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| Paul, Richard & Gary in Vancouver |
It has been a very
long day that began on Monday the 9th of January at the Vancouver
Airport. Dr Gary Gaudin, Pastor Paul
Schmidt and I began our journey to Israel with an 11.00 a.m. flight to
Calgary. Paul and I experienced a couple
of snags in checking in, but there were rapidly sorted out by a very helpful
Air Canada agent named Cindy --- the rumours of the death of customer service
are greatly exaggerated!
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| Lunch in Calgary |
After an uneventful flight to Calgary Paul, Gary and I
paused for lunch forgetting that our
flight to Frankfurt would have bring with it at least one if not two meals on
board. Although the food was great, all
three of us experienced some of the typical challenges to air travel these days
--- a row mate who insists on putting his elbow into your side, a child who
seems unfamiliar with the concept of ‘no’ and the same child who by kicking the
seat in front of him shakes the row with the third of our party! By the time we arrived in Frankfurt some of the
allure of international travel was wearing thin.
Our flight was sent to a gate at one end of Terminal 1 and
our Tel Aviv flight was located at the other end of the Terminal. We all began to think that there was no such
gate as Gate C13, but it did finally appear.
There we went through a second security screening procedure. Paul’s luggage lost a strap in that process
and my CPAP (continuous positive airflow pump), used by those of us who suffer
from sleep apnea, generated a lot of interest and an additional swipe to make
sure it was not masquerading as something else.
The flight to Tel Aviv was wonderful in comparison to the
Frankfurt leg. I’m convinced that the
Airbus and Boeing engineers have different measurements regarding economy
seating, Boeing having the more generous dimensions. It wasn’t a full flight so all three of us
were able to have a short nap.
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| Gary & Paul at Tel Aviv Airport |
Our landing in Tel Aviv was delayed by birds. It seems that the flight landing ahead of us
experienced several bird strikes, so we circled around while the ground crew
chased the unwelcome avian denizens away from the runway. We passed quickly through passport control,
picked up our baggage and were greeted by Rabbi Philip Bregman, our Vancouver
colleague who had travelled to Israel earlier. Tel Aviv is very much a Mediterranean city
and could easily pass as any European city on the Mediterranean coast if it
weren’t for the Hebrew and Arabic road signs.
We were treated to sunshine and comfortable temperatures.
After a short rest
and shower we went off to dinner with Rabbi Bregman and Cathy Bregman. We were joined by the Bregmans’ two daughters
and two of their daughters’ friends. We
had a lively and helpful conversation about the challenges of life in
contemporary Israel, especially the difficulties in integrating numerous immigrant
groups into Israeli society. All four
young people were open and frank in talking about the strengths and the
weaknesses of Israel.
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| Roman Mosaics in Tel Aviv Airport |
Tomorrow evening our programme begins officially, but more
on that tomorrow.
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