Day 1: Traveling, Traveling, and More Traveling! (By Pr. Tim)

Well, it's been a long day (or day and a half? or two? Too much math!) but we are all safe and sound at the Ron Beach Hotel in Natanya, on Israel's Mediterranean coast. We are told that Netanya was named in the 9120's after a French Jewish philosopher named Netan, and that a large number of residents of this region still have ties to France. Who knew?

Our voyage began with a joyful send-off at Salem, Catonsville. We had a wonderful midday prayer service led by Pastor Whetstone featuring the Lent hymn "Bless Now, O God, the Journey." I had sung those words many times at the beginning of Lent, but to sing them as we prepare to walk the path of Jesus and his disciples gave the words new meaning.

Our flight from Dulles to Heathrow airport in London was very long, but uneventful. It was a strange sensation to plunge headlong into the darkness in such a huge aircraft (it was an airbus with two passenger levels!), knowing the sun will meet you much earlier than you expect. We tried to get some rest but it didn't come easy for most. 

London was rainy and foggy, much as advertised, but we saw little of it: we were boarding for Tel Aviv within two hours! I will say that I very much enjoyed the London Starbucks coffee, and lest you think the "early Christmas craze" is a solely American phenomenon, the place was already decked out with stockings and tinsel! To quote Charlie Brown, "Good Grief!"

Another largely uneventful (but almost as long) flight from London to Tel Aviv. After setting our watches forward five hours, we added another two, putting us on the ground in Israel around 3:30pm, roughly 24 hours after checking in at Dulles. 

I'm brushing up on my Hebrew reading skills which I had mostly left behind in seminary. During a slow, traffic-laden journey through the cities of Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and then Netanya, we saw lots of neon lights and Hebrew billboards I could practice on (but, truth be told, most everything we needed to read was also in English!) 

Turning in now for a very early morning (wake-up call at 6!) to leave for the ruins of Caesarea Maritima. So glad to be here!