March 14, 2005

Back

I'm back home. And tired. We reached Honolulu Saturday evening, after about 60 hours in transit, including a 9+ hour flight from Atlanta to Hononolu. I find long flights in the daytime tortuous. Unfortunately, that's generally the way incoming flights are scheduled here. Preceding that were:

  • A flight from JFK to ATL, including a 1.5 hour sit on the runway, waiting to be de-iced while the de-icers were refueled, and then to take off after 16 other planes. The advantage of this is that once we reached ATL, we had only enough time to make our next flight, rather than lingering in the airport.

  • A drive to JFK at 6 am, courtesy of Sam's sister.

  • A short but intense night's sleep, again courtesy of Sam's sister.

  • A 45-minute ride on MetroNorth, to reach Sam's sister.

  • A ride on the 5 train.

  • A meeting at a Starbuck's in Manhattan.

  • A walk from the subway station with Sam, being ever chivalrous, carrying most of the luggage.

  • A ride on the A train.

  • A ride on AirTrain, from the Delta terminal.

  • A stop at the Delta terminal, to see if we could check in our luggage early, so that we didn't have to carry it around town. No.

  • A ride on AirTrain, from the American terminal to the Delta terminal, involving a hasty goodbye to Anis who needed to catch it going in the opposite direction.

  • A flight from Zurich to JFK.

  • A few hours in the Zurich airport, marveling once again at the high prices and wishing we could ride their bikes. We said goodbye to the parents at the beginning of this layover.

  • A flight from Tel Aviv to Zurich.

  • 1.5 hours in Ben Gurion airport security, waiting while they took my suitcase to another room, leaving its contents with me. I thought it would be funny if they came back and told me they had to blow it up, offering me a big garbage bag instead.

  • Five hours waiting for the appropriate time window to check in at Ben Gurion. Luckily, they have 24 hour restaurants and a music store at the airport. Who knew it was such a happening place at 2 am?

  • Returning our rental car.

  • Sitting in the back seat of our rental car as we drove from the Sea of Galilee to Tel Aviv. We had lots of luggage, so this wasn't always comfortable.

    • Okay, I've now bored you and me. Entries to come regarding Pilgrimage itself. I am currently suffering from jet lag, getting whiffs of perfume at times when it seems that there is no perfume around, and thinking my food tastes a little like soap.

    Posted by Shokufeh at March 14, 2005 05:06 PM
    Comments

    Man! That's a long trip. I'm trying to picture the world map and where you flew. How did you go through JFK? I'd assume you'd fly west to the middle east from Hawaii, no? I have no clue what I'm talking about, I'm just curious. Did you have a tour that originated from a certain spot? Ours leaves from JKF, but it changed changed. In fact, it has always started in Atlanta, right by us. :-( Can't wait to se pics!

    Posted by: Hannah at March 14, 2005 07:49 PM

    I've missed your posts, Shok. I cracked up about security blowing up your suitcase. And strangely enough, I've been there with the perfume and soapy food. You should poll some other travellers to see if they have olfactory-related jetlag side effects.

    Posted by: george at March 15, 2005 09:13 AM

    Thanks, George. I'm glad I'm not alone in the smell/taste thing.

    Hannah, it was most cost-effective to fly through NYC. We bought two sets of round trip tickets - one from here to JFK, the other from JFK to Tel Aviv. In general, unless east Asia or Australia/NZ is your ultimate destination, flying anywhere from Hawaii takes you to the mainland. Even some flights to other islands in the Pacific. One of the drawbacks of living in the most isolated populated island chain in the world. But since Israel is almost exactly on the opposite side of the globe from here, it probably wouldn't have saved us much time to fly in the other direction.

    Posted by: shokufeh at March 15, 2005 03:27 PM

    welcome home shokufeh, i'm glad the tea got to you just in time :) for some major relaxation after the long trip.

    Posted by: stef at March 16, 2005 01:56 PM

    Shokufeh, welcome back!!! I can't wait to read about your pilgrimage experience, should you choose to write about it. It's funny to me how many people have been on pilgrimage the past few weeks/months...hmm...that's 3 lay-c.commers since October. Wow!

    Anyways, I'm glad you guys made it back safely. :)

    Posted by: lacey at March 16, 2005 04:14 PM