Each night we were there we were taken to dinner by one of Alan’s former business associates and his wife - a great treat, because locals know the best places to eat; moreover being with locals adds so much to a trip. Both nights were delightful experiences, and now I not only miss the country I have made friends with, but I miss the new friends I have there.
Today (Tuesday 5/18/10) is a full day of travel – first a taxi to the airport; then the flight to Rome, and now we wait for the connecting flight to Madrid. We got up, packed, had breakfast, and made it to the airport in plenty of time – so early, in fact, we were too early to check in. The airport staff sent us to – well – ‘chill’ at the terminal café for an hour before they would even let us go through security. It is a holiday in Israel today, Shavuot (or Feast of Weeks – I looked it up on the Internet, but I have forgotten the significance, except I remembered it is a time for serving cheesecake and cheese blintzes. I availed myself of plenty of those items at breakfast and again at the airport – it is only respectful, after all, to participate in the holiday.)
The holiday caused a problem for us in that we were not able to turn in our rented cell phone at the post office, which was closed. The airport information staff told us there was no recourse and had only criticism of the phone rental company. Later we found by e-mailing the person from whom we rented the phone that we forgot what she told us about turning it in. By the time we found out what we should have done with the phone, it was too late to do it, so we still have the phone. (UPDATE: This problem has since been resolved – just sent via FedEx to their office in NYC.)
Security in Israel is thorough! They ask why you are there, if you have any family there, if anyone gave you anything, who packed your bags, where they have been since you packed them, where you are going and why, how long you plan to be there …we passed the test and were allowed to have our bags x-rayed, checked and get to the gate.
The flight was crowded with two busloads of TOURists, and seats at the gate were scarce. Everyone had his hand-carry items on the floor in front of him. Alan got up to walk a bit, and left our hand luggage on the floor in front of his seat, beside mine. Just as he left the area, a man threw his hand-carry items into Alan’s seat and plopped himself in the seat next to it. I said nothing, but when Alan came back, he asked the man to remove his hand luggage so Alan could sit down. What made that guy think there were enough seats for him to sit in one and put his luggage in another?
It amused me to see the groups of tourists – grown people all wearing either blue ball caps or a yellow bandana around the neck – reminded me of a large group of cub scouts going on a field trip. We settled into our seats on the Alitalia plane and immediately noticed the plane was inferior to the one we had flown over on – the a/c was not working, the plane smelled stale, Alan’s seat would not recline– when the passenger in front of me reclined his seat, I practically had his head in my lap (and he kept pushing to see if it would go further), my tray table angled precariously to the left of center, making it impossible to fit it between my seat’s armrests, and the window shade was stuck in a not-quite-open position.
All of this combined with the expression on Alan’s face as he pulled the armrest between our two seats off its frame, revealing the electrical cords, sent me into a giggle fit, and I then needed to go to the rest room. Alan had to pull me up by my hand to extricate me from beneath the man’s body that was practically lying in my lap, and the lady on the aisle had to get up. As I started to walk to the back of the plane, the flight attendant signaled that I had to sit down again – after going to all that trouble. Finally, after they started serving our snack, I was able to get to the lavatory, but there was a line. When I did get a turn, it was out of TP.
Fortunately I fell asleep after I ate – there was nothing better to do – the air is too dry for me to read, and the television was in Italian.
When we arrived in Rome three hours later we accidentally went out of the security area and had to get in line again to go through the magnetron and have our passports stamped again. We grabbed some food and took turns reading our Louis L’Amour paperback.
(Somehow the settings on my camera created the above effect: Alan reading Louis L'Amour.)
Maybe we should go home. I miss my family, having good TP (or at least some TP), I am tired of not knowing what the signs say (where do I get to ‘press one for English?’), and I want to find out where home is. On the other hand, after a good night’s sleep, we might decide on another destination.
Added 6/9/2010: We arrived back Stateside the next day after a much more pleasant flight from Rome to Madrid, a delightful train ride back to Rota,
Above: 1) Turtles in the "rain forest" inside Madrid Train Station; 2) Alan outside our train.
--and a flight to McGuire the next morning. Fortunately, even though we had no reservation at the Rota Navy Lodge, a cancellation came in at 6 p.m., and we got a room. We arrived at McGuire late, but were able to get a connecting flight to Dover the same night and retrieve our car. We expected the battery to be dead since we have a keyless entry that is constantly searching for a key, but we were able to start the engine and drive to a Marriott property close by, where Carson’s discount once again saved us money.
The next morning we drove to Courtyard at Hopewell, NJ and visited with Anne, Chris and the children for the rest of the week and the weekend. Isabelle and Chase spent Saturday night with us at the hotel – great fun! We drove across to Denver again and spent a weekend with Mark, Katie and Carson at M & K’s house. We spent another week with them while we looked for houses, and now we are in Provo visiting Carson. Since it is now Summer Vacation for most school children we are going to postpone Space A flights until the Fall, but we might take a road trip or two.
