Charlotte: Day 2

We must have gotten all of out bad travels out of the way because Wednesday/Thursday went much more smoothly than the day before. Our flight to Boston left at 11:30 AM, only a few minutes late. Before I knew it, it was already time to land in Boston, ahead of schedule. This was already too good to be true. There was plenty of time to grab lunch and relax before boarding our next flight to Frankfurt. We were unable to see the jet, but we knew that it was going to be big and nice since we were flying with Lufthansa, a German airline. My fear of flight almost dissolved upon boarding…extremely comfortable seating with the flight no where near being full and some familiar faces like Alex’s.
After takeoff, I decided to order a rum and coke and completely skip taking my Ambien, which I was specifically prescribed for this flight. I proceeded to grab my wallet to pay for the drink; the flight attendant stopped me and simply said, “No charge.” Wow! So I sat back and enjoyed the flight while watching “Horton Hears a Who” and “Run, Fat Boy, Run.” I also immersed myself in the Arab culture by listening to Arabic pop music while eating dinner.
We landed in Germany at 5:30 AM (11:30 PM EST) and enjoyed a very expensive breakfast. While waiting for our next flight, we counted how many men were wearing kapris…such a high number has not yet been calculated. So at about 9:45 it was time to board our next flight. There was just one small problem. Apparently, those working for Lufthansa in Boston neglected to give us an official boarding pass for the flight to Tel Aviv, although we thought that we had a perfectly acceptable ticket. It seemed at one point that we would not make it onto the flight, especially when it was time for departure and we were not on the plane. Finally, we were all given our passes and entered the gate. Then we all looked at our tickets to see where we were to be seated and saw the two most glorious words in the world of travel – “Business Class.” I thought that only happened in the movies, but you actually can get bumped up to better seating.
The Germans definitely know how to treat a person: free champagne upon finding our seat, a menu which mapped out our choices for a three course meal, vibrating seats that recline and practically lay down on the floor, and, of course, infinite leg room. I’ve been spoiled; I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to economy class. The view of the Alps was beautiful, only a little better than finally seeing the coast of Israel as we descended into Tel Aviv. The Airport was much nicer than I had expected, and we soon met up with our driver, Jimmy, who would take us to our ultimate destination. Unfortunately, our 45 minute drive slowly turned into a two and a half hour one because of a wreck on the highway. Although I am very impressed with the system of roads in Israel, the drivers are absolutely crazy. But we finally made it to out home for the next five weeks, Kibbutz Hasolelim. We then ate a delicious, unidentifiable dinner and rested up for and early start at our dig site, Khirbet Qana. We had arrived.