Nobody Believed It, So, Here's The Picture

When I flew out of "natbag," aka Ben Gurion International Airport last week, all of the departure boards said the same thing:

ON TIME

People love to complain about airport delays and flight cancellations, but that Monday morning the planes were leaving on time and the airport was running very efficiently. It certainly wasn't like that at JFK or even at the Phoenix airport.

There are more delays on Jerusalem roads when American officials, like Secretary of State Kerry or their President Obama comes calling nudging, butting into our business.  And then our roads from Jerusalem to Beit El are also closed for long periods of time... ok, but that's another story.

That NYC JFK Air Train

Last year when I landed in NY's JKF International Airport from AZ I wasn't prepared to use it.  For some reason crossing the road from the arrivals exit to the door/gate seemed insurmountable.  Instead I spent a ridiculous amount of money to be a passenger on some bus that took me to Mid-town Manhattan after a long wait.  This year I was ready and am glad that I took the plunge.  Now I wouldn't hesitate as long as I could carry, wheel, schlepp my bags.  I took it twice.

The first time was after landing on the red-eye from AZ and needed to get to a cousin in Far Rockaway.  I took the Air Train to the Howard Beach subway stop and followed his directions to the station from where he picked me up.  The helpful red-jacketed worker helped me fill my Metrocard with enough money and pointed me in the right direction.

My second time traveling the Air Train was to get to the airport.  Since I had my big suitcase and carry-on, my lovely nephew (after assisting me to walk, with all the bags, cross-town from Grand Central Station) got me onto a LIRR train to Jamaica at Penn Station.  At Jamaica I successfully followed directions to the Air Train and arrived at JFK International Airport without any problems.

Here are some pictures:

New York! New York! 2007, #4 & JFK

I can't say/promise that this is my last post about my recent trip to New York, but it does have some of the last pictures I took. Does that make sense?

First, as you may have noticed, I find the buildings in Manhattan very photogenic and can't resist them. And now, since I've gone digital and I don't need to be so "thrifty," I just keep pointing that camera and shooting.






I also can't stand waiting around, and taking pictures is one of my ways of coping. These were taken in the airport.












Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorah!

New York! New York! 2007, #1

I took about 232 pictures this summer, during my two and a half week visit to New York. They all fit on my 2 megabyte memory chip in my Cannon 620, 7.1 mega pixel camera. Even more impressive, I never had to change or recharge the four rechargeable AA batteries. And the batteries are so, bli eyin haraa, strong that they're still lighting up the camera, even after copying to the computer and deleting the pictures from the camera. Yes, I do recommend the camera, and I bought it in Jerusalem just before last year's trip. That means that Israelis should buy it locally, better service for sure, and the price was almost the same as in New York.

There were good and bad things about the trip in to New York.

I went El Al on a 4pm flight. It landed late the same day in New York. A cousin picked me up and took me to my parents. After unpacking a bit, I went to sleep and slept all night, sort of. I didn't wake to wake up until a perfectly decent hour. But that's getting ahead of the game.

The Ben Gurion Airport is enormous. Unless someone has medical problems which forbid walking, you should take advantage and walk around a lot before boarding the plane.



They have a cute section for kids to play in.



Yes, it's very, very big!


While waiting to board, which we did almost an hour late, lots of people dovened mincha, prayed the afternoon prayer.



In the air, what a sight! Though it didn't make up for the very crowded seats. There was hardly room to get up or sit down, and all of my pouches strapped to my waist, made me as big as a pregnant woman carrying twins, full-term! At least the food and service were fine.



The sun set. With such gorgeous views, it was worth getting up and peeking through the back windows. You know, it's very healthy to walk around in the plane. Don't sit too long.



I wish it was that easy to find my suitcase.



And I hope to get a full night's sleep tonight!