Dear Friends, I said I would make some posts from my trip. From our evening Saturday flight to today, Tuesday, I’m finding we are still recovering.

The Flight

We had a direct overnight flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv. The 787’s economy section was actually quite comfy.

Getting To

Plan A was to take the sherut from Ben Gurion Airport to Haifa. As per pre-trip research, the expectation was to pay aprox. 38 Shequels x 2, but the driver who approached us wanted 120 Shequels. We went with plan B, the train. I researched my destination station, Bat Galim, ahead of time which made ticket selection easier. The train took longer than a sherut would have, but we weren’t in a rush. Plus, it gave us an opportunity to be among the locals, which mainly consisted of young military men and women in full uniform, which included a fully loaded machine gun. Thankfully I was able to distract my daughter with her tablet. She took no notice of the guns. However, it turned out that a child with a tablet drew attention to us. Though many were on their smart phones, no one had a tablet or computer with them. Definitely this was not something local children had.

There was a father and son on the train with their dog ‘prinssess’ (it was written like that on the carrier), who spoke French. I over heard them debate about us for about 10 minutes before deciding we were Austrailian.

When we left the train a young military man who watched us with curiosity the entire train ride hurried over to us to ask what country we were from. After we replied we were Canadian, he smiled and practically skipped away from us with the joy over having our brief interaction.

The Apartment

Our studio apartment and home for 10 days is adequate. The G38 is well situated, clean, roomy and private. The managers are very friendly and helpful. I’m finding that many buildings in Israel are well worn and sand seems to be permanently suspended in the air, even at the end of the rainy season. Like buildings in other Mediterranean countries, there is no heat and the walls are thin. The local night sounds included the neighbour’s dog, cat fights, and pigeon purrs, and a pack of jackals.