Israel 2019 – Day 8, One Last Time Before Leaving

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.

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 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.

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?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Day 4: Up In the North
• Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Prev> Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Next> Day 9: A Fly Way To End It