Israel: Starting Trip

A few days before we left for Israel I picked my sister up at my local airport. The only issue I encountered doing that was very dense fog in certain spots. After meeting up with her we went and ate at Friendly’s. It had been over a year since I had been to one and years since my sister had gone (there are none in her state.) It was nice having someone to eat and talk with (although I, of course, did most of the talking.) We didn’t do much during the day and a half before our trip started so I’ll skip that.

The morning we left for Israel we dropped my dog off at the local kennel. It was the first time in 5 years that she was going there rather than having the lady from the kennel come to my house to take care of her twice a day. My dog seemed fine with going. I guess she thought of it as going on vacation herself since she would get to see other dogs and get pampered and groomed before coming home.

Shortly after dropping my dog off my sister and I headed for Boston’s Logan Airport. It had been several years since I had flown out of that airport (I usually use the smaller, local airport to me.) We didn’t have any issues with traffic or directions getting to the off-site parking lot I have used many times in the past. The place seemed packed, but I had pre-paid for my spot and so we found one and we immediately picked-up by their shuttle and brought to Logan.

We were dropped-off at the Arrivals section instead of the Departures area (probably so we would know where to meet the shuttle when we returned.) We just had to go upstairs, look at a monitor and then walk to the other end of the terminal to find our airline: Swiss Airlines. I had checked us in online the night before and the airline had even sent us luggage trackers for our bags (I have never seen an airline do that and wasn’t very comfortable using them.) We got the regular airline luggage tracker tags from the Swiss employee at the desk and so it wasn’t really an issue in the end.

We had no problem going through the TSA security (I have in the past at Logan) and was ready for anything – which is probably why nothing happened this time. We found our gate and waited. While we waited two things stick out to me. The first thing is the Swiss employee at the gate desk trying for about 20 minutes to put the lane divider (used when boarding) together. He was talking to another employee while doing it and was clearly struggling yet didn’t want to give up. In the end (after 20 minutes) he simply tied the rope around the pole rather than putting it into the slot. The second funny thing was watching all the men walk down to the Women’s Bathroom. The Men’s Bathroom was past a store and so not right next to the Women’s and yet we saw around 18 men walk down to the Women’s Bathroom (2 men did it twice) and we waited to see how long it took them to realize what they had done and turn around – it took most of the men a while to realize.  It probably wouldn’t have been as funny in any other situation, but we were bored and waiting for the flight to board so these two things helped to pass the time.

When we did finally board there wasn’t any major issues. We found our seats (I had picked and paid for them months ago and we had the same seats for every flight on the trip.) They weren’t in the main Economy cabin and so it was less crowded. Unlike some airlines that only start their video entertainment when you are in the air, Swiss had it on right away and you could choose from lots of movies, music or TV shows. It was a good and uneventful flight to Zurich (I know this whole trip so far seems that way, but just wait……) The airline food was good for airline food. I was surprised that Swiss only used German and English on the flight since Switzerland has 4 official languages, but other than that it was pretty straightforward and pleasant – although long – flight.

When we landed in Zurich and deplaned we found ourselves in what, at first, seemed like a small airport and most of the food places and businesses were closed even though it wasn’t all that early. We had several hours until our connection to Israel and so had plenty of time to explore the Zurich Airport. There was no Swiss Immigration check or security. I have to say that I’m not really impressed with the Zurich Airport. While it is clean it is not very well planned or thought-out. All of the bathrooms are the same: you open the glass door and find the Women’s Bathroom right there and then have to walk up 3 flights of stairs to the Men’s Bathroom. You could see most of the men having problems with their carry-ons while using the stairs. Both the Men’s and the Women’s Bathrooms should have been on the ground floor. Also, the airport may seem small at first, but in reality it took about 25 minutes to walk from the one end to the other with no moving walkways. They had free WiFi, but only for 2 hours and you first had to find the one and only machine in the terminal for it then scan your boarding pass to get a printed code. Most airports just give you free WiFi without having to jump their hoops.

It was also very difficult to find any airline or airport employee during the layover. The monitor only said that our flight was leaving out of the terminal we were in and not which gate. We were at the other end of the terminal when the monitor finally announced the gate and so had to walk the long way to the other end. I had heard many times and from many sources that any flight to/from Israel had extra security checks, etc. and so was looking for them. There were none. From the time we left our house until 7 days later we didn’t see or go through any security checks except the TSA in Logan Airport.

 The gate to our Tel Aviv flight wasn’t blocked from all of the other flights and the Swiss gate agents weren’t very good. They came to the gate at the last minute and were then surprised to have to deal with lots of people and their problems (I didn’t have any and so just sat and watched.) There was a very annoying and loud Australian man in the waiting area who kept asking lots of dumb questions about Israel to anyone and everyone even when he was telling them it wasn’t his first time to Israel. It was while listening to him (he was speaking pretty loudly) that I first heard there was a holiday – Sukkot -  in Israel. I thought I had done all my research and planned the best time to go since it was after the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, but I was wrong – more on that later.

Unlike, most airlines at the gate that give you a warning that they are going to board the plane in 20 minutes our gate agents weren’t very good (as I have already said) and the only announcement they made was that the flight was boarding right then. It was then a mad rush of people all over the place. We boarded the same exact style plane and sat in the same exact seat as before so we were fine. The on-board entertainment was also the exact same. The only difference was a very annoying Israeli couple and their several kids. The father sat on the side of our seats with his 3 kids while the mother sat directly behind me. Throughout the whole flight they were loud  - in German, Hebrew and English (mostly the mother) and pushing against my seat and running back and forth  - even when we were eating. It wasn’t very fun. When we landed in Israel the Dad just took-off without any of his kids or his wife  - which seemed pretty odd. Some people only seem to think of themselves and not the comfort of anyone else and this family was definitely one of those kinds.