Headed for Greener Pastures

Tuesday April 24 / 9 Iyar ~ Wednesday April 25 / 10 Iyar
Anyone who knows me knows I am famous for being a last minute type of person. Why do it today when you can do it tomorrow? So if course, I waited until the last minute to pack. Tuesday morning found me running around, doing exchanges, and still trying to finish packing.

My husband advised me to go to the airport at 1, or 1:30 the latest. Waze however told me I only need three hours to get to BWI. So who do you think I listened to? It was raining all day, and my hubby is very smart  So yes, I picked Waze. I was also running around to the last minute, packing food, last minute items, you know  ... Image my distress when we hit stand still traffic in NOVA! I know, what a shock, right? Traffic in NOVA, who would have thunk, huh? Then we hit more traffic, and more traffic. The arrival time kept getting pushed back, and I did start getting very nervous. Shauly kept telling me, Tracht gut vet zein gut. So I put it in my head, I was going to make it. Missing the plane was not an option. We arrived at BWI at 6:30 for a 7:30 flight. Baruch Hashem I had the foresight to pay extra for Premium Access (or whatever it's called). At TSA I got to go on the shorter line! And since Sheindy is a minor, she had to go through the metal detector rather than that other machine. You know, the one that leaks radiation and stores naked pictures of you? I asked if I could go through it as well. The answer was yes, and we made it to our flight 10 mins before they were boarding!

That flight sat on the run way forever. Thankfully, Newark is a short flight. We saw one of those cars that drive people in the terminal, and Sheindy asked if we could take it. Another piece of hashgacha protis! When we got to the gate, there was only one woman standing in boarding section 3. I told Sheindy we were waiting in line. We stood there for about 40 mins, but again, Baruch Hashem, because there were so many people in line. Flights to Israel are always packed to the max, full planes. Overhead storage was going to be tight and I don't know how to travel light. That flight was 10 hours of pure torture. Every fliers worst nightmare  .... Crying babies. One baby literally shrieked for hours. The guy sitting next to me said the mother was sitting there doing nothing. I don't like to be judgemental, but in this case, it was so hard not to understand why that mother let the baby cry like that for so long. No one said anything, but everyone was upset. I got about an hour of sleep. I'm so happy Sheindy was able to get some sleep, as she really needs it.
Then the big moment  ... Our arrival in the Holy Land!

We landed in some really nasty looking black clouds. Once I got in touch with Shauly I heard there was a horrible freak storm in Yerushalayim. Heavy heavy rain, with hail at one point. It's not even really the rainy season here anymore. If you read about my last trip, you may recall that when I arrived last time, Yerushalayim was getting a rare snow. What is it with me and crazy weather that I bring????
Of course, one of the anticipated highlights was surprising my grand daughters with our visit. My daughter-in-law prepared her a little by saying there was a special gift at home. Two of them. And when Rikki walks in, she runs all excited to ... Uh no, not us, but   ... Her sister Huvi! Who she sees everyday. She didn't even give us a second glance. Hilarious!
My "adopted" son Shmueli came to take me and Sheindy to the Kotel. I feel it's the most appropriate place to go to first in Eretz Yisroel.

After that, we tried to figure out where to eat. Gross greasy food was turning our stomachs. We decided to head to Yaffa Gate and take a taxi to Tommy's, the place where Shauly used to live. But when we got there, I remembered there are a few places to eat in Mamilla Mall. We walked through looking at all of them, almost gave up, but then went back to Rimon, a milchig restaurant. Shmueli let Shauly know, who rode over on his electric bike. (It's really cool, btw!) We had such a delightful time together.

Before we went to sleep, Shauly advised us to take melatonin. Nope, I know better. I was beyond exhausted, so I was really worried I would over sleep and miss my first tour. Maybe one of my goals this trip should be to learn how to take advise from others. Guess who woke up at 4am??? I guess it's good, cuz I'm not going to miss my tour. And it gave me a chance to post to my blog. And so ended the first day of our excited adventure, which for me was over 24 hours long!
If you follow me on Instagram, you will see more pictures that I post as we go along. Feel free to join the fun!