Welcome to
my April A-Z blog posts. I’ll be sharing about my recent trip to Israel.
A is for Airplanes and Tel Aviv
and Avocados!
A is for Airplanes
Our flights were crazy. We flew from
Birmingham to Houston to Newark to Tel Aviv.
 |
| In the Bham airport with travelling companions |
We spent a lot of time in airports
and on airplanes! Our return trip was
Tel Aviv to Chicago (with a SIX HOUR layover). There was a huge snow storm
arriving in Chicago later that night and I was so glad we were able to fly on
home. I wish that we could have spent a little time in Tel Aviv but that was
not to be.
The flight from Newark to Tel Aviv takes
about 10 ½ hours and the flight from Tel Aviv to Newark takes about 12 hours.
When I went to Israel in 2014, that was the first time I had ever flown
continuously for such a long period of time. The airplane is large with many
seats and you actually receive a couple of meals while in flight.
The flight to and from Tel Aviv is usually
full and it is always interesting to find out new things about your seat mates.
I sat with a young man who has a start up company (Israel is the largest place
for start ups!). I asked him what he thought the differences were in the US and
in Israel because he told me that he had lived in the US for six years. His
response was quite interesting – he said that our thoughts, as Americans, about freedoms –
especially personal freedom – is a totally different thought process than an Israeli citizen might have.
On the flight home, I sat with an older lady
and her husband and I had the window seat so I had to climb over them several
times. She was quite vocal about her political views.
Tel Aviv
The airport in Tel Aviv is the Ben Guiron
airport and it is a large airport and actually quite pretty in spots. There are
quite a few security checkpoints you have to go through before you can board
your plane.
I hit up the duty free shops on the way
home looking for specialty bourbons for Mark
Avocados
Now why in the world do I have avocados? Did
you know that Israel grows about 100,000 tons of avocados? About 70% of those
are exported. (these are figures from 2016 so I imagine the number is even
larger now.) They served avocados at breakfast and they were indeed some of the
best avocados I have ever eaten. They were so yummy with scrambled eggs!!
Have you ever been to Tel Aviv? What is the
longest flight you have ever travelled? Do you like avocados?
Before we met, my husband wanted to move to Israel. :)
ReplyDeleteThose avocados look wonderful!
I've never been to Tel Aviv, but I do love avocados! Living in southern California, they are quite plentiful here. And, oddly enough, I prefer the ones from Mexico to the ones grown in state, so that just makes me wonder how they both compare to Israeli avocados.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, and Happy A to Z-ing!
I was able to spend some time in Israel about 6 years ago. It made a lasting impression on me.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Tel Aviv. The longest flight I've ever taken was from JFK in New York to Milano, Italy. I can't remember how long it was exactly, but I was so afraid to get up and walk around. (Unsure why)
ReplyDeleteI love avocados! They are my favorite fruit!
Vanessa, Laura, Heather, and Morgan,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting and commenting. Loved reading your comments.
Hi, Lisa - I loved your post on 'B' so much that I stopped over to read 'A'. I am now totally hooked on finding out more about your trip to Israel. I will definitely be back!
ReplyDeleteMy longest flight ever was probably from Los Angeles to Panama City years ago. I don't remember it being uncomfortable. I recently had a four hour flight cross country here in the USA and that was a bit difficult for me. It had been decades since I had flown that far. Maybe I'm getting older?
ReplyDeleteI love avocados, but am about the only one in the family who will eat them now, so don't have them often as I can't eat a whole one by myself. I'm glad you had such tasty ones.
I am catching up on posts I missed during April and commenting periodically.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to know more about the personal freedoms differences the young man noticed. There were several adjustments I had to make when I moved to Ecuador, too. They have made me more aware of differences in cultures.
A couple of minor ones were related to personal space and lines:
The amount of personal space I receive here is the amount of space my body occupies. The person behind me may have their purse touching my back and it is not considered rude or invasive.
When there is a line (bank, store, etc.), certain people can always walk to the front - senior citizens, pregnant women, disabled, etc. At first, I was confused about why some people walked up to the front and no one seemed bothered. Now it makes perfect sense and I wish the practice would be adopted everywhere.
Oh and asking a woman's age is one of the first things people do when they meet (they ask men, too). Not taboo at all!
The longest flights I have been on were between San Francisco and Tokyo. If I recall correctly, I think they were 14 hours one direction and 12 the other but I could be wrong.
Emily In Ecuador