From Chicago to Israel

Hi friends!

Maybe you will be very surprised that I did not write a few lines to you since starting my trip. I hope you are not disappointed with me -- after you will have read the following, you will understand the reasons.

Last January 6, 2010, after packing and giving up the apartment where I was living, my husband and I moved to Skokie for a week and then we took a British Airways flight to Ben Gurion Airport, in Israel, with a "little stop" in Heathrow Airport, London.

Because of a snow storm in London, our flight was delayed 3 hours, and then at 8:30 PM we started our journey. This delay meant that we would lose our connecting flight to Israel, but at least we would be half way there!!

The emotion was great; my heart was beating as fast as the airplane was flying. It was 9:30 AM, of the following day when we landed in Birmingham. Yes, Birmingham, and not Heathrow. The flight was diverted because of the snow storm in London, Heathrow was closed.

Here we started our adventures!!! After we landed, no one told us if our luggage went straight to Israel or we need to pick up them in Birmingham. Finally, like the rest of the passengers, we realized that we need to take our luggage and find out how to go to Heathrow, and to catch the following flight to Israel, which was scheduled for 10:30 PM.

Each one of the passengers took his or her luggages and left the airport to find a bus which would take us to Heathrow.

We could not complain, we had 2 hours tour in the British Midlands country side for FREE!!!! We saw a lot of snow all the way to Heathrow. It was really nice and relaxing after all.

We arrived at Heathrow and needed to find out which terminal we need to go in order to board the plane to Israel. While we were waiting for the call and checking in the luggages, we were served snacks: tuna, chicken or cheese sandwiches, salad, cookies, water, and coffee.

One hour before that we needed to check in the luggage, we were told that the flight to Israel was also cancelled. The first flight, at 8:30AM, the one that supposedly we missed because of the delay, was cancelled too.

The BA Company sent us to a very nice hotel, in the city, the Marriot Park Lane close to the Marbel Gate Arch. Around 10:00PM, we almost were leaving, when one of the personal from BA told all the passengers traveling to Israel that there was a flight at 8:30 AM to Israel, Friday, the next day, but this flight was cancelled also. However, there was another at 10:30 PM, also on Friday.

Yes, it was Friday night, and I do not fly on Fridays, because of Shabbat, so I asked for a second night in the hotel. However, they did not want to give us the second night because they did not care if we are religious: “It is not our problem,” the manager of customer services told me. So, I asked her to gave me her name and to write me a note that she will not give me a second night, so that I can report her.

After 20 minutes of "arguing", she acceded to give me the second night. By that time we were really exhausted and we just wanted to go to sleep at the hotel, where we arrived at 12:00 AM.

We stayed in the hotel from Thursday night until Saturday around 5 PM, when we left for Heathrow Airport.

The following concerns something great for us and I wanted to share it with you. [Please feel free to skip this paragraph, if you want.]

On Saturday morning we went to the synagogue, It was a magnificent building with a lot of stained glass windows. Each one has a motif from the bible. The rabbi was the chief Rabbi of the UK, Sir Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. It was a "Kiddush morning" for the new members, so we felt that, by accident and just for this morning, we were "new members".

At 6 PM, we left for Heathrow and found out that the flight to Israel, the night before, which means Friday night, was also cancelled!!

Finally, our flight to Israel left that night at 10:30, and we arrived at Ben Gurion airport at 5:30 AM.