{"id":1420,"date":"2011-01-29T16:10:27","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T21:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2014-11-21T10:27:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T15:27:40","slug":"israel-day-one-and-a-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/2011\/01\/israel-day-one-and-a-half\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel – Day One…and a Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013 Saturday, January 29, 2011 \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shalom!<\/p>\n

Well, we made it to Israel, what a long journey.\u00a0 It was one definitely full of interesting occurrences.\u00a0 Haven\u2019t seen much yet, so obviously, I\u2019m only going to get into the travel details!<\/p>\n

First, we met at the Pittsburgh airport at 2:45 p.m. to catch our connection to Filth-a-delphia (aka Philly) at 5:45 p.m.\u00a0 Nobody had any issues and we breezed through security by 3:30 p.m.\u00a0 With so much time to spare, we all split our different ways through the AirMall: some for food, others to shop, others straight to the gate.<\/p>\n

Well next, we were approaching the typical boarding time, a half hour before departure, about, 5:15 p.m.\u00a0 Unfortunately, due to maintenance, our flight was delayed coming from Philly to Pittsburgh, so we didn\u2019t have a plane.\u00a0 Without going into pain-staking detail, we ended up getting on a flight at 8:30 p.m., at our 3rd<\/sup> different gate, and didn\u2019t touch down again until 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Now, do you recall that I wrote this was our connection?\u00a0 We had to catch a 9:30 flight to Tel Aviv in Philly.\u00a0 Fortunately for us, that flight got pushed back until 10:40 p.m., but the gate closed at 10:20 p.m.\u00a0 Therefore, we had 20 minutes to go from what seemed to be the two most distant points of the Philly airport!\u00a0 Kurt and I booked it to at least let the gate know the rest of our group was on the way.\u00a0 Thankfully for some carts, we all made it.\u00a0 However, we had to sit even longer waiting for more passengers in the same situation.\u00a0 When it was all said and done, we didn\u2019t lift off until exactly midnight!<\/p>\n

About 10.5 hours later, we finally touched down in Tel Aviv!\u00a0 I was able to sleep most of the flight; I had a middle seat too!\u00a0 I got a slightly-interrupted 7 hours of sleep.\u00a0 This is actually good in helping to combat jet-lag and the 7 hour time difference.\u00a0 It was approximately 5:30 p.m. (Tel Aviv time) when we landed.\u00a0 After landing, we had to go through the world-renowned Israeli security measures (which I applaud).<\/p>\n

As soon as I was walking up the ramp and saw a few friends from the group, I was plucked right out by a female security agent.\u00a0 She immediately asked for my passport, ticket, and later, an itinerary.\u00a0 However, that\u2019s not the funny part of this first encounter, one of many I\u2019d have in the next 1.5 hours!\u00a0 The group thought she was talking to everybody in general, and she was somewhat bewildered at their questioning of her for what she wanted of them.\u00a0 Her response was that she thought they were my family the way they were interacting with me.\u00a0 So she asked if anybody was my relative, obviously everybody said no.\u00a0 Well, everybody except Karl; \u201cYea he is!\u201d Karl responded strongly.\u00a0 And she looked at me and everybody was looking curious, and I just shook my head \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 Turns out, Karl thought she asked if we were all a part of the same group.\u00a0 Well, she shooed everybody away and began to question me about my purpose, destination, and itinerary.\u00a0 I was then allowed to keep moving\u2026.off the ramp!\u00a0 I was just barely inside the airport!\u00a0 The group was waiting for me around the corner and any last stragglers and were all wide-eyed at this unfamiliar form of security.<\/p>\n

Next stop, Passport Control, the real interrogation!\u00a0 After seeing faster lines to have our passports checked and stamped, Kurt, Zach, and I hoped over to a new line that was opening up.\u00a0 We were going to be second in line.\u00a0 However, a family hoped over a rail and when I politely and passively said \u201cno\u201d to their cutting, they empathetically said they were family with the folks in front of me.\u00a0 Like that gave them cutting rights, but I looked at Kurt, I wasn’t going to start something in the Israeli Passport Control line!\u00a0 We let them cut.\u00a0 Well, they turned out to be cutters alright.\u00a0 When the line they originally came from opened, 2 cut right back over, cutting off a young girl.\u00a0 The girl stood in disbelief\u2026this is Israel, you don\u2019t do that!\u00a0 Well, those people got through and the final members of this family were going to cut again in front of this girl.\u00a0 The girl wasn\u2019t going to have any of it though.\u00a0 The Passport Control person saw what was happening and motioned for the family to get back to their line, our line.\u00a0 She then told the representative questioning travelers in our line that this family was pulling something.\u00a0 And then about 20-30 minutes later, Kurt, Zach, and I were standing at the front of the line cracking up at this family getting grilled and questioned!\u00a0 They were finally pushed aside, but weren\u2019t allowed through.\u00a0 Next up, me.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t hear the girl very well, but she asked some of the same questions I initially was asked on the ramp.\u00a0 However, this time I was asked where I was staying and if I was with people; \u201cwe\u201d, I said we.\u00a0 That obviously sparked her interest: who are you with, why are you all here, is your guide Israeli, and are you all American, are you going to Jericho and Bethlehem (2 PLA controlled West Bank towns).\u00a0 She then got on the phone and in Hebrew I could hear her say some familiar towns I\u2019d be traveling to and some other key words I gave her.\u00a0 She hung up the phone, stamped my passport, and gave me my exit ticket.<\/p>\n

Whew, DONE!\u00a0 Or so I thought!\u00a0 I walked around the booth (just after I saw the cutting-family get taken away by a new representative for more questioning!) and saw everybody from our group, besides Kurt and Zach who were still in line behind me.\u00a0 They all waved and directed me to the final exit to present my exit ticket and meet them in baggage.\u00a0 Well, as soon as the ticket taker saw my ticket, she prompted for my passport again and motioned over another security agent!\u00a0 All females by the way (this is an actual tool to keep attractive women questioning men, and attractive men questioning women\u2026.read that before I left!).\u00a0 She asked the same questions I was asked twice before:\u00a0 how do you know everybody in this group, how many, what towns are you staying in?\u00a0 She was the easiest questioner. As she gave me back my passport, Steve, our minister and tour guide, said \u201cWow, you\u2019re really getting all the questions!\u201d\u00a0 He told me they were making sure my \u201cstory\u201d was consistent the whole time and that nothing changed.\u00a0 Oh, and needless to say, Kurt & Zach both walked out in almost no time right behind me.\u00a0 I guess I don\u2019t mind being questioned, I have nothing to hide, and I learned a lot about Israeli security and how they perceive and deal with a constant threat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The group was great, they got my luggage and we made our way out of baggage claim, found our tour guide and bus and loaded on up.\u00a0 I\u2019m on that same bus right now on our way to Tiberias, writing this first blog.\u00a0 I had to text Jen and let her know all was well though first.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll speak soon again my friends!<\/p>\n

P.S. I\u2019m updating this blog.\u00a0 We ate at our hotel on the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias, there\u2019s a picture of my first Israeli meal for you too!<\/p>\n

\n

[FLOWPLAYER=http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/movies\/2011-Israel\/Israel-Day1-PartyBoat.flv,320,240]<\/p>\n

A fun “Party Boat” we saw….heard, outside of our hotel room.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2013 Saturday, January 29, 2011 \u2013 Shalom! Well, we made it to Israel, what a long journey.\u00a0 It was one definitely full of interesting occurrences.\u00a0 Haven\u2019t seen much yet, so obviously, I\u2019m only going to get into the travel details! First, we met at the Pittsburgh airport at 2:45 p.m. to catch our connection to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,26,10,11,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1903,"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions\/1903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wjfuoco.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}