The Journey to Israel

Here I am packed and ready to make the long journey to Israel.  Not so much that the flying was going to take long, but in order to get there from the island, I had to take multiple flights and had some extended layovers.  The whole process from leaving my house to getting to our condo took about 18 hours.  So worth it!

 

So the first leg was the island to Lisbon.

I ordered the veggie meal.

Fantastic that this came with a kit kat.  The sandwich was like a grilled cheese with tomato and zucchini.

 

Getting in to Lisbon.

 

Once in the airport, I grabbed some lunch at Pans and Company, which I ate at in Spain the year before.

I ordered the delicias do mar, which is like tuna salad with surimi crab.  I have had this on the island before.

Before I knew it, it was time to board for Madrid.  There are no airlines that fly direct to Israel from Lisbon, and my other option was to London first, which was like backtracking by way of up too far north.

 

My plan, ever since I knew I was stopping in Spain was to enjoy tapas and wine for dinner.  When I got off the plane, it was a pain to make sense of where to go as I needed to find the international terminal.  I finally found it and spotted some food.  I grabbed a white anchovy seafood salad and patatas bravas, but did not really see any wine.  I was also a little weirded out that they heated the potatoes up in the microwave.  Needless to say, the seafood was great, but the potatoes were not what I hoped for…and I still hadn’t had any wine.

 

Next up was finding some internet, and this would have been great, but I use Boingo and this was a pay there kind of place…and I just wanted use of the plug.  Then a girl told me a horror story of how she missed her flight because it left early and she was now stuck overnight.  I panicked and headed to the information desk.  The woman was so helpful and told me I had nothing to worry about and where I could find a plug.  Good thing I looked there because I found exactly the wine bar I was looking for.  I ordered smoked salmon and olives, plus a glass of Spanish red wine.  This was the experience I had hoped for.

 

Before I knew it, it was time to board my overnight flight for Tel Aviv.

 

I ordered the veggie meal, and it was tasty, but the person in front of me was so far leaned back that I could barely get in to eat my food.  Plus, I was practically unconscious, so I tried a bite of each, but I was tired and full, and just went back to bed.  Too bad I woke up 2.5 hours later confused with food and a chair in my face practically.  At least the people next to me were awake and I was able to get up and take the tray to the attendants.

The sun started to peak through the clouds, and we made our approach into Tel Aviv.

 

Welcome to Israel…

 

…let the fun begin!

QUESTIONS: What is the longest time you ever spent traveling?