בס"ד
Sipping a cup of lightly sweetened, heavily milked coffee, I put together the final plans for my father's trip. Bus scheduals, Shabbat candle lighting times, googlemaps directions, and much more, my packet is finally complete leaving me only five minutes to grab my bag and go. The sun shine is just the icing on the cake as I lock up and head out. My bag was filled last night with things to do on the bus and food to greet my father with. Also, knowing that it is a mitzvah to escort and feed one's parents, I feel extra good about the day. Only a short bus ride to Akko, and then direct train to the airport. Seems simple enough. The train staion is totally new to me, as I wasn't aware of this fast way to travel from the airport to Tzfat. I walk in, order my ticket, and am immediatley turned down. "There is no train today from Akko to Ben Gurion Airport" All that planning and I didn't even check the schedual today! The advice is to take a bus from Haifa. After arriving in the city of Israel which to my best guess was having a mass exodus, I stood in the line for the bus which numbered about three bus-fulls of people. The riot began when another bus-full group of people cut the entire line by circumventing to the outside, on the left. Of course, the national mentality kicked in, and as the bus arrived so did the screaming, "No one let those on the left come in - push them out of the way and get on the bus! No one on the left will get into the bus!" and similar banter was screamed and we were all packed like sardines from the pushing. Once on the bus, I felt like I could relax and enjoy the view. It was getting late, but at least I was on my way to the airport. The view turned out to be quite amazing, as we traveled to just about every city I have ever heard of in the south of Israel, outside of Eilat. This joy ride sparked my panic, as I realized we were still so far from the airport and the sun was going down. Still an hour away, I was already two hours late. Finally reaching the terminal, I search for my father to no avail. Who would wait for 3 hours without communication? I mean, I gave him my cell number, he isnt answering his, so maybe he just tried to email me. After frantically calling my local friend, Shoshana, we worked through having the wrong number, missing each other in Haifa on the way up, and taking individual taxis to Tzfat, a 2 hour drive from there. But in the end, I found my father.
Sipping a cup of lightly sweetened, heavily milked coffee, I put together the final plans for my father's trip. Bus scheduals, Shabbat candle lighting times, googlemaps directions, and much more, my packet is finally complete leaving me only five minutes to grab my bag and go. The sun shine is just the icing on the cake as I lock up and head out. My bag was filled last night with things to do on the bus and food to greet my father with. Also, knowing that it is a mitzvah to escort and feed one's parents, I feel extra good about the day. Only a short bus ride to Akko, and then direct train to the airport. Seems simple enough. The train staion is totally new to me, as I wasn't aware of this fast way to travel from the airport to Tzfat. I walk in, order my ticket, and am immediatley turned down. "There is no train today from Akko to Ben Gurion Airport" All that planning and I didn't even check the schedual today! The advice is to take a bus from Haifa. After arriving in the city of Israel which to my best guess was having a mass exodus, I stood in the line for the bus which numbered about three bus-fulls of people. The riot began when another bus-full group of people cut the entire line by circumventing to the outside, on the left. Of course, the national mentality kicked in, and as the bus arrived so did the screaming, "No one let those on the left come in - push them out of the way and get on the bus! No one on the left will get into the bus!" and similar banter was screamed and we were all packed like sardines from the pushing. Once on the bus, I felt like I could relax and enjoy the view. It was getting late, but at least I was on my way to the airport. The view turned out to be quite amazing, as we traveled to just about every city I have ever heard of in the south of Israel, outside of Eilat. This joy ride sparked my panic, as I realized we were still so far from the airport and the sun was going down. Still an hour away, I was already two hours late. Finally reaching the terminal, I search for my father to no avail. Who would wait for 3 hours without communication? I mean, I gave him my cell number, he isnt answering his, so maybe he just tried to email me. After frantically calling my local friend, Shoshana, we worked through having the wrong number, missing each other in Haifa on the way up, and taking individual taxis to Tzfat, a 2 hour drive from there. But in the end, I found my father.
