First impressions from Israel

Tuesday morning I had to get up really early to catch the very first train so I would get to the airport on time for a flight with El Al. That's three hours in advance! Not having had any El Al experience before I figured I would have breakfast at the airport during that lengthy wait.

Little did I know that I would end up in a remote separate hall with all that extra security checking, double control of my hand luggage etc. And very little choice of items from the one little food stall in the hall.

The red x in the upper left hand corner indicates where ElAl flights are handled.
You then go by bus to the plane on the airfield, parked just next to all the other planes as usual.

By the time we took off from Munich I was getting really hungry.

Munich in the 'background'

A first snack to be grateful for: mini-bagels, to tie me over and prevent starvation.
I do prefer real, soft, big bagels, to be honest...

A bit of napping in between, and then this must have been Crete.

At least from what I remember about the geography of the island
when I was there many years ago, this would have been
the western part of Crete - and we had flown over something
that looked like the Santorini - Thira compound just a bit earlier.

Soshi and Gillian picked me up at the airport, we spent a bit of time in a traffic jam getting to the Kibbutz Hotel where the IQA is holding this year's convention.

Fresh Litshis at the welcome desk - yum!

After the first day of teaching today - a very lively and chatty group of very interested participants - and the first-ever SAQA meeting in Israel - I was offered a quick trip to the nearby beach by Judith.

Lots of snails on the bushes on top of the cliffs

Little flower on the side of the trail

Sunset on the beach - but I had grabbed a piece of clothing
instead of my bathing suit, so couldn't go for a swim!

One more day of teaching tomorrow, and then I will have a few days in the country. Looking forward to being shown around a bit!