OK, so I'm not exactly blogging in real time, but I figure some people might like to hear about our trip and see a few key photos, even though we're all back in America and back to our usual stuff. So, here goes:
On Friday, January 1, 2010, Mary Beth, Brianna and I met up at the Rochester airport to begin our journey. I had been a wreck for almost a week, as I am a nervous traveler, but once I got to the airport, things were just fine. We had a great flight to Newark, and then, during our four plus hour layover, we managed to fit in a quick lunch with Kailly and Tommy - we found a great Greek diner that was actually open on New Year's Day, and made it back in time for the long flight to Ben Gurion Airport. My cell phone didn't make it - I managed to leave it in Tommy's car. Thanks for mailing it back, Kailly! I got it when I arrived home.
MB, B and I sat 3 across, and despite melatonin and ambien, I only slept about 4-5 hours, but didn't have any jet lag, so that was good. We arrived in TLV in the morning, and got our little, tiny, stick shift car at Eldan, where they tried valiantly to convince us to take an automatic. But, we were on a budget, and we were bound and determined to save $160! It turned out fine - hairy at times, but just fine.
OK, so here we are, in a car, in a strange land with the map from Eldan. We knew we wanted to go to the beach - how hard could that be?? Well, it turns out it was kind of hard. After many wrong turns, and u-turns due to one way streets, etc. we did end up on the beach and got to dip our toes into the Mediterranean! And we did some great people watching, walked through Yafo a little, and chanced upon a great beach-side restaurant where we ate fabulous greek salad and tahina, and got some badly needed iced coffee (sans ice). Then we walked a little into Tel Aviv, where we just happened upon what we really needed - an internet cafe where we could charge our Israel phone, and call Jordana, to find out where we needed to meet her. Also, we got the most delicious iced tea - herbal tea with mottled mint - it tasted like a mojito without the rum. Yummy.
Then started the real fun of the day. It was shabbat, so I knew it would be tricky getting J on the phone. Well, she missed the first call, and when she called back, I somehow missed that. From there, things kind of went downhill. According to Meir, I called her 17 times, but never heard back. By now it was dark, we had no idea where we were going, and were, well, just a teeny bit frantic. We decided we would just drive to Jerusalem, and let Jordana and Meir find their way back from where they were (we didn't know the name of the kibbutz). Finding Route 1 turned out to be, um, challenging, and just as we were getting directions on the cell phone from the father of a random girl we met on the street in Bat Yam (don't ask how we got there), Jordana called, and we got the full Google map directions to Sa'ad. Once there (about 45 minutes), we met Meir, his brother David (who is in the IDF), David's girlfriend Yael, and much of her family, who all live on this kibbutz which is literally a stone's throw from Gaza (they can see Gaza from their backyard!). We got some cold drinks and were on our way. We stopped off at an Office Depot that we saw in the middle of nowhere, and bought a GPS, with Meir's help (he is fluent in Hebrew). Once we had the GPS (Mabel), we were way better! We got to Jlem, met up with Ilan at the rental apartment, walked to Emek Rafaim for a great late dinner at Cafe Cafe and crashed. More soon (and pix too, once I figure that part out...)
great blog mama! beautiful pictures. i really enjoyed reading this
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