Getting to Israel

We had a pretty uneventful time getting to Israel. We anticipated some extra screening and scrutiny, but didn't experience anything too threatening. The only extra security came at the airport at Newark where the Tel Aviv flight was in a secure boarding area. To get into the area, they checked your boarding pass, "wanded" you and looked quickly through your carry-on bag.

The flight itself went well. It's about 10 1/2 hours from Newark to Tel Aviv. We flew on a Continental 777 that featured 3-3-3 seating. The best part was that every seat featured it's own entertainment system with access to more than 250 movies, 300 TV programs, music and games.

The movies and TV programs were of a variety of genres, suitable for every interest -new releases, movies from the '50s, comedy, action, sitcoms, HBO shows, etc.

We also were all pleasantly surprised when we landed in Tel Aviv. We expected a lot of scrutiny, but all we got were 3-4 questions about the purpose of our visit and where we would be going.

The Tel Aviv airport was also surprisingly not crowded. Also, there was no food court, just a couple of "fast" food type places and only a handful of shops.

From landing to leaving the airport, it only took about 45 minutes.