We're home

Sorry it has taken me so long to get to this. I had a lot of catching up to do. Here we go starting with the farewell dinner.

It was held as I said before off site from the hotel at Olive & Fish. The day before we left, a large group of 4 or 5 full buses arrived and it was VIP time. We were leaving the next day as they were heading out for the day. It was a logistical nightmare but we saw their bus signs were The Israel Experience with Governor Mike Huckabee. I think that explains why we left the hotel for our dinner as that group was having a massive buffet that night. That reminds me... I know this because as we were settling our hotel bill for express checkout in the morning, I saw a business center sign. I walked around to a small corner with some telephones, 2 computers and a printer. We were able to print our boarding passes. That was when I looked over the balcony railing and saw the massive buffet being set. We had a short bus ride to Olive & Fish and back so it was not inconvenient. They put us in a small private upstairs room at one long table with U-shaped sides. We were one one of the 2 sides. The room was overly hot which was the only downside. They served appetizers family style. They took orders for main courses of fish, beef, chicken or vegetarian. Dessert was local pastries served family style. There was water, lemonade, white wine, and red wine on the table for self service. They offered beer if anyone wanted it. Clay did and they came back and told him he was entitled to 2 beers. He just had the one. We got back to the hotel about 9pm. It was time for bed as bags are out at 7am.

We were at breakfast at opening of 6:30am. We put our bags out before hand. We sat at our first shared table this morning as another guest invited us to a table for 6.

We wound up helping one overwhelmed bellboy roll our group's cart of luggage across the street and uphill to where we finally found our bus today. As I said above, the Huckabee group was taking precedence. It was a good time for us to depart! It was about an hour and a half drive to TLV airport. There were 2 flight 85s to the US that morning. We had people on both flights, our Air Canada to Toronto and a United to Newark. Mick, our travel director, was on the bus with us but flying to Rome. The Newark flight was checking in when we arrived. It was a little early for ours so we had time to use the restrooms. We were ready when they let us check in 3 hours early. Our bags weighed 10 and 15 Kg. I think we were allowed over 20, so we were traveling light. We got new boarding passes for both flights and luggage receipts. Off we went to security. We went through passport control where we had to have our blue slips from arrival. Lucky we still had them! They gave us a red slip that we had to scan to move on. We got access to priority/VIP security as we were Premium Economy. There was no line and we moved right along. We were very early. We were in boarding group 2 and they called 1 and 2 together. So far we were happy with Premium Economy vs. Business. The Air Canada Dreamliner Premium Economy experience onboard was equal to domestic Business Class, so we still have no complaints. It was a nice experience. Since the 12 hour flight was all daylight, it seemed like they served a lot more food. It was good and at some point, they simulated night by darkening the windows and turning off the lights. Clay slept some. I tried but the woman sitting alone behind us had 2 seats to herself and that still wasn't enough space for her. She kept sticking her feet between the seats onto the armrest or between my seat and the wall on the armrest. She must have toed me 1000 times during the flight, when she wasn't drumming her heels on the back of my seat. I have to conclude that she had some kind of medical condition. If I thought otherwise, I'd have had to give her a tongue lashing. I saw her when we left the plane and she was at least 40 years old, so she had to know better. Food. They offered water or orange juice before take off. We declined. Shortly after take off they brought menus. Meal one was salad, chicken or vegetarian ravioli with chocolate mousse. They served wine and beer with it. Meal two was a cold sandwich. Choices were pita filled with feta or pita filled with tuna. We both had feta. I liked it. It was served with pretzels and a choice of beverages. Meal three was tabbouleh salad, chicken or vegetarian pasta with Lotus cookies and a choice of beverages. It was all good and it seemed like they were serving a meal every 2-3 hours. We definitely didn't feel like eating dinner in Toronto.

We arrived in Toronto at about 6pm. Our outbound flight was scheduled to depart at 8:55pm. Plenty of time. This would be our first time re-entering the US after obtaining Global Entry. Toronto is listed as an airport with Global Entry kiosks. That is true, we used the kiosks. That was the only benefit. We used the Global Entry lines and got kicked aside for special holding while our checked baggage was processed. Per the Global Entry FAQ: If the kiosk receipt has an "X" printed on it, you must report to a CBP officer at the nearest staffed CBP passport control booth. You do not have to get back in line. The CBP officer at the passport control booth will review your documents, determine the reason for the "X" and either release you from there or refer you to "secondary" for additional processing.The "X" can mean many different things: random inspection; your fingerprints may not have matched; or other issues. You must have the "X" cleared before proceeding to the exit control point or you will be directed back to passport control for processing. The kiosk receipt shows the CBP officer that you have successfully used the kiosk.

We had to go through full security screening again. This was more rigorous than the swabbing we experienced in Toronto on the way to Israel. Keep in mind we never left a secure area after we were screened in Tel Aviv! We had to separate our liquids and take out electronics, then I got yelled at for not removing my shoes. I guess Toronto does not have TSA pre check. We didn't take off our shoes leaving Israel! Clay's bin with tablets got kicked aside and he got a swabbing. It took the better part of an hour and was not the Global Entry experience we had imagined when we paid $100 each and jumped through the hoops. Better luck next time.

Some last thoughts on Israel. We really enjoyed it and the AHI Tour Israel Land of Cultural Treasures. We learned some Hebrew. What I remember is shalom which means peace, hello and goodbye and toda is thank you. I'm not a very good student! The other thing which kept coming up and which I never wrote about was a really old map that kept coming up and being referenced which showed Jerusalem as the center of the known world. I don't think I mentioned before that Jews believe the Foundation Stone is under the current Muslim Dome of the Rock structure and that it is where God started creating first the world and then Adam. Hence, Jerusalem would be the center of the world. It is a nice story and a nice image.