I slept much better last night and didn’t wake up until my alarm went off at 6am. Sara followed soon after at 6:30am. We didn’t get to see the sunrise today, but at least we got a full night’s sleep.
Today was another long day, but a little less packed. I enjoyed it a lot, and every place we visited was amazing. We started the day as usual with breakfast in the hotel dining room, and they were actually serving pizza in the buffet. Naturally, I got some, but I did find it interesting. After breakfast, we got ready and headed for the bus. The day’s itinerary, as I said yesterday, was Nazareth, the Golan Heights, Caesarea Phillipi, and Tel Dan.
This day was packed, and it was awesome! I woke up just after 3:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I eventually just decided to get up and watch the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. I setup my tripod on the balcony to take some long exposure shots of the sunrise while drinking an excellent cup of coffee.
My day started very early this morning, and let me tell you, it’s been a packed day. I quickly got ready, and then my dad and I went for a short walk by the Sea of Galilee. We also saw a lot of cats. After we went back inside the hotel for a quick breakfast, we boarded our bus and began touring.
After the plane took off, we literally started zooming forward in time. Throughout ten hours, we would travel into a time zone eight hours forward from Nashville.
Today, we woke up at the Springhill Suites in Miami. I can’t say that’s where I expected to be this morning, but it is what it is. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and then we hung out in our room for a couple hours.
Most of today was spent in the air. Our 10-hour flight left JFK just after 11pm last night, and we arrived in Tel Aviv at 5pm today. The flight was relatively uneventful, and I was even able to get a little sleep (Don’t think my flight buddy, Sara, got much sleep at all).
Our group left the hotel in Miami around noon for the airport. We were able to work with American to split the group and get earlier flights so that our connection in JFK would not be as tight as originally rescheduled last night.
Today begins my first trip to another continent. I’ve been so excited to go to Israel since my dad told us we could come about a year ago. Today, we traveled to Miami, and we are hopefully going to be able to board a plane to Tel Aviv.
Today, our whole family begins our long-awaited trip to Israel. I love visiting this country and am looking forward to sharing this journey with Olivia, Kate, and Sara. This time, I’m one of the co-leaders of the group, along with Bruce Zupa, who has been to Israel six previous times. With us are 24 other pilgrims, many of whom are making their first trip to the Holy Lands.
