Day 1 - Let's pray for sunshine...

Day 1 – Let’s pray for sunshine…

The day has finally arrived. Every single one of us has waited for this day for so long so … Israel, here we come!

17.45: Arrival at Zaventem airport in Brussels. Starbucks greets us with a smile and waves us goodbye at the same time. Some of us are having a hard time saying goodbye, but we take good care of each other and hug it out.

18.15: Check-in at the counter of Swiss airlines. Problem number 1: Some of us are anxious because our bags weigh more than they should. But hey, let’s pray for sunshine and hope they let our bags through.
Tik tok, they don’t seem to care, so we take a deep breath and gather our tickets.
Problem number 2: “Sorry madam, you’re boarding-pass for Zurich to Tel Aviv is on hold. We can’t promise that you will be on the plane to Tel Aviv.”
One moment all our happy thoughts were pushed away by dark clouds. What if Hilde (our lector) can’t come with us? Who will arrange everything?
“Oh and for the record, this bag isn’t yours, but It’s labeled as yours. So the person who this bag belongs to, won’t have it if Hilde isn’t on the plane.” PANIC!

After discussing, worrying and praying, the bags were finally arranged.

19.00: Next stop: our last goodbyes and passport control. We didn’t have to do anything. Just show our tickets and go through the gate

19.25: Security check-up: Naïki is freaking out. “Do I really have to take off all my jewelry and my belt?”
The first time on a plane is a journey on its own. Nobody
gets the STOP sign, so we can all go through.

19.45: Boarding. Now the time has really come. We all get our bags, Lien en Naïki are a bit nervous, Laura forgets her sweater, Mieke retrieves the sweater and Ashton walks on the plane like she takes a plane every day. The staff greets us with their prettiest smiles and we feel like nothing can go wrong. Ready for take-off and off to Zurich!

21.10: Our feet are safely on the ground in Zurich. A bus takes us to the airport where we have to take our next flight. You think it would be easy. Just go to your gate and check in. But nothing is what it seems. Zurich has an airport that’s bigger than Belgium. (We know, we’re overreacting, but it was really, really big). You have to take some kind of metro to get to the other part of the airport.

First things first… Ticket control – Security check-up – Metro – Walking.
We arrive at our gate and look around in the airport. It’s magnificent. There are windows everywhere en the seating is very comfortable. Our flight leaves in half an hour, so we only have time to sit and talk a little. We are all tired, but nobody wants to give in. We are pumped up but are falling asleep at the same time.

22.45: We board the plane and take place at the end. We are all surprised by the little screens in front of us. You can check everything, the flight records, games and most important of all, you can watch movies. Mieke and Laura are in the Disney-zone and choose ‘Beauty and the beast’. Lien wants to hear some music, so she watches ‘Country Strong’. Ashton and Naïki already say goodbye to the day and fall asleep. The flight goes its course and we all fall asleep.

3.30: Arrival in Tel Aviv. We just want to lay in our beds but we have to go through security first. There is a long line, but we keep our spirits high. We pass security and we get our bags. We can’t believe we’re really here. Our taxi driver waits at the exit and takes us to his car. He’s very nice and helps us with our bags. He says we are very welcome and he thinks we won’t want to go back to Belgium.
He takes us with him on the road. We all look out of the window and let our senses work. All the impressions we get, all the buildings we see, are sinking in. We are in Israel.

5.15: Apartment, sleepy, sleepy, sleepy…

We are all ready, but is Israel ready for us?