JR

Israel 2019 – Day 9, A Fly Way To End It

JR — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 20:51:15 +0000

November 15, 2019

There’s really not much to today other than enjoying the fact that I flew business class back home from London.

Now, it was part of the original plan to fly business class on the way home as I talked about in this post.

But…before enjoying any of the associated benefits, I had to endure sleeping at the airport.

Wakey wakey, get out of the gatey

Again, from yesterday’s post, I didn’t really do much at the gate other than blog a little, play Pokemon Go some, and attempted at napping. The first time I attempted at going to the bathroom, I got stopped by custodial staff . Apparently they thought I was gonna go back into the main terminal area, which is a no-no past when it closes for the night.

After that, they set up a rope barrier right outside of the gate, but still with access to the restrooms right next to it.

Geez.

I shared Gate 7A with probably like 8 other people, but everyone had their own corner or row of seats. No problem.

At about 4:15AM, they made an announcement that the terminal was open again, and that we were free to leave the gate. I was already kind of awake by then so I gathered my stuff, and headed out.

The lounge I wanted to go visit didn’t open til 5:30AM, so I had about an hour to kill in the terminal.

I went to the main departure lobby for Terminal 3. By then, there were a good handful of people walking around. Most stores and food places weren’t open yet.

I just played around on my phone the entire hour. Yes, more Pokemon Go.

When it was almost 5:30AM…I started walking to the lounge.

Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge

Not a bad way to kill some time

Because I flew business class this day, I had complimentary access to most of the airline lounges that are partnered with American Airlines in the oneworld alliance. I had British Airways, Qantas, and American Airlines as strong contenders for lounge time, but I opted for Cathay Pacific because they had the best reviews, and previous Cathay Pacific lounge experiences have been spectacular. And I could have lounge-hopped, but being tired, I just wanted to stay in one place.

As a fun fact, Cathay Pacific is a Hong Kong-based airline owned by Swire, which is a conglomerate also based in London.

After checking into the lounge, I had breakfast from their buffet. I kept it simple with an omelette, sausage, and coffee. After eating, my next most pressing need was to shower.

By this point, it was probably about 24 hours since I last showered and I had lots of travel in that time. Most premium airline lounges have showers, and I like using them to refresh before a flight. Or to take a real shower on a long layover.

After showering, I still felt a little hungry. Cathay Pacific lounges typically have a Noodle Bar serving up Asian classics. I decided to have some dim sum and wonton soup.

Yum!

After that…I set up camp on a chair looking out towards the tarmac. I utilized the fact that there was an actual bar while enjoying the views, blogging, and reading. At some point I tried taking a nap too.

From 5:30AM to 11:00AM, I was in the lounge! After lounging around that whole time, I headed to my gate to board my flight.

American Airlines #57 London-Heathrow to Miami, Business Class

For this 8-hour flight, I had an enjoyable time sitting in business class. The food was great, the flight attendants were attentive and friendly, and I got to watch a handful of movies and shows.

When you book business class with American Airlines, especially with international flights, you can pre-select your meal up to 30 days before the flight. I opted for the beef top steak with mashed potatoes, veggies, and gravy. Tasty.

For the pre-landing meal, I chose the mini-pies (meat, because British). Also tasty.

For movies, I watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters and The Secret Life of Pets 2. And to finish out my flight, I watched the available episodes of Fixer Upper and Big Bang Theory.

At some point, I did engage the seat’s lie-flat mode and attempted at taking an hour nap. I tried keeping in mind the actual time in Texas so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t sleep for most of this flight to get my body clock back on track.

All in all, a good flight. Then we landed in Miami…

Miami International Airport and Flight Home

When I arrived at Miami International Airport, I had a little bit of an issue with going through Customs. I had trouble with the kiosk. It wouldn’t complete the process and print my slip that I needed to hand to the officer. I explained this to the officer when I got to the desk, and I was told to go see another officer who could scan passports manually to complete this part of the process. That was no problem.

But then…I got stopped on my way out of Customs. I got pulled in for questioning. I guess since I had originally come from Israel, they flagged me for further security procedures. It was really no problem. The Customs and Border Control officer asked what I did in Israel and handchecked my bags.

After passing through all of that, I bee lined for the main Admiral’s Club lounge. I wanted to test out an access policy that states that if you arrive from an international flight in business class with a connecting domestic flight the same day, you get complimentary access to the Admiral’s Club lounge.

Turns out–it works!

I didn’t much time to enjoy the lounge. I grabbed a few snacks and a glass of red. It was pretty crowded too. After downing my wine and finishing my snack, I headed off to the gate.

The entire flight boarded the plane. But we never pushed back from the gate. The pilot came on after a while and said that some computer had fried on the flight deck and that we had to deplane and switch aircraft/gates.

I wasn’t too concerned with it because I half-expect delays most of the time, and I had flexibility.

We had a two-hour delay. And the new gate was across the terminal.

So…I looked up an airport map and saw that there was another Admiral’s Club lounge close to the new gate so I headed there. I think most other passenger’s had the same idea, but went to the main one I was in earlier.

I chilled here and enjoyed another glass of wine and some more snacks. But it was more relaxed, and less crowded.

It came time to head to the gate.

We boarded. Then departed. Then landed at DFW. I didn’t do much on the flight home as I kind of slept and kind of did some reading. I was exhausted.

I finally arrived home at about midnight-thirty. And I immediately went to bed.

This officially concludes my Israel pilgrimage!

Stats

Total Cost of Pilgrimage = $562.88

No further costs incurred / food and drink taken care of with lounges and flights

Total Travel Time = ~40 hours

LHR Terminal 3 +8 hours, including 6 hours in lounge
Flight from LHR to MIA +8 hours
MIA +4 hours
Flight from MIA to DFW +2.5 hours

Ending Weight = 162.2 lbs

I weight myself on Day 0. Only gained 1.4 lbs–not bad for all the eating I did these past 9 days!

Would you rather pay more money for shorter travel time? Or would you pay less money for longer travel time?

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JR is a full-time engineer working in the aerospace industry. Apart from having such a fly job, he flies unto the arms of Our Lady and the Church pursuing his faith and a relationship with Christ. Over the past several years, faith and flying via pilgrimages became a thing. When he’s not being fly, JR hangs out with family, friends, his chihuahua, and with thoughts of the next trip.

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Israel 2019 – Day 8, One Last Time Before Leaving

JR — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 22:24:13 +0000

November 14, 2019

Today marked my last day in Israel. Because the weather was still great, I went to the beach one last time before wrapping things up and going to the airport.

Again, a reminder that “TJ” refers to both or either of my hosts, whose initials are both “TJ”. And for context, they are dear friends of mine from my church back home in Texas.

Beach

In the morning, I had coffee with TJ before he went off to work. Afterwards, I headed out the door to visit the same beach again from the other day. I mean, the weather was still pretty nice and TJ’s house is only a few blocks away so why not?

I realized I didn’t take pictures during this time…but I basically laid around, splashed around, then took a long walk. Lots of people-watching.

Since I didn’t want to begin a 36-hour trip home with wet clothes, I walked around the beach for about an hour to air dry. I made it as far north as Apollonia. But, on the beach level as Apollonia sits atop the cliff.

I managed to find a few pieces of sea glass to, which I didn’t expect. I took ’em. Not enough to do anything cool though. A great way to enjoy my last trip to this beach!

After air drying, I walked back to TJ’s house where I finished packing.

Work Lunch

TJ drove me to TJ’s work where we agreed to meet for lunch. He gave me a brief tour of his office area, which was cool. But I was a little weirded out because I almost had a work trip this week to those very same offices! :-X

TJ had us eat at a gas station fast food joint for some delicious schwarma pitas. One last time before leaving. Mmm.

And then both TJ and TJ took me to the airport.

Airport

Now…prior to this trip…I was mentally prepared for extra security measures. Especially since missiles were a thang just the other day. But…nope. No questioning at the gate. No bomb detector scans. Pretty easy.

They dropped me off at Departures at Ben Gurion airport, and we said our goodbyes. Knowing that they’re coming home to Texas soon and that they’ll be staying in Israel an extra year, I knew that this goodbye was only temporary.

Once inside, I realized I couldn’t check in. My next flight was British Airways, and the counter apparently doesn’t open until 3 hours before departure. I got there 4 hours before. Whoops. I stood around and sat around watching people. Perhaps the most interesting thing was seeing soooo many tour/pilgrimage groups pass through the departure lobby. Also, there was a camera crew focused on a small group of people. I think they were probably TV stars or something.

Now…my concern for security measures had me prepared for more intense stuff than I’ve experienced before.

Before checking in at the counter, I was questioned about my trip to Israel including where I stayed and where I went. No problems. The security line took a little while because they manually hand check each bag before sending them through the scanner. No problems there either.

Because of one of my credit cards granting me access to Priority Pass lounges, I utilized that benefit at one of the DAN Lounges. I ate some snacks and had an espresso. My goal was to stay up for the remainder of the day to make it easier to sleep in London later.

The lounge filled up by the time I left to go to my gate.

I had a normal 4.5 hour flight to London. I watched X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Toy Story 4. Food was decent. The Spanish woman in front of me kept pushing her pillow back towards me, falling into my lap. Had to return it to her multiple times, lol.

My only complaint is that…I didn’t select an aisle seat (or rather, the system assigned me a window seat). And neither of the gentlemen in my row really got up. Needless to say, when I arrived in London, it was a relief. Hah.

The Mediterranean sunset views were amazing though! #WindowSeat

London Heathrow

Let me preface this section by saying…in an effort to save money, I did not book a hotel room for tonight despite having a 16-hour layover. Therefore, I knew I would be spending a night at the airport.

From my previous experience at Heathrow, I know that transferring between terminals can be a struggle especially with a tight connection. However, I had 16 hours to work with!

I landed at Terminal 5, and I had to transfer to Terminal 3. I took the bus, and that was a short 10-15 minute ride.

In passing through security at Terminal 3, I was reminded again how strict Heathrow is about keeping only one bag of liquids. I had to throw away my second bag with a handful of extra toiletries. Luckily, I sort of anticipated this, and I made sure I hung onto the necessary toiletries I needed.

Once through security, I beelined to Club Aspire, which is another Priority Pass lounge.

When I checked in, I must have activated the supervisor’s Filipino radar because, afterwards, she asked me if I was Filipino. I said yes, and she offered me arroz caldo, a Filipino rice and chicken porridge. Of course I said yes to that too!

I come to find out that Club Aspire is the designated Philippine Airlines lounge prior to the departure of that flight. Apparently they had leftovers of that food. Score!

In the lounge, I ate and drank and blogged.

I only brought an iPad and portable keyboard :-X

I pretty much closed the lounge down at 10PM as the employees started vacuuming, and I was the last passenger to leave. The supervisor invited me to have breakfast in the morning…but I had other plans…

Once I left Club Aspire, I knew I would have to find a place to camp out overnight. Long story short…they consolidate any passengers still in Terminal 3 to Gate 7 and pretty much quarantine everyone there until the airport reopens at 4AM.

Overnight, I blogged and played Pokemon Go on my phone (the gate had a Pokestop! lol). I also attempted 2 or 3 times to take a nap. I’m not sure that I actually fell asleep much.

It got cold though. Chill’d out. Literally.

All in all…I survived it. And I knew it would all be worth it because I planned on a much more luxe lounge experience in the morning.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $562.88 (+$14)

~$14 for lunch back in Israel
No further costs incurred! Food/drink taken care of by lounges and flight

Total Travel Time For Return So Far = 17 hours

4 hours at TLV (waiting, check-in, security, lounge)
4.5 hour British Airways flight (TLV -> LHR)
8.5 hours at LHR (7:30PM landing, transfer, security, lounge, gate, and 4:00AM waking)

What would you do on an overnight layover?

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Israel 2019 – Day 7, Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today

JR — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 00:33:21 +0000

November 13, 2019

Apparently yesterday’s missiles ended at some point, and a cease fire occurred overnight. But the jihadists started firing some more in the morning.

We intended to go down to Masada and the Dead Sea today. But because of having to drive around the West Bank, the route would have put us uncomfortably close to where they were shooting missiles from in the Gaza Strip.

Yeah…so…the backup plan was to head back up north to avoid any missiles.

Caesarea

The city of Caesarea lies about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa. TJ have been here multiple times before, and they figured it would be cool to show me.

As I learned from visiting the onsite museum, Caesarea was a major port city built by King Herod to impress the Romans. At the height of his reign, Caesarea featured a hippodrome, a Roman temple, his palace, amphitheater, and a cutting-edge-for-its time harbor.

If you can imagine structures surrounding this bay and 100’s of ships

But over the years, Caesarea fell under the rule of the Byzantines, Crusaders and Muslims. You can still experience all of their influences on the site.

These days, you can walk the ruins of old Caesarea. There are shops, restaurants, and even diving opportunities in the old harbor. TJ and I spent a while here because the grounds are rather big.

We finished off our visit with lunch at one of the restaurants on site. It was delicious, and it overlooked into the old harbor.

This was a really good hummus appetizer

Bird Mosaic Mansion and Aqueduct

On our way out, TJ wanted to show me the main Roman aqueduct near the ruins of old Caesarea. We missed a turn, but saw signs for a “bird mosaic”.

When we climbed up a small hill to see what this “bird mosaic” was, it turned out to be the ruins of an old mansion with a largely preserved floor full of bird mosaic images. Pretty cool.

Kind of crazy…

Once we read about it on the sign and took some pictures, we went over to the aqueduct.

Of course, everyone knows that the ancient Roman empire was good at making aqueducts to transport water. And I found it to be cool that even here in Israel, they have done the same.

I joked to myself, “why travel alllll the way to Italy to experience Roman aqueducts when you can go to Israel???” Haha.

Obviously I’m laughing at my own joke

We didn’t stick around at the aqueduct for too long. I did make a mental note that this particular aqueduct ends at a pretty nice beach so I think a future road/beach trip is necessary in Caesarea.

Stella Maris Monastery

After visiting Caesarea, we headed further north to Haifa. The goal was to go visit the Stella Maris Monastery.

Now, Haifa is in the vicinity of the foot of Mt. Carmel. And Mt. Carmel is famous for St. Simon Stock, the Carmelite religious order, and the brown scapular.

Stella Maris Monastery belongs to a Discalced Carmelite order, and is considered as the focal point for Carmelite spirituality throughout the world. It is located on a tall hill in Haifa.

It was easier to point my iPhone up at the ceiling and not awkwardly take pictures of everyone currently in the church :-X

We parked and visited the monastery mid-afternoon. A Spanish tour group arrived at about the same time we did, and they occupied the church when we went in. We spent some time praying in the church.

I haven’t confirmed this completely, but inside the church is a cave-looking area underneath the altar. In the Old Testament, Elijah is said to have taken shelter in a cave, and supposedly this is that cave.

After visiting the church, we walked around on the outside to the different overlooks looking over Haifa and the Mediterranean Sea. Beautiful scenes, and we were there around sunset. I wish I had taken more pictures!

Hard to beat that (but obviously the picture doesn’t do it justice)

When the sun set, we headed back home.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $548.60 (+$36)

Lunch was about $29 at Hazalbanim restaurant at Caesarea
Bought a few things at Caesarea gift shop for about $7

Thoughts

Going through some of the museum and video presentations at Caesarea really illustrated how the Holy Land has a complicated history because of all the different empires and peoples that have settled here. I know initial thoughts of the Holy Land usually connotes the Jewish and Christian heritage it has. So, it was cool seeing how the different empires affect the same place in Caesarea.

Does history or religious significance interest you more for pilgrimages?

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Israel 2019 – Day 6, Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia

JR — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 23:22:14 +0000

November 12, 2019

This is the day that Islamic Jihadists fired missiles at Israel from the Gaza Strip. That changed some plans for today.

To start off the day, I had coffee with TJ before he went off to work. My game plan was to go for a run and run to Apollonia, which is an old Crusader fort and Phoenician town about 1.5 miles away from TJ’s house.

Around 7:30AM, TJ calls home from work and told us to put on the news.

The long story short is… Israel killed a major Jihadist leader early in the morning with a precision air strike. This caused the Jihadists to retaliate by firing a barrage of missiles targeting different areas of southern Israel throughout the morning. Thankfully, Israel’s missile defense system, the “Iron Dome”, proved pretty effective at stopping incoming missiles from actually hitting their targets.

Our original game plan was for TJ to show me Tel Aviv and Jaffa, especially some of the markets and churches she frequents. But since missiles were targeting those areas, we opted not to go.

I still wanted to go to Apollonia, and hence I still went for a run. Because we were trying to stay on top of the missile news for a little bit, I ended up leaving later in the morning. This made for a rather warm run.

Apollonia

Back in the day, Apollonia was a small, decent-sized town at a cliff edge by the sea. It had a bit of a rough history as inhabitants exchanged a few times depending on who ruled at the time. The last major thing that happened to Apollonia was during the Crusades when Crusaders fortified the town. The Muslims laid siege to the city for 40 days before it fell.

These days, you can see the dry moat and remnants of the fort and fortified city. It’s not that big of a place, so I only spent about an hour here.

Where the fort is (was?)

To get back to TJ’s house, I opted to go walk the beach. Awkwardly, I missed the stairs to go down towards the beach, and ended up in a mosque’s cemetery. Whoops!

When I returned, TJ and I went to grab a quick bite at the nearby strip mall and one of the cafes.

Bomb Shelter Prep

TJ has a shelter in their rental house. They’ve been primarily using it as storage both for themselves and for the landlord. Because of all the missile threats, TJ thought it would be a good idea to at least begin to prep the shelter to make it habitable if necessary.

I helped TJ clear some of it out to wipe it down, dust it, and vacuum it. And that took the better part of the late morning and early afternoon.

TJ came home early from work. They were released early because of the missile threat and to avoid traffic.

Being Social Despite Being Sheltered

At about mid-afternoon, we went next door so that TJ could introduce me to their Filipina neighbor. We sat and chatted for a little while. It was cool hearing other perspectives on what it’s like living in Israel.

In the evening, we ventured out to grab dinner at a local favorite cafe. And after dinner, we had game night! I learned how to play Farkle and King’s Corner for the first time ^_^

During the games, we talked about possibly going to Masada/Dead Sea tomorrow depending on the missile situation. And TJ was planning on taking off work.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $527.24

Again, splitting the cost of lunch and dinner at ~$7 and ~$20 respectively.

Lessons Learned

Israel has some hostile neighbors (or rather…neighbors who host hostiles). No wonder the country’s security measures seem pretty extreme. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has a mobile app that I downloaded in order to receive warnings and notifications of missiles so that people have a chance to take cover. For us in north Tel Aviv, the average time between sirens going off and impact is about 1.5 minutes.Thankfully, I didn’t receive anything, but the news continued to report more missile firings. While missile threats are perhaps constant, it is good to know when to actually care. And where to go.

The app is called “Home Front Command” and is available in both the Google Play store and App Store.

What would you do when there are missiles flying overhead?

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Israel 2019 – Day 5, A Day At The Beach

JR — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 00:06:08 +0000

November 11, 2019

The past two days were CRAZY because we hit up a bunch of sites. For today, I figured some time for rest and recovery would be good.

Today illustrates a concept about how pilgrimages can be both spiritually edifying and travel-ly edifying too. Out there in the wild, when you search for pilgrimage packages, oftentimes these pilgrimages include touristy aspects (not just holy places).

An example would be visiting Rome and Vatican City as a pilgrim hitting up the major churches and basilicas. And then going into tourist or vacation mode checking out the Trevi Fountain and Colosseum out as well as doing what the Romans do.

For me? That’s basically what I planned on.

TJ lives north of Tel Aviv, and this part of Israel is known for its beaches.

As a reminder, “TJ” refers to my hosts, whereby both husband and wife’s initials are TJ. Confusing, but whatever.

I didn’t catch TJ going off to work, but I had breakfast and coffee with TJ. Their backyard was mighty inviting, so we hung out there.

Coffee, book, and a beautiful morning outside

After breakfast in the morning, TJ showed me around the neighborhood. She showed me a strip mall just a few blocks away that has a grocery store, butcher, produce market, some cafes, and she even introduced me to her hairdresser.

When we got to the beach, she basically dropped me off as she had some errands to take care of.

To start off, I walked up and down the beach to explore.

No, that is part of my hat…not my goatee

After doing that for a while, I decided to set up camp in a section of the beach that had less people.

Nothing really exciting here. I swam a little, laid out a little, read a little, prayed a little, Pokémon Go’d a little, journaled a little, and people-watched. I did this for several hours.

Couldn’t think of a better way to do this!

Closer to mid-afternoon, I decided I had enough and went to grab food at a local restaurant that serves breakfast all day. I wanted something light and ordered a delicious Greek salad that came with a basket of breads. And this marked the first time I grabbed food on my own in Israel.

It’s delicious as it looks

I walked back to TJ’s house attempting not to get run over whilst playing Pokémon Go. When I arrived, I happenchanced upon arriving at the same time as some of the other expat wives. They were all running errands during the day, and TJ’s house was the next stop.

We sat and chatted a bit. One of the expat wives had just arrived in Israel not too long ago and is in transition for moving into their house. And that’s a whole ordeal. It was interesting hearing their adventures with getting that all straightened out and taken care of.

After they left, I showered and chilled until TJ came home from work. While we were waiting, TJ taught me about sea glass.

A fun hobby/pastime collecting glass from the sea

Apparently, a local glass factory got destroyed right by the sea and spilled a bunch of glass into the water. Over time, these glass shards effectively went through a tumbling process due to the waves and sand/rocks. This results in a hardened and smooth piece of glass. It’s a cool hobby and pastime for people to collect this sea glass. TJ was telling me and showing me the different ways you can display them.

TJ proposed that we go out to dinner then go see a movie. And that’s what we ended up doing.

We saw MIDWAY, a movie that shows how the Battle of Midway in World War II was won. I thought it was really cool because I’m rather intrigued by World War II events and stories.The only downside is that I couldn’t really read any of the English subtitles during the Japanese dialogue parts of the movie due to the Hebrew subtitle overlay. -shrugs- Guess I’ll have to watch it again!

The moviegoing experience in Israel is not that much different than the US. I will say though that McDonald’s has some hilarious and ridiculous commercials that they showed before the movie started.

After that, we sat around and talked a bit at home. Then bed time!

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $489.45

Breakfast costed about $20
Dinner costed about $20
Movie ticket costed about $10

What do you like to do at the beach?

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Israel 2019 – Day 4, Up In The North

JR — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 02:04:00 +0000

November 10, 2019

The goal for today’s adventures included going to the northern part of Israel to visit Mt. Tabor, Nazareth, and Capernaum.

The morning started off easy with prayer, shower, breakfast, and heading out the door at 9AM.

Unlike the day before, today was slower-paced.

Summarizing the entire road trip, we made some wrong turns and drove through some dusty Arab and Muslim towns. With it being Sunday, a normal workday for most in Israel, traffic and such was not an issue.

Mt. Tabor

From the Gospels, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up Mt. Tabor and revealed Himself in a glorious way in the Transfiguration. The Church of the Transfiguration atop Mt. Tabor now commemorates that particular moment.

Since we road trip’d here, we could drive our car up Mt. Tabor. It’s a bit of a scary drive because there’s a section of the mountain with many switchbacks on a steeper side of the mountain, and sometimes it looks like you’re going to easily fall off the edge. We had no problems though.

Once atop the Mt. Tabor, we slowly made our way to the front of the church. Lots of picturesque things to look at. We even checked out the lookout off to the side for a really great view.

Inside the church, we stopped and prayed for a little while. Some group was having a Spanish Mass in the main part of the church.

Off to either side of the main church are two little chapels dedicated to Elisha and Moses, who were also present at the Transfiguration.

On our way out from Mt. Tabor, we stopped at the on-site gift shop. I wasn’t intrigued by their offerings, but the gift shop also sells coffee.

After Mt. Tabor, we headed on our way to…

Nazareth

We arrived in Nazareth around lunch time. Therefore the first priority was to go grab some lunch. TJ recommended getting some sort of shawarma, and we settled on going to a place just down the street from the Church of the Annunciation.

Church of the Annunciation

It’s also just as impressive coming up to it from the main streets

After lunch, we made our way to the Church of the Annunciation. This is the church built over the place where the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she will conceive Jesus, and she gave her fiat or “yes”. The current structure of the church is actually built over the ruins of the old church.

Our timing must’ve been quite right because when we entered the church, hardly anyone else was in the main space. Besides TJ and me, there must have been 2-3 others. In other words—no tour groups or pilgrim groups!

The result of not having people in the church is having a sense of peace and quiet—a stark contrast to yesterday’s visit to Bethlehem’s and Jerusalem’s holy sites.

Perhaps largely due to this time of peace and quiet, I really felt the profoundness of the site and what transpired here.

On the altar in the grotto (deep in the background of above pic) that marks the exact spot are words in Latin that say “The Word was made flesh here”. I contemplated this, and wow…I’m still shook by how awesome that is!

After praying in the main space, we went upstairs where there’s another space set up as a church, and a Korean Mass was going on.

We spent a little bit of time up here because Mass was going on, and to appreciate some of the paintings or mosaics of Mary on the walls.

The other cool aspect about the Church of the Annunciation are all the icons, paintings, and mosaics of Mary donated by different countries all over the complex. It’s really cool to see Mary depicted in different cultural expressions.

Of course…I’m gonna feature the Japanese one

Church of St. Joseph

Next door to the Church of the Annunciation is St. Joseph’s church. This is where his house was, and likely where Jesus grew up in His formative years not talked about in the Bible. Underneath the church are ruins of what would have been St. Joseph’s workshop.

TJ and I did hang around for a moment in the church because there was an English Mass going on for a tour group. The priest was giving his homily, and we wanted to listen for a bit.

After visiting this church, we headed back to our car with a pit stop to grab some Arabic sweets and coffee.

Then we jetted off to…

Capernaum / Sea of Galilee

Not too far from Nazareth is the Sea of Galilee. The goal was to get to Capernaum before it closed and perhaps even catch the sunset.

Capernaum is known as the town of Jesus because of how much time He spent there. In the Gospels, it is mentioned how He often preached at the synagogue there.

The town is also where St. Peter is from! The main church in Capernaum is built right over St. Peter’s house.

When we first arrived, we pretty much headed straight towards the seafront because the sunset was quite lovely. We spent a while here taking pictures and enjoying the sunset.

On our way back to the car (it was near closing time), we spent some time looking at the ruins of St. Peter’s house and the synagogue.

Ruins of the Synagogue

Once finished, we made a last minute decision to try and see the nearby waterfall because TJ wanted to show it to me. Because it was getting dark, we didn’t actually go down to the level where you could see the waterfall, but rather at the top where you can only hear it, not see it, due to vegetation covering the area.

After the waterfall, we made another last minute decision to try and visit the Church of the Primacy of Peter, which was basically “next door” to the waterfall. Unfortunately, we arrived within a few minutes of it closing, and the Franciscan friars were already pushing everyone towards the gate.

Ah well.

Ending the Day

We drive the 2 hours back to TJ’s house. We stopped by a local pharmacy so that I could pick up some contact lens solution since I forgot to pack mine…

Then we grabbed dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant, and it was delicious.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $443.93

We shared costs for lunch and dinner with my contributions at ~$7 and ~$34 respectively.

The contact lens solution cost me $10. For a 100 mL bottle??? Crazy! But…necessary…because I’m not usually a daily eyeglass wearer.

Lessons Learned

We used the Waze app to navigate to all these places. I guess Waze is pretty good at evading traffic if you set it prioritize avoiding traffic. However, there were a few times where we second guessed the directions Waze was giving us resulting in some wrong turns.

These holy sites do have hours, and it’s important to double check the times at which they close. Most seem to close around 5PM or so.

Same goes with Mass times. We had talked about maybe going to Mass this day, being Sunday, but thankfully we had gone yesterday to a Vigil Mass in Jerusalem. The nice thing about holy sites, especially ones that see a lot of tour groups…someone is bound to have a priest who says Mass for their group.

I don’t sweat forgetting to pack general toiletries—these are usually easy to pick up wherever I’m traveling to.

Navigate to other days:

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Israel 2019 – Where I’ve Prayed

JR — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:14:39 +0000

This pilgrimage took place between November 9-13, 2019.

As you may know, I write down collected prayer intentions in a little blue notebook when I go on pilgrimages. It’s nice to have something tangible other than my iPhone when at different sites praying for others. You can read more here.

For this Israel 2019 pilgrimage, here’s where I’ve prayed with these prayer intentions so far, in chronological order.

Madrid

Catedral de Almudena

Not pictured are the tons of school kids visiting this day

It was a struggle getting to this cathedral due to my subway adventures. Read more here.

Bethlehem

Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity contains the spot where Jesus was born. I prayed right at that spot, pictured, and even touched the notebook to it.

And just a few steps away is the location of the manger. I prayed there too.

THE spot where Jesus was born

I didn’t get a good look, but I know (part of) the manger is also in St. Mary Major in Rome

The circumstances getting here were crazy, resulting in fast tracking our way to the bottom level for the spot and manger locations.

Milk Grotto

Near the Church of the Nativity is the chapel of the Milk Grotto.

Supposedly this is a spot where the Virgin Mary nursed Jesus and a few drops of her milk fell to the ground.

This place has a lot of associated miracles for infertile couples who visit here. And while I did pray for everyone here, I most especially did so for my friends who I know struggle with infertility.

The real location is behind the grate and image

More info about the trip to Bethlehem here.

Jerusalem

Birth Place of the Virgin Mary

When we entered Old Jerusalem through the Lion Gate and Muslim Quarter, we saw off the main pathway this building labeled as the Virgin Mary’s birth place. I guess this is where St. Anne and St. Joachim, her parents, lived.

I said a quick prayer here since we were pressed for time.

Via Dolorosa

The pathway connecting the different events of Jesus’ Passion is known as the Via Dolorosa. Catholic devotees know this as the Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross).

In Jerusalem, the different stations are marked by Roman numerals and now also bronze depictions.

We started at Station I and kept going as went on our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This was hectic and crowded, making it hard to pray. But I tried doing some reflection at each station and praying for the intentions I carried with me.

Station V – Simon the Cyrenian helps Jesus carry His cross

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This is an insane church because it is literally a church that encompasses where Jesus was executed and buried.

I prayed at multiple places.

Chapel of the Apparition

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains a lot of chapels owned by different Christian groups. The Chapel of the Apparition is a Roman Catholic chapel honoring a tradition that Jesus appeared to His mother after the resurrection.

I prayed here while waiting for Mass. Also, the column in the niche on the right of the altar is said to be part of the column Jesus was tied to during His scourging.

The Holy Sepulchre

This is Jesus’ tomb. I wasn’t able to go inside because of long lines, and it almost being closing time.

But I still took a moment to pray for these intentions in front of the Sepulchre.

A small building encompasses the actual tomb; my notebook covers entranceway

Anointing Slab

In Jewish custom, the body is prepared and anointed before burial. The slab that Jesus’ body was on for anointing is easily accessible for pilgrims, and I prayed here too. I even touched my notebook to the slab.

Golgotha

The hilltop where the three crosses were is also within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the time I went, a Greek Orthodox group of men started evening prayers in the chapel.

While I couldn’t get too close to the monument and altar where the crosses stood, I at least was able to pray in the back.

Wailing Wall

The Wailing Wall is one of the last remaining walls of the Jewish Temple, and many Jews make a pilgrimage here to pray.

I did the same… but moreso for the prayer intentions I carried with me.

Yes, I did go up and touched the actual wall. Couldn’t take pictures there though out of respect.

I visited Jerusalem after visiting Bethlehem, and it made for a crazy day. Read more here.

Mount Tabor

At the top of Mt. Tabor is the Church of the Transfiguration, which commemorates the Transfiguration of Christ where He led Peter, James, and John up Mt. Tabor to reveal Himself in this way. And Moses and Elijah too.

Prayed here, too.

Nazareth

In Nazareth, pilgrims can visit the Church of the Annunciation, which is built on the location of where the archangel, Gabriel, announced that Mary will conceive Jesus.

So far, this was the most moving site for me. I think it is largely because at the time that I was in this church, my hosts and I were one of the only few people inside this space at the time. It created a conducive environment to really reflect on the fact that Jesus became flesh and blood here in this spot. I spent a longer time praying here, especially for your intentions.

Capernaum

Billed as the town of Jesus, Capernaum is where Jesus spent a lot of time. It is located at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, and it is also the hometown of St. Peter.

Sea of Galilee

Capernaum has a nice view of the Sea. And we arrived there with the sun going down. A really peaceful and beautiful time to pray, especially for the intentions I carried with me.

The Synagogue of Capernaum

Almost right next to St. Peter’s house, the synagogue where Jesus did a lot of preaching still stands as ruins. One of my fav ones is the Bread of Life discourse in John 6.

Knowing that made this brief time of prayer extra special.

Today’s adventures in the northern part of Israel can be read about here.

Haifa

Stella Maris Monastery

With the jihadists firing multiple salvos of missiles in southern Israel, some plans to visit southern areas of Israel were obviously not carried out. Instead, we headed up north. After spending some time in Caesarea, we finished out the day in Haifa at the Stella Maris Monastery.

This monastery is built on top of the cave where Elijah hid while out in the wilderness. I recently read that there’s another cave on Mt. Carmel nearby that’s also purportedly the cave.

Either way…I prayed in the church in monastery for the prayer intentions I carried with me.

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Israel 2019 – Day 3, The Fastest and the Slowest

JR — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 22:28:30 +0000

November 9, 2019

This was a really cool, but really kind of insane day. Bethlehem and Jerusalem were on the agenda.

To Jerusalem! …Kind of

I was pretty tired from the night before having arrived late at night and then staying up a little more. We had breakfast at 8AM and headed out the door at 9AM.

In previous trips to Jerusalem, TJ likes to park at Mamila Mall near the Jaffa Gate of Old Jerusalem. Lots of paid parking available. We parked there, then walked over to the bus station at the Damascus Gate.

I let TJ know that it hasn’t quite hit me that I’m here in Jerusalem. And that it would probably hit me later.

Once at the bus station, we found Bus #231, which directly goes to Bethlehem. Tickets are only 7 shekels. At about 10:30AM, we departed.

To Bethlehem, actually!

On the bus ride, we talked and struck up a conversation with a German man standing near us on the bus. He was doing a solo pilgrimage, which was impressive since he looked to be older.

The entire bus ride took about 30-40 minutes, and we arrived in Bethlehem. TJ has a contact from Bethlehem that the other expatriates they know use named Nabil. He owns the Christmas House souvenir shop off Manger Square in Bethlehem. After leaving the bus, he met with us, and we hop into his car to drive over to Manger Square.

During the car ride, he was yelling at other drivers for foolish maneuvers and decisions. And he was also being a tour guide of sorts giving us fun facts like… no new roads or bridges can be made in Bethlehem. Even though it kind of needs it badly in some places in order alleviate traffic.

In Which Nabil Is Exceedingly Clutch

So…Nabil seems to know everyone including guards and tour operators and guides. When we neared Manger Square, he got the guards to open up blocked areas so we could pass through. And another guard to let us park in a blocked area just in front of the Church of the Nativity. Turns out he’s buddies with these guards. Even had one of them for a drink at his house just the other night. Go figure.

Nabil hooked us up with a particular tour guide…and this tour guide, OH MY GOSH, somehow did the impossible.

Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity is a church dedicated to the spot where Jesus was born. It is a large church built over the cave where Mary and Joseph stopped at when they couldn’t find room at the inn.

Our tour guide, named Issa (which apparently is “Jesus” in another language), got us through the front door. He pointed out that there have been three front doors built over the centuries that progressively got smaller.

Once inside…after some few minutes of talking and negotiating with the attendants inside the church…we literally cut in front of thousands of people waiting in line to go to the crypt level of the Church where the place of Jesus’ birth is.

WOW. It was crowded in there.

Because Issa brought us through the exit, I was able to sneak in-between some of the other pilgrims and touch the spot where Jesus was born and pray for the intentions I carried with me (where everyone is focusing on in the picture, but it’s on the ground).

Across the way, off to the right in the picture, is where the manger was. They have a little alcove/side room dedicated to it. I think the actual manger is in St. Mary Major in Rome currently.

Anyway—this all happened really fast and just as fast as we got in, we were out of there, too. Back on the main level, we went out the normal exit passing by a church full of pilgrims.

I felt kind of bad because we basically cut all these people in line. Umm…oh well.

Another fun fact is…you see those pictures on the wall on the right side under the windows? These are frescoes from old church that have been uncovered. We were told that they recently uncovered them and this is the first time they have been on display. That’s pretty cool.

After the Church of Nativity, we headed to Nabil’s shop across the street. Basically.

Christmas House

So Nabil’s family has owned the Christmas House specializing in handmade olive wood goods especially related to the Nativity…for multiple generations. It’s right of Manger Square, and it has a wide and varied selection of religious gifts and items. And Dead Sea beauty products, because of course.

After window shopping here, Nabil brought us over to the workshop where they make most of the olive wood carvings. It was neat to see how manual of a process it is, and to have the process briefly summarized for us.

We didn’t stick around for too long because we headed to…

Milk Grotto

The Milk Grotto is a grotto and chapel dedicated to a spot where the Virgin Mary supposedly had dropped some milk while nursing the infant Jesus.

Many miracles for infertile couples are associated with the grotto. I wanted to stop and pray here as a goal for this pilgrimage because I have friends that suffer with infertility.

Because it’s not as widely known, we didn’t encounter many tour groups inside.

A convent next door has a perpetual Adoration chapel attached to the grotto, and we spent a few moments praying there.

Once done at the Milk Grotto…we returned to the Christmas House workshop.

Actual Shopping

TJ and I picked up a few things at the workshop. And Nabil’s brother runs the workshop so he hooked us up with some cold drinks and the ability to bag up what we wanted here to be rung up at the main Christmas House.

We walked back there…and did more shopping. Then paid for our goods.

Nabil drove us back to the bus station, and we took #231 back to Jerusalem.

I caught this picture of a Popeyes that recently opened in Bethlehem, and Nabil mentioned that he likes it way better than the KFC in town. I’m just surprised that a Louisiana-based fried chicken chain has made it to Bethlehem!

No, I didn’t ask if they had chicken sandwiches in stock…

To Jerusalem! …but for real!

We returned back to the Damascus Gate. Ate lunch. Walked down to the Lion Gate to see the Kidron Valley and Garden of Gethsemane across the way. We then entered the Old City through the Muslim Quarter in order to pick up the start of the Via Dolorosa or Stations of the Cross/Way of the Cross.

The goal was to participate in the Franciscan procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 4PM. We got started with the Via Dolorsa at about 2:30PM.

Using a map, and entering in some churches along the way, we followed the Via Dolorosa.

TJ told me that they seemed to have added new bronze sculptures depicting each of the stations, which weren’t there a few months ago. Previously, only Roman numerals denoted the location of the stations.

Getting closer to 4PM, we started encountering crowds trying to get to the Holy Sepulchre.

Today’s Major Struggle

We finally make it to the square in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but it was filled with pilgrims and tour groups. They actually didn’t let us in because some minutes before 4PM, the Greek Orthodox patriarch or some other bishop walks out.

I was standing shoulder to shoulder with …everyone. But finally they opened up the inside allowing us to start heading inside.

I literally got squeezed through a bunch of people!

Once inside…TJ was quite anxious because they know that 4PM is usually when the procession starts, and we were nowhere near the meeting point because many people blocked the way. We tried going around a back way, but were stopped because…

An Armenian procession was under way, and they were blocking areas to let that procession pass.

Long story short, the procession we were trying to get to happened in the morning, and we didn’t know. So we missed it.

We decided to hang around in the Holy Sepulchre to catch a Mass, and we caught wind of a pilgrim group having an English Mass at the Chapel of the Apparition (a Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to the tradition of when Jesus appeared to His mother after the Resurrection).

Because Mass didn’t start for 45 minutes or so…we had some time to sit in the chapel.

However, at 5PM no Mass started in the Chapel!

We figured out at 5:05PM that the group was actually having Mass at the altar just outside of the Chapel! We headed out there to join them.

It was really hard to hear with the huge crowds in the background.

Here was my view during Mass (specifically, homily)

The part that really stood out to me about this Mass was the fact that…we’re having Mass JUST STEPS AWAY FROM JESUS’ TOMB!!! (You can see the structure of the Sepulchre in the background behind the columns). That’s freakin’ wild.

Mass ended, and we then headed over to…the other chapels in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

So…in case you didn’t know, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church built over where Jesus was jailed, executed, and buried. And they have chapels dedicated to these particular scenes (or for you Catholic devotees—the different stations, but ACTUAL).

I got to see the slab that Jesus was anointed on in preparation for burial, and we also stopped in front of the Sepulchre to pray a little bit. We tried visiting the spot where Jesus was hung on a cross, but they closed down that chapel for some Greek Orthodox to come in and do evening prayers.

After all this, we headed out towards the…

The Wailing Wall

I claim much ignorance, but I don’t know much about the Wall other than it’s the remaining part of the Jewish Temple that they have access to.

TJ and I went on the men’s side to go up to the wall, and it was really cool to see many of the Jewish men dressed traditionally and praying constantly. We had some moments of silent prayer at the wall.

And…I’m sure it looks pretty cool during the day, but I thought it looked pretty cool at night when we went.

Men’s side is on the left, women’s on the right

Whew…after Wailing Wall, we started heading back to our car.

But before going home, we ate dinner and dessert!

Near the Jaffa Gate is Mamila Mall, and TJ wanted us to eat here before heading back home. For dinner, we ate at Cafe Rimon where I had a garlic calzone, salad, and beer.

For dessert, we stopped at Rondalia for cake and coffee.

All very delicious, and good way to end the day.

Then…we drove home.

A Few Thoughts

So Bethlehem was fast and furious. And Jerusalem was super slow with all the waiting around.

Honestly, as freakin’ amazing it is to be at these places and sites related to Jesus…it was hard to take a moment and reflect on what I just experienced. I’m hoping that I’ll get to contemplate that more in the coming days, after the fact.

I’m also really grateful that we caught that Mass. And just typing about it just now made me realize that…we would NOT have caught that Mass had everything leading up to it had not happened with all its fast and slow happenings. Wow, crazy. Well played, God, well played. I guess You really wanted us at that Mass!

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $393.96 (+$160)

$57 on gifts at Christmas House
~$103 for dinner for all three of us

Lessons Learned

TJ kept saying, and even the priests and brothers at the Holy Sepulchre, that today was the busiest they have ever seen it. And I have no baseline to compare…so…sure, it seemed really busy. But I think the lesson learned here is that Saturdays may not be a good day to go. A brother mentioned to us that Mondays are pretty good.

The Franciscan procession we attempted at going at has been happening daily for hundreds of years. But we didn’t know they changed it to the morning. The lesson learned here is to find a way to verify and check the time for it before attempting to participate.

Which do you prefer—see many things in a short amount of time or see a few things for a longer amount of time?

Navigate to other days:

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Israel 2019 – Day 2, Subway Struggling in Madrid

JR — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 22:51:05 +0000

November 8, 2019

I landed in Madrid at about 8:30AM local time. We deplaned via stairs, and that’s when I quickly figured out that the weather was going to be cold and windy. But! I did come prepared with an extra layer in the form of a lightweight hoody. Que bueno.

The Struggle Begins

After passing through passport control, it took me a long time to figure out where to store my bag at Terminal 4. I had read somewhere online that they have a luggage storage service in the international arrivals hall, but Google didn’t seem to show me results of where to find it within the arrivals area.

So, I actually wandered around for about 20-30 minutes before I finally found it! If anyone asks, the luggage storage place is on Level 0 to the far left, walking out of the sliding doors of customs.

After dropping off my one rollaboard carryon, I headed down one level to figure out getting a subway ticket to the city.

Slight Struggle

I attempted at figuring out the ticket/pass machine for the subway, but the attendant saw that I was reading everything and being indecisive. He asked me where I was planning to go, and I told him I wanted to go to the cathedral. He selected a pass option that basically gave me unlimited rides for the tram, bus, AND subway for the day. And it was cheaper than me attempting to buy a round trip ticket. Somehow.

He saved me 1 Euro basically. Not even mad.

Subway Struggling

I finally got my pass and got going. According to Google Maps, the overall subway trip would take about 1 hour and 15 minutes with multiple transfers along the way.

Long story short, I…

Accidentally stayed on the first subway for too long, and it started headed back towards the airport. Didn’t realize it until I was 4 stops away from where I needed to be so I had to get off…but then…
…It took me a little while to figure out how to navigate the station I got off in so that I could be on the correct track/direction
Went the wrong direction on a subway loop and had to basically do a similar “get off, find opposite direction”

Because of my mistakes, I probably added another 30 minutes to my trip.

The Struggle Continues

I got off at the Opera stop (my goal) in central Madrid, but by this time I was tired and hungry. It had been 1.5 hours at least since leaving the airport, and probably 2-3 hours since the last meal on the flight.

Looking around, I saw a Starbucks. Now, Starbucks is never my first choice, but given the situation…I decided to concede. Grabbed myself an egg sandwich (protein!) and a short Americano. I actually hung out here for a little bit in order to finish my coffee and Day 1’s post.

To the Cathedral!

After Starbucks-ing, I started walking to wards the cathedral. Unfortunately, I started walking the wrong direction at first. My portable hotspot was getting spotty reception and wasn’t updating my Google Maps app quickly.

I eventually made it.

It’s right next to the Royal Palace. And…there must’ve been some sort of event for the school kids because the area between the cathedral and the palace were SO FULL of school kids.

Inside the Cathedral

My gosh, the cathedral has really high ceilings, and had lots to look at. I stopped by and prayed for the prayer intentions I carried with me. And I took some pictures too.

I waited around a while in order to catch the daily Mass at noon.

However…I had no idea were the Mass was. I thought it would maybe be in the main part of the cathedral, but at 11:59AM I saw nothing going on and a bunch of school kids starting to sit in the pews near me. I know from previous experience that sometimes side chapels are used instead, and I decided to investigate.

I found it, but they blocked it off to prevent tourists from interrupting. I spoke to the guard letting him know I wanted to attend the Mass, and he let me in.

Mass was in Spanish, but that didn’t matter because I have an app with the prayers/missal in Spanish. It was nice.

But despite the struggle and success…my anxiety was amounting…

I started freaking out about getting back to the airport on time. Departure was at 5PM. Mass ended at 12:35PM. And I knew I had about 1.5 hours to get back putting me at the airport at 2PM.

However, from coworkers’ experiences, they’ve mentioned that flights going to Israel have extra security measures. And I needed to allot time for that, just in case. My goal was to get head back to the airport by 1PM.

Yesterday, I had the goal of getting tapas and a sangria for lunch. But that wasn’t gonna happen.

I dashed towards the subway station and basically did the reverse of what I did to get to the cathedral.

And I didn’t mess up

Smooth sailing…almost

1:45PM. I got back to the airport, grabbed my bag from the luggage storage, checked in, passed through security…

…where I messed up. I accidentally left my portable keyboard in my bag. Airport security made me go back and remove it to have it separately scanned. I was stressing out because it was a long line. It all ended up being okay though. Just an extra step that I could have avoided.

My gate was in the satellite section of Terminal 4 which requires a long tram ride. Did that. Then…I made it!

Because of my credit card benefits, I sought after a Priority Pass lounge called the Neptuno Lounge. That was a struggle too. I couldn’t find it!!! 3PM now.

Turns out, I found some isolated escalators that led up to the level I needed to be on in order to find the entrance.

Inside the Neptuno Lounge

Relief

Once inside, I requested to use a shower in the lounge. After all that dashing around and being trains and planes, I felt it was needed.

After showering, I made good use of their buffet since I didn’t really have lunch. I also made a phone call to my mom to let her know that I survived Madrid.

Filled with salad, bread, wine, and hot bowls of food…I made my way towards the gate.

Iberia #3316 A330 MAD to TLV

I’ll just make a few highlighted comments here…some observations:

I ended up switching seats so that another passenger could sit with their friend. I didn’t lose having an aisle seat though, so yay
Somewhat open flight—free seats here and there. Mad dash to claim 3 free seats that are side-by-side so that people could lie down. Which happened to the two rows right beside me. Some guy had their socked feet pointed me most of the flight
Sock Man got pisssed when we landed because the flight attendants wouldn’t let him get up on the descent and during taxi to go to the lavatory (dude bro, it’s the rules no matter where)
I was sooooooooo tired at different points of this flight, but I made an effort to stay awake in order to not have issues falling asleep later

Finally, Israel!

We land at 10:45PM. By 11:30PM, I meet up with TJ, my hosts. They wait for me to buy and set up a SIM card so that I could have data for my iPhone while here.

Then we drive about 30 minutes to their house in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

They have me a tour of their really cool house, we sat and chatted for a bit…then…bed time. Relatively early start for tomorrow.

The agenda is…

Drive to Jerusalem in the morning in order to catch a bus to Bethlehem
In Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity and a particular souvenir shop
Return to Jerusalem for Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Franciscan procession, and Via Dolorosa

Current Stats

Total pilgrimage cost so far = $233.19 (+$75.75)

Luggage storage +$11.09
Metro pass +$9.32
Starbucks: egg sandwich and coffee +$6.77
SIM card, 25GB 30 days +$48.57

Glasses of red wine on trip so far = 3 (one on each flight, one in lounge)

# of really bad flight farts smelled = 1

Today’s Insight

Despite me making mistakes and encountering some struggling situations, it all worked out okay in the end. Isn’t that how life realistically works anyway?

Have you ever had a mass transportation fail? Let me know in the comments!

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Israel 2019 – Day 1, Going MAD

JR — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 10:08:52 +0000

November 7, 2019

Further Preparations

The morning was really busy. I had a checklist of things to take care of before leaving my house for a week. Chihuahua had to be dropped off at the parent’s house. Kroger run for toothpaste and face wash.

Watered the plants. Tidied the kitchen. Washed the dishes. Made the bed. Engage the security cameras. And more. Whew!

But I had a major fail…

I wishfully intended to go to the gym this morning to pump a little iron before leaving for this trip. But! I didn’t end up doing so. Between the cold and rainy weather and lack of motivation + being really tired…it just didn’t happen.

Which this kind of stinks because I’ve had a pretty good routine and consistency up until today. But! That’s alright. I’ll figure something out.

My goal this pilgrimage is to not gain too much weight and still maintain some discipline in fitness.

“Take Your Son To Work Day”

One of the ways I save money going to the airport is…riding in with my dad to work. He works for American Airlines as a luggage loader, primarily.

In planning for this trip, I did keep in mind of flight departures and arrivals that gave me the option to ride with my dad to/from work. It helps with logistics. I don’t need to leave a car at the airport. I don’t need to pay for an Uber/Lyft to get to the airport either.

With a departure time of 4:35PM and my dad’s start time of 2PM…this worked out quite nicely. I did feel awkward being the only person on the employee bus not dressed in uniform…

Before going to Israel, I’m going MAD

If you remember from “How I booked airfare to Israel for $157”, I booked this trip to Israel such that I have a 9-hour layover in Madrid, Spain. Like Israel, I have never been to Spain so I’m looking forward to spending some time exploring the city.

I’m supposed to land at like 8AM local time “tomorrow” (Nov 8). And my flight to Tel Aviv isn’t until 5PM.

While in Madrid, I’m gonna shoot for:

Visiting the cathedral
Eating tapas for lunch and enjoying a sangria
Enjoying the hop on hop off bus

DFW Airport

I only had about 2 hours of waiting around before boarding after passing through airport security. The particular TSA security checkpoint I used seemed to be running slow for TSA Precheck because they were only running one conveyor belt.

TSA Precheck is a known traveler program at US airports that you can pay into so that you don’t have to be subjected to a full security scan or check. It saves time, usually, because passengers are not required to take off their shoes, remove liquids, or remove large electronics. I only have it because it was included as part of my Global Entry membership, which is a similar thing but for US Customs.

I attempted at hitting up Minute Suites because I get a free hour as part of my Prioprity Pass benefit, which I have due to my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. Priority Pass is a network of airport lounges. Minute Suites are cool because you get a day bed, desk, and TV to yourself by the hour, which is a nice retreat from the busy terminal. Alas, they were sold out, and I didn’t feel like waiting!

So…I pretty much just spent my time waiting trying to take the picture featured in the header of this post…and looking through social media. I hadn’t done a good job of responding back to people who commented on my posts, so I mostly did that. Also, Jennifer Fulwiler featured my tweet across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook…and that caught my attention for a little while.

American Airlines #36 Economy Class DFW to MAD

Mmm. I’ve been anxious to get on a plane for a while now. Also, I don’t want to sound too pretentious, but it is nice NOT sitting in business class across an ocean for once. I don’t want to develop an attitude of entitlement when it comes to frequent flying.

The flight got delayed by about 20 minutes due to us waiting for late-arriving connecting passengers. Not a problem at all because we were scheduled to arrive in Madrid way earlier than the original arrival time.

Once on board, I noticed that these Economy class seats were really familiar. Even the Business class seats when I passed by. And by familiar…I mean…that…I used to work at the company that designed, manufactured, and assembled them. :-X

I like to joke that only now am I field testing our seats!

While in flight, I:

Watched Big Bang Theory episodes
Watched MIB International, Detective Pikachu
Blogged a bit
Napped a bit
Prayed Evening Prayer and Night Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours

As a side note, I’m wrestling with the idea of writing a flight review and have set myself up to do so. I’ve taken notes and pictures, but I’ll probably write it up later.

Current Stats

Total Pilgrimage Cost So Far = $157

I didn’t buy anything at the airport, but those Auntie Anne pretzels by my gate were largely tempting

Pokémon caught in Pokémon Go = +3

Priests or religious seen at the airport = 0

Today’s Insight

Traveling can be stressful with everything that has to happen. When things go wrong, how do I respond? Do I respond with frustration or humility? Do I remember God either way?

What do you do when waiting for your flight?

Navigate to other days:

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