8/18/07-Sat.
Wednesday's flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful. Then I spent 2.5 hours in the airport, bought postcards and popcorn, found a place to plug in my laptop and paid for internet. I talked to the other guy sharing the plug, but decided I didn't want to be seat buddies with him. I was one of the last to board in order to avoid it. I sat next to a guy from Chicago going to NY for business and then to the Hamptons with friends.
I struggled getting my bags off the conveyor belt, but found Aunt Alice easily. What did we ever do without cell phones? The front pocket of my new pink bag was torn a bit. :( We (Aunt Alice, Grandma and I) went to pick up Michael and his girlfriend, Kim, and then went to eat at a kosher deli. Very yummy! I had a pastrami sandwich and a potato knish. Then we went back to the house, Michael fixed my bag with safety pins and Aunt Alice gave me some chocolate biscotti.
When I got to JFk, I stood in the super long Delta line with my huge bags. When I got the front, I found out that I was at the wrong place. I was on the Delta flight but it was operated by AirFrance. I was supposed to be at the counter of the flight operator. I had to take a van there. That took forever because I had to go to a desk to check in, then to another desk to pay for my heavy bags and then go back to the first desk. Then, the line for security was super long and I was randomly selected to be searched. That line was so long, too, and by this time, it’s 15 minutes till boarding time. I put my bags on the belt and walked through the metal detector and they had me stand off to the side and called for a “female secondary”. I had to turn towards the wall because I was tearing up. JFK had been so stressful so far. At this point, I had 2 minutes till boarding time. I went through a machine that puffed air all over. I don’t how that checked anything, but at least I didn’t get a pat down. Then they had me find my bags to search those. I couldn’t find my laptop, but luckily they had just taken it off the belt and put it off to the side. Fortunately, I was fine-I knew I was, though. When I got the gate, I found out that the flight boarding time was 40 minutes late as it was. So I had time to make a few calls. :) When we finally boarded, we sat on the runway for at least an hour. I think I fell asleep...
Dinner on the plane was like a 4 course meal on a tray-with real silverware! It was the first airplane meal I’ve had that was actually good. Then I slept for a while, woke up and there was breakfast! We got into Paris at 10:45 am, and my connecting flight to Tel Aviv was at 11:00 am. Someone from the airline met us at the bottom of the airplane stairs (Yes-just like in the movies!) and took the 5 of us that were in the same situation to the transfer desk because we couldn’t get on our next flight and needed a new one. We were put on a flight at 7:10 pm, given a 10 minute phone card and a sandwich & drink coupon. I called Dad, forgetting about the time difference-it was 5 am there, 12 pm for me-oops! Then I got euros and went with 2 others (one Israeli, one American becoming and Israeli) to hop on a train and go explore Paris! We found our way to the Eiffel Tower,
took a ton of pictures and went to find the Arc de Triomph. 
We didn’t go up or into anything because we didn’t have the time. It took an hour each way to get between the city and the airport. The last thing we did was find a small, corner cafe and had coffee and crepes. How French! We noticed it was across the street from Le Maison du Chocolat. I had to go! I didn’t now what the euro was worth, so as it turns out, with train tickets, coffee, chocolates and stuff at the airport, I spent 65 euros. The exchange rate, I learned later, is 1 euro is $1.30, so I really spent $84.50!!!
The plane ride to Tel Aviv (TA) was pretty uneventful. In fact, before we left the runway, I fell asleep. I thought we were still on the ground when I woke up. :) I ate my free sandwich which was good because this airplane food turned out to be not so great. Oh, but I discovered on European airlines, you can get a small bottle of wine for free! I didn’t this time, but now that I know this, I will next time. :)
We got into TA at 12:40 am and it almost took my breath away to see ‘Welcome to Israel’ in Hebrew when I stepped off the plane. I stood in the Passport Control line and this huge Russian family kept trying to get to the other part of their family that was closer to the front. Every time the like moved, they they tried to push past me. It was really annoying-especially at 1:15 am! There were so many people in this line and if they can’t be smart enough to stay together as they walk through the airport, they don’t deserve to be together in this line. They should have to wait for each other on the other side. FInally we got close enough to the front of the line that I could go around the rail to the next line that only had one person in it. One of the Russian women came and stood in frontish/to the side of me, maybe to get out of her family’s crowd, but I got mad and said, very firmly, “No. I was here first.” I lied to the passport person, saying I was here visiting friends for a few weeks because I don’t have a student visa yet. Again, I struggled with my luggage and found a guy offering a taxi. There were going to charge me too much (170 shekels/ $42.50), but it was 2 am, I’d been traveling way too long and I just wanted to go to bed. He helped me with my bags, but I didn’t tip him because I felt like I was going to die when he drove and he overcharged me. (I found out later, it’s not normal to tip taxi drivers.)
As was going to my room at the hostel, I found a guy who was in the program smoking hookah with friends and he helped me with my bags up the stairs. I got up there (quietly-there were people in the room asleep) and immediately took off my shoes. I changed into PJs and when back to the lobby use a phone to call home. It was 4:45 pm there/1:45 am here, so I thought it was perfect, but the security guard at the desk said it was only available from the morning to 6 pm. I went back to the room to brush my teeth/wash my face (finally!) and just stood in the bathroom and cried! After the long, stressful day of traveling, I was finally able to breathe a little and all I wanted to do was talk to my parents before I went to sleep. I got in bed and just laid wide awake and cried for quite awhile. I just couldn’t stop. Finally, I fell asleep. I don’t know what time it was, but definitely after 3 am. Not counting time changes, my total time of travel was 37 hours!
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