The journey to Israel has begun. This morning I loaded Clifford the Big Red Suitcase into Old Blue and headed off to my friends in Pleasanton. Then it was on to The BART station for the first train.

After a long train riding, including one transfer I arrived at the Airport.

Check in was relatively painless as I am splurging on this trip and using miles to fly First and Business on the way over to Israel. After checking in it was on to security where I had no line to wait in for priority screening. Since I am traveling without a laptop it was also easier as all I had to do was take off my shoes and belt. No worrying about emptying out my bag of electronics.

Having plenty of time I grabbed some lunch, and am now waiting for my first flight of the trip. My first flight takes me to Chicago. From Chicago I fly on Lufthansa to Frankfurt and after a long layover continue on to Tel Aviv. It will be a long journey, but the excitement is building.

I will try and check in from Frankfurt, but don’t know what the status of wireless connections are there. Most likely they will have free service since they are a top class International Airport.

Steven