Israel Trip - Day 1

Left our house at 4:30am to get to the Budapest airport for my flight to Tel Aviv.

The flight was uneventful, but upon arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport - oh my word! What an amazing airport! Now, I’ve been to Heathrow, O’Hare, JFK, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and others, but this airport is absolutely gorgeous! My first thoughts as I meandered through the facility is that this must have been the reaction of the Jews the first time that they stepped into the Temple after Solomon finished building it. Simplicity. Beauty. Majesty. Those are words that crossed my mind at the airport.

I met Randy because he was sitting with a GYI sign. (GYI stands for Global Youth Initiatives and that is the conference I am attending here in Jerusalem.)

The shuttle ride from the airport to Jerusalem was another experience. I’ve been in some crazy situations with cabbies, but this guy wins the trophy for threading the eye of the needle at 40-60 mph! He was amazing!

What a beautiful city this is. Of course, there are parts that are ugly like any other big city, but there is such a uniqueness to this city. I’ve never seen so many yamikas in my life!

The white Mediterranean stone against the green shrubbery and trees creates a peaceful tone. The sunshine & cool breeze is so refreshing.

Tonight, we had dinner and I returned to my room. I wanted to sit in the jacuzzi, but I’d only have 25 minutes or so because Ladies’ Night at the jacuzzi starts at 9:00pm. Bummer.

Saw folks from Slovakia at dinner: Peto Hrubo, Miska, Draho, Peto Antalik and others. Also saw Dan Hash, Greg Carlson, Mike Sullivan, Todd Morr, Mel & Amy Ellenwood, Kevin Phillips, Mark Gold. Of course, Jon Covell & Holly Davis were present - they came with GEM-YM.

Tomorrow we head out for a Bedouin overnight experience. We’ll actually be sleeping either outside or in tents. Camping! Bedouin style! Supposed to have a camel ride (not too thrilled about that since I did that in Egypt and found that camel saddles tend to be made from wood with a blanket for padding!), but we will also swim in the Dead Sea.

I’m going to sit in the tub in hot water, read and try to relax my back/neck muscles so I can sleep without waking from shooting pains in my neck.