I do not make my travel plans far in advance and this time of the year is dreadful for spontaneous travel.
I wanted to go from Miami to Brussels, spend a few days there and on to Tel Aviv to spend a couple of days before going to the East.
It was difficult to get a comfortable and convenient flight from Miami to Brussels. Once that was settled I wanted to to Israel and the airfares on direct flights from Brussels to Tel Aviv had taken a steep rise..
Fortunately using some of the travel apps, I saw a fare from Paris (just one hour and ten minutes by train from Brussels) to Tel Aviv which was very reasonable. The only catch was that it was on Georgian Airways. Georgia is a country which has a soft spot in my heart, ever since I learned from medical school days that I carried a special HLA that was found only in Georgia!
The Uber driver in Brussels arrived in a shiny Mercedes Benz car and was a well dressed (and adorned with the necessary gold watch) from Guinea-Conakry. We got along fine from the very first moment, as he proudly announced that Sekou Toure the Independence hero of Guinea-Conakry was good friends with Fidel Castro.
The temperature outside was zero and the traffic jam was not that bad for the hour of the day and I prepared mentally for the long wait at the CDG airport in Paris.
Brussels airport may have some redeeming features but on this morning, I was happy to get on the train (a TGV to Marseille the first stop was the Paris CDG airport). A comfortable ride and soon I was at CDG airport.
Georgian airlines along with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan airways, share Terminal 2 D. The best thing about Terminal 2 D was the immaculately clean toilettes..The eating and imbibing choices were limited and it is a crime in Paris not to eat well or drink well. Plus they did not have a lounge which was easily accessible.
A long wait and ha.. welcome to the ex-soviet union citizens who have not learned the art of civilized waiting in line but demonstrated their impatience with shoving and cursing the agents. The fact that the agents who came very late to the counter, sauntered in would be a perfect description, as if they were listening to some music from Burkina Faso or Algeria and later told me that it was her first time working for GA! But she was pleasant and for an additional 25 Euros got myself the first row seat with no one sitting next to me. For a 4 hour flight, it is well worth it.
The customs/security check was not that difficult or cumbersome and soon I found myself looking for the Priority Pass Lounge inside Terminal 2 D non-schengen area.
A pleasant french maghrebian passport control officer let me through. Imagine my horror when i got to the crowded waiting room of eager ex-soviets waiting to go home .. the lounge was at the entrance to passport control, BEFORE you clear it.
I went back in despair, spoke to the same french maghrebian agent, who allowed me to leave the area and go up to the lounge. Thank you, heartfelt thanks.
We have to forgive the French for their arrogance and ignorance of the world outside their culture and language and total disregard for the world at large and the implicit belief that France still leads the world, erroneous as it may be and obvious to the rest of the world.
I forgive you, dear French people, I shouted to myself, as I downed my first flute of Champagne (no Prosecco in France, my darlings! this is not America).
A few things to nosh, and Perrier water and i was satisfied and felt liberated from the food that may come my way on Georgian Airways..
The boarding process was less traumatic and less unruly even though there was some roulette to take seats. A cunning russian? with a french passport sneaked into the rows (which requires 25 euro payment) and enjoyed the comforts and was extremely polite to me and I congratulated him on his luck.
The flight took 4 hours, and the crew was doing a turnaround so you can imagine how tired they were ..they would have worked more than 12 hours before they get back to Tiblisi.. mmm.
I was able to get some shut eye and we were already over the Black Sea and soon enough began the descent into Tiblisi International airport..
The situation for transit passengers were comical enough. You were to put your carry on luggage on an x ray machine and go through an electronic gate.. nothing much happened. Nobody seemed to know the next step. A pleasant young woman collected our passports and reappeared just minutes later with our boarding passes. Most of the transit passengers were going to Tel Aviv including a trio of very loud religious Israelis. After a long wait near the other end of the machine, we were given the okay to go up to the departure lounge.
Tiblisi(loves you, signs every where) is a small International airport with the usual duty free shops and some eating choices. I had the chance to enter the Prime Class Lounge(thanks to PriorityPass) and every body seemed friendly and welcoming despite the late hour (around 4 am) of the night.
The Lounge was pleasant, very few people in the lounge. A very slavic looking young lady made a lovely cup of cappuccino. There were some minor offering which included Georgian cheese.
So the wait time at TBS airport was a pleasant one. 30 minutes before the flight time, the gate of departure was still unassigned. Boarding process was without mishaps and the Embraer 195 aircraft was only half full (or half empty?).
I had an empty seat next to me and I slept the entire two hours of the journey to Tel Aviv.
We landed fairly early Israeli time, which is two hours behind Georgian time. The plane was parked in the old Ben Gurion Airport and the deplaning was by stairs and the transfer by bus seemed to take for ever.
I was first in line at the Foreign Passport section of the Immigration. A pleasant young man, looked at my passport and asked, what is your full name.. I pronounced it as clearly as possible. He asked, are you Jewish? I said, I was. He smiled and handed the passport back to me.
Within minutes the luggage was spewed out by one of the carousels and I was out to the familiar arrival area and this time I did not have to wait longer for the train. ATM machines on the wall to provide your shekels and to the train station adjacent to the exit, and an unsmiling ticket agent gave my ticket to Haifa.
Waiting at the platform no 2 of the Ben Gurion Airport Station, I felt so good
to be back in Israel, for the fourth time this year
to feel the energy of this most innovative nation on the earth
to feel part of this miracle of human history
I enjoy people watching in Israel where people from all over the world are gathered.
I took a deep breath, of the fresh morning air of Israel and got into the coach that would take me to Haifa
I wanted to go from Miami to Brussels, spend a few days there and on to Tel Aviv to spend a couple of days before going to the East.
It was difficult to get a comfortable and convenient flight from Miami to Brussels. Once that was settled I wanted to to Israel and the airfares on direct flights from Brussels to Tel Aviv had taken a steep rise..
Fortunately using some of the travel apps, I saw a fare from Paris (just one hour and ten minutes by train from Brussels) to Tel Aviv which was very reasonable. The only catch was that it was on Georgian Airways. Georgia is a country which has a soft spot in my heart, ever since I learned from medical school days that I carried a special HLA that was found only in Georgia!
The Uber driver in Brussels arrived in a shiny Mercedes Benz car and was a well dressed (and adorned with the necessary gold watch) from Guinea-Conakry. We got along fine from the very first moment, as he proudly announced that Sekou Toure the Independence hero of Guinea-Conakry was good friends with Fidel Castro.
The temperature outside was zero and the traffic jam was not that bad for the hour of the day and I prepared mentally for the long wait at the CDG airport in Paris.
Brussels airport may have some redeeming features but on this morning, I was happy to get on the train (a TGV to Marseille the first stop was the Paris CDG airport). A comfortable ride and soon I was at CDG airport.
Georgian airlines along with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan airways, share Terminal 2 D. The best thing about Terminal 2 D was the immaculately clean toilettes..The eating and imbibing choices were limited and it is a crime in Paris not to eat well or drink well. Plus they did not have a lounge which was easily accessible.
A long wait and ha.. welcome to the ex-soviet union citizens who have not learned the art of civilized waiting in line but demonstrated their impatience with shoving and cursing the agents. The fact that the agents who came very late to the counter, sauntered in would be a perfect description, as if they were listening to some music from Burkina Faso or Algeria and later told me that it was her first time working for GA! But she was pleasant and for an additional 25 Euros got myself the first row seat with no one sitting next to me. For a 4 hour flight, it is well worth it.
The customs/security check was not that difficult or cumbersome and soon I found myself looking for the Priority Pass Lounge inside Terminal 2 D non-schengen area.
A pleasant french maghrebian passport control officer let me through. Imagine my horror when i got to the crowded waiting room of eager ex-soviets waiting to go home .. the lounge was at the entrance to passport control, BEFORE you clear it.
I went back in despair, spoke to the same french maghrebian agent, who allowed me to leave the area and go up to the lounge. Thank you, heartfelt thanks.
We have to forgive the French for their arrogance and ignorance of the world outside their culture and language and total disregard for the world at large and the implicit belief that France still leads the world, erroneous as it may be and obvious to the rest of the world.
I forgive you, dear French people, I shouted to myself, as I downed my first flute of Champagne (no Prosecco in France, my darlings! this is not America).
A few things to nosh, and Perrier water and i was satisfied and felt liberated from the food that may come my way on Georgian Airways..
The boarding process was less traumatic and less unruly even though there was some roulette to take seats. A cunning russian? with a french passport sneaked into the rows (which requires 25 euro payment) and enjoyed the comforts and was extremely polite to me and I congratulated him on his luck.
The flight took 4 hours, and the crew was doing a turnaround so you can imagine how tired they were ..they would have worked more than 12 hours before they get back to Tiblisi.. mmm.
I was able to get some shut eye and we were already over the Black Sea and soon enough began the descent into Tiblisi International airport..
The situation for transit passengers were comical enough. You were to put your carry on luggage on an x ray machine and go through an electronic gate.. nothing much happened. Nobody seemed to know the next step. A pleasant young woman collected our passports and reappeared just minutes later with our boarding passes. Most of the transit passengers were going to Tel Aviv including a trio of very loud religious Israelis. After a long wait near the other end of the machine, we were given the okay to go up to the departure lounge.
Tiblisi(loves you, signs every where) is a small International airport with the usual duty free shops and some eating choices. I had the chance to enter the Prime Class Lounge(thanks to PriorityPass) and every body seemed friendly and welcoming despite the late hour (around 4 am) of the night.
The Lounge was pleasant, very few people in the lounge. A very slavic looking young lady made a lovely cup of cappuccino. There were some minor offering which included Georgian cheese.
So the wait time at TBS airport was a pleasant one. 30 minutes before the flight time, the gate of departure was still unassigned. Boarding process was without mishaps and the Embraer 195 aircraft was only half full (or half empty?).
I had an empty seat next to me and I slept the entire two hours of the journey to Tel Aviv.
We landed fairly early Israeli time, which is two hours behind Georgian time. The plane was parked in the old Ben Gurion Airport and the deplaning was by stairs and the transfer by bus seemed to take for ever.
I was first in line at the Foreign Passport section of the Immigration. A pleasant young man, looked at my passport and asked, what is your full name.. I pronounced it as clearly as possible. He asked, are you Jewish? I said, I was. He smiled and handed the passport back to me.
Within minutes the luggage was spewed out by one of the carousels and I was out to the familiar arrival area and this time I did not have to wait longer for the train. ATM machines on the wall to provide your shekels and to the train station adjacent to the exit, and an unsmiling ticket agent gave my ticket to Haifa.
Waiting at the platform no 2 of the Ben Gurion Airport Station, I felt so good
to be back in Israel, for the fourth time this year
to feel the energy of this most innovative nation on the earth
to feel part of this miracle of human history
I enjoy people watching in Israel where people from all over the world are gathered.
I took a deep breath, of the fresh morning air of Israel and got into the coach that would take me to Haifa
