Another Air Adventure!

Daughter #3 and I are off on another air adventure! This time, my wife, Gayle is coming along with us. We got up this morning and headed to the Ford Airport.

Our original plan was to go to Fargo ND. Why Fargo, you ask? Well, we’re both trying to get to all 50 states. I’m up to 45 states and Michelle is at 48 (plus 25 foreign countries). I need North Dakota. It’s spring break week and most flights are full, especially those heading south. Not a lot people go to Fargo for spring break – lots of room on the plane.

But…they had a snowstorm in Fargo and the flights are pretty well booked as people changed connections. So…we decided to come to Washington DC – my third trip here this past year. Here we’re up high, watching planes land about every 3 minutes. I can see the Capitol, the Washington and Jefferson Monuments and the blossoming cherry trees across the river from the Admiral’s Club. It’s warm, currently 85 degrees here!

Clouds and Blue Sky Looking Out the Airplane Window over New Jersey 4 6 23

I took this picture out of the airplane window. There’s an undercast and on the right side, thunderstorm anvils. This was over southern New Jersey looking (I think) southeast.

Bill at La Guardia Airport Thursday Evening 4 6 23

This evening we flew into JFK Airport in New York City – having dinner at the Admiral’s Club

This isn’t our final destination, we hope. We’re looking for unsold seats and seeing where we can go. Keep reading the blog…I’ll try and post again later this evening. See where we land.

Michelle and Gayle on the plane going from NYC to Tel Aviv

We left NYC shortly before midnight, headed across the Atlantic Ocean. The route takes the plane NE toward Boston, then just south of Gander, Newfoundland. We passed south of Ireland and England and crossed France, then ESE down to Italy and we flew over southern Greece before coming across the Mediterranean Sea to Tel Aviv.

It still amazes me that a metal cylinder can fly non-stop for nearly 6,000 miles at 38,000 feet where the temperature is as cold as -80F at over 550 mph. The plane will do this for decades without a serious problem in the air.

You cross 7 time zone flying from NYC to Israel. We left NYC before midnight and didn’t get to Tel Aviv until 5 pm the next day.

You get two big meals on the plane…one when you start out and another about an hour and a half before you land. So, I’m stuffed. In between most people slept, or tried to sleep. I watched a movie, listened to music and kept a close eye on the flight, seeing where the plane was – how fast it was going and the outside temperature.

Bill and Gayle on the beach at Tel Aviv.

Here we are on the beach at Tel Aviv. That’s the Mediterranean Sea on the right. There were a few boats on the lake this evening. Afternoon temperatures here were close to 80 degrees.

The pic. doesn’t show the large crowds of people. This is Passover and there are crowds here celebrating. It’s a diverse crowd, with children, babies and grandparents. Every rentable room in our hotel is taken with family gatherings and Seder dinners.

Not too long after we left the beach to go back to our hotel room, a terrorist incident occurred about a mile south of our hotel. All of a sudden, dozens (I counted at least 26) police vehicles raced past our hotel going south. A terrorist started shooting people and then hit several more with his car. Looks like 2 are dead, including the terrorist and at least 6 others are injured. This was the 2nd terrorist incident of the day.