I have arrived at the airport in Tel Aviv after a bit of drama. Of course, my last post talked about the re-routing because of the cancelled Lufthansa flight.

It was then off to the hotel for a good dinner and then a night of fitful sleep with a thunderstorm raging and a cooling system in the room that just would not stay on or stay off. Every time it would switch on or off it would wake me. I finally shutting off entirely, but then the room got hot.

My real picture taking on the trip has not yet begun, so will add a picture of the Cobb Salad I had in Chicago. The picture was taken with my iPad, which came out OK.

On Tuesday morning it was back to the airport to wait for my flight to Newark. I went a lot earlier than I really needed to and spent a lot of time watching other flights get processed. I also found out that unlike San Francisco, the airport in Chicago does not have free wifi.

We did board our flight on time, but it was not long after we pulled away from the gate and were near the runway that the pilot informed us that we were on an ATC delay. The minutes ticked away as I patiently waited while calculating in my head how much time I would have in Newark to catch my flight. We were finally on our way, and despite a 40 minute delay in Chicago we only arrived about 10 minutes late in Newark.

It was then a long hike to the gate for the flight here to Tel Aviv. I had to go through security again when I reached the gate, including a bag search and quick check with a security wand.

I got in line to board and was the first person on the flight. It was nice to get settled in for the ten hour flight. Also a big relief to know that I was on the way with no more chances of missed connections.

On the flight I watched two movies that I had been wanting to see, but had never had the chance. I first saw ‘The Bucket List’ so finally have seen the story that popularized the term that is used so often today.

I snapped a picture with my iPad to show the size of my screen. It was nice to watch the movie on a larger screen than what I am used to on an airplane. The other movie that I watched was ‘Warhorse’. I really enjoyed this movie as it had some great action sequences in it and a wonderful story line.

The only other exciting thing that happened during the flight was me dumping a plate of food in my lap. My pants will recover, but have a distinct steak sauce smell for now :-).

I am now patiently waiting for the tour group to arrive for JFK. Several others arrived yesterday and will meet back here at the airport. Checking the monitors, the main group has been delayed by 90 minutes. I also found out that several others missed flights to JFK, so we will have a reduced group to start.

I will most likely post again later tonight and give our schedule for the next few days.

Steven