I just returned from Israel in January. I tell you one of the best landings was comming into Ben Gurion just as morning hit. You come from above the clouds and all of a sudden you see the Israli coastline and within seconds you cross to the runway. I would like to go to Israel again soon as I have family over there.

I agree with you. British Cadbury and Kit Kat is much better than in the US. I think it's because of the milk.

Ok, with CNN Inside Africa over, my news about Africa for the week, let's go land in Israel. (actually caught it at the Admirals Lounge at LHR last week, wow, makes ya think, doesn't it? I was walking to my plane to NY one week ago at this time)

____

I started dozing off a little. It is not really sleeping, it is more resting, hard to sleep on a plane and in tight conditions. The plane was messy and we need more legroom. Oh well.

The pilot came on and said we are now in our descent, yeah!, and we should be landing in about 35 minutes, one of the greatest things to the captives in coach, which some dear soul refers to as Why, I may agree with that.

Cabin lights came on. Then, not earlier which would have made sense, they passed out Israeli landing forms, something new for my collection.

Why they don't do this at the beginning of the trip, I shall never know. Too much!

So I grabbed the pen and filled out the info. Something new I have never seen before, the State of Israel wants your dad's name, have no idea why, but I put it, he being the Jewish parent.

The chief purser, sorry, was annoying.
He made long announcements and was kind of boring. Not to be rude, but, yeah.

The crew did the final checks, sadly, picked up the headsets when there was a British sitcom on I had never seen before, and Donny Osmond was the guest of honor. Love it!

Everything goes in the carry on, yes, everything. If it is in the seat pocket, it goes, not that I would ever take those safety leaflets that say DO NOT REMOVE cause that would be naughty. Oh wait, I can be naughty, he he he ha ha ha !

Lo and behold, the moment I have waited (38) years for, there were lights yonder and they were Israel. Wow!

An incredible feeling went through me when I saw Israel/Y'israel for the first time.

No, I didn't cry, much much to my surprise, but I was filled with joy and happiness. I suppose I cried inside, vs. outside.

The stupid wing was in the way and so I had to look beyond the wing to get a view, but I wouldn't trade my seatmate in for anything.

Ironically, as we went into descent, we shook hands and introduced ourselves, and sadly, can't remember his name and I am sorry that we didn't exchange e-mails, cards, etc. Would love to show him around LA when/if he gets out here. He is cool.

We flew over the coast of Israel, Zion, the Holy Land, call as you wish, over Tel Aviv/Jaffa.

I had asked on flyertalk(.com) on the ELAL board about where is the best place to sit.

They said if you do a normal landing, on the left, with a great view of Tel Aviv below, to your right, Jaffa, also a good view. If you come in that way, which most planes did as I saw from below during my stay, it is a quick descent. But they also said you can go another way, fly past the airport, which we did, in this case, I think the right side was best.

How do I explain it?! It looked like Israel. It was 5 something am, February, completely dark, but you could see the Israeli style architecture and feel it as we came in.

The plane kept heading East and I joked, are we going to Jordan? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I know that Israel is not that big.

My friend chose Syria as a guess. LOL That would not be good!

A plane flew right below us on final, cool.

We did a sharp right turn and the wing flaps sounded like a dentist drill, which I even made that comment to my friend. Been a while since I have sat on the wing but you do get good wingflap action, both in view(daytime) and sound.

My favorite wing noise is on the 777. Coming into Singapore on Emirates(from Jakarta), we were right on the wing and he made the coolest approach over Singapore City. The flaps on a 777 are noisy and you hear them, especially if right above. I love this stuff.

As we made our turn and final approach you could see little pockets of Israeli towns, apartments, lights, but it looked Israeli, hard to explain. Some cities look alike, not here!

You could see the lights of Tel Aviv straight ahead of us as we approached.

Insert Hatikvah here, an appropriate time to sing it.

I made the slight comment that the reading light of the guys in front of us who have had their seats back the entire time was annoying, but didn't plan on any action.

My beloved seatmate looked forward and said:
"Gentlemen, this is this man's first trip to Israel and your reading light is interfering with his view." They turned it off. I was shocked. I was also appreciative, as the view was now better.

Touch down and reverse. I applauded. Surprisingly, I was pretty much alone. I think one other joined me briefly.

It actually told me alot that they weren't applauding. Sometimes after a long flight into LA, we applaud. It is that we are home! Many join in.

The Israelis didn't feel that way. My friend kind of gave the hint, they have left Israel to get away from all the violence and the problems, now they are back. Fair point. Sad.

Nevertheless, this is my first 'Aliyah' or going up, and it was special to me.

We turned around, you could see the radar circling around and then the new terminal 3. It is dark with few lights, you would think they would have more lights, show it off, also for security reasons, no sabbotage.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the famous terminal from the plane. We taxiied, you could see a stack of planes, and we turned right into that area.

A few ELAL's, the LY 777 from London, a Swiss A320, AF A320, LH A340, etc. Not too much but a fair amount. They were scattered
all over. We stopped, parked, engines shut down.

Getting up, carry ons, and we filed out. I said thank you to the sweet English girls who took care of us. The one up front was a doll. British Airways has some outstanding crews(makes AA look like McDonalds, sorry)

Out the door and into a weather protected staircase(enclosed with a roof, more rare).
To be safe I held the handrail going down and others dashed past me. I just don't want to fall.

I said shalom to the cute girl at the bottom of the stairs and that this was my first trip to Israel(I know, sounds geeky) and she smiled and said welcome.

You had a security guy down below keeping an eye on things and I have heard that security officers stand at the bottom of the steps of all incoming flights into Israel, probably not a bad idea for other countries as well.

I then saw the famous Arrivals hall which has been in many movies, travel books, and what have you. When I lived in Ohio a guy who came to Israel photographed it on video and then some and I just wouldn't do that.
It is a very security conscious airport and cameras make security people uptight. Remember Frankfurt.

Onto the bus. Stood next to my friend and he said "What, you're not going to get down and kiss the ground?" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Hey, I thought about it, maybe later. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

We were taken to the terminal.

If we had landed about 45 minutes or so later, would have happened. But you know what, sounds stupid, I always wanted to arrive at night, now I will go for the day.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Oui, ca fait du sens, actuellement.

You can taste the milk and it is yummy.

I need to buy kitkat over there. Was going to at the LHR arrivals store but too overpriced and poor me would have to carry it, oh no. LOL

Ok, we are in Israel. Thank you everyone for the nice comments. I am receiving them in different places. If Sarah(Dallas) says I am sounding like her, uh oh. I can't afford the Four Seasons, save to hang out in the lobby and steal their pens, LOL

Thank ya dear.

____

The bus made its way to the terminal. Again, more stares at my lapel pin.

It was dark and a little cold. I assume most, if not all of you, have seen some pics of the famous Ben Gurion arrivals hall. It says Welcome to Israel in English left, Hebrew(Ivrit) right. It is on the airport website.

There are several Israeli flags, wanted to kiss one, but they were on the other side as there are 2 main staircases going in. I have always used my imagination as to what was beyond those doors. A series of hallways, escalators, this and thats. No.

You walk up the emotional staircase and into the building into a giant arrivals hall.
It is huge, well built, good design, and with high ceilings.

I had to go to the desk and finish writing my passport #. I had half of it memorized. I think I can do it all now as I tried it coming into NY.

Not a bad thing to memorize. That and your DL and of course your American and Starwood frequent flyer and hotel cards. I forgot my stupid Hilton # and didn't have the # with me, oy.

My friend went to the Israel Inspass machine and was gone like a flash. I could NOT say the same. I did take some time to check it out and I was impressed with the place.

A question on flyertalk was do they have a transit area? Yes, they do, they had a big sign for transits, I guess for Europe to Jordan, Cypress, or what have ya.

Ah, the lines were long, I mean really long, and they were not moving.

Israelis to the left, all of us here foreigner people to the right.

I am curious that they don't have a special desk, pre-passport control, for those making a real Aliyah or moving to Israel. I use the term loosely for my visit. It is also what you do at a Bar Mitzvah ceremony when you go up to read the Torah.

I was not pleased with the slowness. --- I had this at Narita. I had one hour to change planes going to Hong Kong and thought, hey, let's go landside and get a stamp. Big, big mistake. Til this one, slowest lines ever and then customs there, too. Barely made it back. Ouch ---

I also know, with all due respect http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, of the Israeli (and Arab) culture to cut in line. It is a national pastime. Well not in front of me, well, so I thought.

I don't know how they did it but 3 people very subtly cut in front of me. 2/3 was an older couple. I wanted to tell them to go somewhere but passed. I am not in a hurry. Who knows what time the hotel will check me in. I did request an early check in.

When we got up to the railing, thank you for having them!, I put my hands out to both sides, carry on draped over my shoulder and Duty Free bag on the floor. You ain't gonna get past me, ha ha.

The officers, and all women( I like that part), are in very narrow cubicles and you have several cubicles bunched together, kind of weird, to be honest.
An American girl(and cute) in the line to my left looked to her neighbor and said how the officer was being very thorough. Oh yes. The line to my right had an Algerian family, Orthodox Jewish, kippot and all, which had passport problems. The officer would hold up the passport behind the window and point to something. I am sure they were hating life. You could see it. They were there a long time and there were there when I finally left. God bless them.

The sun was coming up in this long wait, I am guessing about 45 minutes or so, maybe more, who knows? they did have a clock in front. I could see the BA logo at the baggage claim ahead where the Israelis were getting their bags, no foreigners, we were all here.

Our line was actually moving. I was wondering what on earth are they doing up there? having tea? LOL (line from a tv show)

Quick flashback. On 2 occassions, one at Zurich and one at Paris CDG. I was in line for passport control when respectively, an ELAL plane came in. Several of the arriving passengers ignored us and went for the front.

I was furious on both counts and at Zurich people made a fuss. The Swiss P/C and police de l'air did nothing, sitting behind the windows. I like how in England and the US we have a gatekeeper who controls the line and sends you to your desk. Then it is harder to cheat.

I will say this politely and carefully. This behavior just doesn't inspire positive feelings for Israelis who do that crap, especially in a foreign country. What are ya thinking? Moving on...

When I got to the front of the line a Hassidim was at the front of his line. He then stood out in front of the railing thinking he was going to go to the first booth that opened. Nah ah. I stepped up and held my ground.

When the dear, cheating older couple who had cut in front of me moved on, it was my turn, and I jammed up.
he he he Don't take me on, LOL.

Ok, now let us see what on earth is taking so long. You look at the passport,check the computer, move me on.
NOT Not here anyway.

She took the passport. I said Shalom but showed I needed English. She took a while and checked my passport, looked at me, checked. Then asked me several questions. How long? why? where? how? blah blah
Do you know anyone in Israel? yes, 2 guys, Dov and Ophir. but I don't know their last names. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif sorry guys. Probably can't pronounce them either. smile How did you meet them? From an internet travel group(flyertalk).
Do you have any family in Israel? No. (well, technically, I have very distant cousins, relatives that I learned about in our family history) A bunch of Latvians got tired of the place, smile, some went to South Africa, most came to Canada(and then some here, obv), and some went to Israel/Palestine at the time. I have seen pics of them, but I don't know them. So, I said no, which is fair.

I forgot what else but it was a fair amount of questions. I did explain it was my first trip to Israel and she noted that I am alone, something that seemed to be somewhat of a concern. I asked for a stamp and "you want a stamp?"
Ken(yes). Boom. That stamp just knocked me out of most Arab/Muslim countries. The question I have most is with Malaysia, which is Muslim. ( A Canadian was arrested arriving in Lebanon with an Israeli stamp, fyi)

I am done! NOT! First, as long as that took, I was faster than the average person. I would not want to do this on a regular basis. Sorry to say.

Then you head to the exit and there are security people standing there. Ok, they want to confirm that I have been cleared. Nope.

A very cute girl and she reminded me of a beautiful Iranian girl that I knew in college(one of the clubs I was in)
took me to the side. She took my passport and asked me the very same questions that the passport officer had asked me, wow. She was cute, she was polite, and she was professional, but it was a security interview like I have never seen in my life. I assume that if you fly ELAL you don't do this as the first officer asked me what flight I came in on, BA. (note, I say girl to show younger, vs. woman, older)...

She asked me the questions, the biggest one why am I alone? I explained quite frankly, no one else wanted to come.
She dropped it. I also explained that while my stay in Israel is short I am on a long, overall 2 week trip to Europe.
She asked about who I knew in Israel. Explained how we met. I think last names would have helped. Then she could have called Dov at 6am and yanked his chain. smile.

She had a piece of paper in my passport which I wish I had looked at before going to the exit. The first officer makes notes on what they ask you, which the 2nd officer duly looks at. If you are inconsistent with your answers, you ain't gonna like life!

She also asked me if anyone had given me anything to take off the plane. No, I am alone. Think French Kiss where Kevin Kline puts the plant/diamond in Meg Ryan's bag. Something to think about. He gets stopped at customs, she doesn't. Because she is so innocent looking. smile

My cute officer goes and confers with a supervisor in Hebrew. They yacked for a bit. yikes Longer than I would have thought necessary. She came back, handed my passport, and said "have a nice trip." Toda rabah
( by the way, her accent was sexy, too)

Whewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

If I went through that crap everytime I traveled I think I would travel less. Too much. Never expected it on arrival, but on departure, and they ask you more on departure. Oh joy..........

Now to bag claim. It has been so long(same with Cairo) that the BA sign is now down completely. Fortunately, I saw the sign from inside P/C. Now it was an ELAL flight from Bangkok.

However, my bag was not there. Uh oh.

I had that 'prompting' to go check the other caroussel and there it was. I had put a big (kiss up) I love Israel or something sticker on it, maybe that helped.

I walked around the bag claim a bit and grabbed a cart. I can roll the suitcase but took the cart. I saw the way to the Aliyah/Absorption office for immigrants, which is exciting itself.

It is a nice arrivals hall, not too shabby. I should have exchanged money here but there was a line.

I also want to say that I had been strengthened spiritually. I usually get nervous at security, customs crap, but as the religous people on here can confirm, the Lord had blessed me that I was very confidient and relaxed.

If you arrived nervous or fidgety, I think you would get nailed. So I am very appreicative of the strength that I had.

Out to the green channel at customs which I expected would be another E ride at Disneyland. To my surprise, it was empty with one guy sitting in the middle yacking with a woman. Not the dreaded customs hall of LAX Bradley, which I don't care for (too strict) that I was thinking and out the door.

Thanks for making me giggle. I agree with you that AA crews are like McDonalds compared to BA, though I love the AA legroom on 777s vs. BA tight 31" legroom.

I told you to sit on the right side. Probably a fluke that it was the better side.

Yes Mazel tov / congratulations: you will no longer be allowed to visit Malaysia now that you have that stamp; unless you get a new passport. I think they charge a lot in the US to renew a passport. This is an expensive stamp.

Salut et merci pour les infos.

The right side is what BA gave me, but worked out fine. As you will see when we get there http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, I am so tired now, I had the right side leaving Y'Israel but went right into the clouds which was sad.

Some American Air crews are wonderful, but there are so many bad ones, and I mean BAD, that it just makes you pull your hair out. We had one on the LHR-JFK route, I just don't know how she has a job. A whiny little thing and drove everyone crazy. But I also had one on BA LHR to CDG that you will learn about someday, when we get there. She reminds me of the witch on the Weakest Link. UGH

The report will slow down as I wanted to get us to Israel and then do that quality thing. LOL

Sad to hear about Malaysia. I was afraid of that. I am getting so many stamps that I am ready for a new passport anyway,as they are special to me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

A bientot, Shalom

First, again, I want to thank everyone for their comments. Had dinner tonight with some people and they gave me their feedback. It is appreciated.
I am taking it slow on sending out the report to my e-mail list because someone will whine that it is too much mail, while I have others who want more NOW! I love it. Patience.
It is easier to send it all out at once(it really is alot of people). I may step it up a bit this next week if no one complains about too much mail, which many of you saw on the Yahoo group it was nuts this week.
Remember, I am just the messenger and should not be shot. Thanks. (but I get to do the shooting http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) he he
______________

OK, this is a big moment. The first time you come through the customs exit doors into a new country.
Certainly Israel is very special emotionally. I have seen the arrivals hall many times on the news. When they shot at the Arkia 757 at Mombassa the place was bristling with people waiting for loved ones who had survived. . However, in the Israeli movie 'Besame Mucho' (kiss me often) when the little geeky English kid comes tripping out, that is more what I had, a very empty and desolate place. He waves his hand, Israel! Too much. I know millions of emotional greetings have taken place here, but unfortunately, none were for me, and I wouldn't ask anyone to climb out of bed and be here at 6am to greet me.

I exited into the arrivals hall, almost dead as a nail. A few people holding signs up for names. It is funny because it looked rather diferent than from times when I had seen it on the news, but looked very similar as to the movie Besame Mucho which I had wondered was a movie setup. I was suprised that they were allowed to film there.

There is an Israeli import shop called Steimatzky over in the Valley where I have spent some time. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif To say the least. Have picked up many good Israeli CD's, movies, books, and just hung out. Plus, the owner taught me
Ma nishma, spelling?, meaning how are you? He would play the CD's and let me sample them. Love it!

I looked forward and there was a Steimatzky which now is the real thing. I looked at the stores but with no Israeli money, yet, I couldn't buy anything. I hate that peniless feeling. Plus, I am betting it is cheaper in Tel Aviv.
We also have an Israeli market, Super Sal, which I could have fainted when I first walked in, it was incredible.
A non-Israeli is rare as who else wants to shop here? I think I have taken care of their chocolate products bill for a long time. So I have been intro'd to Israeli chocolate, but now wanted to see what was here. They had an incredible bar called Krispit and I bought the entire box(mom, no comments, thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ). Unfortunately, I have yet to find any more of them and I am hooked. Israeli chocolate is very good. Those who are nice might get to sample some.
Maybe, smile. I also casually hang out at the store. Big ELAL 744 model(yes, I want it!) hangs from the ceiling. (the women there are cute!)

I have even brought some chocolate to church for our socializing time. Does very well. Ironically, at the Oneg at the Temple, they never have anything Israeli. Oh well. (but their cookies are wonderful! so all is forgiven LOL )

So, did the shops, saw the food court, I ain't hungry, passed the ELAL ticket center, but no goodies( don't worry, I get some later, he he ). Then to the departures area.

Yes, I was dissapointed. The Arrivals hall is nice, modern, and a good piece of architecture. Probably why they show it more in movies. The Departures area, ah, it is old.

I also wanted to go see the infamous security check, something that turns people off of coming back to Israel. I will do a full spiel on that later, promise. Most of the checks take place behind a large gate so you can't see. The officer is there with her clipboard. All looks freaky to me. Do I feel Israel goes overboard on this? definitely. I know it.
Do they need security checks, Entebbe and all? Yes, but don't scare the good people off. Most people are private and don't like to answer 500 personal questions.

-One of our worst security experiences was after Lockerbie. We flew TWA and coach at that from Heathrow to LA. Wow, what a bunch of questions. I was blown away. Too personal and overkill and you can tell now they have stepped way back. Flying AA out of Heathrow where I was in transit I had one minute of questions. Do the C/R thing: yes, yes, no, no, yes, yes, no, no, yes. This is a friend of mine who memorized all the security questions and then did this at Frankfurt.
They were not amused.

When we were at CDG flying TWA home she started asking us in English and I got tired of it, blew her away by going into French and answering everything they were looking for. She was amazed, kept quiet, then moved us on, worked for me! LOL -

So I looked through the cages, not too much of course, looky loo that I am, at the operation. To be honest, I had expected much more and I do hope that the new terminal will provide that. It is a small, cramped area and for all the time they have had, there should be more space and efficiency. I did see the BA/LH/CO area, area D, ah, looks alright. Yeah, it was empty then, much worse when I had left. I was concerned about leaving and the hassles involved, but that seemed to comfort me a bit. Hey, they ask you what they ask you, and you live with it. You are leaving the freaking place anyway, right? smile

Just to share I know people who have had BAD experiences with the security, some Jewish, some Christian, one Arab(Palestinian-penpal of mine) and some won't go back. More on this fun when I leave.

I found a bank and exchanged my beloved Swiss money, 100 CHF Franks to Shekels(about 300 or something). Figured that would be enough for a taxi into town, some spending money, and would be fine and then find a 'real' bank in town. It was Bank Hapaolim, have heard of them, and actually they gave me a decent exchange rate. I used the credit card most of the time, but you do need some cash. Fluent English and friendly.

A friend of mine in Europe warned me about all the bad service I would get in Israel, sorry to dissapoint, but no, they can be very friendly and kind. Actually I enjoyed the service. I was very much welcomed to Israel. Once you get through all the security crap, Israel is wonderful.

Half of the exits were blocked and they are manned by plain clothes security. I went back to Arrivals and then outside.

I stood there looking at the famous Terminal that I have seen in pics, movies, and the like. Airliners Worldwide magazine from the UK did a story about Ben Gurion. Brian and I were in the Borders bookstore at the Bridge near LAX when I saw the magazine. Let's just say I studied everything on the article. Airliners.net also has some good pics of the airport.

It is a very security conscious airport, hence, my camera never came out to public view anywhere at the airport, not worth it. I have been chastized for taking pics at different places. I didn't need the gamble.
There are plain clothes police everywhere. Cameras, too. What I was surprised was that there wasn't an over presence of uniformed police and soldiers. A friend of mine told me when he landed in Israel, he led a tourgroup, he was looking for someone and the soldiers were right there to say, hey ,how ya doing? May we help you? cringe. They are watching everything.

It was kind of cold, but it was a nice breeze, light wind, trees blowing. Loved it. Almost felt tropical.
I am here.

I headed to the taxis and booked a taxi to Tel Aviv. Bus, in Israel? no thanks. LOL

Kind of like in Mexico and one other country, forgot where, you go to a taxi office way to the other side away from everything and sign up for a taxi. Rennaissance Hotel on HaYarkon St., the main street in Tel Aviv where most hotels are.

You could see the ELAL maintenance hangars, the tails of a couple of planes, and hear a few planes taxxing out. Not a very busy airport by any means, but it is very interesting.

I was directed to a taxi and got in, Shalom, do you speak English? some, ok. We could chatt a little with my few words of Hebrew and his somewhat better English.

I have always been curious about this drive, one more reason to take a taxi than a bus, which this bus, I guess, I would trust.

Exit the airport and out onto the highway to Tel Aviv. You pass the checkpoint into the airport, curious how that works. ( I think the one at LAX is worse)

I have always had an interest in Tel Aviv. Certain cities pique my interest, long before I ever get there. Frankfurt being one of the big ones, and I feel at home in Frankfurt, Paris, London, Zurich, Johannesburg, Sydney, Hong Kong, Montreal & Toronto, etc. I have my list. I have always wanted to go to Tel Aviv specifically, now I am coming home. No one said welcome home, but I felt it anyway.

It was a nice trip on the highway, actually reminded me very much of the trip from Malpensa Airport to Milan. Similar houses, scenery, it is a small world. It really is.

I always pictured something different. Very green, some big houses out here, whereas in the city it is mostly, if not all, apartments. I like the empty feel and the openess. Far from the case in Tel Aviv, as with LA.

They had the traffic conditions in Hebrew on the big boards over the highway. I love those. Paris has the best, of any city in the world. LA has a long way to go as we have some, but if we had more, we would know to divert our driving.
Bouchon et tous. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif He had the morning radio on from which I could understand zilch.

I had studied a map before going and tried to figure out the freeway system. How different it is to see it in person.

I had considered the Sheraton Ramat Gan, mostly as it is a new hotel. People got after me, especially an English mate from Manchester(Jewish) who has travled to Israel many times. Said stick with the main hotels in Tel Aviv.
In fact we debated it. My Israeli friends also gave me advice, stick with the main hotels. So I did.

As expected, people are darting in and out, changing lanes, cutting you off, I expected it, but it freaks you out a bit to see it. They aren't as bad as in Egypt, but def. more aggressive than back at home. (LA drivers can be pretty bad, fyi!)

I wouldn't want to drive here. They are crazy. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Cairo drove me insane with the honking and just utter chaos. This is more organized and there is some reason to the highways, driving, but there is, ah, major room for improvement, to be honest. I have read articles on Israeli driving. They turn right from the left lane, right from the left lane, and I actually saw it. Cringe! I guess they don't give tickets!? Where would you start? Mexico City was like this. Mexico City was so crazy that Brian and I sat in our hotel room and watched traffic(Crowne Plaza downtown). It was hysterical.

I suppose at the right location, you could watch traffic here, but I had better things to do.

We exited the highway at Ramat Gan (Financial/Business Center,love those), saw the beautiful Sheraton that everyone said no to, and headed into Tel Aviv.

One of my favorite movies is 'Clean Sweep', an Israeli film. When I went to the Israeli Film Festival I was in line with everyone else to see the movie 'Time of Favor' ( a classic), it sold out, I was ticked, had to go see the remaining(leftover) movie called Clean Sweep. It is a police/detective type that takes place in and around Tel Aviv. I loved it.
It became one of my favorites. They have good shots ot T/A. Toward the end they do a wonderful motorcycle chase through the streets. I enjoyed that. Now I was where that chase was taking place. Oh that was a good movie. FYI, I have it on DVD, with English subtitles. I will sometimes do the Hebrew subtitles as I know the plot inside and out
and can actually learn a few words by watching the Hebrew letters., but mostly do it in English. Love the theme song.
KADOSH! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I would love to get that theme song on cd if anyone knows where and how, etc? toda

So we did the drive through the city routine. It is older, more run down than I had thought. Every city has its good and bad areas, I guess I was expecting more of a Zion, if you will. All of a sudden we emerge from the mass of low apartment buildings and come out to Ha'Yarkon st. This is the Tel Aviv Promenade where most of the T/A's hotels lie, and on the beach. You take the highway up, Hilton is on the right, the others on the left, and go into a small, congested street where you literally drive through the front area of the: Sheraton Moriah, Crowne Plaza, and then my new home, for the night, the Rennaissance. I can't follow their Hebrew spelling, it doesn't seem to match!? xoxo
Oh well.

I had done alot of homework on the hotels. Went to the Marriott and Sheraton websites, where I have elite status, (Hilton is too expensive), reserved, canceled, reserved. Make up your mind! LOL After I had canceled the night in Jerusalem I finally settled on the Rennaissance here.

I had e-mailed them asking for an early check in, upgrade, etc. We actually e-mailed a few times and they were nice.

The taxi fare came to 80 shekels, which I had been told to expect. About $20 US, divide by 4 something, being bad in math, I divide by 4. I then gave him the 100 NIS note (New Israeli Sheckel), he said no, I said YES. Take it. The fare is very generous. As you will see later I paid 9 pounds, plus a pound tip, to go from one hotel at Heathrow to another, there is an 8 pound minimun. That is about $20 US, almost. We drove half way across Israel. I can live with their prices. England(the Motherland, if you will) would bankrupt me in a week. I also wanted to give a good tip to my fellow Jew. Toda rabah. I take care of my own. I give very generous tips in France,among other places. One tip to the porter at the Orly Hilton just pissed my dad off saying way too much. So sue me, smile.

He helped me with my bags and the porter showed up out of nowhere. I think he was escaping the cold in one of the cars. It was freezing. There was a fierce wind off the Mediterranean and it was just not what I had expected.

I finally am at a point where I can porter my own bags but said hey, let's live it up, and gave him the bag. I want to be pampered here. No security check. Their security is very inconsistent and that bothers me dearly.

Thanking the driver we went inside. There were cars everywhere, what a mess. Also a security risk, fyi.If I I saw this in Jerusalem I would be nervous.

Finally in front of the reception desk were 2 plastic/paper Israeli flags stood. I kissed my hand and put it on the flag, long overdue in finally kissing an Israeli flag. The staff behind the desk were impressed. Gee, first time to Israel? LOL
They knew that from the e-mails.

A lovely Turkish immigrant checked me in. Countering my Israel/USA lapel pin, which I wore everywhere, she had a Turkish flag, Israel flag lapel pin, we laughed.

I had some Marriott certificates that I wanted to use, she said go up and get some sleep and talk to the manager later, fair enough. Can I get upgraded? Well, you have to pay more, which they told me in an e-mail. Most Marriott/Rennaissance hotels upgrade me based on my Silver card, not here.

Ah, I thought go to the room and talk to the manager later when I have my witts(Brian, no comment!) LOL.
It is the lounge access that I want. We wished each other our respective pleasantries. Very friendly staff, just slow to upgrade. Oh well. I didn't want to give in and pay more. Hard when you get it just about everywhere else. The Marriott at Vancouver Airport fought me on it and we did battle, then the last time I went with a girl from Spokane, they upgraded us. Ok..................

You could see through the big windows the fierce waves right in front of us, it was a beautiful sight.

The lifts have the English chimes that I like and up we went to the 7th floor. ding ding

There was the coveted exit sign in Hebrew I was looking for. I like the different exit signs from around the world. For some reason the French 'sortie' in Quebec, vs. France, just annoys me, that is another story. In France they use the int'l sign. In Quebec, where the English exit used to be exit/sortie the French language zealots got rid of all the exit signs, even in hotels, hence, my annoyance. Maintenant, c'est tous SORTIE. It bugs the heck out of me. Same with Keluar in Malaysia. Another story and for later, thanks.

I can't read the Hebrew word for exit, for the Hebrew alphabet that I know, it just doesn't make sense. I would love to see the word written out in English letters, if possible, as they don't have it in the Fridany night prayer book. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
How I learned alot of my Ivrit.

My first mezuzot (not my last!) is on the doorpost to the room, this is cool. You know that you are in Israel from that.
The hallway is average, could be bigger. All of these hotels are in great need for a makeover.

I tip him as well, but give him US $$$ which I bring along for tipping. Helps in England, I can assure you!

The room is decent size. Large queen( I think) bed but very low to the floor. My bed at home is tall. Maybe that's it.
I drop everything off and as Brian knows the first thing I do is turn on the tv. Finally, Israeli tv! way too long overdue.
Israel One- Echad, Two-Stein, 3, I think 4, I love 10, CNN, BBC Prime,( I need BBC World), Russian, Turkish, was very surprised nothing in Arabic. My biggest TV fest was in Cairo with several channels of tv stations from around the Middle East. It was hard to leave the room and my friends got after me for that. "We didn't come to Egypt to watch tv." wahhhhhhhhh LOL

Lot's of programming in English and tons of South American soaps subtitled in Hebrew. Why the Israelis are so muli-lingual. Same with the Dutch, the Scandinavians, etc. Whereas my dear, beloved French and Germans use annoying
voiceovers which is FAKE. You gotta see Cosby in Germany with that fake overtone auf Deutsch. Disgusting.
I prefer subttles, then you hear the natural sounds. You also learn the language faster. We watched 'Yes Prime Minister' in Denmark with Danish subtitles. I probably learned a handful of Danish words from that one show.

I go out on the balcony and enjoy my view. Fierce winds are blowing from the West from where I have come
and it is cold! There is one lonely ship rocking back and forth in the sea with surfers and some boaters, they are crazy! Straight across from me is the Crowne Plaza Hotel. They can see me, I can see them, no privacy here at all. They needed to give more space between the hotels for sure.

To my right is Tel Aviv, the great city. Masses of low rise apartments/flats, the Sheraton Ramat Gan( I think she is haunting me LOL), the World Trade Center, I love that kind of architecture, and masses of other buildings.

Arkia and Israir(Israel's 2 domestic carriers and some charters) buzz in and out of smaller Sve Dov Airport. I think I have heard 3 names for this airport. Lot's of smaller planes buzz in and the view is just awesome. An Israeli Air Force C-130 (military plane) passed by, so cool. I can finally stay in the city and watch planes at the same time.
L'chaim! To life!

I kick off my shoes and do some unpacking, thinking I would be there for 3 nights. (NOT!) I turn on the heat, the tv is going, and set up a bar/buffet on the long table. All my coveted Dasani water from home( I am not kidding, touch it and you get it!), the Swiss, Belgian, and English chocolates, and other nicknacks borrowed from the British Airways lounge back in the Motherland.

TEL AVIV DAY 1

After a quick lie down and my first intro to Israeli TV, I decided to go get my first
Israeli meal. The Israeli breakfast buffet was included the other days, but I had to pay for this one.

It was held at the Africa restaurant. An interesting name, but actually, you are a couple of hours drive or a 45 minute flight to Africa (Egypt).

Gave my room # and pre-paid $20US, which I liked, then walked into a comfortable restaurant filled with delicious food.

The front table had more bread than I have ever seen in my life. Every kind of bread was available, save challah, which would have been nice. I piled bread on my plate.

They had cream cheese, but not the delicious Jerry's Deli (LA) that I am used to. Well, it was icky, sorry.
Israel needs to learn what cream cheese is, smile.

They had delicious Kugel(thanks Aunt Judy, who intro'd me to it and I love it), cheeses, meats, an interesting pasta, kind of dry(for breakfast!?), the traditional Israeli salad bar(which I am not into, sorry), every kind of fish, oh, they had everything. Shock of all shocks I piled a couple of plates and took a table by the window. The waves were ferocious and I loved it. The waitress came over and did that Kafe? thing, lo bevakasha, and it was soon apparent that her English was non-existant. Surprising in Israel. She must be from someplace else. I wanted to ask for a hot chocolate, but that just wasn't going to happen. I think I tried it even in French, no go. oh well

They had orange juice and I braved it with the water. Surprise. The water in nearby Egypt is disgusting, but actually is quite good in Israel, showing it is more of a Euro country. I had heard that it is safe to drink, but was actually good.

I did a couple of trips to the buffet and then prepared for my escape with some 'leftovers.' The other guests were European tourists yacking away in different languages. My lapel pin had a couple of stares. Gives away that I am an American in a shot.

I took my wrapped up napkins filled with goodies and he is like, nah, but I explained I am jetlagged, tired, want to take back to the room, an exception please. He agreed. Toda.

Back to the room and some shuteye. The winds howled through the room.

Well, ouch. They had a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. I heard everything in English via CNN and then all of the
Israeli stations had it. It was terrible. A Jerusalem City Councilor saw the whole thing and held a dying man in his arms. This was bad. The blast on one of the city's buses was so powerful, it shook a nearby hotel where they were having a Prime Minister's conference. It was quite depressing and I did cry. Going from CNN to the Israeli stations
and keeping up. I was glad that I had canceled my first night in Jerusalem and made it Tel Aviv.
Unfortunately, it had put Jerusalem into great doubt, sorry to say. Then some long needed rest.
___

Woke up late afternoon to more winds and more cold. Took another view from the balcony and took several pictures. Caught more tv and then decided to go for a walk. Also took care of business downstairs.

No on the upgrade without paying more. No on the Marriott certificates. Pretty much no on everything.
Yeah, we're out of here. I was scheduled to be there for 3 nights, but I never mind changing hotels.

They were polite but firm. One of the guys actually reminded me of a former French professor of mine in college. The resemblance was too much. Did a walk around the lobby, enjoyed the view through the windows, and looked at their pastry cart, ahhhhhhhhh.

Outside to the cramped front conditions. Cars everywhere and everything is just cramped. We need to redesign.
You can use me for advice. smile

Walked to the right, heading South toward Jaffa, and hit the real Sheraton. I have seen many pics of it, it has starred in movies, and probably one of the more famous hotels in Tel Aviv.

This is the only time I had received a proper security check. Maybe have not even needed it. I went through the revolving doors and put my arms out for the wanding. Explained I wanted to talk to the front desk clerk, and I was cleared. I have never in my life seen such inconsistency on the security. Didn't make me feel any better, to be honest.

Go to the front desk and ask the guy for the best rate and is an upgrade to the Club floor doable? $165 US and no, no club floor for you. We're done. Shook hands and left.

Did a quick walk around the hotel, not that I love doing that or anything, LOL. You can call me the Columbus of hotel explorations. Decent seating area, pastries, and a bunch of over suited Israeli businessmen yacking in Ivrit. Boring stuffed shirts. LOL

To the gift shop and wow, lot's of goodies. Some shampoo thingy in my toiletry bag leaked all over everything, hence, bye bye tooth brush. Took me forever to clean that stuff out, ugh. Have better things to do.

Hence, a new toothbrush, Colgate in English, but had a sticker in Hebrew on the back which made it more exciting.
Bought a Tel Aviv shirt and a tourbook. She was very pleasant and very kind. I loved it and told her I would be back. Actually never made it back but it was the best hotel giftshop I had seen.

Now back to the other hotels. There is the other Sheraton, a Sheraton Moriah, on the other side of the Crowne Plaza. I think I had actually booked it and then canceled in the book and cancel game.

Security was nothing, explained what I wanted to do. Checking you out.

Smaller hotel than the other Sheraton, that narrow batiment(building) of the other 2 twins.

Talked to the front desk and a cute Sabra(she is half English, like me) answered my questions. I will give you
$160 US,with lounge access and upgrade. Let me think about it.

I left the hotel, thought about it, came back, and took it. She had written down the offer for me before and now I just said, take it and book it. Sheraton Gold # given and all.

Yes, I liked her and she was cool. We shook hands and til tomorrow. Can't wait. Went to the end of the lobby where they also had the big windows facing the Mediterranean, a bit calmer now than before.

I look out the windows and an ELAL 747-400 flew in over the coast, I am sure the late night from Kennedy. It was an awesome sight, no time to get outside. I stood there with my mouth wide open in awe. I had an Israeli guy sitting behind me stare at me like I was nuts. I am nuts. I like airplanes. They are cool. I watch them, too.

Out to the Promenade. A bit dirtier than I had expected. Older, too. I have seen them promo this place from time to time and it looked better then. A good makeover will do it.

I checked out the little shops, stands, went down to the beach. As I was walking right past a little cafe the guy comes out and says in decent English, come in, come in. Please, sit down, have dinner.

I look at the menu, looks alright. My first Israeli meal, outside of the hotel, no suicide bombers running around. In Jerusalem I would be more concerned, but this isTel Aviv, I am probably ok, I pray.

He gives me a taste of the lamb, it is wonderful. Ok, bring me the lamb. He tries to get me to indulge in the salad bar which I am just not into. Hey, it ain't Sizzler. smile

The reward for coming in was a beautiful, and I mean beautiful! 20 year old American girl sitting there. I guess she is the waitress in this dead empty restaurant. We talk the whole time and I am loving it.

She is from New York and came here on a Jewish birthright(free trip) to Israel. Fell in love with it and never looked back. Went back to NY for a visit but otherwise she lives here. I can understand. It is very special.

She is 20 and has a boyfriend, so that was that, but I did enjoy talking to her.

The Lamb meal was Heavenly. It was the tastiest, most delicous lamb I have ever had in my life and they could see I liked it. I liked it so much I ordered another to take to the hotel for the 3am wake up and jetlag combatting snack.

They gave me a free dessert, some little chocolate pastries, ice cold, and I wished them my best. I was getting tired, also wanted to move on. It was like a 20 minute goodbye.

Getting dark, was dark, grabbed my packages and back to the Rennaissance.

I get a call from Ophir who left a message. Welcome to Israel, do you want to get together? I am tired but yes, this could be fun.

So he picks me up and gives me the tour of Tel Aviv. Thank you so much! It was so appreciated.

He took me out to Jaffa(Yafo-Hebrew name), which is the old city. Very Muslim with a Mosque and more Arab architecture. It is wonderful. We hike up a trail to a good lookout point(fyi, would make for a great make out point if you have that someone special with you).

You have the most incredible view of Tel Aviv, the Promenade, the hotels, everything.

I didn't want to leave the site but it was time to move on.

Ophir game me an excellent tour de la ville. Just know that I loved it. We saw everything. Something I have always
dreamed of. As I was falling asleep, sorry, he took me back to the hotel and we would see each other on Tuesday for the big lunch.

I went out on the balcony and enjoyed my priceless view of the city before heading to bed. The city is all lit up and it is incredible.........................I also did that 3 am wake up thing, spent some time on the balcony, ate my lamb http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and saw a plane come in from over the Mediterranean, cool.

__________________________________________________ ____________________

I have bought a whole bunch of DVDs from WorldAirlineRoutes.com and watching the new Swiss A340 video.
Incredible!

Tel Aviv Day 2 Monday

I woke up to a beautiful Monday morning. More planes into Sve Dov, gorgeous day, less windy than yesterday but still a bit cold. Watched the Israeli tv plus the cable. Stared into the Crowne Plaza hotel right across from me, kind of weird. I love channel 10. They have some good looking young ones but one woman, wowwwwwwwwwza! She is hot!
Israeli women are babes. I watched the station to keep an eye on her.

Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Oy. LOL

More follow up on yesterday's suicide bombing. The freaky part is that I could have been in a taxi next to the freaking bus. Something that has come to mind more than a few times.
Again, I felt more comfortable at home after I had moved the hotel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.

Down to the free breakfast at the Africa restaurant with those fancy chimes at the lift. Looked out the window at the end of the hallway to see the beautiful ocean and Jaffa to my left.

Is the breakfast free? It depends on how you play with it. The rate was $120 US so I deduct the breakfast and call the room a $100 US. I think more hotels need to give breakfast. Ironically, I never have breakfast at home, almost always only when I travel.

They checked my room # off at the desk and in I went in to the Africa Restaurant. Today was more crowded but I had a table near the window.
More bread, sadly no kugel http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif, but they had quiche and some other goodies as well. Good eggs, some meats, and the orange juice isn't bad.

The cute waitress from yesterday who didn't speak English turned into a grumpy (religous, kippot and all) older man who atleast did speak English, so I received my hot chocolate, which wasn't bad. I watched the surfers, swimmers, joggers, hikers, and all. I can relate well. This is me back at home being on the beach almost everyday. Good for them! I took a break. Again, tourists speaking more funny languages, German was one of them, that I could tell.

I was able to sneak a roll out but wouldn't push it like yesterday.

Toda rabah and off I go. Went down to the gym and pool. The gym was average, nothing like the Spectrum Club back at home, but good for a hotel. I asked the older guy who spoke English for the direction to the pool and he pointed below. It was a decent pool and I planned to come back, but never did. Oh well. I can swim at the Moriah. (NOT!)
Oh well.

Went for a small walk. They closed off the beach access from the hotel from the lower level. They said bums would come in, but I am sure security played a part. They would have to have a gatekeeper man it.

So to the lobby and outside. It was much warmer than yesterday but still kind of cold. Again, inconsistenices in the security check when you re-enter the hotel. Oy!

Back to the room and traded a much needed swim(playful mikve/cleansing, what I do at the pool at the gym)
for some sleep which was needed after the 3 am wake up. A product of jetlag, no doubt.

Before checking out there was a lovely maid and if you know me, I love maids carts. I loved the laundry bags, mostly cause they were in Hebrew. So I asked for a few and a few other goodies. I actually took a few things, err borrowed http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, cause they were in Hebrew. The only country in the world where you will find hotel goodies in one of the special languages of the Bible, so enjoy it. I enjoyed one last view, not sure what I would get shortly. A few clicks with the camera as well.

I had to pack everything up thinking I would be there for 3 days. Atleast I don't have to worry about airlines weighing my suitcase today, whewwww. It is already getting heavy.

I chatted with Vera, a Lithuanian(Litvik) from Vilnius. My grandfather came from Latvia so we come from a special heritage. She gave me whatever I had asked for and with a kind, warm smile. We started talking. You are American?
What do you think of Isarel? I love it! I can't get enough of it.
She did some griping at the Israelis in that because her Hebrew is not as good as it could be, a complaint by many Russian immigrants, according to the book on Israelis that I am reading, they are held back and not able to progress as far as they once did in the their home countries. She is well educated and her English is great. She had a good life back in Lithuania. She came to Israel because she is a Jew and could worship freely here.
This well educated, I think teacher!?, is now cleaning hotel rooms for no money. She complained how expensive Israel is(honey, spend a day in London, this ain't nothing... ) and I sympathized. I also gave her a fair tip which she appreciated. I don't normally tip maids, but this one is special. Brian does, but then I tip pretty decently to the porters, so it works out.

I took my leave and wished her my best, even said a prayer for her. She taught me alot in that little conversation.

With that, chime on the lift, and down to reception. Check out. We shook hands and I thanked them for everything.
You are checking out early? Yes, wanted to move to a different location. ( ah, I got a better deal! suckers! LOL )

I still wished them my best. I did a quick trip to the gift shop, a pain pulling my suitcase. European hotels are awful, if almost non-existant with in house gift shops, and interesting the Israeli hotels have excellent, well stocked gift shops.

As I left they offered to call me a cab, I laughed, said no thank you, dragged my bag and carry on over my shoulder 2 doors down to the Moriah. Ma nouvelle residence en Israel.

Tel Aviv Day 2 Monday part 2

Wheeled the bag down that narrow street to my new home, the Sheraton Moriah.

The outside looks the same as the others.

Mr. security dude wanted to see my passport, the one time that I would have it on me, not gonna happen. You can see my drivers' license. I would prefer your passport, yes, but the D/L is easier. He accepted it, thank ya.

Go to front desk and there is the cute Miss. Lawrence. "Oh no, you are checking in on the 17th floor at the lounge." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Can you say yeah?! I love it! Now this is how I want to be pampered in the land of the Bible.

More chimes and take the lift to the 17th floor. The hotel is old, it shows, but I like it.
Needs a major touch of fresh paint and some fixing up. Probably hard now with the low tourist trade.

Enter the lounge and go to the main desk. Ah, chocolate pecan pie. They had a selection of pies, other goodies, and some Israeli nicknacks, like a tiny bagel shaped sesame something. I had a FEW of those. Cut myself some chocolate pecan pie while she checks me in. A Sprite to go with it. Check out the view.

Oh, by the way, I checked out the lounge at the Renn., not a big deal and def. not worth paying more. Heaven was smiling on me. I was glad that the Renn. was cheap, they did me a big favor, and the Moriah is where I belong.

We have a room for you on the 16th floor. Finish my pie and grab a water. Down one.

The room is ok, equiped with a handicap toilet. I turn on the tv and Israel 1(Echad) is not working and that won't do, call for a tv guy to fix it.

The view, quite frankly, sucks. Decent ocean view, I can see Jaffa(facing South), sorry I didn't take any pics of it, but I had a big wall to my left, no view of Tel Aviv. I normally would have taken it but something said, go for better. I called the front desk and they actually directed me to the lounge, I like this. Come on up and we will take a look. The guy did come and fixed Israel 1. I figure a good 'mitzvah'(good deed) for the next (poor schlub http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) who does stay there.

Up to 17. Ah, more goodies. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif We have a room on the 18th floor, let's go take a look.

She immediately gave away that she was a religous, traditional Jew as she waited outside in the hallway while I looked. I was impressed. For some reason the mezuzot on the outdoor post stood out as well. Kiss. I will take it. The view was Heavenly. The corner room, one over, would have been Paradise. Looked straight at the Hilton, which is further down the Promenade. Never got over there, surprise surprise. To my left, the ocean, straight down, the Promenade area,
to my right, an even better view of Tel Aviv with my Sheraton Ramat Gan and the WTC way over. If I bent out over the balcony I could see the TV tower. One of my passions are towers, I like this one.

Back to the lounge, new key, change rooms, got my bags, and yes, naughty me, swiped something from the old room. Love them souvenirs.

My new room was a dream. The view is probably one of the best views you can have of Tel Aviv. Now, with no Crowne Plaza in my face, I could see so much more of the Northern suburbs, plus I suppose, Herzlia. The room is big, very high ceilings, old, but very comfortable, and with a big King sized bed(fit for a KING, he he he). I tried that unpacking thing again, now 2 nights.

Pulled out a splendid glass table and set up the buffet. My chocolates, waters, other drinks, other goodies, my camera and film, with my camera ready to go at a moment's notice. I did stash some things in the well designed minibar.

Now I have an even better view of the planes coming in. Arkia and Israir ATRs galore.
Almost got sick of the (bloody) things whereas I had never seen one in person til yesterday.
La vie, c'est etrange, n'est-ce pas?

Yes, mom I took so many pics, you will never know, LOL. I have a bad habbit of taking a 1000 pics of the same thing.
Melbourne Airport Hilton I was very guilty of that, photographing every plane a 100 times.

I called the infamous Israeli flyertalkers and told them my new residence with #.
Both have lives so the voicemail took care of everything.

Now the dilemma. One of the pitfalls of a nice, fancy room: I want to stay! I am tired, this place is comfy, but I should go to Jerusalem. The suicide bombing yesterday really threw me off. Yes, I wanted to go to the great city, where the Saviour rode in on a donkey, but a bomb went off yesterday.

I did some thinking, reflecting. I decided to stay. I still have part of Tuesday, I have a good part of early Wednesday, so there are options.

I love this place and I want to stay, so I stayed.

Picked up on some rest and then to the lounge. Lot's and lot's of food. I had some more, will never say how much, of the chocolate pecan pie. In fact I probably had most of it, shhhhhh.

Then behold, they had a computer thingy with internet access. Oh life is good. You have to pay for it but at whatever NIS and $4 US per hour, I am there.

I was able to add to my prepatory 'notes' on flyertalk and play on my singles sites and update my yahoo lists, but no AOL access. (scheiss) I kind of needed that. So I took an hour and then someone else wanted to play. More food and drink and then it is time to go for a walk.

I walked the Promenade down below. I don't know what you call it, they were playing a kind of tennis, smaller racquets but not racquetball, watch out! The sun was slowly going down and you could see more planes going into Ben Gurion. Much warmer now and nice seabreeze. Hey, it reminds me of Malibu.

Past the 3 hotels and up near the real Sheraton. Past little cafes, bars, many of them empty, sadly, and over to across from the Dan Hotel. That is one of Tel Aviv's finest hotels.
I wanted to go up and play, but enjoyed the view outside, maybe later.
Maybe Dov would take me for a visit, NOT! LOL

I went as far as I could and then as it was getting dark, headed back. I could have taken a taxi, no buses, please, but knew I needed the walk. Let's be honest, after all that chocolate, yeah, walk.

They have a string of Embasies across the street on Ha'Yarkon. I like Embassies. Stood in front of the French Embassy claiming temporary standing in France which was cool.
They even had a French gendarme inside. In a few days I will be in the real thing.

They actually have Embassies for several countries: India, Russia, and some of the former Soviet Republics, but the French one is the only one I paid hommage to. Vivre la France! No Embassy for Syria?? hmmmm LOL Maybe someday.

Back to the other Sheraton and up to the lounge, which was now packed and had tons of food and many conversations in Hebrew, English, and what else.

I could have made dinner with what they had. They had a wonderful chicken salad, chopped egg(does this sound Jewish? LOL), rolls, the traditional Israeli salad bar, the drinks, and some desserts. I enjoyed, then enjoyed the view of Tel Aviv at night and watched some CNN. For those who drank they had 2 kinds of wines. Not a bad deal at all.

Then I did the naughty thing and went down to the hotel restaurant buffet. Yummmm
$25 US, again, in a fixed US $ price. More food than you could ever know what to do with.
And you wondered if Jewish people like to eat!? LOL Oh my.

Salmon, pasta, rice(very Middle Eastern kind of rice, yummm), veggies, some oversoaked kind of beef, hey, I tired about everything, save the salad bar. I love salads at home, don't get me wrong. Ordered an Orange Fanta and could hear German from a LARGE amount of German tourists behind me who I am sure were drunk. They were happy.
German in Israel!? Ok... Hey, all my Jewish ancestors in Europe spoke German/Yiddish. So there ya go.

I was getting tired and jetlag was settling in. They had a delicious looking chocolate cake, not round, and I asked for the privilege of taking some to my room explaining jetlag and they agreed. I am glad that I left when I did.

When I got back to the room there was a knock on the door. A bottle of mineral water and a small tin of cookies with a cute picture and name of the hotel on it. Actually, for some reason, never drank the water and the cookies were ok, but I love the tin and it now resides in Malibu. (in fact it is now 2 feet from me)

Had a message from Dov and we talked for a bit. That was a very expensive phone call, fyi, just to let ya know. I figured it was an Israeli cell. I should have been able to call South Africa for that price. We set things up for the first Flyertalk lunch in Israel and agreed on a meeting time. I also liked that he agreed to come to the hotel vs. meeting down the street.
Saved me time as Mr. Early bird arrived too early in the am for me. He also gave me advice on picking up on women. He actually gave me some good advice which I have to credit him here. I came to Israel to check out Israeli women. But he said you want to get women who are away from their home turf and so now it would be harder to chase Israeli women in their own home. True and I have dated Israelis at home in LA, maybe now I will do better that I have actually come here. So where are the French women? Yes, Dov is a stud, I will concede that, otherwise, I would have ignored his advice. :P

I enjoyed some late night tv and that wonderful view from the balcony. I don't think I have ever had such a more beauitful city view in my life, not comparing to Maui in any way, but I would compare to the Marriott in Montreal, one of my favorite views, facing North, from a high floor, but this has a balcony.

By the way, no pool, it is closed for renovation, so there went my 'mikve' in Israel. Oh well.

Lights out(exhausted) for a bit then did the 3 am wake up call and I was wide awake. So we pulled out the buffet. The chocolate cake from the restaurant, some Dasani, some Sprite from the lounge, some Swiss chocolates(I have the same kind next to me now!), and more views from the balcony. And some early morning planes coming in.
I also said a prayer for Israel. It was too perfect, too calm, too peaceful not to. God bless this sacred land eternal.
Shma Y'israel!

I called mom to say hello, got the machine, sometime in the evening, and said don't worry, all is well, and gave her a message of comfort that I would probably be skipping Jerusalem so that was a peace offering.

Then I decided to call Brian and yank his chain. I started to leave a message and his mom picked up, explaining he was in the hospital and that she was on her way down. Oy vay! You go away and look at what happens.

I forgot the pin on my AT &T calling card and they weren't going to help. I haven't used it for so long, being cheap and not having phoned home for a while from abroad. So back to AT & T and had to use my credit card.

I called the kid at his hospital bed and sure enough it was true. You have to wait till I leave to get sick, what am I going to do with you? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

He was better and we yacked and I didn't care what it was costing. I still have yet to see the bill, cringe. It was special to call him from Israel, a place he would not come to and sent me off alone(guilt trip here, mate).

Now he is well. That phone call, fyi, was very special.

September 11th in New Zealand and now this!

With that fun back to bed

Tel Aviv/Herzlia Day 3 Tuesday part 1

Shalom all.

Even with the early jetlag rise, and after going back to bed, I woke up at sunrise. It was beautiful. I took a series of pics across the city, literally in a lateral, horizontal fashion across Tel Aviv at sunrise.

Now there is a new ship out in the water. An ELAL 747-400 came from the East, assuming Bangkok? buzzed around T/A, to the ocean, then out over the ocean turned around and into Ben Gurion. I would love to know the routing and where in the East did it come from?
I know it didn't fly over downtown Jeddah, that is for dang sure.

I actually did catch some more shuteye, then morning tv, buffet http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and shower.

Meeting Dov at 1030 am in the lounge. Saved me lot's of time. I am supposed to meet an American/Israeli guy with an Australian cowboy hat on. Ok.............

Got up to the lounge with a shopping bag:camera, film, and some airline goodies for them flyertalker people. Was able to grab some food but no computer, it was spoken for, oh well, the lovely ladies at home had to wait. LOL

I was watching a mix of Israel 2, Steiiiin, and CNN. Orange juice and morning goodies were great. This is a busy lounge. I happened to be standing up and this guy walks in with a cowboy hat. I look at him, wave him over, Dov??? nice to meet you. He looks familiar and can't put the face. Ahhhhh, when I lived in Ohio I became very close to a guy named Art, both are lot's of fun and they look alike.

He sat down with me and we shmoozed. Not what I expected, to be honest, we saw no pics, but he was even more fun in person. I like him. He kept making me laugh and that will get ya points. He needed a smoke so we took in the sights of sprawling T/A from the outdoor balcony. He told me some very interesting stories, I will let him chime in here if he wants!? to share and then I will add those comments to my e-mail list, if he wants. Up to you, bro.

With that and my heavy leather jacket, finally didn't need it, we set off for a long walk.

I took pics of everything. Earlier on my walks I was afraid to cross the busy street, terrorfied, to be honest. These are Israeli drivers http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. He said the rule is you walk out into the street and they stop. I let him be the guinea pig. They actually stopped. I was shocked. During my walks, well, I was afraid. But I guess they actually do stop.

There were kitty cats everywhere and as you may know, I love cats. Hmmm an Israeli cat!? US customs would love that one.

We hiked over to one of the major boulevards, I snapped pics, and loved it. I did see a major supermarket that I wanted to go in but never made it. That I regret.

I had left my watch at home, seldom wear one, use my cell here to see the time.
The dear Sheraton Moriah did not believe in clocks in the room, the Renn. did, that drove me crazy and I had to call down to reception to check on the time. They were fine with it.

So we walked into a small shop and I bought a small, travel sized clock, can always use, eh? I didn't like the watches I saw at Heathrow or anywhere else, including here. I am very picky when it comes to watches. I have a beloved Qantas watch which their Duty Free has now discontinued selling, so now I am reluctant to wear it as I wouldn't want anything to happen to it. I know, buy a cheapie, I will, give me time, ha ha ha. Too funny!

We walked through the shops and enjoyed the scenery. It was wonderful.

We passed an ELAL office. Yeah, we're going in. They had a small security check but then inside it was great. Masses of ELAL timetables AND ticket jackets. No inflight magazines, darn. Yeah, I took a few, as many as my bag would handle! As many of you will now see circulating in your goody bags and Karl you will have a package shortly, when I get around to it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Then Dov had to stop at the Delta ticket office. He spoke Hebrew and was duly chastized, in fun, as it is a US airline but they are Israeli, so I was just playing. They did have some interesting brochures, but didn't want to drag them, the ELAL goodies too rare.

He then saw my suffering with my coat and all and offered to drop things in the car. Bless you, my son. That was very nice.

It was freezing the first day, warmed up the next day, now it is beautiful and don't need a coat, go figure. The LY goodies needed a rest as well. We were near the Dan Hotel but didn't go inside.

Back up into the city we hit an AM PM, says that on the receipt. They had the cutest girl there and I asked her if she spoke English!? she chastized me, of course I speak English!
Ok..... I had that in Sweden when I first landed, actually I love it. Wish more people in the world could say that.

They had the usual rounds of Israeli chocolate, most of which I could get at home at the Israeli market here, in fact stopped by 2 nights ago as I was homesick, and bought a (few) chocolates as well.

Finally, the find of all finds, a Perrier bottle, not just cause it is beloved, sweet, tasty, wonderful, delicious Perrier, but now a Perrier bottle in Hebrew with English, duly added to my collection of bottles and cans from around the world. Toda

We ended up at the outdoor bazaar and Dov said he needed to tell me something right before we went in but would wait. Okkkkkkk Yeah, I knew what he was going to tell me. And if this were Jerusalem, I never would have gone.

Outdoor shops, goodies, loud music, some really good Israeli techno type, I wanted that song. I have tons of Israeli cd's, fyi. Lo and behold, kippot/yarmulke, the skulcap. What you wear Friday nights. I know/thought I took mine out at home and hence, it is still at home. I wanted to buy a new one anyway, and so for 5 shekels, it was mine.

Dov told me something that I won't repeat here, only that T/A is secular and might not be a good idea. I understand.
It stayed in my pocket but I did want to wear it. Oh well.

They did have watches but I didn't like them, sorry. Would have loved to have bought a watch in Israel. I am picky.

More goodies, more pics. I wore my lapel pin. They were playing an American song and some women were singing to the song in English, I was impressed.

-Reminds me when we were stuck in a traffic jam leaving Italian Switzerland/Locarno for Interlaken. Everyone inched along the highway nearing the famous tunnel. A carload of Dutch youth saw we were Yanks, yeah, we stand out, LOL, so they started singing a song in English just for us, we laughed and waved. This reminded me of it. I loved that.-

They were good, too.

More pics, more touring. They also had the Christian souvenirs and Dov told me another cool story, but will let him tell if he wants. I didn't see any Christian souvenirs that I specifically wanted. If I had gone to Bethlehem, too dangerous, fyi, that would have been different.

He then tells me as we leave that the place we just left is one of the biggest targets for suicide bombings in Israel. I think he said # 2. I knew it, I cringed, I ignored it, I moved on.

In Jerusalem I would NOT have gone there, I can assure you. I guess you are playing a game with the odds in Israel, like in the old Northern Ireland, like in Colombia now. ouch But you have to live your life. If it be God's will...

More walking, more touring, getting late.

It is getting time for the first Flyertalk lunch in Israel, which I had been looking forward to.

Back to the car and out of Tel Aviv. We drove past the US Embassy, which I had seen on the news at home &. I waved.

This drive was actually a good tour of Tel Aviv itself. Out to the Northern suburbs and into
Herzlia. An Orange County/Silicon Valley suburbia of glass office buildings, nice homes and flats, and even a Coffee Bean, but no Starbucks, oh well.

Tel Aviv/Herzlia Day 3 Tuesday part 2

Apparently there has never been a Flyertalk meeting/lunch in Israel until now.

For the uninformed 'Flyertalk' is like AA http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif where a bunch of crazy, over addicted airline frequent flier mileage and other travel related junkies get together and share war stories.
If you want to check it out, flyertalk.com, check out the Trip Reports. I am fascinated with this and have barely looked at anything else since getting serious with this section.
This report, fyi, is being posted there so you can always look at it there should your dear cat ever delete my work.
he he

Anyway, I did a post on this same Flyertalk for any Israeli flyertalkers if they wanted to meet for a meal. We had 3 takers, sadly, I think we could have had more? DannyZ, LatusELAL? where are you? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif We missed you.

Next time, I am sure, and I will be back. I am in love with Israel, so how could I not?

Hence, Dov arranged a meeting and contacted Ophir and Nur(spelling?).

Dov had driven me around Tel Aviv and now we came to the lunch. A yuppy type outdoor cafe and I felt very safe there, for some reason. I still have the business card and will put it up on my wall, when I unpack it in 2007.

I had met Ophir Sunday night who had driven me around. Then I met Nur, who actually reminded me of someone slightly, again from Ohio.

We all met and sat down. Dov had some crazy American hotsauce called Cholupa or something like that. He whipped them out http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif he he he for the other guys but explained I could get my own, this is true, not that I am into hot sauce. I love Thai food, go figure.

The menu looked yummy and yes, was in English for me. I am impressed that 2 and a half, smile, Israelis went into English for me, that is a great gesture. Can you picture several Americans going into another language for one person? Spanish I could see, maybe. (Dov comes from the US originally)

One of my joys of all joys is to talk travel, flying, miles, war stories(from travel), airports, customs, lounges, what may 'fall' into the bag, the list goes on . And if you don't know that by now, then you don't know me very well. Of course you could be new. I have to wonder what my new friend in Australia, a lass in Brisbane, no names here, LOL, is thinking as she reads all this. (that I am nuts, well, true)... but shhhhhhhhh We're all nuts in some odd way.
I guess more so if you stand there and watch airplanes fly overhead.
Even more so if you have a heart attack cause you didn't get upgraded to Business/First class or you were denied coveted airline or hotel lounge access. Gee, me?? please...

So we talked travel, and aviation, and airlines, and flying, and miles, and you name it, we talked about it, we yacked, we loved it, we had a good time. It was a delicous meal.
I kept ordering sodas. Waitress spoke decent English but I had 3 translators at my disposal, was awesome.

By the way, ladies, especially my Jewish femmes on my list, they are good looking guys and I believe all are available. Just a thought... Schlepping to Israel required.

Nur flies Delta, so does Dov, Ophir flies Continental, I fly American/Oneworld. So if we had Star Alliance covered, we would have been good.

The one area where they got me was talking about excess luggage. My bags are always over but I somehow get out of being charged. Frankfurt was sweatingly too close.
They said how often they are charged for the overweight bag if flying just from Israel to Europe, whereas to the United States you get a higher allowance. Thank goodness or I would be dead! Remember, I am a pack rat. I am just flying to London tomorrow, uh oh.

I loved the meal, I loved the chat. It was fun and I want to do another one, cholupa and all, bevakasha(please). I excused myself to the WC to let them chat and yack about me and take a break and speak Hebrew. I looked for the men's and a woman directed me to it in fluent English without my asking, toda rabah. They then had those little artsy postcards you find at restaurants and like I did in Egypt, I did here. What I will do with them, who knows. So I took a few. I may have some spares...

The sad time comes when you must say goodbye. I offered the goodies in my bag, some British Airways magazines,cookies, etc., saying they weren't going back with me. I dropped them to the ground to watch them go for them and I was (chastened) for litering, oh well. Someone did take them, thank goodness.

I said goodbye to Nur and then to my new friend Dov who was heading back to his Kibbutz in Northern Israel. Maybe someday I will get up there. I already miss him.

Ophir drove me back which I appreciated as he needed to get back to work, so thank you for that. No buses please. I got nervous when they said they would put me on a bus. ahhhh
It was a sacrfice for him, so thank you.

More buildings, more pics, I atleast took a picture of a sign saying Jerusalem, so that is a start.

We drove past the Mossad H/Q and that was cool, but kept the camera down.

We drove past a flock of Israeli soldiers, that was a great sight. I admire them greatly, just too lazy to be one of them. smile

As with Dov, Ophir did help me as to my questions for the security check tomorow, something that did concern me. Yeah, I was nervous about it, hearing all kinds of bad things, like going for a test. More later.
My short time in Israel was a concern.

I parted with Ophir, but he comes to the US alot so I will see him.

That was fun!

Back to the room to get some rest and some more lounge time and computer time.

As sunset hit I took several pics and it was just beautiful.

I let dinner from the generous food in the lounge suffice, plus we had the late lunch, plus
I had all that food on the buffet with most of it staying in Israel. I needed to start shedding things to make the bag weigh less.

I decided that I wanted to take another taxi ride through Tel Aviv and I also wanted to go visit the other Sheraton in Ramat Gan. So down I went and caught a cab.

It was an interesting ride. I went through a passageway that had to be in Clean Sweep, the movie.

Across town and many apartment buildings came the 3rd Sheraton. Security going in was a wave and a Shalom.

I talked to the friendly man at the front desk and explained that I wanted to check out their executive lounge. I even showed him my key and he laughed as it is the same. Gave me the floor and said go on up. I love Israel.

The hotel is beautiful, clean, modern, a far cry from the other hotels, and very, very comfortable. I could enjoy this. People sat around the bar area drinking, conversing, a mix of Israelis and tourists.

Up the spacious elevator (the others were small and narrow) to the 4th floor.

Not only is the exec. lounge up here but also the pool and gym, ok, yeah, let's take a look. I waved to the cute Sabra behind the desk and made my way outside to a beautiful, very nice looking swimming pool. Yeah, I wanted in. I won't make any references to myself as the 'White Whale' LOL and move on.

The pool was great, so was the jacuzzi, but the view, wow!

You now had a fantastic, outdoor view of the city, the WTC, the TV tower, trains coming and going, a rail station across with pedestrian bridge, and so much more. Also the freeway was there, Ashkelon this way and all. I loved it. I stood and stared at it for a while.

I didn't want to leave. The weather was fantastic. Europe is freezing right now and in 24 hours I will soon be in London. brrrr

I hated to leave but moved on. I am coming back! I will probably mix and match this hotel with the others on a future visit. I like being by the beach, but I love the modern hotel.

Great workout area, techno type music, which I love, I listened, and crashed the lounge.

No one was there, no key card needed, walk in. What they trust me or something?

Smaller, but nicer and more modern than my home at the Moriah.

Same food as well, which is fine, I am full. Not that I would nosh on their food or anything. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

They had a tv and tried to play with it, they had some interesting channels. The girl came over and in very broken English, I think, said I could stay but not play with the tv or something. I couldn't tell. Her English is like my German, which probably worked in my favor. Oh well, I am done here. Yes, I did check out the bathroom, as always, much more clean and modern than the others.

Tried an upper floor and walked around but no views and all inside. Nice though. The view has to be great, but then no balcony. Can't have it all.

Back down and toured the lobby with a giftshop, small, but will do. Bought a different kind of bottled water, what I have seen in the movies, but different from Neviot in the lounge.
All in Hebrew and in a handwriting. This one is much better than Neviot, fyi. The water connoisseur that I am! and I am not kidding there, :P.

They had tourbooks and postcards. Ok. Bought a couple of books on Israel, Tel Aviv, and some postcards. An elite candy bar and I think that will do it. He gave me a sticker for Israel saying thanks for coming.

Now if the credit card will work, thankfully, it did. I was happy. I asked about the security check at the airport, explaining I am leaving tomorrow and said don't worry, it is not tourist season, it will be less crowded and they are easier at this time. Whether or not true, it was comforting. Yes, I was getting a little nervous about the big security check.

I thanked him and made my way with my new goodies and I thanked the cool guy at the front desk. Also grabbed a Jerusalem Post. I get them at my door but figure could use another for someone's goody bag.

Went out to catch a cab, the doorman said he would call me one. The taxi drivers in Israel, stupidly, leave their lights on (on top of the cab), even when occupied, which doesn't help things. I tried to get one coming into the hotel, he was full, he chastized me, he was rude. Screw you!

Went back to the doorman who apologized. I said screw it and made my way across the street. It is a very impressive set of buildings and very modern. You would never guess you are in the Middle East. Could be LA or London. Very European.

I crossed the street and tried to wave another, with the light on, who drove by, Ok, this is bad. I may be stuck here and the jetlag is settling in.

I then found a lovely Russian immigrant, she was a babe. Do you speak English? far more than most of the Israelis she spoke fluent, flawless English and offered to help. Too kind.
She pulls out her cell and then offers to call me a cab, I am impressed.
I see a cab from the other side, wave, he stops, I think her dearly. If it weren't for the jetlag, I might have asked her if she wanted to get a drink. Very cute, but alas, not meant to be. (une belle femme!)

The benefit of the hotels is that it overrides any language problem. Sheraton Moriah Ha'Yarkon street, and off we go. Dosvidanya baby. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

If the fatigue weren't settling in, I would have picked another hotel to visit, but why chance it. Same drive, but now with a different direction and before long, back home.

More views on of the city, more Israeli tv. Clean up the buffet.

Oh, a couple of things before I close the day out. I had bought a small Israeli flag and that was hanging on the chair, I have pics of that and the room.

More for my little brother who thinks Seinfeld is better than Friends(NOT!) , cough, but I am a fan all the same.
Jason Alexander aka George Costanza (the summer of George http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) was in Israel showing his support and they gave him a prestigous award. They interviewed him in English on network 2, Stein, during the news, and that was cool.
I like the cute little Network 2 clicks between commercials with a major Debra Messing(Grace on Will and Grace) look alike starring. It is like the cutesy Antenne 2 promos in France before they show a commercial. Wish we did that.

Also, there was a UN or something meeting in the Hague about Israel and the Palestinians and the Wall being built. Ah, I support the wall, and then some!

The big shinding on the news was showing Israelis in The Hague(Holland) showing support for Israel's position and then the Palestinians and their cause. I will just say this on the issue, then move on. You send your people to blow up innocent Israelis and wonder why they need to protect themselves? please! I like the wall. I am sorry for any inconveniences it gives to the INNOCENT Palestinians, who have been screwed, but hey, you have to protect your people. Also, terrorism is down by 50% since the wall went up. I think the US needs one, too. The Israelis also sent out a bombed out bus to the Hague and I think that proved its point very well. Keep the Wall Ariel!

My last view of the city at night, another prayer, and to bed.

Back in jolley ole' England in 24 at my Sheraton Skyline, Heathrow.



[This message has been edited by InterflugIL62 (edited Mar 10, 2004).]

Ok, here we go. The most emotional part of a trip is always leaving. The trip is not over, but come on, the new stuff is Israel and I am sad to leave.

I am anxious about the stupid security check, want to get it over with, but sad to leave Israel.

Up to the lounge to get some breakfast and then back to the room to do some packing.

Prepped all that I could. Took the last of the pics, as far as Israel is concerned, and something said pack the camera, and I had a strong feeling there, so no pics of Ben Gurion, which stinks.

I did that last walk. Went over to the real Sheraton and walked around it, checked out their lounge and they were very generous, they allowed me to stay for a bit and enjoy the great views from their high level floor exec Haven. Some English businesspeople were yacking doing business, I guess they were there to prep me to return to the motherland.

Checked out the pool and the lifeguard, a Russky, offered me a chair, I said, nyet, cpaciba.
Very kind.

The Russian Embassy is right across the street so that is kind of cool. If they didn't require a stupid visa I probably would have gone by now! pazahlstah! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I then returned via the Promenade, down below. Didn't quite make it to the Hilton which is a fair distance but went toward the boats. Unlike in the movies where they have hung out at the pier, we, the lowly public, were denied access and so much for that.

For some reason, while I had felt relatively safe in Israel til now, I started to feel vulnerable.
It was weird. I was leaving in a few hours, almost out. You really did feel, as was the case in Northern Ireland many years ago, oh that was freaky, that a bomb could go off at any time.
Also walking past the parked cars almost made me feel, not really nervous, but aware, concerned. It was an uncomfortable feeling, to say the least. Hey, but I am almost there.

Several Israeli fighter jets flew overhead. I couldn't see them, I could hear them, and they are loud. Interesting and cool.

Over to our neighbor, the Crowne Plaza, to check it out. Similar lobby, a bit newer and cleaner. Restaurant on that level, newspapers, went upstairs to the lounge. Couldn't get into the lounge but could see it, could also see the Rennaissance right across and probably my room as well. Too intimate, I will tell you. My 3am balcony visits and all.

-Strange thing, I had a dream about this hotel last night, here at home, not kidding. -

I have no idea, but, moving on.

I hit the lobby and saw their conference areas. Was too lazy to go down to the pool, which looked good from afar. The last thing to check out was their gift shop and fantastic it was.

I finally found my Israeli flag, something I have always wanted. I have yet to unpack it but I already have a door for it. The Aussie flag is on the opposite door which then faces my South African flag. Nations unite. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Bought the flag, Israel shirts, X tra large, of course, LOL, ugh, even had a Tel Aviv Hardrock cafe shirt. I think I even have a Tel Aviv shirt, gotta have that. An Israeli walked right in and while she(cute) was helping me he cut right in and yacked at her in Hebrew. It was very rude. I guess that she humored him and took care of him quickly to get rid of him. Ok... Very sad. I just stood there, ah, doyee.

The credit card worked and I wished her my best. She is a very cute and sweet girl and was very helpful.

Then back to the Sheraton Moriah where I swear one of the Mossad (like the CIA ) was working the door. It was warm, he had a full coat on, buttoned, sunglasses, and he was not nice at all. I also had a bad feeling about him. So I showed him that I was staying there, he blocked me at first, then let me in, Ok....... ick The others were nice. Seriously, I could see him as a Mossad. Very different from the other doormen.

Then went to the Sheraton gift shop for that final purchase, they had way less than the Crowne Plaza but this I could put on the room. Extra Sheraton points, which still haven't turned up on my account!

I bought my first mezuzot, they go on the doorpost, hey why not, 2 of them in fact.
I started liking having one at my hotel room which I kissed each entry and exit.. Kind of cool. Funny, I never see it at the Synagogue. Go figure.

Bought those, some more postcards, and that will do it.

Upstairs to finish packing and we are done. Took that last look at my precious view. I will be back.

tear......

One more tv reference, if I may. There was a commercial that I just loved.

A young couple (teenagers) are on a date. He is turned toward his friends, whom she cannot see, they help guide him through the date, motion to take her hand, hold up the menu the right way, it was adorable. The couple gets up and the guys give a high 5, only to see 2 young women doing the same on the other side.

I get so fed up with American commercials, they are beyond ridiculous and stupid.
I change the channel the second they come on and the idea that someone gets paid for this crap is scary, not kidding. This commerical is brilliant and I was very impressed. Probably one of the best commercials I have ever seen.

Israel, briefly here, has some wonderful tv programs. Shemesh, Parnas in the Tavern, Lag B'omer(met one of the actors here in LA), and my favorite, Zu Artzaynu, all brilliant and very creative. Unfortunately, saw none of these while here, they are probably old. Thank you Israel Film Festival and Drishat Shalom.

Time to go........

Up to the lounge for that final chocolate pecan cake. You can check out here but opted to check out at the front desk, watching my time and wanting to get to the airport early.

I thank them warmly for their wonderful and outstanding hospitality. They wish me a good trip and that I come back, which I will. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Down to reception and to that same beautiful woman who brought me in in the first place. I go out of my way to be waited on by her. Paid $100 US, the rest on my debit card. All went thru, whewww. The Rennaissance not taking the certs put me off by over $300/400. Also, I had about a $100 US in extra expenses here. Naughty me.

Also, fyi, if you rent a car in Israel, they authorize your card at US $2,000. I couldn't do that. OUCH Just so ya know.

I filled out the comment card and thanked them dearly, shaking hands with the staff. I hate goodbyes, they are awful.

Out to a taxi and Mr. Mossad gets me a taxi, Ben Gurion, Toda.

We make the same journey toward Ramat Gan.

A stupid bus cuts a turn and misses the light, makes all of us miss the light, too. Driver is not happy! Let loose that horn!! Yeah. I am loving it. Someone who drives like me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

By the way, everytime a bus came along and drove alongside of us, it freaked me out!!
I can't even imagine Jerusalem. Cringe.

It was that emotional drive, that farewell, always a pain. For some reason, Singapore was one of my hardest to leave, very sad. Everytime I would drive my rental car to Dorval in Montreal, very sad. Leaving Paris, si triste.

The taxi driver was cool, some English. I asked how much, he gave me a ridiculous number, like a $1,000 US, then laughed.

On to the highway to Ben Gurion. We talked a little, I took my last look at Tel Aviv.

A car almost hit us and he was cursing at him, then saw his sign, " Oh, security! it figures it is security!!" then cursed the guy, I loved it! This guy was fun. Mr. Security idiot just drove off.

Back to the open lands and interesting highway signs. Most are in Hebrew and English, one was in Hebrew and Arabic, no English.

He offered to take me to Jerusalem, even the outside of it, just to see it, I said no, wanting to get to Ben Gurion and he said ah, don't worry, check in will take 5 minutes. NOT! for us foreign people, for the Israelis yes. So I passed and explained that now I have incentive to come back.

We hit the Airport checkpoint and he said Shalom, the guy waves us on. This is easier than LAX, lovely. So we Yanks are going overboard!?

Then you can see the new terminal. The ELAL hangars. Then our terminal.

Tropical trees abound and a big parking lot in the middle. I would expect more security, but figure it is hidden.

He drops me off. He charges more than the other ride, I still give a good tip.

I like him.

Off to get a cart and then find an entrance. Half the doorways are blocked, ugh.

The entrance was the final seen in 'Besame Mucho.' Kind of cool.

---

Leaving Tel Aviv Day 4 Wednesday part 2

Ok, the infamous 'Israeli security check.'

Before we depart, some background. Many of you know about this (BS) firsthand and some of you HATE it. Some know nothing.

Way back in the early days of Israel some Arabs decided to hijack planes. They took a plane to Uganda, 'The Raid at Entebbe', one of my favorite movies, they hijacked planes to Jordan and blew them up. Planes were hijacked, Israel saw a need for tight security, more than most countries in the world could ever imagine.

I will give you there is a need for security. Do the Israelis go overboard? Yes they do.

We were sitting at a Delta gate at LAX after a nice Thai dinner with Brian, my friend in Paris, and an American friend of his who lives in Europe. He happens to do business in Israel. Somehow the subject of the Israeli security check came up and I thought he was joking. He had to convince me he was actually serious.

The guys' travel agent mistakenly put on the same ticket Israel to Europe, he lived in Paris, then to Algeria.
Well, needless to say, the Israelis didn't like that all too much. He was questioned to death, in private, for over 3 hours. Why they tell you to get there 3/4 hours early. They ain't kidding. He said it was mentally exhaustive and basically called it hell. He shared another story that I won't share, not good. I am trying to think if that got him out of going to Israel again on business. He hated it. I cringed at hearing this.

My dad's secretary flew ELAL (mistake, the Pastor should be shot http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) with a church tourgroup. She put it this way.
She is big and strong. Few things humble her, these people humbled me and said how the security questions drove her crazy. They asked her about everyone else in her group. The questions were long and arduous. She loved Israel, but didn't care for this.

I called BA and asked about a fare to Israel. She happened to have gone to Israel and the BA agents' response is very similar to what I hear from most people: "great trip to Israel, had a wonderful time, but with the security hassles at the end, no thanks." And consequently and sadly, many never come back. If you come here once and see everything, ok.

I have a friend who was a flight attendant for a US charter carrier. He worked Hajj charters and so he had a Saudi work visa in his passport. Never thought of it til this charter flight landed in Israel. An Israeli flight attendant had a great idea and collected all the crews' passports and handed them in together. The Israeli officer still found the visa. He was kept in a cell, they gave him steak and were kind to him, but was not allowed to leave the airport. More details but we'll just say, he didn't like it, but the Israelis tried to be cordial. When he left with the crew the Israelis put a huge deported stamp in his passport. He took that passport to the airline and said, no more Israel.

I have witnessed ELAL security. It is a b*tch, to be blunt. I stood there at JFK and watched them intensely interrogate the passengers. Let's just say politely, the less Jewish you are, the more you are going to be checked, and that is exactly what happened. An image that I will never get out of my mind was at the JFK ELAL area.
They had a woman sitting at a chair, looked frazzled, I don't know what word to use, she stared into space, while the security staff vehemently x-rayed everything by a manual wand type of instrument. Her look haunted me for a while, thinking about her on my AA flight to LA. Oh and they saw me watching and I got out of there. They didn't like that.
Same at other airports as well. I am amazed they don't do that garbage in private. The other airlines into Israel are nothing compared to ELAL, why I wouldn't even consider fying ELAL into Israel. Out of Israel, apparently, everyone gets the same treatment, though out of logic and common sense, I have to assume there is more protection toward ELAL.

In any case, and I am sure many have their own stories, Israeli security is a pain in the ...(ymptote).

I have people who won't go back to Israel because of it, I have to say that it helped to put me off, and I have people that along with suicide bombings and the like allow it to put them off.
Ask a few questions, obviously x-ray the bag, but let's not go overboard.

One more, then will go to the flight out. I e-mailed the US Embassy in a neighboring country, not Israel, and asked them if security was as tough as in Israel. Oh no, the XXX's are not as bad as the Israelis and 2 hours are fine.
Ok.......

I wanted to give some background as to my concern over the whole thing. I have other war stories, but you get the idea.

With that, let us depart.

Tel Aviv to London Heathrow

For the religous here, as you can imagine, I am praying (and fasting).

Into the terminal, when I could finally get into the departures hall.

Over to British Airways, and no shortage of lines.

I go to the first gatekeeper. She speaks to me in Hebrew, they do that on purpose.

If you are Israeli and you speak Hebrew, and blah blah blah you check out, you get directed to the easy line. You bypass the security crap and X ray machine and get directed to the front. I watched. You get something, but nothing compared to what we get. UGH

So, I need English, Anglit? and that killed me right there. I show my ticket and passport and she directs me to the line for us foreigners. Hey, the US and every country do it for Immigration. It is a pain either way.

While we are standing in line someone comes over, British Airways? Yes. They created a new line for us. The lovely couple behind me dart out past me in true form and go ahead.
Honestly this was accidental, I swear. My baggage cart nailed him in the back of his leg. I couldn't see it with my suitcase blocking. He stopped, asked me not to get him in the back of the leg, I apologized. Do I feel bad? heck no, you cut right in front of me you schmuck.
He deserved it, and there ya go. :P~ Sorry... but it was accidental, I just couldn't see it.

Actually it worked out well as now he and his wife are the first guinea pigs. You had the Lufthansa check in and then another one, I think a charter, couldn't see from way over here.

Here we go. A cute Russian girl comes up with her stickers and already I am thinking this has to be easier than ELAL, I know it is.

She asks them questions, she puts stickers on everything, they don't take that long.

My turn. I say Shalom. I play the Jewish card, hard. I explain how I had a wonderful trip, which I did, and I will be back. I mention the Rabbi back home. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif She did ask me some Jewish related questions. She asks if I know any Hebrew? some, and I gave a few examples. Baruch Ata Adonai... The more Hebrew you know, the more Jewish you are. Not that Palestinian Intelligence doesn't study Hebrew. Whatever. Kind of nuts. I didn't say that I am a diehard practicing Christian, but I did make the reference to my Christian mother. I am a half breed, so label me where you want. Actually, I wanted to see where they labeled me. Hint, the more Jewish you are, the less of a threat that you are, ironically, even though you are flying a British Protestant airplane. Ok... I know Paul is having a field day with this one! Some of this was written just for you in mind. he he

She then actually turned to security questions. Did you pack your bags? Where did you go? Who did you see? What did you do? Did anyone give you anything? They were fair, to be honest, and much less than I expected. Again, I think most people who had problems flew ELAL, and hence, some advice darlings, STAY THE HELL OFF OF ELAL! there ya go.

She put stickers on my ticket, which was electronic, and on all the bags. I shook her hand.
Hey, this isn't so bad.

Then the mess, which I have read about, getting up to the coveted Monster X ray machine.
As I made my way up, the officer asked me to wait to the side as they were trying to clear out an earlier flight, fair enough, so I took a seat and read the 'Jewish Journal.' http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif A paper from LA that I do enjoy, and read every week, though I had a feeling this would be more suitable than the Christian Times or something, LOL.

The area is confining, it is a pain in the butt, too small, too crowded, and too many people. No one wants to wait in line and everyone crowds in at the machine. The ticket offices, joyfully, are to my right and how you would ever get to them without going through this even to buy a ticket I don't know. It is crazy. I can't imagine that things have been like this for this long. It literally is hell, if you will. Very poor planning and doesn't make beloved Israel look good.

Finally I am called up and they help me put my bags on the belt. Swooossshhh, kind of cool, and in they go, and then you go around. I don't know what the security stickers mean.
I think I have a 36, with a Hebrew letter circled, can't tell what it is, and it is purple. If anyone wants to help out!? toda. I am curious. For most of the people when the bags come out, they get a full check and are sent to the tables. I don't have so much a problem with this just that the tables and surrounding areas are small, very cramped, and so uncomfortable.
It it were a temporary setting, sure, but how long have they been doing this? Come on.

My prayers and fasts do pay off. I don't get checked. I am cleared, wheewww. For now. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
All my bags pass and the nice security guy tells me to go ahead and check in. I am happy.
I say about 90% are getting nailed for a very extensive bag search. Bags are on the tables and being ransacked, something you will see sometimes at customs, but this was over the top. Just pushing my cart with bags through to the British Airways check in was a chore. I am sure I bumped people and carts getting through and I wanted to get out of there.

There is a weird orange tag on each bag with a barcode. I have never seen anything like it before. If anyone has info, please share, I am sure we would all like to know.

Was it as bad as I had thought? so far, no, was it pleasant? not really. Would I want to do this all the time? heck no. Watching the others get nailed I felt bad for them. Maybe the machine didn' t like them.

I was selected for a random customs check in Sydney. I had something in each suitcase that the machine didn't like: my razor, a flashlight, and there was something else.
It happens.

Up to the wonderful BA check in and they were very kind. I feel like I had passed(so far).

It is kind of neat to see Israelis in BA uniforms.

Electronic ticket, check in, take the bag, no hassles. My bag was over its alloted 23 kilos but he said don't worry about it. I love Platinum! I think 27 kilos, whatever that is in pounds. Remember, I hate math!

With that, I was free, for now.

I exited (hell) and went landside. They x-rayed my carry ons and then I can walk freely landside, ok.

I did walk around the arrivals area, upstairs to a small food court, and outside. There isn't much to see or do landside so it isn't much of an airport to just visit, sadly.

Now with most of the thing over I was more relieved and sad to go. One last look at the famous terminal front.

Up to a B/P checkpoint and up the escalator. Oh good, more fun.

First Passport Control. More lines. Israelis here, foreigners there.

Lines were far more doable than coming in but again people taking cuts and you had to be vigilant. Finally get up, asked for a stamp out, and wait. She looks at the passport, takes a while to, then calls out my first name, I say ken/yes, she looks at me, looks down, stamps it, and I am out of Israel. Toda rabah.

Kind of emotional, but South Africa stamping me out was the most emotional for me, with Hong Kong pre-handover 2nd most.

Now security. More lines, more waiting, more cutting. UGH

I get to the front and they ask to see my ticket which of course is put away. Not my boarding pass? No, ticket. The ticket is a paper showing confirmation of my BA reservation.
OK. The purple sticker which worked for me downstairs did NOT work for me up here and she told me to stand at the side. Cringe. Others with all kinds of passports filed suit past me. Oh joy.

They were trying to explain to me something about another security machine or something and it was down, their English was awful. Gee, airport, security, nah, don't need English here, too much! The Russians,in general, spoke better English. I found that interesting.

Then they took the next victim, a European, I am guessing German, they had him stand to the side with me while others got to go through. We looked at each other, smiled, he said, "this is hell." I nodded. I am thinking it is BS. The Israelis aren't making any friends with the millions of tourists who came here to support them.

He mentioned not being able to do Duty Free, etc. I am guessing he is on the Lufthansa flight which leaves before the BA flight. Then we go. But somehow they were protective of both of us. Bags on the belt, ok, done. No. Now put your bags on this other belt, ok.

Now come here, and again, very cramped and uncomfortable, and we are in the way of others trying to clear through. They gave me a manual wand search, which is better than the overpersonal pat down at FRA and the British Airports when you ding the machine.
I pass. Dieu Merci! I am done. Get me the hell out of here!

I think we have a new definition of hell. It is also garbage. I smile to my friend who is getting the works, actually a bit more than me. ta ta God bless him.

Now, how much time do I have? I was mad to have come early thinking now I don't have enough time. Actually, it worked out. I looked at every major Duty Free store. Checked out the ELAL lounge at the very end to try to get a magazine, no deal. Too much to come to Israel and I can't get an ELAL inflight. Sorry Darwin. and for myself.

The airside area is a much more comfortable, modern, doable area than downstairs. Good shops and it is more European, whereas downstairs is more Middle Eastern. Very interesting contrast, I think.

Tel Aviv to Heathrow BA 767-300

Ok, let's finish the Israeli part.

I am making an effort to get this done, now at 0200 am.

FYI, the remainder of the trip is going to go fast, it pretty much has been covered in previous reports, realizing that one of you wants to go to England and wants info, but I will call you before you go and will give you plenty of advice.

Ok. Walked around the terminal, covered pretty much every store, more so the chocolate stores, but didn't buy anything. Not sure where the credit cards were $$$ and I still had a few days ahead of me.

They have 2 lounges at Ben Gurion. ELAL and JetSet which is pretty much for everyone else.

BA gave me a pass to the JetSet, very nice, they made it easier for me than when I have to hassle with the BA lounge Wardens at Heathrow. Kind of ironic. I also had access to it via Priority Pass, so I am covered.

Dropped off the pass to the Warden in a very crowded, packed, and uncomfortable lounge. Again, hell. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Too much.

How long has this freaking airport been in operation? Very glad about the new terminal and I wouldn't want to come to Israel until they complete the new Terminal 3, but I am glad that I did this once. ONCE.

They had some cookies, some very tasty little chocolate cream cakes, those were delicious. A few sodas, I actually filled my cup with water from the water cooler.

The place was packed, no place to sit, and way too uncomfortable. The WC/toilet is meant for skinny people and a contortionist act is needed to get by anyone in it, too much. Public one is much nicer. Grabbed a couple of cakes, threw a few things in my pockets, and told her I would be back as they board the bus from the lounge, which I def. like! Wish that more airports would do something like that.

Back into the public area and whewww.
Kind of ironic, the lounge sucks,
the public area of the terminal is better, more spacious, plenty of seating, again, the opposite of the landside area which has nothing for visitors, greeters, save a couple of shops.

I enjoyed the big windows and you had views of some good planes. Swiss MD-11, Air France A320, Iberia A320, Royal Wings Dash 7(Jordan), Lufthansa 747-400, and several ELALs and an Arkia 757. All good. I couldn't see our plane.

They have a big Israeli flag in front of the terminal on the apron, I like that.

I think for many people, especially from the Americas, they may make one trip/pilgrimmage here. So it is hard to leave not knowing if you will ever come back. I will come back, I know that.

I will gripe about the stupid security, but I will come back. However, to be honest, if I have a few days,etc, I have a feeling Cyprus, Egypt, or Jordan would probably do the trick. (being honest)

Ok, I have seen everything, done everything. I went to a music store and bought some Israeli music cd's, which, are priced in US $$$.

Back at home I was at the Virgin Megastore and found an Israeli Cd, couldn't read it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, said why not. Dana Berger. The first song on the CD I have listened to thousands of times, including today, I love it.

So I buy out the Dana Berger collection plus one more, not sure who. I paid out my remaining Shekels and used my plastic for the rest.

I have listened to 2/4 so far and they both stink! Oh well.

Same with Nena in Germany. I bought a cassette at Zurich Airport. Found a song that I had listened to so many times, loving it, I broke the tape, but never found it again and Nena's songs are good, but I want this one. Such is life.

Ok, WC break,and good bathrooms they are, thumbs up, visited the small Synagogue where some guy was repacking his stuff, then back to the lounge. More cakes, more to swipe, it is a bit emptier now and flights are going out.

They call the BA flight, down the stairs. A BA agent takes the ticket and wish her my best. To the last Israeli standing at the doorway leading to the bus, I say Shma Y'israel. (pretty much God bless Israel, or how I take it in translation)

Onto the bus, we go out to the plane. Cool! Lot's of good planes out and it is neat to be near so many ELALs. Now may I have a magazine please? LOL I slowly exit the bus and slowly make my way to the plane, covered stairs and all so I can look, looking over at the arrivals area where it all started, and then up and back, technically speaking, on British soil with friendly and sweet BA crews to go along with it. Cheers mates!

BA 767 TLV to LHR

Ok, board the plane, music playing, people seem friendly. Crews are great, smiling, British politesse here.

Most of the plane is Israeli and alot of the people are wearing kippot(skulcaps), vs. secular Tel Aviv where you
didn't really see much of that. I go my whole time in Israel and see very few kippot, talit, tzitzit, etc., then board
British Airways and I am in an Ultra Orthordox and Haredim Synagogue. The irony, yes, is there. ha ha

Well, someone is in my seat. He gives me the BS, I found my friend, suprise, go ahead and sit back there,
blah blah blah BS. I knew it. I said as long as I get a window seat, I don't care. Sure enough, my trade 2 seats back in the flying Synagogue was a window, we're good. I actually stuffed my black carry on into the overhead where I was supposed to sit, then went through my carry on bag for the basics: water bottle, book on Israelis, and something else, maybe a candy bar, nothing too fancy. Took a seat and the crew actually stuffed the bag into the overhead. Thank you, the more legroom, the better.

Everyone around me was 'religous', full garb. Sorry to say this but I know people who would just go nuts, i.e. non-practicing Jewish 'secularists', love the name, who hate that stuff. Most Christians would say cool, something different, and it is. At the Syn. we wear kippot, almost never Tallit. It is Reform, it is a bit more casual, and I like it that way!!! Thank you Rabbis!

I say a hello to my neighbor. He doesn't talk much. I couldn't even describe all that he has on. Does he walk around like this all the time? In England? oh that must be fun. They are all British Jews(his family), going home,as they didn't need the white English landing card that the rest of us pee-ons needed.

Here we go. Doors close, engines start, and we taxi out. Go out to the taxi way and I am looking at all the other planes as the sun starts going down. I wish that we had a little more daylight for the flight, although we are heading West and chasing the Sun.

They do the BA safety video. Amazingly, not a word of Hebrew. Ok....

How the Britts get away with their horrible language skills, I don't know. BA went out and splattered a bunch of ugly paint on their planes, trying to be more 'international,' in the process they removed a beautiful blue coated plane with the British Royal emblem. Many were sad about this. You want to be international, speak some freaking languages on your int'l flights! ah, sorry, DUH! again, too much, just too much. I am so so with the newest scheme, but love the older one with the Crest.

We taxi out past some cool Israeli military planes, a military unit getting drilled, glad I am not them! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, hey, P.E. was enough, and we go out to the runway. Time to say final goodbyes and we are rolling.

Green pastures, nice scenery, sunset, and liftoff. Saw several apartment buildings and sadly, into the clouds, which obscured the view. You could see a few buildings down below and then before long we were over the ocean. I wanted to get one last look at Tel Aviv, but no way. Oh well. Sad and Shalom.

They didn't tell us the routing, there was no flight map, no watch, clock is packed away (remind me about that one later). I am guessing we headed up toward Greece/Turkey as in the end I found out we had done a Northerly route.

I would have liked to talk to my seatmate but he had his headphones on, listening to his cd player, and so I put on my BA headphones and listened to the BBC World news, time to get an update. Following that they had a good lineup of entertainment. A movie and tv shows. I read my book. Even though I have left Israel, let's see what we can accomplish.

Drinks service followed by dinner. Similar dinner as coming out, a chicken something. I was stuffed from those little cakes, but it was good. In coach I seldom keep track of the meals, sometimes not even up front, unless they somehow stand out. Apart from Cathay and Singapore, and Air France, sorry, they seldom do.
I liked the little Israeli products like the Prigat orange juice, in English and Hebrew.

Comfy seat, tight legroom. My neighbor and I are, ah, on the heavy side, doesn't make for a comfortable 5 hour flight to London.

Fortunately, I had no problem getting out, he was quite amenable in that way. He also got up more often than my beloved seatmate coming down, so, we had some more freedom. Coach sucks, let's admit it. I just wanted the flight to get overwith and get to London. Then back to AA's more legroom, thank goodness for it.

I did a couple of walkabouts. Had some stares at my lapel pin, which, by the way, I would find that appropriate time to remove. ( I think on the way to passport control at LHR)

I read, I tried to snooze. Hey, it was uncomfortable. The passengers in front of me threw their trash on the floor, which was nasty, and it would roll back to me. The only benefit they threw down their amenity kit and headsets and I swiped those. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif but the rest, YUCK! The crews do need to come around with a trash bag.

By the end of the flight, it was a pigsty. Atleast put the trash in the seatpocket. Better than on the floor.

We flew over some cool looking cities, but I had no idea. I am going to guess Prague, bridges, the way it was spread out, and I was in Prague in November. hmmmmm any ideas? It drove me batty.

Then we flew over a large city. I was thinking Paris which I have flown over before. It was huge, lot's of lights, and you could actually see the highways and cars leaving it. I later figured out it must have been Berlin. Thinking it was Paris, we would have been at the coastline soon, but still more land.

Then the pilot came on and said we were over Belgium, wow, that far north. So we really did take quite a northerly route. He started making preps for arrival in London explainaing there were ATC delays over London. Yeah, get me off the bloody thing, thanks.

Over the English Channel, starts descent, and before long, the lights of London. This actually I didn't mind. We had to do 4 left turns over London, so actually after all that cramped in there, I didn't mind the extra views of beloved London, free of charge.

He was right, 4 turns, and then into Heathrow. Right hand side is usually the best for the approach into Heathrow.

Canary Wharf Financial Centre, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and into LHR. Dentist's drill starts acting up, though wasn't on the wing this time, thank goodness. That drove me nuts before.

Did the usual approach into Hounslow and all that fun stuff. I don't know the runway # but he touched down and flew parallel to Terminals 2 and 3 and reverse and we are home. Taxi to Terminal 4 and not a bad view.

The pax got up before we were at the gate and I was waiting for the Britts to say no no, but they didn't which was a surprise. Go and do that on a US airline, they will come and throw you down. We parked at the first gate to the left of the terminal, where the Amsterdam flight leaves from, usually.

Nailed a couple of safeties and the longhaul Duty Free catalogue which I won't get going to Paris.

I wished my seatmate a good trip, he did the same for me. Said goodbye to the crew, who were great and smiling, and into the jetbridge and down to passport control.

It was nice just to be off the thing. Too crowded, too cramped, too full. You need to realize that American really is a Godsend to us. I am not sure if I could do it without their legroom. Can't stand Delta's legroom. etc.

My lapel pin subtly was removed. We are done there and down to a snake of lines, the longest I have seen at 4. I usually arrive from Paris, once Amsterdam, and the place has always been empty.

Getting my docs ready and that stupid landing card. I was able to witness one more act of Israelis cutting the line, and very clever. As we came around a corner between the railings a guy in front snuck around, past the unsuspecting Britts, and jumped ahead. If you did this at every turn, you might pass a few people, but is it really worth it?
I wanted to kick him, but let it go. If you think that is helping Israeli's reputation abroad?! guess again Einstein!!

My turn to the front. This should be easy. Not! He is a jerk. Where have you come from? Tel Aviv. He didn't like my in and out, which quite frankly, I have done far more than this. He wanted to see my ticket to America, to see that he was going to finally get rid of me. He was rude and obnoxious and I could have said something I shouldn't so I didn't, but here ya go, STUFF IT MATE! :P~ Yutz. (in my head) smile

Stamp and move on. WC break, down to bag claim. The place is dead empty, but they put our flight at the very last bag claim at the end of the bag claim area. Go BA! Too much.

My clock apparently has an alarm, set to go off. It was sounding off in my suitcase and that freaked me out.
Had to open the suitcase on the floor and turn it off. I am surprised that BA security or customs didn't notice it.
Tells ya alot, doesn't it? An alarm sound coming loudly from a bag and they don't notice it. Ok...

Off to customs. Customs, officers stand there and look at ya while ya pass through the beloved green channel, only Her Majesty's finest are on a tea break and the customs hall is dead empty. We waltzed right through, ok. I guess they figure the Israelis X rayed the hell out of every freaking bag that what more could they do? Makes sense, actually.

I looked at the arrival shop, pass.

Exit to the public area, oh it is cold. Oh and I grabbed my leather jacket from the suitcase at bag claim. You need it here!
Went to WH Smiths to get some water and a candy. Chastized the daylights out of a Britt who I thought was cutting in front. He apologized, I apologized, then felt bad. I explained that I just came from Israel. He understood. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif LOL
We laughed. Cheers.

Ok, now for the Heathrow fun. Down the lift, drag the bags, make my way to the Heathrow Express. Have to remove the bags from the cart and drag them to the (bloody) train. I miss the ..............train by 2 seconds and the conductor says no, you must take the next one. Yes, I cussed, sorry, I did. I was pissed.

I think all of the hassles of the day came out then and there. I think Heathrow is a nutty place and full of BS planning. I wasn't going to pay for a taxi to the hotel, not when I can manage the bags to the stupid train, and I would have to take a taxi when going to Paris with all the bags. But to just miss the train. Oh I was mad. GRWL http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Finally, the next train. They play weird music and all that. I am thinking these people ought to be shot for this planning. You take a train to get from Heathrow Terminal 4 to the other terminals, then you walk a long way to the terminals, then take a bus which YOU PAY for to the hotel. I suppose in all fairness to Israel, this is hell, too.

Arrived at the Heathrow Express station. Then it is a long jaunt to Terminal 1, through the arrivals hall, wait for a bus.

Bus comes, you get to load the bags onto it yourself, he sits there on his royal can and smirks, then you get to pay for it. Probably over time my overnight transfers at Heathrow will go with the wind. It if fun to be there and watch the planes, but oh what a bloody hassle it is, especially when T4 is involved.

Bus takes you to the Sheraton Skyline, home atlast.

Heathrow

Did the check in at the Sheraton Skyline at LHR. The staff are wonderful, some of the best, and they commiserated with me over the Hoppa and all that rubbish. The Heathrow hotels used to have their own shuttles, then the beloved BAA put an end to all that and intro'd the Hoppa. We went from a large, comfy bus where the driver helped you with your bags to
a crummy, run down, very uncomfortable piece of something http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif that they actually charge you for and the driver sits on his can. Too much.

Hell if you must deal with Terminal 4. The problem is I fly BA to Paris from Terminal 4, there ya go.

Many people in the Americas and Europe love to curse Heathrow. The problem is alot of British bashing gets snuck in the process and how can you argue with them? The French love to curse it, but CDG has a way to go, though I will give you, CDG doesn't do a Hoppa and train service like LHR, so one point for the French. Oh my.

Anyway, nice check in, sweet staff, this is what makes staying at LHR doable and I was excited to get this hotel on Priceline for $70 US. I just wasn't getting that at CDG, why I took another night at LHR. Also there was no way to connect straight to Paris or I would have. You arrive at LHR at 2030 hours.

Up to my big, comfy room with a huge king bed. Yummm Ordered room service with a club sandwhich, love England's clubs and some chips, or French Fries, I guess now Freedom Fries, LOL. ahhhhhhh

While waiting called home. Mom and I talked for a while. Had her call me right back and she was happy/relieved that I was out of Israel. I am surprised she let me go, to be honest. She fought me with South Africa and I gave in the 2nd time. I am glad someone cares. Hey, I did it, I wasn't blown up, and I accomplished something that I really needed to do. So thank you, though some thought I was nuts, hey, something I had to do.

Also talked with Brian a bit and he is doing better. Room service, tons of tv in English, you learn to appreciate that when you come back, you take it for granted while in the English speaking world.

I did watch some cool planes take off. From my room on the top floor facing the airport you get them as they start their roll for take off. Ironically, one of the flights is the late night BA to Tel Aviv. Keep it for now. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Lights out.

The next day was pretty simple and lazy and I had earned it. Not having had e-mail access, wasn't sure where I was with my friend in Paris. He was supposed to come, couldn't and I understood, though it would have been nice. It was hard to make plans with the unkown.

I watched planes, took several pics, ate the leftover from the last night, and packed, repacked. I still have to get my bags from the Marriott.

I was enjoying a scandal given to us on Sky tv, then all the stations. It took CNN world a while to pick it up. Apparently Blair had the UN leader's offices in London bugged, Koffi Annan, and then the you knew what hit the fan. I loved it. It was a scandal and it wasn't my President or my country or the dear Canadians getting nailed over some stupid Airbus sale.

I like Blair so I am with him but it was fun to watch, sorry. I have a feeling the UN was ticked and all kinds of goodies come out. Gotta love it.

Pack up and check out.

They watched my bag while I did a walkaround. They had a big conference, again, with stuffed shirts,ick, and stopped at the model shop and got out, too tempting and I am not spending any money I don't need to here, sorry. Oh this place is expensive.

My club sandwhich, phone calls, and whatever other incdentals cost about $70 US. I freaked. The card worked. The geniuses then charged me twice when I got home but we sorted it out. ....

I grabbed my suitcase and rolled it to the Marriott nextdoor. They watched it while I checked out the lounge, but my friend wasn't there. I did a quick tour. The porters here are very nice.
The reception staff are not, so deal with that.

They pulled out my bags and called a cab. Some guy, a fellow Yank, was heading to T 4, I told him to take a cab. I explained, trust me, it is worth it, he took the cab.

Even though I was short of pounds, I tipped this guy in US and some UK as he was so nice. I couldn't resist.

The cab took maybe 5 minutes, up Bath road, had to do a turn around, to the Le Meridien, near the entrance to Heathrow. 9 pounds, with tip, call it $20 US for going down the street.
I just can't afford England, sorry. I was later told that there is an 8 pound minimun for going between any hotels at Heathrow. God help them. Too much. I shook my head.

The porter at Le Meridien was wonderful. The kind of Britt you love. Very kind and watched the bags and I checked in. The check in staff are French. I griped about how expensive England is, she agreed, took a slight stab at the Britts, but politely and very subtly. She has to be careful. She said England is expensive for everyone, not just Americans. True.

I called over, as I did with all the hotels, asking for a high floor facing LHR. Done and done nicely. I actually stalled coming over here thinking the place would be a dump. Not so.

It has all been refurbished and is actually very impressive. My porter took me up to the room and I gave him what I could, apologizing profusely, he understood. Unfortunately, I was very short on those US $ I was using to tip.

The room was great, beautiful Continental bed with the big duvet/comforter. I love it.

Had to have someone come up to fix the drapes, which they pretty much dismantled. A weird drape design, couldn't move it, couldn't see out the window. The windows open!!

Fantastic view of the planes and the terminals. Finally had somewhat of a view of Terminal 3 where so many goodies come in.

I stood there and photographed planes all evening . I wore out the poor camera and had to search thorugh all the bags for batteries, the poor thing. I would open the windows, freeze, take pics, close, warm up.

It was great to get all the bags together again. Did packing, unpacking, and sorting. BA is going to kick my butt tomorrow. Long live elite status! Also long live the USA, that is what saved me really.

I was hungry, looked at the menu, they had high prices with that pound thing in front of it, yeah, too much.

So I walked to a pub across the street, I still have the menu, but I didn't like it, so down Bath road to McDonalds. America's ambassador to the world and I love it!

Even with McD's, in pounds, it really wasn't that cheap, but it tasted good.

Oh and the weather was freezing. It was biting cold. I stopped to look at a SAA Airbus depart and froze in the process. I debated going into my usual, the Rennaissance, but passed. I think this is the first time, without my family, I didn't stay there. They have the best view of the planes, but I love Le Meridien.
The rooms at the Renn. are British style shoeboxes, way too claustrophobic and I go nuts after one night, all I can take there.

Stopped at Texaco for some snacks and some water. Yes, I drink water, lot's of it, and
can never get enough.

Oh and I watched 'Who is the Weakest Link', the British version. I can't stand that woman. She is just as rude and obnoxious there in England as she is when she comes here to the States.

My favorite all time scene from this show was on the American version:
she asked a contestant who happened to a be guy from London, why did you leave London?
"to get away from women like you!" I loved it. I laughed so hard, the audience loved it, and it was a smash. Oh she drives me batty. She doesn't help England's reputation abroad, I can assure you! (itch)

Watched the Austrian tv show, Rex or something, he is an Austrian police dog on the German Sat 1 channel, I love that show, got hooked in Switzerland. The actors are different. I like the other guys they had, but great scenes of Vienna and you get to hear Austrian German. I wish that Sat Einz would do subtitles as they take shows from all over German speaking Europe.

Then lights out.

LHR to CDG BA A319

Woke up, drapes open, to some incredible views. Planes everywhere. I liked the Kuwait 777, one of my favs, good colours, so nailed that one. AI 744 another one.

Barely got the Icelandair 757. Hence, I took more pics, and lot's of 'em. Oh this film is going to be expensive!

I forgot to mention that I had toured the hotel the night before. I like it.

Finished the packing. Just to get everything to Paris. I unload so many goodies for the guy in Paris, and yes he is so very worth it! He collects everything as I do, so easy to throw things in and I don't have to drag them back with me to the States, as with the rest of you. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

More pics, pack, shower, some last minute of that tv in English thing, call for a porter.

Oh goody, that expensive taxi. The same porter comes up, my gosh, do you live here mate? I really like him. He has a good, kind soul to him. I give him what I can. Check out is easy. Priceline pre-paid US $91, plus taxes. There is a story to that, but I am too tired. sorry
No incidentals. Thank goodness. Thank you McD's!

I signed up with their frequent stay program, see if I get something. Actually one Priceline worked and I did receive miles, so we shall see.

Ordered the taxi and my porter helped me out, explaining there is a fixed rate of 11 pounds from the hotel to Heathrow. One time from 4 it was 14 pounds. What on earth could it cost to go to London? The Queen's jewels? ahhhh

Alas it was my beloved driver from last November who took me to 4 for my other trip to Paris. I like him. He is another Britt that you like. Very kind, good man, good soul. We chatted all the way to Terminal 4. It is funny, it is a 45 minute flight to Paris, but you feel like you are going into the world. I guess it is T4.

I run and grab a cart, we settle, yes, I tip him generously, he is one of my favs.

Into the terminal with the police carrying machine guns. This is England?

To the front of the BA Club World queue. Set the bags down, yes, I am praying.
First bag is ok, but when I put the second bag down, she makes it subtle. May I see your ticket to the States please? Normally, with the low intraEurope baggage allowances, I would pay dearly. I assume being a Oneworld Sapphire gets me something, but the US allowance saves my soul.

As I return from Paris, directly to the US,they give it to me. She even takes the 3rd bag, thank you BA!

I thank her and off to WHSmith to buy my coveted book on the East German Stasi files on the UK. They were all over when I left, now I can't find it, I look, I panic, dang, they are gone. I want the book and I figure it will turn up. As I have already seen the landside and not much time for airside, I head to security. Empty the pockets, B/P out, and I pass with an A-.

Lines are small. I would be dead in the morning with all the flights going out, why I always take the late night AA to JFK. Hey, I will be back here in 24 hours. Too weird.

Did the usual BA lounge thing. This guy is cool so I don't play any games with him. He reminds me of a past religous leader(Christian) at home that is very dear to me(Stewart) so we smile. Normally I get annoyed having to show my card and B/P, rubbish, but to him, whatever. I doubt that he would make a fuss in any event. He is very sweet.

Some sandwhiches, ate my bacon fill, looked for a good newspaper to swipe, and more goodies for the guy in Paris. He loves the BA chocolate chip biscuits/ cookies.

I go out to the shops and look for my book. Oh my nowhere to be found.

Buy some chocolate now so that I can pack it in Paris and send it home to LA. BAA points card and all. Back to the lounge, some net, and time to head out, and I say cheers to my friend.

As I head for the gate to France, Star Alliance reps are out trying to lure customers over. My Untied card expires tomorrow. Oh sorry sir, you must reside in the UK. If I had had a UK address handy, Matthew!!! I could have done it. Oh well. No more Lufthansa lounges.

The Paris gate is not at the closer in gate 20, but gate 22. Oh no. I have to go up through that ugly hallway to the plane, not a short walk, now I am getting nervous. Lugging carry on bags, the Chocolate Box bags are big and heavy and my leather jacket is NOT helping either.
I do stop for a pic but for naught. They were good shots, too. When the camera rewinded, it ruined the film. Oh well. Made it to the gate and they were still boarding.

I take a breather. Too much crap. I take down the reg.,will give later, for the BA A319 which is way down there. Sort things out and down the ramp. I do wonder why they would put the Paris flight out at one of the outer gates. UGH on BA! LOL

Grab a Financial Times and board, they smile. I stuff(love that word) my carry ons into the overhead in Club class, yes, I cheat, saving my Business Traveller, UK edition, which I want to read, grabbed it from the lounge I had just left.

I am looking for my seat and they have 3 empty emergency exit seats waiting for me. I ask if I can move and she tells me to wait, then gives me the all clear. Very nice. More legroom, very comfy.

What surprised me is that she sat down at the aisle seat. Not good for safety card pilfering, uh oh. I joked, ah, now I get better service with you here, she is like, nah ah. LOL

Oh and I asked about a free upgrade, but had put it more politely. She said no, BA is actually trying to make a profit now, so we'll have you take your seat in coach. (itch!)

We push back and taxi out. The Airbus makes those weird noises. The lead cabin crew tries to be cute by throwing out some French. yeah, you guys are real int'l. Disgusting.
Their version of bilingual is Mesammes et monsieurs, a couple of times, so so bad.

I am suprrised the French and Germans don't throw stones at BA for no language skills on these flights. Gotta love it, in some ironic way, you really do, so British. UGH

Air France speaks English on their domestic flights in France. UGH Whateva.

We taxi out and roll away, after that lovely manual safety demo. We roll past the hotels and my new home, Le Meridien.

Lift off and some nice scenery and into the clouds. What is cool with the A319 is that they have the flight map. Down to Brighton and over the coast. Crossing into France I am guessing Boulogne or so. Very hard to see as the curtain in precious, coveted Club is blocking the view.

They offer crudites, some light veggies and dip, which I take, or that awful Yank pie, I mean Apple pie. Let the Yanks do the apple pie, darlings. LOL

I try to read what I can of Business Traveller, the letters being my favorite. Actually some good material was there. I finish my mineral water and we start our descent. I fill out the French landing card, en francais, bien sur, and it is easy like the UK one, just an annoying thing to have to do. We saved you after all. Both of you! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Came through the clouds and some flap action. He went East beyond Paris and Roissy and did a hard turn back heading West. Fluent bilingual annoucements were made, NOT, just English. Too much.

The view was splendid. I said a quick prayer for la France.

Madam itch was back at the seat. How was I going to get the cards and they stick out in an outer pocket. I plan to give all the cards to the guy here in France as I will be flying the same plane back tomorrow (NOT!). so I thought, oh well.

We made a great approach and landed on the South side, facing the new Terminal 2E, finally have a window seat!!!, pass 2C and then 2A and then over to 2B.

The BA's all over the place now turn into Air Chance, I mean Air France. Air Mauritius, Air Transat, my beloved AA, Cathay, and Air Austral from Reunion, cool.

Do we get a jetway? ah, no, gonna do that stupid park at the remote spot. We curse BA but I find out the next day that it is Air France screwing BA. OK.

The crew who resembles that woman from the Weakest Link gets up. I put 2 sets of magazines, Duty Free, everything together, then slide 2 safeties, one into each set.
She catches one and pulls it out, I am just going to remove the safety card, OK, but I get one. (stuff http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

Getting my carry ons I throw another safety card into the bag so now we have 2, that is fair.

Off the plane bidding my farewells onto a fun staircase and very cold. Onto the bus we wait, we wait, we wait, with some Scottish sportsteam. Go Scotland! I wish them my best. A light from the ceiling of the bus falls down from the ceiling and just barely misses one of my beloved Scotts. That was freaky. Cheap bus. He is ok.

We play around the tarmac, hey, the view isn't bad, then to Aerogare 2B. The bus lets us off and I think it is easy from here. Not so.

I arrange the carryons and put together a bag for the French guy. I bought him some Bounty and the goodies from the plane.

Upstairs via escalator this time, love it. I walk through the terminal and check out the Duty Free for tomorrow. The last time I arrived here it was late and everything was closed.

There is a long line for something. Oh it can't be. It is! Nos chers francais et la police de l'air have one passport officer at the booth for everyone, EU, non EU. Too, too much.
The line snakes out way into the terminal. I ask the lovely English lasses behind me to save my place dans la ligne and I get a cart, these bags are heavy.

The line takes forever and sure enough, people try to take cuts. A woman walks up into the line. I chew her out in French, oh but I don't speak French, good, here is some English for ya, the line starts back there. She mumbles something in a strong East European accent and then stays. UGH I moved forward and I figure if the English lasses don't mind then fine, but she ain't cutting in front of me. They had a plane from Bucharest and Sofia arrive.

Finally a 2nd officer arrives and opens up shop, but l'imbecille keeps it "tous passeports" or for all passports. That is fine with me, the Yank, but if they opened up an EU line, would have been so much better for their own. Whatever.

I get up and ask for a stamp(tampon) en francais and he complies. I am done.

I come into bag claim and the joy of all joys that wonderful Frenchman is standing on the other side of the glass. I wave and smile. Yes, he is wonderful and a very good friend and it is great to see him, even though he was in LA only a month ago. Happens every year.
He comes out for the LA show, then I do a mileage run and Paris is my sweet dessert at the end of the trip.

I grab my bags, they all make it, and sort his bag out. No customs, suprise, I make my way out.

>>I say Shma Y'israel. (pretty much God bless Israel, or how I take it in translation) >>

Shema Israel does not mean "G-d bless Israel". It means Listen Israel. It continues and states that there is just one G-d. It is the beginning of a much longer morning prayer.

>>Many of you know about this (BS) firsthand and some of you HATE it. Some know nothing. <<

You complain about the security. Israel is not Lichtenstein. As to your complaints about EL AL I know many who are loyal customers and only fly them to Israel though they can be more expensive. It remains my favourite airline; so it is a personal thing.

As to the flight attendant who spent the night in a luxurious jail, due to his Saudi Arabian visa what do you think the Saudis would have done had he had an Israeli stamp?

As to the bad drivers, I believe Israel has the highest accident rate in the world or ranks among the highest in the world.

Thank you for the correction, you are right.

As to security, I stand with my position and we have had this discussion, it is over the top, but please don't argue about it here. I will meet you at the ELAL board later and we can go at it, LOL.

As for ELAL, some love it, some hate it.

The Israeli flyertalkers I met all fly someone else, so, there ya go. I hear it is really bad service, but some fly it because it is Israeli.

AA has craapy service, but it feels good to get onboard a US plane and have a US crew after 2 weeks abroad, as you will see tomorrow.

As for the accidents, whatever. The Egytpians were far worse and the Italians are about as bad. I freaked in Milan, dad drove. scary

As for the stamp, sorry, I had intended to make that point. But I didn't go to Saudi Arabia and probably never will, though Jordan, Dubai, and the other Gulf states are all another story. I also want to go to Lebanon and Syria someday, without the Israeli stamp, thanks.

Ok, back to the report as I am close to finishing and I can do this today if I make some sacrifcies. I want to finish it before I burn out. Toda

-Sorry if offended

CDG/Paris

Bonjour tous.

I exit the customs and hug Monsieur Paris. Hey, long time no see. LOL

I hand him his goodby bag. Oh I have more for you!! We laugh.

It is wonderful to see him. Like a true gentleman he helps me with my bags. I am grateful that he could come and greet me. Last time, not to complain or anything, I was ladened with bags, carry on, and had bought him Aussie wine from Heathrow Duty Free, not knowing I would be doing several parades up and down stairs. I miss my Aerogare 1 !!

We go out to his car which I am not quite sure was parked legalment but hey I love the convenience. We load the bags into the car, actually, he loads the bags, appreciated. I like the service here.

I break out one of the last hotel confirmations. The Comfort Hotel. Mesnil Amelot, ou quelque chose comme ca. We drive away from Aerogare 2 and through the many passageways and underpasses that is CDG. I am loving it. Je suis en France and it feels wonderful.

I would have spent more time in Paris, but like Frankfurt, could NOT get a hotel.
I sweated out Priceline several times, rien. Last time I had the Courtyard which is actually a very nice hotel, beautiful lobby.

I went on every site, looking at 300 euros, like Frankfurt, drove me crazy. London hotels were coming in better and was hoping that Mr. AF would fly up, but hence he had to cherche l'appartement. Ou la la LOL.

I remember this area from the SAS Radisson. It is in the boondocks. Way to the East of the airprort, I think we are half way to Germany. smile. The Rad was ok, but the shuttle bus always stopped at some little dumpy hotel, with name changed, guess where I am going. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Finding the thing is not easy and we do the British roundabout in France thing.
Alas, there it is, Le Dump! He parks in front and we unload to a cart.

Oh and I had found this via Expedia. com like 60 something $$$ Americain. If it is worth that much, ok.

The lobby is decent and the check in staff are nice. He speaks to them in French, I do that Frenglish/Franglais thing, bad habbit I know. My French professors spanked me for it, I can assure you. One of the femmes behind the desk is gorgeous. Bonjour. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Easy check in, all pre-paid, no hassles, j'en aimes.

Le chariot(cart) like at Gatwick doesn't fit into the lift, so I had to take the bags in pieces. I leave the more expendable and grab my suitcase and carry on and up I go, figuring the other bags were fine. Beloved France, they were fine.

I grabbed my crap and ran it up. It is a college dorm room and now I understand the meaning of Water Closet, LOL.
Not meant for a fat man, to put it mildly. I fit ok, but would drive me crazy.

Big bed takes up the whole room. I throw things down but I can open the window, j'en aimes. ( I like it, love it)

P is now back from le parking and we take the rest up.

He and I are good friends but we could easily be long lost brothers. We have so much in common and we both collect everything and I mean everything from the airlines, hotels, whatever. I grab it, throw it into a bag, give it to him, we are good. Jon back home is similiar. I have a birthday suitcase from Jon, I still need to get into it. smile

Down at the car I took out everything for him and it is nice to have my black carry on, bertha, empty again.
He grabs a bag or 2 and brings it up and it is Christmas Day, I love it. He in turn gives me my goodies and they are less than usual, he apologizes, I say tres bien. I have too much stuff. Normally I will run to London/Paris for a long weekend mileage run, but in this case I have 2 weeks worth of stuff, so ca fait bien.

He likes what he sees. The American blanket from Business Class fell into my bag, golly gee. He likes it.
Unfortunately, I only have one BA blanket, from COACH, and it is nice, like that of a Business blanket, and I say, it is mine. LOL

I take some other goodies out of what has been my schoogi bag(German for chocos), I always have a schoogi bag, and throw them at him. Yes, at him, he can handle it.

The last time at the Courtyard he sat near my suitcase and we played a game. I threw chocolates and they had to go into the suitcase. He, the duly appointed gatekeeper, but finally a nice one!, lifts the top up just enough. I get a few in, some don't, but we both laugh ourselves to Heaven. Too much, love it!

This guy is great. Magazines, pretty much all the safeties heretofore, timetables, brochures, whatever. He loves the ELAL stuff. He makes fun of ELAL but the goodies are nonetheless fun to have. He works at the airport and ELAL is a pain to deal with to say the very least. I think any airport employee where LY flies in can attest to that. SECURITY!

I go through my goodies and there are some First/Business class amenity kits, I love these, new Air France pyjamas, a stack of magazines, PSA, Western, and more. Love it! I am also appointed courrier to bring a package for SFO Phil. he he he Yeah maybe you'll get it, kiddnig. It is all magazines in Chinese, but I am going to have a good look see before you get them in 2 weeks when we come up.

Oh and Antenne 2, France 2 if you prefer, has Friends on, en francais, but I know the dialogue. Their French voiceovers, ah, stick with le subtitles, s'il vous plait.

With that, it is Paris time. I am thirsty and I am starving. We get in l'auto and head for Paris. It is occassionally snowing, lightly. We go right thru CDG and see all the cool charters and what is now Terminal 3, vs. previously
T9. They call the terminals now, 'Terminal' but I stick with Aerogare, more French.

Out onto l'autoroute/freeway to Paris. We go for a bit with speed and then all of a sudden, bouchon/bottleneck. I still remember my professor describing a bottleneck to us via diagram.

There is a nice sunset. As we get closer to Paris, the traffic is awful, even though we waited for traffic to die down a bit. Gee, I am from LA, what do I know about it? he he he

It starts to snow. It starts to snow harder. I love it. The California dude gets to see live snow, probably the only time this year I will, which works for me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

We listen to French radio, not that I love French music. I must have several dozen French CD's and last time I was here in Paris I went to Virgin and went nuts. Cost me well over a $100 US. This time I passed.

You could see the Eiffel Tower flicker. It flickers on the hour. It is all lit up in beautiful Gold, with la lumiere, searchlight going around. It is incredible from the air. At the start of the hour it flickers for what, 5 or 10 minutes.
My heart sinks as I see this. I am in love. I am fascinated with this place.

I am like Meg Ryan in 'French Kiss' but I actually see the thing. She keeps missing it and then at the very end.
Wait til you go on it. My family can't get me down from there. It is Heaven.

We come into Paris and my French tourguide takes an earlier exit for the Champs Elysees due to le trafic. One f in French. What happened to circulation? That is what I had been taught in school.

First to the Champs, our special place, my special place! He told me he never goes there save when I come to town. Too much. I suppose I go places in LA only when tourists friends come to town, so fair.

We do the British roundabout at L'Arc de Triomphe. Oh my my. If you saw French Kiss and European Vacation you can relate. Americans have no business driving here, really, only the French, but the Italians could do well here as well. Cars dart in and out and it is scary. It is fun and exciting, yet scary. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I hold on to my seatbelt and several cars miss us by that much. He knows what he is doing. The French are crazy drivers, but they are very skilled and it shows. There should have been 1000s of accidents and in the US there would have been, sorry, but true, but the French know what they are doing. Again, keep the Yanks out of this place, thanks.

I love L'Arc de Triomphe, it is special. I thought it was everyday. When Brian and I came back from South Africa, P was in Uzbekistan, we came here and they did the ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was beautiful.
I had no idea it was done once, twice a year, so we got lucky. A part of my heart is in France, and more so in Paris.
Paris is Heaven in many ways.

Paris

Before stopping at les Champs, and I am hungry, very thirsty, etc., but I want this, we go to the Eiffel Tower. It is sparkling. He drives up to it, turns around, then back to it 3 times, saying this is special for you. smile

I am so spoiled. This time I am! Usually people just kick me in the but so this is good.

Paris, le Tour Eiffel, la Seine, it is Heaven. I mean what else can you call this place!? the first time we came here with my family and this same kid was our tourguide, we went up on the Eiffel Tower. I felt as if I was in Heaven.

We didn't go up. Didn't have the time.
Monsieur had to be back for work at CDG at 0500 hours in the matin/morning.

So to the Champs and faire du parking.

Underground and then you hike up several flights of stairs. Outside it is cold, it is wet, but I love the snow. In Ohio I would go for walks in the snow. Though after everything settles, then it gets icky and slippery.

He said how cold it was, I explained this is actually warmer than London, if you can believe it. I can't speak for Frankfurt, I never got outside of the airport, laugh.

Our restaurant where we always go is closed. I am like, ok, he was actually sad.
Again, he only comes here when I come.
Dude, if I lived here, I would be here every weekend.

Oh and the women are to die for. Last time he dropped me off and I did the Champs and Virgin tour alone. Ah, the women, need I say more. What we American men call eye candy. Sweet it is.

Ok, so there is a Pizzeria, ristorante Italiano, sound good? He suggests it.
I am in France, should I not have French food? but I go for it. I love Italian food, but in France? Kind of ironic as when I go to Montreal they have the most incredible Italian food, something Angelenos can only dream about, with portions that Americans would sue over. No more supersize!

Up les escaliers/stairs and we get a table on the spot, which is a coup by itself.

The place is packed and crowded, yet very clean, intimate, and fun. You don't have the space that we have at our restaurants but at the same time, you can eavesdrop on everyone's conversations.

I love the French. I love to hear French.
I love to watch them. Their women are probably the most beautiful in the world. Yes, Italian and Israeli oh and Brazilian(not a kiss up, honey!) are up there, too. Actually, Brazilian women are wonderful and babes, whether it be a kiss up or not. LOL

It is fun to watch French people. No flight crew in the world impresses me more than Air France. I stand there like an idiot and I stare. They are so well dressed, very composed, and very good looking.

I stood there one time at Mirabel/Montreal and stared at the AF flight crew as they headed for security. One guy actually looked back, smiled, and waved. Awesome.

I get my coveted Orangina. It tastes better here in France than at home, even than in Montreal. Bread and butter, I have plenty.
How many Oranginas I order, I don't know. To my delight, le monsieur, who is part Italian, orders San Pellegrino, so I win on both counts. May I have some prego? Perrier is better, fyi.

We both get veal, mine is Milanese. It is Heavenly. The pasta that comes with it is Heavenly. The mousse au chocolat is to die for. Dieu benit la France. (God bless France)

Normally we would do the walkabout and Virgin Megastore(it is HUGE) pilgrimage, but he needs to be up at 5am and it is already late.

I will be back. ah duh. I was just here in November.

Back to CDG and this time we fly back.

Autoroute is empty. Even though I leave tomorrow, I see Paris for the last time tonight, always an emotional thing for me.

When we leave Paris it is like I am leaving a wonderful party. They are playing and I have to go. Montreal is the same. I hate it!! Though we in LA do ok.

I am already tired and I can feel it, le jetlag. My body clock is so off now.

I also am grateful for his sacrifice.

I get one last look at the Eiffel Tower.


Back to CDG I ask if we can please drive around Aerogare 1, one of my fav. places in the world, kind of like Heathrow's Terminal 4 and Frankfurt Terminal 1.

He does one better and we park. He brings his backpack, uh oh, I know what this means. Airport Shopping.

He says hello to colleages, as this is where he works.

Every timetable on the counter, some not on the counter http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, fall into the bag. There were some loose other goodies dans le sac(into the bag).

We tour everything. I get Icelandair Business Class luggage labels, yeah.

It is wonderful.

The woman is at the Emirates desk and he doesn't want to bother her, so I do.
I ask her in French for a couple of timetables and she smiles and hands them over. SFO Phil, see what I do for you! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
He bought alot of dinners last time he was down here, so fair.

This was fun. I love this terminal and take one last look. They are going to remodel it. It needs a facelift badly, but I love it all the same.

I love that dingalingdong that goes off. So very French. Qatar Airways now boarding.

He shows me mercy and stops at a Total station for some drinks. Orangina which did me well at JFK and some waters. He even pays for them.

I never needed to exchange for one Euro.
I don't think I even used my bank or credit cards once while in France which was a good thing. I really pushed it.

BTW, when he comes here, his money is NO good and we have actually fought over a bill. I took he and another, who you will meet shortly, to my favorite Japanese restaurant near my university. The guy grabs the bill and pays it.

If you ever wanted to meet a wonderful Frenchman, here ya go.

He takes me to the hotel in the snow and it is all white now. A big hug and goodbye.

I am grateful that I didn't leave the window open as I would have had snow all over my bed.

I love the view of the snow falling past the old fashioned lanterns and it is just so beautiful. The planes in the yonder distance are all white covered in that pretty wintery stuff.

Some late night tv and some quick packing.

I am exhausted and so to bed.

Going home... CDG to LHR part 1

One thing I want to mention from the night before. It is always a sad thing when it is my last night in Europe, even though I have a full day ahead of me the next day. Thought I would share.

Ok, someone was supposed to call me about a possible breakfast, but never did, which is fine. I know he is busy.

I was too rushed. Had to pack everything and get ready. I was very happy to leave the college dorm. ick

Now it was sunny outside, but still biting cold and you could see the planes taking off in the distance. I watched LCI, a French news channel, pas de CNN and I needed to hear French anyway.

The strategy to the packing is this: I fly BA from the continent to London, then American to the States, usually taking the last flight of the evening to JFK. FYI, American will not check your bags through to LA, but BA will. I will tell you by this time they are so heavy, I am happy not to have to deal with them at JFK.

So I get things ready for a quick pull out at JFK after customs, everything goes home to Paradise, I mean California. Hey, it is HOME!

I am sad to leave Europe but yes, happy to be going home. It has been a long 2 weeks, or just about.

I make 2 trips downstairs, 2nd with cart. The elevator is taking forever and my fellow American (kid) is waiting. I point out the other elevator and that did the trick. Someone was blocking the first lift with their attempt to load bags. It was long, but width sucked.

I waved au revoir and dropped off the 70's style huge key, haven't seen that in a long time, so new keycard to add to my collection.

The bus was there and monsieur grouch was the driver. Oh my. He stood there while I loaded the bags on myself, which is fine. But to be so grouchy.

Everyone on the bus was American and they were happy to be going home.

We pulled out and headed back via le roundabout to CDG 2. I hear they are flying Northwest. Ah, NW flies out of Terminal 1, this bus is going to 2. Did you check?

They go, uh oh. Are you sure NW flies out of T1? yep, was there last night, saw the NW/KL counter. They start to freak. I ask the driver, le grouch, oh my, in French if we go to T1. Non! but when he sees that half the bus is flying NW out of T1, he agrees to take them. What a pain he is! No tip for him either, which worked out very well. No Euros and the US $$$ were needed in the US.

I think one other gets off at 2B, BA.

They are from Detroit, I explain that I have lived in Toledo. We both take shots at each others' respective cities. too funny. I love Toledo and I take offence to any Toledo bashing, seriously. It is another home for me. GO MUDHENS!

They say thank you and I wish my fellow Americans a wonderful trip, even if on Northwest, LOL. ha ha ha

2B or not 2B, ca c'est la question. The snag with 2B, trying something in the old days when terrorists were shooting things up at Roma and Wien, they put the check in past passport control. Good and bad. I don't have that much time to play so not much of an issue, but I have to clear le controle des passeports, check in, and then would have to come back. Oh well I will be back. Oh I miss BA at Terminal 1 !!!

Passport check was easy,stamp, Vivre la France as I go through. I laugh hysterically when I get to the BA counter and I recognize the good looking gentleman behind the counter.
We shake hands. As he is from the Middle East I reluctantly say I have been to Israel, he forgives me, thank you. I even show him my stamp, which would now bar me from entering his country. I won't say to protect anonymity.

He takes the bags, checks them to LA, love it!! bye bye

I ask for an exit row seat. "You don't think I am going to let you sit in coach, do you?"
I love you! Le upgrade, finally, is there. Actually BA used to be much better about upgrades and the agents out of Paris have upgraded me and I grabbed my mom from coach, with the blessing of a lovely crew. Out of London, forget it. too strict.

We talk forever. Duty Free and lounge go to the wayside, which is fine. I love this guy.
He demands that I come to the (airliners hobby) show in San Francisco at the end of March, the last one they will ever have. I tell him I will try and I am thinking about it. (also, cough, someone I want to meet up that way, a fellow traveleress, cough) Hopefully you know who you are. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

This guy was with us at the Japanese restaurant with Mr. Paris and the 3 of us jogged on the beach together here in Malibu, he remembers well. They would look at Southwest planes coming in and say yeah, sorry, I say puke.

He praises the new Untied color scheme which I can see through the windows. ahhhhhhhhh
I like the older one. And I hate 'Ted.' stupid name. He loves Untied, I love the Silver bird.
We praise our airlines.

We talk and fortunately the Business line is empty.

I was going to go take a look, actually quite a bit airside and was going to go manhunt for some Swiss chocolates, but he drags me back and says let me walk you to the gate.

The gate is right behind me, a short walk, BUT, a huge snaky line for security awaits and after I have cursed everyone for cutting in front of me for 2 weeks, but with his blessing, he brings me to the front, ok, that felt good. The Britts were pissed and get after him and he looks at them and says, I am working your flight. He speaks fluent English, love the guy.
Some other guy jumps out of line and joins us and he is duly chastized, but he gets a free ride.

1 or 2 security machines and this will take all day. Too crowded, too much.
Back to T1 s'il vous plait!!

He takes me to the gate and plays with the computer. He also wrote in my PNR, passenger record, to AA to upgrade me. Didn't happen, but I was happy, as you will see. I also asked why they keep parking the BA planes at the remote stands and he tells me quietly it is AF (F'n) BA. Gee, I can believe it. An Air Algerie Airbus is next to us. The French always seem to put BA near Air Algerie. Air Algeria is a security threat in France, its former colonial master.
Everytime BA escapes from them, they seem to follow. ouch Not that Air France would have anything to do with that. No love lost between these 2 'cousins.' I say pro British things in front of Mr. Paris and I get a lecture on how terrible the British are. In fact when I came out of customs he gave me another one, though he duly ate his Bounty(Brit) chocolates all the same. LOL Too much!

A cute femme flirts with him and praises him. When he gives me his updated #, e-mail, I still need to write him!, the chicka is jealous and wants it, too. (ah, he drives on the other side of the road, leave it at that, honey, and I am sure she knows that) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

I commit to SFO (maybe, the fares are so expensive but I would love to go and make a weekend out of it, if even to kick SFO Phil around for a bit http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).

They call the flight, tears my BP, I give him a big hug. Oh and I told la femme I would be happy to take her # but she said I live too far away, well, true. Amazingly she reminds me of someone from church, who got married. The resemblance is incredible. (sorry, can't think of her name. )

We finally get a jetway and it is a 757, cool. They do another passport check, now that I have put it away, France likes that for some reason, I just showed it 2 seconds ago, but I have finally been upgraded, the Platinum I am!. Boarding to the front of the plane and the BA crew is very warm and hospitable. I am deciding do I keep this seat or move for a better take off position? Right side is usually best for Londinium.

A woman comes over and dares sit next to me, oh no, I tell her I might move to get more space. First, I ask her if speaks English and OF COURSE I DO, WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT? bite . Then she apologizes. Honey, this is France, fewer than should- speak English, but that is another story. She settles in. Great, someone is invading my space.

Well, we start talking and she is cool. Kind of like my seatmate to Tel Aviv. She lives in Paris with her husband, but is from the burbs of Portland. I explain I was there last summer, met a girl from the sticks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif he he he near Spokane. Told her it was one of my best trips ever, something as simple as Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. She smiled. Yes, the girl helped as well. I still have keychains for you, dear.

The plane is delayed and people keep boarding, I am sure thanks to the security lines.

She is getting worried as she has one hour at LHR to change to Seattle. They make an announcement, we are delayed, blah blah, I could care less, take all day, I have over 6 hours at Heathrow, but for her, I care.

We start yacking, compare travel stories, and the woman is fascinating. She asked how she can find good Business Class fares to the US as she had to book last minute for a funeral. I pull out the UK edition of Business Traveller and show her a list of agents. I also tore out the subscription page and gave it to her. Then I introduced her to the flying Bible, said with respect, the OAG. In this case, the OAG -Official Airline Guide Euro addition.
I sub. to both the Euro and US editions. Merry Christmas to me and thanks mom and dad.
Hopefully they know it. LOL She usually flies Business as coach is not good for her leg, but I mention AA, check it out.

Finally, ding dong and push back. She may make it. They tried to do a recorded announcement in French and the thing breaks. Ok. They tried atleast. You fly to Paris all the time and you don't know some rudimentary French!? Even a bonjour. Nothing.
Too British! If Air France flew to London and they spoke no English we would be outraged. You can fly Air France to the smallest city in France and you get a full announcements and safety demo in English. But the French get us in other ways. That is for another time.

<<As for ELAL, some love it, some hate it. <<

Service is top notch. I have made at least 50 trips with them and never had a problem.

CDG to LHR

In this case the left side was perfect, not always. We departed 2B, got a flirt with the Air Algerie Airbus, then out to the taxi way past le Sofitel, very good views from the hotel but lately it has been so expensive. My belated Christmas gift was passing Terminal 1. Ok, I think I worship the thing. I salivate at the Air Gabon 747 going to Africa, in case you didn't know. P took me on the Cameroon Air 747-300 one night which was fascinating.

I still need to get on the Air Gabon and play. They had the Untied 777in the new colors- puke, Saudi 777, Northwest's old DC-10, SASafrass, and who else? some good ones. We turn right and now I see where he is going. This is going to be fun. My beloved seatmate cuts me a break in our talking, which was fascinating by the way, and let's me look. You can see the Aerogare 2 entourage thru the trees. Oh what a mess. Tear the whole freaking thing down and start over.

We turn around, rev the engines, we recite the French national anthem, that some sarcastic soul on here refers to 'la mayonnaise', which is funny, and we go. Au revoir la belle France, mais a bientot(soon).

We go right past the big monster known as T1, some cool planes, the new radar unit they have spinning around, lift up and off the ground, over the AF cargo bases and some more special planes.

Sidenote, last trip, when we landed here on CSA from Prague in November, and yes, I may do a trip report for that, later, an Air Mauritania 727 took off. Salivate, thank you.

We fly over the banlieues of Paris, actually getting somewhat of a decent view of Paris, from the North, we had to fly over Versailles, where my neighbor lives. Over villages and some French countryside. Before long we are over the English Channel, but what the French refer to as La Manche, the sleeve. They would never give the British so much credit. Oh the rivalry is too fun. You ought to see between English Canada and Quebec, I think it is actually worse. Same God people. Makes us brothers and sisters.

We talk more, she is very interesting. I tell her about my trip.

BA comes around with a decent meal, vs. the garbage in coach. It was some kind of a salad, I seldom care for salad outside of the US and Canada, so I leave most of it.
They have a delicious what I will assume is prosciuto. yummmmmmm It is the only real food I get for a long time.

I asked for another bread roll and I get one going toward final. The usual Malvern English sparkling water, love this stuff.

The crews are friendly and sweet. But most are kind in coach or Business, just that now they have more time to take care of you. You would never get this much food on a 45 minute flight in the US, not now. Back when Air Canada and Canadiennnne competed with each other, they both would serve an incredible hot meal on the one hour flight between Toronta and Mount Real. I don't know how they did it. Us Yanks, sadly, can't do it.

Over Blighty's coastline and down we go. Some clouds but beautiful scenery with lot's of nice green fields.

When I got into the war movies, and you can thank the American sitcom from way back, Hogan's Heroes for it, this stuff made me emotional. Thinking of the pilots who visited that country where they serve sauerkraut http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and then came home successfully. Hogan gets to come to England a couple of times and I do think about that here.

A couple of the pilots into London would actually mention Biggin Hill, an airfield used during the war, it was as if they were inspired or something. I loved the WW2 mentions.

We are over London, not the same view from the left hand side, but good as well. I think it is Wembley to my left and the flats, the red double decker buses, etc. It is nice now but a very sombering view when I have been away from the motherland for a while.

Flaps, descend, ok this is cool. He flies past the BA hangars, I wave to my South African planes below, touch down, and we go past T1 and then to T3. Preparing for tonight's depature we go past T3 and my beloved Silver Birds(AA) who will take me home to the Colonies.

Over to T4 and it was an incredible view all the same.

I wish my seatmate my very best and tell her to run. I am pretty sure she made it. I did give her backups with BA having a later flight into LA. She is going to Portland, not Seattle, oh and she cursed the Seattle customs people, have never done that entry point before(always pre-clear at Vancouver).

I grab some BA souvenirs, the last after 6 segments. I wish the crew a warm cheers.

Now I stay tranist. I played with going landside. The onboxious passport officer coming in a few days ago put me off that but I did take a landing card just in case. I wanted to test out the airside transfer system which I have only done once. T3 from AA to T4 BA to Amsterdam. Too tired to go play on that one.

I was amazed as to the wait while on the bus, which was parked and waiting for us, to the Flight Connections Centre. They had a separate bus to T3, but please, I have over 6 hours to kill.

We make our way past the Kenya 767 and down to the underground tunnel. Up and out near T2 and over to the FCC. Swiss, Lufthansa, bonjour Air France, and some other nicknacks. Oh, Pulkovo TU-154 from Sankt Petersburg.
Nice to look at.

Upstairs to the security area and the lines/queues are long, but doable. Strip everything down and what I do like they don't ask for your dang boarding pass. I think that is the only time in England they don't LOL. My fellow Americans are taking their shoes off and the English security people laughingly ask why? Cause Tom Ridge told us to, sir! LOL

Do the walk through the FCC and over to T1. For those who don't know, while I bash Heathrow ad nauseum, I also love it, too, I will give LHR alot of credit with the FCC. The Flight Connections Centre is a middle area where buses take you from all parts of the airport to one general processing area. Unlike most of Europe, save France, they make you clear security again and then you go to the counters for your boarding passes, etc. and then go on to your gate. You can walk to 1 and 2. Have to bus to 3 and 4 and both 3 and 4 have their own inhouse transfers areas, all very convenient and I will give the British a huge kudos on this one. They also have a direct link to the domestic flights with a passport check. Brilliant! Actually restores some of my pride in being a descended half Britt after the Hoppa and all that rubbish.

HOWEVER http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, you saw it coming, to make everyone clear security again is a pain in the arse and a waste of time and resources and I know for a fact that people have missed planes because of it. In fact a woman was complaining that she did miss her plane right then and there. ouch To Paris, you will live, to Africa, it bites, where planes go 2/3 days a week.

In the Amazing Race, one of Brian's addictions, it is on at the same time as Friends so forget it,
they had a loup from Brazil to Heathrow to South Africa. The 2 older ladies went right to the Virgin gate for their Jo'burg flight but had not cleared security at LHR. They did in Brazil and hadn't blown anything up in 12 hours.
gee.

Due to the rule loving nature of the Britts, the 2 ladies missed their flight to South Africa and it took them out of the race completely. They flew the next day and were walked to the stopping point in Stellenbosch. Everyone felt bad and British bureaucracy took a huge hit for that. It got all over. I suppose it kind of made the ladies heroes in a way, they tried so hard. I would curse the gate agent for eternity for something stupid like that. I believe in karma, he will get his.

They could have held the plane, manually wanded them or something, gee guys, they just came off a plane. Had they gone through Frankfurt, Amsterdam, etc, they would have made it. Why I do praise Germanic efficiency, something my fellow Jews will get after me, sorry, hey, Germany works. Frankfurt is one of the best examples of how an airport should be run, same with Zurich.

I understand from certain countries, like Iran http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, it might be needed. It is also insulting to other countries' security practices to rescreen. I would think they would work with all of Western Europe. The French do it too at CDG and flights were being delayed and people were missing flights because of it. Unlike the British, the French finally said scew it and waved the transfer checks, which made it doable. Anyway, there ya go.

I looked for goodies at the FCC and found nothing. AA does have a transfer desk there but decided have fun at
T3.

Over to Terminal 1.

My dear Genevoise, that is great, but you are about the only one.

My dad has Israeli clients, I know someone who works at the Israeli consulate here in LA. If they fly ELAL, it is for security and to support Israel.

I knew an ELAL crewmember, he told me the nasty things he would to pax, not now, maybe later I will share.

They are nasty. Customer service means nothing.

A woman wrote in the Jerusalem Report magazine, English. She blasted ELAL, they have no legroom, they forgot the special meal, they did this, and they did that, why do we fly them? becuase they are Israeli.
I laughed so hard.

Why do you think my BA planes were so full?
I was shocked. Die hard religous Jews who I am sure wanted LY security. They also wanted service.

Ok, I am getting to the end, let me concentrate so I can finish and get my life back, toda rabah.

Heathrow 1

Ok people, we are almost there. I have got to finish this today or I will burn out. Sorry.
Plus I have someone beating me up over ELAL on the flyertalk board. They are a great person but please let me finish this! ugh
_________

Over to the BA lounge, I know their rules, but I try to get in anyway. With Oneworld, if you are flying a Oneworld
carrier, it is an alliance between many airlines, internationally, you have lounge access. All the other airlines, save BA, follow that rule, though in all fairness BA in HKG let me come over and visit when flying Cathay.

BA in England goes by another set of rules, their own, and they are nasty. I am flying American from
Terminal 3 to the States, I am in Terminal 1 now. With any other Oneworld carrier, no problem, but BA has to be
tight about it, though I have another word for it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I show my card, thank you, may I see your boarding pass, please? Oh I say, you are flying from Terminal 3.
American has its own lounge over there and you need to go there. Ok I BS a little. But I am meeting a friend here who is flying to Brussels. Hence, he would be here at Terminal 1, if such a friend existed. The twist is that if we both had gone to the American lounge, they would let us in, as AA has done, even when I flew British Midland. Why I am an
American!!! The cultural difference and all. too much I had an American guy at the AA lounge when I was flying BMI. I showed my card and my BM boarding pass. Oh come on in! Love it!

She hassles me, I argue a bit, more out of principle, she misinterprets the rules, to be honest( I wanted to slap her, I really really did!), I grab my boarding pass and card and back out before I do something I will regret. She is an (itch)

BA does this all the time and on flyertalk we gripe about it. It is not so much the lounge, I have other lounges to go to, and I do, but it is the principle. BA is the worst out of this great alliance as to lounges and rules. I find it ironic that they are so generous on check in and luggage, but tight with the stupid lounge. Stuff it. I will come back next time, fly out of here to FRA or wherever, and just take everything. Gotta love it! gotta love it!

I am mad but I cool down. It is a British thing.

I go to Terminal 2 and walk around, grab a Duty Free bag for Airport Shopping http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and look at all the shops, been here, done that. With my coveted Priority Pass card, God bless it, I have access to the generic Servisair lounge. The attendants are a mix, sometimes very sweet,and sometimes, they need to go back to bed for some more rest. But they will never turn you away, thank goodness. This one was very sweet and welcomed me in, but of course, comme tous les anglais, she had to see my boarding pass. Often at other lounges around the world they don't need to see your BP, you technically don't need to fly to use the lounges, but as it happens MOST are airside, Orly has a nice one landside. The English are the exception and want the BP. Ok............. It is the principle of it, moving on.

I have a few waters and a few biscuits. Check up on the Financial Times,a paper I love. Every geeky Business majors' dream paper, LOL.

There was a Swiss magazine, took that, otherwise, not much else. Wished her my best and dragged my crap out to the next watering hole.

Then the Iberia lounge. This is where the Britts get nailed to the wall. BA says no. Iberia is the Spanish airline, also a member of the Oneworld alliance. She doesn't see me and I walk in, could have stayed very easily. People come and go, so understandable. At the Northwest lounges at Detroit I would go up to the counter and put my card in their face, nicely of course. Hey, I paid alot of money for these, let me use it right.

I am honest and go to the Iberia attendant. She is sweet. She does ask for the BP, after showing my card, but doesn't make a fuss as her British cousins over at 1 do. UGH I was admitted and warmly so.

Paul would go nuts here. Iberia coffee cups, saucers, little cups, everything. No, I didn't take them, you come and do that. I have no problem taking the food or drink, I am entitled to that, beyond that, you need to do it buddy.
You would go nuts here. So would Mr. Paris.

They had some good bottled water and nuts, almonds, and other nicknacks. Their peanuts are really good.

I did take some Iberia napkins and swizzle sticks, again, for the taking. 2 magazines and a couple of timetables, ok, they are getting heavy. You have a great view of the planes and I saw the Pulkovo Russian machine take off, that was nice.

Ok, time to head to 3. I thanked her dearly. Kind of cute.

I stopped by the Lufthansa lounge but without a Star B/P, wasn't going to happen. I wanted to get to 3 anyway.

Back to terminal 1 and I walked around the stores, Duty Free, and all. Places was packed. They had some stupid demonstration for a British cell phone company but it takes up so much needed space for seating and passenger comfort. It is a good terminal. I will give the Britts credit, they have nice terminals, large, spacious, and relatively comfortable. Just don't try to break the rules, they are not into that. (they probably, sadly, forfit many, many contracts and other negotations around the world, but I do admire their integrity) Why the French have actually done better than the Britts, they were very much into Iraq.

I had to go down the ramp to the airside, an area I know well. I don't even bother hassling with the BMI lounge. I could actually see Lufthansa giving it to me, she was not Brit, but BMI drives me crazy with the rules, even more so than BA.

Ok, back to the FCC, back to security, back to the strip down. Hey, I knew I would have to do this.

Down to the coaches(what we call buses) to Terminal 3. It is freezing! coat back on.

We had a nice tour of the ramp and went past the Olympic A340, nice. Some other goodies as well.

Back to my old haunt of Terminal 3 and up we go. It is time to go home.