Day 1 and Day 2: Friday and Saturday, a mixture of Missouri time, US time, and Tel-Aviv time. See also: the most crazy insane 24 hours of my life. 3 connecting flights, 1 international flight, S-E-V-E-R-E- motion sickness on the plane, absurd amounts of cranberry juice and airplane/port food, and meeting 12 people that would become my best friends. and we were only getting started.
Friday AM: finished packing, ate a quick breakfast, and joined up with Emily Voth to drive the 2 hours to NWA airport. Our flight was at 12:15. We arrived about 10am. There we also met up with Malachi and Morgan, the other two seniors that would be coming from Missouri.
I will also say, that in NWA I got my first ever pat-down. It was probably some of the more awkward 30 seconds segments of my life. It was all because of my Miss Me's with the bedazzled butt. Whatever. We went through so much security/scanners/and check-points that it's not even funny. Customs are no joke!
I was so excited for my first flight. I hadn't flown since I was 4 or 5 and I don't remember it at all. Airports fascinate me, really. The size, the number of planes constantly coming and going, all the methods of transportation, etc etc etc. Call me a nerd. Whatever. I was excited.
Little did I know that I would be getting sick in a few short minutes. I think it was a combo of the 3 screaming babies, 2 poop filled diapers, the crazy lady putting on germ-X in front of me, the HOT plane, and the severe amount of turbulence. My luck! Thankfully, as SOON as we landed in Houston (note: not Houston Hobby, the GIANT Houston airport with Terminals A-E), I found myself some Dramamine and water stat!
This was a life savor! The little vents that puff out cold air.
You can laugh.
Yes, I got made fun of for taking a picture
of my juice. It's my favorite and it saved my life stomach
Dramamine was and always will be a lifesaver in my book.
We arrived in Houston after only an 1.5 hour long flight but that was plenty. Our planes got bigger at each place we went. NWA to Houston was 1 seat, aisle, 2 seats. Houston to Newark was 3 seats, aisle, 3 seats and Newark to Tel Aviv was 3, aisle, 3 aisle, 3. The bigger the better for sure. The international flights all had the nice little computers w/ headsets that had music, tv shows, and movies. I took full advantage of everything.
We finally arrived in Newark about 9pm. We had a little less than 2 hours to eat, meet-up with everybody, and go through security again. We clicked as a group immediately. In fact, Mama Kay said she had never seen a group get so close, so quick. (Hence ALL the tears on the way home) Because the Missouri 4 were the last ones into Newark, the rest of everybody waited and went from terminal to terminal calling out everybody's name. Bonded much?! We went through the final security and finally were Tel-Aviv bound!! I was SO excited!
The weird thing about the plane trip there was that we left at 11pm Newark time (aka: my bed time). After the 10 hour plane trip, we arrived in Tel-Aviv at 4pm their time, which meant it was almost bed time again. And to make things even more crazy, the plane fed us dinner when we left Newark, and breakfast when we had almost landed in Tel-Aviv. It messed me up just a little bit, but over all, Jet-lag was no big. (on the way home that is a different story).
Sorry these next few pictures are blurry. I only had a couple seconds before some Hebrew speaking person would run me over in the aisle. True story.
We got to Tel-Aviv and we were SO excited! The picture taking really started here and didn't stop ALL week (2300 pictures later)....
I didn't get a stamp and that made me sad :(
Thankfully, ALL of our luggage arrived safely, in 1 piece, and was there on time. We picked it up and Nadav, was waiting for us with a big sign! :)
This was on the bus! So about 5pm we got on the road!
We began to see views of the Med Sea and it was gorgeous! holy cow!! Palm Trees, water, people, ahhhh!!! We had made it! I was elated!! I was so excited, even though I was sleep deprived! As soon as we got checked into our hotel on the beach, the Dan Tel Aviv, we all threw on flip-flops and RAN down to the beach! Enjoy the sunset pictures of the beach! :)
We ate dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant, right on the corner by the Sea! It was family owned/operated and the food was delicious!!
ALL water in Israel was bottled.
They also had no ice, which was weird bc
I LOVE ice!!
I ordered Ravioli with white wine cream sauce. The pasta itself was really good, but unlike American restaurants, the wine isn't cooked out or however they do it, you could fully taste the wine and I don't like wine. I know it's an acquired taste, and some people LOVE wine, but I tried it and I don't like it. Minor detail.
Our night finished (like they all would), with group time in the Ferguson's suite with laughing, praying, and everybody would share what stuck out to them that day. Our first night here, they gave us a Bible with our name on it, and a journal for the week.
I can't wait to keep writing more recap posts. They will be up slowly and surely.
