We made it to Israel last night. We decided in the summer time that we would go for Sukkot and I figured that we should spend Yom Kippur here as well (they change the clocks in Israel based on YK; the fast is just as long but ends by 6 pm).
We flew Air France and it was a decent experience. My father-in-law and NR drove us to Dulles (in record time) for our flight to Paris. There was extra room on the flight but we all had a hard time sleeping.
When we got to Paris we were all set to hop on the RER and head into the city but we couldn't figure out what they had done with our stroller. Turns out that when they took it from us at the gate they checked it through to Tel Aviv! I was pretty annoyed as Elana was tired and we weren't about to carry her through Paris. But the woman at baggage claim managed to track it down for us and the problem was solved (although we did lose an hour of free time).
Turns out, that wasn't such a bad thing... we were so tired that walking in Paris, even with the stroller, was so tiring. We went to the Marais and got some food (thanks for the advice from DK) and then just walked. We saw Notre Dame and the river, but the Eifel Tower was barely visibe from where we were and too far away to get there. We were quite content to be back at the airport a couple of hours later.
The final leg was a full flight so Elana slept on me and Tikki. The guy next to me was nice but he kept emitting a nauseas smell every few minutes. I managed to sleep a bit, though, and we got to TA on time (We were so stiff by the end of the flight).
WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
Customs was short and painless and our bags came through without a problem... but the car seat was still not there. I was told that it would come through on a special conveyor belt so we went to wait there. When nothing happened for a few minutes I peaked down the conveyor belt... and saw our car seat just sitting there. Of course, there was no one around so I went to the people at Lost Baggage and asked them to help. After a whole drei and a stubborn front on my part, they got a guy to come and turn on the belt. He couldn't understand why I was upset and seemed impatient... WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
Then we went to get a cab. At first there was driver in the terminal. He wanted 180 shek for the ride to Modiin, so, feeling like we were getting ripped off, we went to the Taxi stand. The driver we got there welcomed us to his car and then just stared at our cart before I asked him to help us load up (we also had to install the car seat, which seemed to surprise him). I asked him for a price and he looked it up -- 120 shek... WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
The he asked if I needed a receipt and I said yes so he said that he would have to put it on the meter. I wasn't too happy with this, especially because he didn't seem to know the Modiin area at all. We argued for a bit and then he said that I would only have to pay the meter or 120, whichever is cheapest... WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
We got to my sister's at 1 am and as I was schlepping the bags up the stairs I twisted my back. I woke up at 6 am this morning feeling like crap. I woke up my sister and told her that I needed to go to the hospital because I was dehydrated. We held off for a bit and I drank 2 liters of Petel, throwing up every once in a while - slept for a bit more and now I'm feeling OK.
Tonight is Yom Kippur. I hope that all will be OK.
The best of luck to everyone for a good ending!
We flew Air France and it was a decent experience. My father-in-law and NR drove us to Dulles (in record time) for our flight to Paris. There was extra room on the flight but we all had a hard time sleeping.
When we got to Paris we were all set to hop on the RER and head into the city but we couldn't figure out what they had done with our stroller. Turns out that when they took it from us at the gate they checked it through to Tel Aviv! I was pretty annoyed as Elana was tired and we weren't about to carry her through Paris. But the woman at baggage claim managed to track it down for us and the problem was solved (although we did lose an hour of free time).
Turns out, that wasn't such a bad thing... we were so tired that walking in Paris, even with the stroller, was so tiring. We went to the Marais and got some food (thanks for the advice from DK) and then just walked. We saw Notre Dame and the river, but the Eifel Tower was barely visibe from where we were and too far away to get there. We were quite content to be back at the airport a couple of hours later.
The final leg was a full flight so Elana slept on me and Tikki. The guy next to me was nice but he kept emitting a nauseas smell every few minutes. I managed to sleep a bit, though, and we got to TA on time (We were so stiff by the end of the flight).
WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
Customs was short and painless and our bags came through without a problem... but the car seat was still not there. I was told that it would come through on a special conveyor belt so we went to wait there. When nothing happened for a few minutes I peaked down the conveyor belt... and saw our car seat just sitting there. Of course, there was no one around so I went to the people at Lost Baggage and asked them to help. After a whole drei and a stubborn front on my part, they got a guy to come and turn on the belt. He couldn't understand why I was upset and seemed impatient... WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
Then we went to get a cab. At first there was driver in the terminal. He wanted 180 shek for the ride to Modiin, so, feeling like we were getting ripped off, we went to the Taxi stand. The driver we got there welcomed us to his car and then just stared at our cart before I asked him to help us load up (we also had to install the car seat, which seemed to surprise him). I asked him for a price and he looked it up -- 120 shek... WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
The he asked if I needed a receipt and I said yes so he said that he would have to put it on the meter. I wasn't too happy with this, especially because he didn't seem to know the Modiin area at all. We argued for a bit and then he said that I would only have to pay the meter or 120, whichever is cheapest... WELCOME TO ISRAEL!
We got to my sister's at 1 am and as I was schlepping the bags up the stairs I twisted my back. I woke up at 6 am this morning feeling like crap. I woke up my sister and told her that I needed to go to the hospital because I was dehydrated. We held off for a bit and I drank 2 liters of Petel, throwing up every once in a while - slept for a bit more and now I'm feeling OK.
Tonight is Yom Kippur. I hope that all will be OK.
The best of luck to everyone for a good ending!
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