20180526 NYC-Tel Aviv: Let’s start that it’s 7:30 AM 5/27 in Israel as I write this. Which is also 12:30 AM 5/27 in NYC. Just finished a dinner of salad, grilled peaches, rack of lamb, and a lemon tart. Now back to the beginning of the day.
Got up about 8:00. I went down to breakfast in the hotel, which was fine, but way overpriced. More than the other breakfasts I’ve had this trip. The day was spent just wandering around. We walked over to Fifth and down to the Empire State Building and then back to the hotel to wait for the Spellers. When they arrived and put their luggage in our room, we went out for lunch at Ben’s Deli. Okay but not great. Next to Carlo’s Bakery for Anna and Andy to get cannoli, which are quite good. There was a street festival on Sixth-food, stuff, Tarot readers, etc. We walked through it for several blocks. Back to the hotel. Out again over to Rockefeller Plaza, the NBC store, and back down Broadway to the hotel. So the day was walking in rectangles always ending back at the hotel.
Anna and Andy showered and we sat around until it was time to leave. Had the same limo driver that had brought us in on Wednesday. Nice man who apologized for his error in dropping us off at the wrong hotel. And off to JFK we went a few minutes before 7:00.
Both Delta and El Al leave from Terminal 4. The Spellers went one way and we another. Checked in with Delta Priority. I had digital boarding passes, but the agent didn’t need them and printed out passes. We went to the TSA line and found out that my boarding pass had TSA Pre-Check while Marian’s didn’t. This was strange since the digital passes showed Pre-Check on both of ours. I zipped through and waited for Marian. She said her line was like a ride in Disney World with a long line winding around before you got to the screening.
We joined up and walked down Concourse B to the Delta Sky Club about 8:00. Found seats next to a nephrologist from Orlando and his woman friend, a drug rep for Mallinckrodt who lives in Columbia, SC. They are going to Scotland for a week to some rare Scotch whiskey festival. Spent our time in the club talking to them until it was time to board about 9:30.
Got down to the gate with the hordes waiting to board just in time to hear our rows being called. Went down a ramp to find a full set of security screening waiting for all of us. Even had to take off our shoes regardless of age. Should have known this was coming given Tracy’s description of extra screening when she went to Israel on El Al in 2014 and 2016.
So were in our seats for about 45 minutes before taking off. Plane left a few minutes late and it took some time before dinner appeared. Thus my entry at the beginning of this log. Rack of lamb at 30,000 feet! Speaking of which, did 15,000 steps, 5 miles today.
Now it’s 8:00 AM Tel Aviv time and we should be getting in around 4:30. Still lots of time to snooze. Marian is fast asleep. Oh, as expected, all announcements as well as printed material like the menu are in English and Hebrew.
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