i heart newark?

The most common question people asked me when I told them I was coming to Israel was "aren't you worried about security?" turns out the biggest security concern I would have about traveling in Israel was traveling TO israel. I flew through Newark airport on my way here on Sunday night, and in case you don't watch the news, there was a security scare at newark on sunday night which caused the entire airport to shut down completely.

Apparently a man ran through the doors where you would normally exit the secure part of the terminal causing TSA to panic (rightfully so) and their solution was to pull everyone out of the terminal and make them go through security a second time. Newark is one of the largest airports in the country where millions of people pass through each year - think of what a hassle the security line at the airport normally is then multiply it by 10,000 - that was Sunday night at Newark. The only term that could possibly do it justice is a fan favorite of mine: shit show. See the photograph for proof.

My plane landed about an hour into this debacle and their solution for incoming passengers was to make us stay on the plane out on the runway (what is in airport terms apparently called the "ballpark"). So in the ballpark, on an airplane, in my seat (22F) i sat for one hour... then another hour... then one more after that. I could have been concerned about missing my connection to Tel Aviv, but no, they decided to delay that flight for SEVEN HOURS. We were supposed to leave at 11pm, they "delayed" to 6am. Spending the night in the airport was my only choice (the airline literally said "good luck" when I asked what I should do) unfortunately sleeping wasn't so much an option. Since no flights got out for 5 hours they were stacking them up, trying to get people through security and onto their planes, so they could leave. Not 10 seconds went by all night when an announcement didn't come on the PA telling some passenger somewhere to board their plane or rush to a certain gate. Instead I sat and watched myself on tv (well, not really MYSELF, but the airport situation), i read the book i planned to read on the plane, i made some new friends and i spend the $20 continental gave me "for my trouble" on water, a magazine and a smoothie.

6am came and went. a pipe dream in our departure time. around 8am the captain of our flight came out to the gate and announced that there is a curfew in Tel Aviv and that no planes can land there between 1 and 3 am by law and if we left now we probably wouldn't make it so we would have to delay another two hours. This caused an uprising among the mostly conservative Jewish passengers of my flight. I don't know what they said, because it turns out I don't actually speak Hebrew, but they yelled and shouted and prayed and by gosh, we left that God forsaken airport not 25 minutes later.

I slept... the entire flight... through both meals that were served, through the personal on demand video screen on the back of the seat in front of me, through the scary announcement of a law that forces people to stay in their seats for one hour before landing, through everything. it was glorious. I do some of my best sleeping on airplanes. We landed in Tel Aviv at 2am (inside the dreaded curfew, luckily those mean Jews from the airport have Yahweh on their side) and I got through customs and into my "sheruit" (Israeli taxi) around 3:30. At 4:30 my "sheruit" (Israeli taxi) driver dropped me off in the middle of the street somewhere unfamiliar and insisted it was where I asked him to take me and that my hotel must be nearby. another impromptu adventure.

I made it safe, slept three hours then went for a five mile walk through Jerusalem's old city the next day. Glad to be here, glad I don't have to get on another airplane for weeks.