Israel Day 1
The dreaded travel day!
31.12.2018
Day one of my Israel trip was a jumbled mix of plane food, sleep deprivation, and drooling open-mouthed in airplane seats. Honestly, on its own the ten hour plane flight might have been bearable, but preceded by two 4 hour flights? Needless to say, I was antsy and exhausted by the time we actually touched down in Tel Aviv. In my dazed, stir-crazed stupor I actually wondered if my Israel experience could possibly make up for the flight trip. Now, an almost full night's sleep later, I'm hopeful and almost positive that it will.
We touched down around 4:00 Israel time and spent approximately another hour and a half going through customs and getting our bags. From there, we went to our group's designated bus and met our security guard/medic, bus driver, and tour guide. Our tour guide (who's name is pronounced Shy, but most certainly isn't spelled that way,) is an Israeli Jew and an incredibly knowledgeable and caring person. He helped us exchange some of our US dollars for Shekels on the bus and gave us some information about the area as we drove to our dinner location.
Dinner was a mix of Passage program information and delicious Israeli food. After that, we headed off to our hotel on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee (which is most certainly a lake and not a sea as confirmed by our tour guide). The history and cultural salience of these places is really palpable. I can only imagine what it feels like to be a part of such a rich tradition.
Anyway, tomorrow the real fun begins! I know for a fact I won't be able to keep up with these entries every day, but I'll do my best. There will be more for sure tomorrow!