It’s a long way from Yachats, Oregon to Tel Aviv, Israel. There is no denying it.
am on my way. Just about 7,000 miles if you went directly. I had a plan, but like many good plans stuff happened along the way. I initially bought my plane ticket last July when I saw a good deal on Expedia with a non-stop on Alaska Airways from Portland to JFK, and then only a 3-hour layover at JFK before catching a non-stop on El Al to Tel Aviv. If all went well it was supposed to be a total of a 19-hour trip from airport to airport. Somewhere along the way Alaska decided to change the departure time of its non-stop and it became an early 6:35 AM departure which grew my layover to almost 12 hours at JFK.
Of course, I had the option to changing my ticket but there was nothing available near the good price I had initially scored, so I adapted my initial plan. I had to drive to Portland the day before my flight to stay over at a park and fly hotel to catch the early morning shuttle. That wasn’t so bad. Then I discovered that Alaska Airlines has a premier traveler’s lounge at JFK and would sell single day admissions, so I planned to spend my layover day relaxing in their lounge. Supposedly, they had nice complimentary drinks and food as well as comfortable chairs and to top it off I noticed there would be a Knicks game on tv that afternoon, so I imagined myself relaxing in the lounge with a glass of wine and some nice appetizers.
I woke up at 4 AM in the hotel near the Portland, Oregon airport and caught the 4:20 shuttle to the airport. Not surprisingly security was easy, and I made it to my gate with time for a sit-down breakfast before catching my non-stop flight to JFK in New York on Alaska Airlines. The only interesting event was during breakfast when my waitress went running out of the restaurant into the terminal shouting after a customer who had apparently forgotten to bring his carry-on bag with him. I thanked the waitress for her efforts and explained that I would be doubling my tip as an attempt to pass on the good deed and of course doubling my own commitment to not leave my bag or credit card behind when I got up to go. All good so far, I got on my flight and went cross country.
NOW JFK is a fucking big ass airport. The biggest airport I’ve ever seen by far. I’ve been to Atlanta, Dulles in DC, O’Hare in Chicago, Bush in Texas etc. and nothing as big and overwhelming to me. So when the plane landed the pilot made a mention that we were coming in to the “new” terminal 8 and I didn’t think it would be a big deal but ultimately I discovered that you had to take a train from terminal 8 to terminal 7 (where the Alaska Airlines club was located) and the train dropped me off OUTSIDE of the airport at terminal 7 and to make this part of the long story short of course they would not let me in past security at terminal 7 without a boarding pass to a flight leaving from that terminal so I was locked out. No way was I getting to enjoy the fancy Alaska Airlines club for my 12-hour layover.
Small detail but at the Portland Airport they could not print a boarding pass for my El Al flight and told me I would just have to get that at the El Al terminal at JFK. So here I was locked out of JFK without a boarding pass. I went back outside and got back on the train and went from terminal 7 (Alaska) to terminal 4 (where El Al was located) and was told that the El Al counter would not open until 8 PM. I also discovered that there were no amenities (I mean capital N capital O) NO amenities’ outside of security at terminal 4. No food courts at all and not even any seats or electrical outlets to charge devices. Someone mentioned that terminal 1 had some amenities outside of security so I got back on the train and went to terminal 1. The amenities weren’t much but at least I had a place to sit and charge my phone and got some airport food before heading back to terminal 4 in time for the El Al counter to open (which involved a long line of people waiting). Got to hear an insider Jewish joke that we had to wait until the three starts appeared in the sky.
At the counter a nice man looked at my passport and started speaking to me in Hebrew. When I explained that I wasn’t fluent he started asking me questions in English. I won’t go into the details, but this was actually the first serious security step by El Al. I didn’t mind and understood why they had to do what they did and was grateful that I passed and was allowed to proceed to the regular TSA scan.
The plane was very big and crowded. I was lucky to have booked early and had selected an aisle seat. Still, it was a very long flight and not particularly (obviously) comfortable. As an interesting aside – the flight was full of (traditional) orthodox families with men with long coats and big hats and curly payot (the traditional sidelocks). Many of these men wore them in the Yemenite style which you will have to google if you want to know more about. What was interesting to me was how the group of men would stand up and gather in the flight galley periodically to say prayers. It was a Boeing 787-9 which holds almost 400 people, and I assumed that almost everyone on the flight was Jewish.
We landed at approximately 8 PM local time which was I believe 10 AM Oregon Time. Nothing really substantial happened (that’s always good) on my way to get my bag but then I waited. I never know exactly how airlines worked but I figured that since my flight from Oregon had come into JFK so early on Saturday it might have been one of the first to be loaded onto the El Al flight and therefore could be the last one off. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there so I had to find someone who spoke English who could direct me to the place to ask what now.
Here it got interesting (never a good sign when flying) and it seemed as if El Al does not track luggage the way I’ve come to expect American airlines to do. They could not simply look into the computer and tell me where my luggage had last been seen. They simply took my information (and gave me a toothbrush and toothpaste) and a claim number with a contact number to call.
I had actually been intending to be brave and take the (cheaper) train from the airport to downtown Tel Aviv and then try to catch a taxi from the train station to my hotel but I figured that I had already had enough hiccups (and had spent the extra hour waiting for my missing bag) so I splurged on a taxi from the airport to the hotel.
I’ll end this first posting from my Israel trip with just the comments that 1. I still haven’t seen my suitcase though the airline now confirms they’ve found it at JFK 2. I am very happy with my hotel which has a balcony with a view of the ocean and 3. I am thrilled to be here.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update.