50 down...what's next?

Second star on the right and straight on till morning.


12 hour time difference, 35 hour commute, 2 public bathroom bathings, 3 flights, 4 takeoffs, and a partridge in a pear tree.  We have officially made it to our 50th state!

I left Israel around midnight and quickly learned that any attempt at making small talk in Israeli airports is probably a terrible idea.  Unless you're into personal escorts to security...which I'm not.

Flight #1 (TLV to JFK) turned out to be quite pleasant.  I sat with two girls- one who was studying at Hebrew University for the past two weeks and the other who was at seminary for a year and a half.  Pretty sure they both slept for the entire time.  I finally got to watch Despicable Me 2 (SO GOOD) and started studying some Women and Mitzvot.  Other than that, can't say I remember much of what happened.  Xanax is beautiful.

We jumped off the plane and went through customs:
"Good morning!  You look exhausted."
Oh yes, and there are 2 more flights where that came from.
"Where do you live?"
Uhhh, I'm originally from New York, living in Israel for the year, but going to Hawaii today.
"That makes perfect sense.  Have a nice day!"

I forgot friendly people exist in this world.  After claiming my luggage, rechecking it, and going through security (without any escorts), it was time to "shower" in the bathroom.  I may have grabbed a whole bunch of wet wipes from BWW when no one was looking.  Best decision I've ever made.  2 hours later, it was time to go again.

Flight #2 (JFK to LAX) was pretty terrible.  Before takeoff, the pilot announces that "We plan to experience a lot of weather.  It's going to be a bumpy ride but we'll do everything we can to make it a comfortable one."  That was the first time I've ever felt the need to grab that handy dandy barf bag that they kindly provide for you.  Thank goodness for Dramamine.

"Shower" number 2, courtesy of some sympathetic flight attendants and their generous wet wipe donation.

Flight #3 (LAX to HNL) came 6 hours later.  The flight attendant was pretty great:
"Do you have a question?"
Nope, I'm just sick of flying.
"I feel ya on that one."
I don't know how you guys do this.
"Me neither.  But my mortgage company does."

And I learned that you shouldn't always ask people if they live somewhere or are going on vacation because they may actually be going to a funeral that they're pretty upset about...
The flight was great and we were about to land.  I could literally smell the ground and then it hit.  You know that feeling when the light turns red but the car keeps accelerating and you feel like you're going to crash?  Yep, that's what it felt like.  One second we were about to land and the next second we were back in the air.  I almost broke my stress ball.  Apparently we were too close to the next plane that just landed.  But we did a nice turn around and landed safely.

What a trip...


It's weird being here.  In a good way, but still weird.  A million transitions and decisions to make.  I'm still processing, but I feel a lot of blog posts coming up.  As Mike put it today, "If you go to bed with diarrhea, you're going to wake up constipated."
Strike that, reverse it.  You get the point.