Have you Ever Eaten Hummus with a Spoon?
Traveling with a baby is stupid easy. If you leave your nine month at home just be honest and say you want to get fall down drunk and not have to worry about a kid. Traveling with a three-year old is not stupid easy. It is not hard-hard but it has its own set of quirks. Like carrying 30 pounds is not as easy as carrying 15 pounds. Three year olds like to kick seats. Babies, not so much. Anyhoo, that was pretty much the start of the trip.
I have also determined that Tel Aviv may be just a wee bit too far for my liking. I cannot tell you how bummed I was when I watched the flight status map and saw we were over London…and, we were only half way there. Next, time we’ve really got to work these kinds of trips into shorter segments (Newark does not count).
Let’s just fly through this first day:
1. All you hear about is how safe Israel is aside from Gaza and, at times, the West Bank. It is not comforting then to start your trip with a special double security airport checkpoint just for Tel Aviv passengers.
2. Whatever they were cooking for the “special” meal from Newark to Tel Aviv smelled so gross that I wanted to puke on someone. Prefferably the chef.
3. I need to do some research on Orthodox Jewish garb. It seems really hot, not something that desert dwellers would come up with if given the choice. And, the side curls. If you have to use a curling iron to make yours does it really count as showing reverence to God? (It just doesn’t seem like something that would be high on His priority list). Lest we forget about the hats (the tallish black ones). Do they only make them in Brooklyn? Everyone of them was bringing a hat box back with them and they seemed pretty serious about them.
4. Continental, it’s not cool to kick off some ladies husband because you double booked his seat. Then realize your mistake after you take off and move the wife up to the one extra seat on the plane, in first class (sure seems like the husband would have preferred that to being kicked off the plane).
5. I watched Letters to Juliet on the plane. I liked it. Totally predictable chick flick.
6. I don’t think the driver Noble was kind enough to send for us was prepared for what our luggage situation was. He looked scared.
7. So so so so glad we brought the car seat. Not that the driving is terribly difficult. Glad we rented a car. Things are marked well enough. It’s just that the Israelis must think that those white lines on the ground are suggested lanes not actual lanes.
8. Israelis are horn happy. Dave is horn happy. Dave is happy.
9. Don’t forget your passport when you go to pick up your rental car in a foreign country. The D-bags at Avis will be more than happy to run you back to your hotel but not so willing to bring you back.
10. I saw Spider-man in Hebrew!
11. I love cafe cultures. There are an abundance of coffee shops and outdoor eating opportunities.
12. I love hummus. Especially here. It is like pureed heaven. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat the junk they sell in the grocery stores back home ever again.
13. American portion sizes are the same as the rest of the world. I’ve been around enough to say this definitively. The bowl of hummus they brought me could have fed six. My bowl of soup could have kept a small village full for a week.
14. We bought Trix and Raisin Bran at the grocery. We can pretty much find everything from America here. I passed a Gap and a Crocs store yesterday. That seems wrong.
15. Renting an apartment was the best decision. It’s pretty much the apartment that Ikea built but it’s so much better than being in a hotel. A one minute walk to the beach, plenty of parking and space.
And now, it’s picture time (not to be confused with peanut butter and jelly time!):
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