My journey to Israel started with…EL AL. I was 7 months pregnant with Ben while Rachel was 1 year and 7 months old. Of course, Haim was with us. The flight from HongKong was close to 11 hours (which should have been shorter if they have friendly relations with their neighboring countries!) but already, I got stressed out without even boarding the plane from all the questioning we got from the staff. By the way, this is very unique only to El Al. Before checking in the luggage, there were tables set up for the staff to check your suitcase in case they feel you are a "threat' to the flight. They ask you questions pertaining to the luggage. The queu can be quite long specially with Fiipinos like me who brought an entire life's possessions (I didn’t want to pack it together with the container that was coming via sea). The next round of interview came when we entered the boarding area. Even during the luggage check, they were very cordial, even apologetic specially when they have to check each and every item (this didn’t happen to me at that time). The staff do explain to you that this is for security purposes and we all know that Israel is one of the highly secured countries because of their "sensitive" location and "un"friendly neighbors.
The airplane was new..spacious, clean, modern not unlike the previous trip I took when I swore a twin engine plane to Palawan was better!!! (just kidding!) The stewardesses/stewards were all young and good looking…and I suppose friendly because they interacted a lot with the locals in Hebrew. The nice thing about being in El Al was, aside from feeling safe, that there was a certain warmth that I have never experienced in other airlines. People moving from their seats to check out on friends, people making new acquaintances like they were friends for a very long time and their food bar was open all the time for anyone to get drinks, food, heat water, make coffee….i mean, you will never go hungry with El Al! The food bar even became a meeting place for mothers and fathers who regularly needed to either fill up the baby bottles or heat water. It has also become a social area because passengers flock not just for food but to chat. And you can sense almost instantly how accommodating they were to mothers and babies and this did not come from the staff alone but even the passengers!
The interiors of the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv is made of the famous limestone blocks from Jerusalem. It is one of the most beautiful and modern airports I've been to.
It was a breeze going through the immigration officer as compared to some "not-so-nice" stories from other travellers. Perhaps its because I am married to a citizen of the country.
The best part was the arrival area. You see people holding flowers and balloons in anticipation of the arrival of their loved ones. We got balloons and flowers too.
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My own "Exodus"