowing since mid-afternoon, it wasn't much of a concern. We were delayed about an hour in leaving because the British Air de-icing machine broke, so we waited while they found/borrowed one from another carrier. Course, we landed at Heathrow with little time to catch our connecting flight to Tel Aviv, but were told not to worry, folks "would be standing by" to assist. And I was so surprised - they really were! From the time we got off the plane, clear through Passport Control and Security, airport employees held "Tel Aviv" signs and "fast-tracked" us through Heathrow to get us on the connecting plane. Lots of folks were delayed/held back in line while our "priority" group was escorted ahead of them and hustled through the airport. We really felt like VIPs, undoubtedly because they were holding the flight to Tel Aviv until we were all on board. The folks who had been waiting on the plane were clearly glad to see us. I crashed into my cheap seat in the back and caught a few hours of sleep on the way to Tel Aviv. I woke up to breakfast, a Lamb Brunch Cutlett--hmmm mmm good, nothing like mutton in the morning! Luckily, when I'm really tired I'm not hungry, so I passed. Tim said it tasted pretty good, I learned later he was about the only one in our group who actually finished it.

We landed in Tel Aviv about 3:30 pm Tuesday. Going through border security in Tel Aviv is no joke, very serious stuff. I was pretty worn by now, so I wait in the queue and finally get my turn to walk up to the passport/border control booth. There are two officers, one who handles your passport and asks you questions, one who stands behind this officer (with a big weapon) and just watches you. Guess I looked suspicious - no purse, no carry-on, nothing but my passport in my hand. Purpose of my visit? "Oh, I'm with a church tour group." How many are in your group? So I'm thinking, well, does she want to know total in our tour, as there were two flights that arrived at different times, or does she want just the number on our British Air flight? So I ask the folks in line behind me, they tell me 59. "What was your flight number?" No clue - I'm lucky that Tim and the helpful folks at Heathrow got me on the connecting flight at all. So again, I ask the folks in line behind me - they tell me - flight umpty-fratz. Passport/Border control folks asked me one or two other questions, by now I'm tired and nervous, so I'm asking the folks behind me. But she finally concluded I was harmless, a nitwit, for sure, but harmless.

We all piled onto two tour buses and made our way to Tiberius - here's the sunrise view from our hotel room, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.