Day 148 - Istanbul to Tel Aviv, Israel
Wednesday, November 28th, 2018.
Today we set our the alarms and got up around 7:40am. I actually slept well because today is a travel day. I'm in charge of getting everyone up! I like to wake up the kids with a big kiss and a hug. I tell them: "despiertate despacito" (wake up slowly). I turned on all the lights so everyone started to get up. We had our breakfast and we were ready to leave by 10:00am. It drives me nuts that Gregory still wasn't sure what to do about our ride to the airport. We are so different when it comes to planning and it drives me crazy. He leaves everything for last minute and I have to wait. If I did things my way, I would have asked for the taxi the night before and have the amount of money in cash in case the taxi didn't take credit card. Gregory is always telling me not to worry and that there plenty of ATM's everywhere and that the taxi driver can wait in case we need to get out some money if we don't have enough. Anyway, I was a nervous wreck because the taxi driver didn't want to come to pick us up and drive us to Taksim square where we could take the bus for the airport (something I asked to investigate the day before).
Daniel is my sweet and caring boy. He tried to calm me down by doing breathing exercises and giving me hugs. It worked for a little bit! I hope that by the end of this tour, I learn to calm my emotions and be calmer the day that we travel.
Ismael, who was the guy in charge of helping us with everything that we needed, went by foot to get us a taxi. We missed the 10:30am bus we were going to take, but luckily there was another one at 11:00am. The bus from Taksim square to the Istanbul airport took about an hour. We made it to the airport and had plenty of time to go through security and check in our suitcases!
The plane ride was about 2 hours, it was pleasant and fast. We landed to Tel Aviv at 4:00pm and wow, I have to say that we immediately felt like we were back in San Diego. The airport was similar but then it felt very different when we stood in line to get our passport stamped and saw the orthodox Jewish men wearing their black suits, their yarmulke with their curls or "churitos" as I call them. It was just so different from seeing all the covered women wearing black in Istanbul to the all the Jewish men wearing black in Tel Aviv. Another country, another language, another culture.
They didn't stamp our passport, instead, we got a separate permit to stay in Israel until February. Gregory went to the ATM, it was a different currency and then bought tickets to take the train to Tel Aviv University. The ride in the train was very pleasant. A nice lady told us where to get off and then a nice man asked us if we needed help once we got off the train. Everyone so helpful. He suggested that we take a taxi to our apartment and we did. It was expensive, again like in Europe. Luckily, it was a short walk from where the taxi driver dropped us to our house. Gregory picked up the key at the grocery store (funny detail) with the cashier and then we walked and passed many big white buildings until we found number 20. The kids were screaming when they saw that each of them had their own bedroom and their own bathroom! Gregory and I were happily surprised to of how nice and spacious the apartment is. We upgraded our home from a three-star humble apartment to a four-star hotel!
Everything was fine until I found beard hair on our bathtub and our sink! I screamed, "Really!?!" Gregory, my calmed husband, said, "No big deal, I will clean it up. I reminded him how many places I had to clean before (that were supposed to be clean). Anyway, besides that, the place is amazing, it even has an ocean view! The taxi driver told us that it was an expensive area. I worried a little bit because it means that the grocery store nearby by will be expensive. Oh well, we will just have to go on a pasta diet again like we did in France and Italy! No problem, my kids would say with their slavick accent from the Balkans!
This is what we rode today from our apartment in Istambul to our apartment in Tel Aviv:
1. Taxi from our apartment to Taksim Square to take a bus to the airport
2. Bus to Istanbul airport
3. Airplane from Istanbul to Tel Aviv airport
4. Train from Tel Aviv Airport to Tel Aviv University
5. Taxi from Tel Aviv University stop to our apartment to Moshe Perlock
6. Feet to walk to our apartment, we did it!
Today we set our the alarms and got up around 7:40am. I actually slept well because today is a travel day. I'm in charge of getting everyone up! I like to wake up the kids with a big kiss and a hug. I tell them: "despiertate despacito" (wake up slowly). I turned on all the lights so everyone started to get up. We had our breakfast and we were ready to leave by 10:00am. It drives me nuts that Gregory still wasn't sure what to do about our ride to the airport. We are so different when it comes to planning and it drives me crazy. He leaves everything for last minute and I have to wait. If I did things my way, I would have asked for the taxi the night before and have the amount of money in cash in case the taxi didn't take credit card. Gregory is always telling me not to worry and that there plenty of ATM's everywhere and that the taxi driver can wait in case we need to get out some money if we don't have enough. Anyway, I was a nervous wreck because the taxi driver didn't want to come to pick us up and drive us to Taksim square where we could take the bus for the airport (something I asked to investigate the day before).
Daniel is my sweet and caring boy. He tried to calm me down by doing breathing exercises and giving me hugs. It worked for a little bit! I hope that by the end of this tour, I learn to calm my emotions and be calmer the day that we travel.
Ismael, who was the guy in charge of helping us with everything that we needed, went by foot to get us a taxi. We missed the 10:30am bus we were going to take, but luckily there was another one at 11:00am. The bus from Taksim square to the Istanbul airport took about an hour. We made it to the airport and had plenty of time to go through security and check in our suitcases!
The plane ride was about 2 hours, it was pleasant and fast. We landed to Tel Aviv at 4:00pm and wow, I have to say that we immediately felt like we were back in San Diego. The airport was similar but then it felt very different when we stood in line to get our passport stamped and saw the orthodox Jewish men wearing their black suits, their yarmulke with their curls or "churitos" as I call them. It was just so different from seeing all the covered women wearing black in Istanbul to the all the Jewish men wearing black in Tel Aviv. Another country, another language, another culture.
They didn't stamp our passport, instead, we got a separate permit to stay in Israel until February. Gregory went to the ATM, it was a different currency and then bought tickets to take the train to Tel Aviv University. The ride in the train was very pleasant. A nice lady told us where to get off and then a nice man asked us if we needed help once we got off the train. Everyone so helpful. He suggested that we take a taxi to our apartment and we did. It was expensive, again like in Europe. Luckily, it was a short walk from where the taxi driver dropped us to our house. Gregory picked up the key at the grocery store (funny detail) with the cashier and then we walked and passed many big white buildings until we found number 20. The kids were screaming when they saw that each of them had their own bedroom and their own bathroom! Gregory and I were happily surprised to of how nice and spacious the apartment is. We upgraded our home from a three-star humble apartment to a four-star hotel!
Everything was fine until I found beard hair on our bathtub and our sink! I screamed, "Really!?!" Gregory, my calmed husband, said, "No big deal, I will clean it up. I reminded him how many places I had to clean before (that were supposed to be clean). Anyway, besides that, the place is amazing, it even has an ocean view! The taxi driver told us that it was an expensive area. I worried a little bit because it means that the grocery store nearby by will be expensive. Oh well, we will just have to go on a pasta diet again like we did in France and Italy! No problem, my kids would say with their slavick accent from the Balkans!
This is what we rode today from our apartment in Istambul to our apartment in Tel Aviv:
1. Taxi from our apartment to Taksim Square to take a bus to the airport
2. Bus to Istanbul airport
3. Airplane from Istanbul to Tel Aviv airport
4. Train from Tel Aviv Airport to Tel Aviv University
5. Taxi from Tel Aviv University stop to our apartment to Moshe Perlock
6. Feet to walk to our apartment, we did it!
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| Almost there... |
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