7/22 Flight and Arrival in Tel Aviv
I had been tracking the events in Israel for a few weeks preceding my departure date. With each day my trip got closer and I grew more nervous. This is the first time I am entering a foreign country on my own, where I don’t speak the language, I have no relatives, and there is an ongoing war. Thankfully, my parents don’t follow the news too closely, so they were largely ignorant of the situation, until the few days leading up to my departure when things escalated. As a mom, mom told everyone and anyone that I was going to Israel, and everyone and their mother told her what a bad idea that was. “Don’t you know what’s going on over there? Why would you allow your child to go into a war zone?” Why did I want to go into a war zone?
I’ve wanted to come to Israel soon following my discovery of all things Gaga, Batsheva, and Ohad. To be terse, Batsheva is my dream dance company. Dancing with them is my dream job. As school starts in the fall, I will be a senior, facing the impending doom of being booted out of the SMU college bubble and into the real world of unemployment and bills. The timing of this dance intensive serves nicely as a prelude into the spring audition season. This is the last chance I have to attend this program and dance with Ohad Naharin before I start auditioning. I did not want to miss it.
The night before I left Austin, the news coverage on Israel had taken a gruesome turn, and my mom started to panic. But I had started to panic weeks ago, and had already done all the research I could. I asked every contact I had in Tel Aviv to keep me updated on the situation abroad, and every friend assured me that I would be safe. “The Iron Dome will protect you.” Hard to believe juxtaposed to the photos of grief and destruction, but they were actually in the situation and I trusted them. So now I just had to get into Tel Aviv, but then MH17 happened. Not to downplay the gravity of that event, but it was not what I needed and added the new worry that if I wasn’t in danger in Israel, I was already in danger in the sky. One article I read about MH17 called planes during the taking off and landing period “sitting ducks”. My flight to TLV was almost a week before the intensive started, and many other dancers had already cancelled by this time.
On Tuesday morning I left my mother in tears as I headed towards the airport with only a few more hours to decide if I was going through with this plan. A rocket had landed near the Ben Gurion airport, where I was due to arrive the next day. I told myself that in the case something really happened, I could still turn around after landing in JFK. Then all flights were canceled, and I accepted the universe’s decision that I was not meant to go. But the FAA had only banned US airlines, and I was flying on El Al, an Israeli airline and the only airline still operating flights to and from Tel Aviv. I could go, but should I? Tel Aviv was safe, I just had to arrive in one piece. As I waited at the ticketing kiosk for the El Al flight manager for his assessment, a couple approached with the same question: should we stay or should we go? “The flight is not what I’m worried about,” the manager said.
Israel does not joke around with security. El Al has the most aggressive screening process to protect its people. Furthermore, there is an air marshal on every flight, flown by ex-Israeli Air Force pilots, and the cockpits are sealed with double doors to prevent entry, And if that’s not good enough for you, each plane in El Al’s fleet is armed with a defense system against anti-aircraft missiles (Flight Guard). I was flying on the safest airline, landing at the safest airport.
“The flight is safe,” the manager assured us, so what was he worried about? Right now is not the perfect time to vacation in Israel, unless your vacation revolves around a bomb shelter. But my main priority was not to tour the countryside. The couple chose to take the next hour to decide and wait for any new developments before checking in, and I waited with them, listening to their opinions. “My gut tells me we should go,” the man said. After relaying all of this information to my parents, I checked in. My flight is safe, Tel Aviv is safe, I’m going.
“Where are you going? “Why are you going?” “How long are you going for?” “Who do you know?” After an intense interrogation by El Al staff, I was escorted to the gate, where my carry-on items were hand-searched. When I boarded the plane, I entered from a door behind the first class section, and never even saw the entry to the cockpit. The small lock on my checked-in luggage was also annihilated when they searched the suitcase. Surprisingly (and reassuringly), there was a large group of Israeli teens on board. No one had cancelled, and the flight was almost full. After US flights were cancelled, some switched over to El Al. “If you choose to not go, we can sell your ticket for a hefty price!” dad joked, mostly.
I love airplane food. On international flights. When we fly to China on Asiana, the meals are my favorite part. ! On this 10-hour flight, we had both dinner and breakfast. I forgot about the hot meals (!) and bought a Naked Juice and muffin at JFK. But that didn’t deter me from eating every bite of my chicken and rice dinner. This was my breakfast, and obviously I enjoyed it too much because halfway through the whole tray dumped into my lap—hot tea, water, oil, fruit juice and all.
It’s okay, I can take the karma.
Luckily for me and the lady next to me, the couple on our other side upgraded to Economy Plus for extra leg room, so we had the whole middle aisle to ourselves! 4 seats. Meaning we each had 2.5 seats because sharing is caring. We actually got to sleep laying down!
As daylight filled the cabin, we prepared for our descent. Even the baby in the back held his breath. And once all wheels touched the ground, the cabin erupted in applause. “Israelis always clap,” the lady next to me said, “but especially today.”