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Jerusalem Diary: Egress
I flew into Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv a week ago today. On the evening I arrived, I received by email an invitation to join a Hillsdale College cruise as a shipboard lecturer and to bring my wife along for the ride. I was scheduled to leave Ben Gurion airport at 12:20 a.m. on Saturday, the 26th of July — which is to say, tonight. I am scheduled to be in Istanbul for the cruise on Tuesday, the 29th.
At first, I thought this impossible! Then, I thought again. I was to arrive at the Detroit Airport at 11:12 a.m. on the 26th. My wife could pick me up and we could then drive directly to her parents’ home in Maine, drop off the children, leave the car, take the bus down to Logan Airport in Boston on the 28th, and fly from there to Istanbul.
My wife’s parents kindly agreed to take the munchkins off our hands, and arrangements were made. But then Hamas pointed a rocket at the airport, the Iron Dome failed to knock it out of the sky, it landed not far away, Delta diverted a Tel Aviv flight to Paris, and the FAA briefly banned American carriers from landing at the airport.
This caused me to contemplate Plan B: flying from Israel to Istanbul. But the normal carriers — Turkish Airlines, first and foremost — had dropped out of the picture. That left me with Ukraine Air, which flies via Kiev; Aeroflot, which flies via Moscow; and Royal Jordanian, which flies via Amman. Being what I am, I was thrilled at the prospect of passing through Kiev.
Then the FAA backtracked and Delta announced a restoration of service — and for a few moments I thought that I was off the hook. No such luck! The flight on the 26th was delayed by eight hours, ruling out my wife — on her way by car to Maine — being able to pick me up in Detroit. Nor could I shift my final destination to Albany, where she would be, since there are no flights from JFK to anything but hubs and no way to connect via a hub that late in the day.
Now I am slated to fly out on Delta at 12:20 a.m. on the 27th. I will go to JFK, then to Detroit, then to Portland, Maine. Twenty-four hours after I reach Portland, I will be at Logan Airport waiting to board our flight to Istanbul.
But, of course, something could go wrong. Another Hamas rocket, for example. So I may end up passing through Kiev anyway.
And my luggage could be lost or delayed. Were it not for one thing I would be tempted to throw in the towel. The cruise goes from Istanbul to Ephesus, Rhodes, Antalya, Alanya, Limassol, Patmos, and Athens. I have spent time in all of these places, but my wife has seen only the first and the last. I thought that such a gig might be fun. She, on the other hand, is passionate about the idea. So, one way or another, I have to get to Istanbul.
My aim while in the US (if I get to the US) is to sleep on eastern Mediterranean time. If I can dodge repeated jet lag, that would be a very good thing.
Published in General
I once tried to rearrange my sleep prior to traveling to Bucharest to avoid jet lag. The result was that I boarded my plane with little sleep. I could not fall asleep on the plane, and upon arriving at my grandmothers house in Bucharest at 4PM slept soundly until 2AM. So, good luck but expect to be jet lagged anyway.
If it’s not too late, you may want to consider shuttle service from JFK to Albany. Alternatively, you can take the AirTrain to Jamaica (Queens), then LIRR to Penn Station, then Amtrak to Albany. Even with all the connections, it could be less time and hassle than the connecting flights.
You could try driving from Israel to Istanbul – what could possibly go wrong?
Please pass my warm regards to Constantinople.
Will do.
Ah! The joys of dealing w/ airline non-schedules. One thing I have found regarding luggage, don’t take it. Ship it via UPS or FedEx etc. It will get there and usually before you do. And is much less likely to get pilfered.
Be safe. As for me, I would stay in Maine. However, my opportunities to get away are few and I prefer non war-torn areas.
It is, actually, possible to hitch a ride on a cargo ship from Israel to Istanbul, though it requires some perseverance: you have to go to the shipyard in person and convince the captain to take you on board as “supercargo.” I did that from Istanbul to Trieste–three days–and it was one of the most beautiful trips of my life. But what I’m not understanding in this story is why you have to go back to North America at all: shouldn’t Plan B be Plan A?