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Published: October 3rd 2013
SARASOTA, FL TO TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
Started from Sarasota, Fl at 11:30 am and arrived in Tel Aviv at 2:30 pm the next day. Accounting for the seven time zones that took 20 hours with the last leg from JFK in New York on a 747 being over 10 hours alone. All the flights were good and smooth except for a short duration of bumpiness over the Atlantic Ocean. On the 747, there was some commotion among the passengers when boarding, but everything calmed down after we started taxiing and it was a pleasant journey thereafter. The meals were adequate and the service efficient. I watched the movie “42” about Jackie Robinson and listened to music most of the flight. I napped little, however, so when I arrived at my hotel, The David Intercontinental in Tel Aviv, I was ready for a lay down nap.
I am on a Tauck tour of Israel and Jordan which lasts 14 days. This is my first time with them, but they have a great reputation for being a first class operation. I was met at the airport after I cleared passport control and got my suitcase and was efficiently transported to my hotel.
Everything was smooth and easy. I checked into my very nice room on the nineteenth floor and was very pleased with the beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea. I absolutely recommend flying in at least one day earlier than the tour starts to adjust to the time difference. After a pretty good sleep I woke up and had a very good breakfast buffet and then started a walking tour of the area. I ended up in a street market area which was interesting (the Carmel market). I haven’t yet met anyone who didn’t speak English, but by far the common language here is Hebrew. When I’m walking by people conversing or on their cell phones almost all the time they’re speaking Hebrew. I had lunch at a nice restaurant on the beach, the Manta Ray. What a view of the beach and Mediterranean Sea, and the food was fine. I had a tapas appetizer of okra and an entrée of shrimp and scallops on a fennel sauce. Outstanding! On my walk I was by the bike path, but I noticed one guy was cheating; he had an electric motor powering his bike. Scandalous! There are a lot of cars here,
but bikes and motor bikes are plentiful also. Back to the hotel for a short rest before meeting the tour group for a reception and dinner. There are 32 of us on the tour; one couple is from Australia and the remainder are from the US. Great meal ( 7 different shared salads for the first course, the main course was a choice salmon, chicken, beef or mushroom risotto, and a nice dessert along with wines and waters), compatible travel mates, good weather - we start tomorrow am. Can it get better than this?
ILYS
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Laurie Zeh
non-member comment
Tel Aviv
Tauck always does wonderful tours. I'm happy your trip is starting off so well.