Travel log

We arrived back in Israel last night after our month-long stay in the US. We flew Turkish Airlines, which was mostly a great experience. Online check in was simple, and we were each allowed 2 pieces of checked baggage (luckily, considering we left Israel with 3 bags and returned with 6!). We received a “hygiene kit” before boarding that included 3 masks (they suggest changing your mask every 4 hours), antiseptic wipes, and hand sanitizer gel. Our long flights from Istanbul to Atlanta and back were on a Dreamliner, which is very comfortable. The special meals we ordered were great (Indian vegetarian for me, Kosher for Danny and the kids). On the way to the US, we each had an empty seat next to us. On the way back, we each had an entire row to ourselves. Everyone watched hours of movies, and there was even a guided meditation series available as part of the in-flight entertainment. My only caveat is for travelers who are non-gender conforming. Turkish Airlines does a final security check at the gate in Istanbul before you can board your international flight. They separate the lines based on gender and do pat-downs of all passengers. It was a shock for us, since we weren’t expecting it; and we hadn’t yet been in a situation like that since Kai came out. We couldn’t do anything about it in the moment, but we told Kai that we can make a different choice the next time we fly.

Reuben relaxing on the flight

When we bought tickets on Turkish Airlines, I asked a Turkish friend in Israel to teach us how to say “hello” (Merhaba), “thank you” (tesekkurler), and “please” (lutfen). Part of the summer reading program through the Boulder Public Library is activity based, and learning those three words in another language was one of the choices. My kids were annoyed because they said they already knew those words in Hebrew, but I told them that wasn’t the point. Once they were on the airplane, and on our layover in Istanbul, Reuben was especially excited to use his new Turkish words.

During our trip, Israel changed the quarantine requirements forcing travelers from the US to self-isolate for a week after arriving from overseas. We thought perhaps we would add a stop-over in Istanbul and explore for a few days since we would have to quarantine anyway. Just as we were starting the research, travel to Turkey from Israel was banned. We were disappointed that we couldn’t see the city (Turkish Airlines allows travelers a free stopover), but we figured we could at least try more Turkish snacks during our layover on the way back to Tel Aviv. We had less than 2 hours for our layover on the way to the US, but it was enough time to buy Turkish delight and other snacks, and to look at all of the fancy designer watches that cost about $20,000 on the low end. We were looking forward to exploring more on our way back to Israel, but instead we had a minor incident.

Shopping on our layover in Istanbul

Danny bought a new guitar while we were in Colorado. He carried it in a hard case on the flight. Rather than gate check it under the plane, the flight attendants put it in a closet in business class. When we exited the plane in Istanbul, Danny stayed on board to get his guitar. The jetway was crowded with people waiting to pick up strollers and gate checked bags, so the kids and I walked into the terminal. There was no airline representative standing at the gate, so we followed the signs to “international transfers.” We sat next to the door, at the top of the escalator where we exited our flight, waiting for Danny. After a few minutes, he still hadn’t met us. The kids wanted to use the restroom, so one person waited outside to make sure he didn’t miss us. Still no sign of him, so we proceeded to the security check point for international transfers. I asked an airport employee if there was any other place where a person could get from one international flight to another, and she said no. After almost an hour of waiting, we were all extremely nervous. Danny had all of the passports and boarding passes, so we couldn’t get through any security check points. I asked the information desk to page him, but they said they couldn’t do that. Next, I went to the Turkish Airlines transfers counter, but they said they had no way to contact the flight crew from our arriving flight – they were just airport employees contracted by the airline.

By now I was starting to panic. I had an irrational fear that Danny had a heart attack, and was being rushed to the emergency room. Without our passports, we were completely stuck in no-man’s land in the middle of the airport. I couldn’t even log onto the free wifi in the internet to contact him without my passport. We now had less than 40 minutes until our departure time for our flight to Tel Aviv. After asking several airport employees for help and realizing that they had no idea what I was talking about, I finally broke down and started crying when a “hygiene guard” told my kids they couldn’t sit on the ground near the international transfers security area. Seeing me distressed, he jumped into action. He immediately used his own phone to connect me to the airport’s free wifi. That basically solved the problem because when I finally was able to call Danny using WhatsApp, it turned out that he was already at our gate for our flight to Israel. Apparently, when he left the plane, a Turkish Airlines employee looked at his boarding pass and told him NOT to take the escalator to international transfers, but instead to go through a second door that led him directly to the next terminal without having to do another security check. When he told the woman that he was carrying all of the boarding passes, she said, “oh well, they must have gotten through without them. Just go this way to reach your gate.” Danny was freaking out because he thought we were busy shopping in duty free and just hadn’t made it over to our gate to meet him!

Waiting in front of the international transfer security entrance

The helpful hygiene guard gave Danny exact instructions on how to meet us back outside the security gate. The guard and Kai then walked to the door where Danny would exit so that Danny would be able to find us. We thanked him with a tesekkurler, and ran through security where they proceeded to make us unpack every single item from our carry on bags in order to reach our gate. We had to sprint through the international terminal in order to make it before the final boarding call for our flight to Tel Aviv. Luckily, the flight was almost empty so it didn’t matter that we were all dripping with sweat when we boarded. Danny’s shoulder and arm are pretty sore today from running through the airport with his heavy guitar case.

Back in Israel, guitar in hand

We made it back to our house late last night to find some grocery basics and a homemade cake on our table (a gift from our landlady). We all took corona tests before leaving the airport (pro-tip: register and pay online to save 20% on the test fees), and already received our negative results by the time we woke up this morning. Despite that, we all need to be in bidud (quarantine) for the next 7 days and get another negative test result in order to be released. A local police officer showed up at our house this morning to make sure we were all at home. Later this afternoon, a different police officer arrived to see if Kai was home. I guess the police are trying to strictly enforce the quarantine rules now.

Required corona testing before leaving the airport

I successfully ordered groceries online from the fruit & vegetable market and the organic grocery store, and our neighbor also picked up a few items for us. There is a heatwave in Israel at the moment, but we are inside for the week anyway. Send us all your favorite “stuck inside for a week” activities.

Delivery from my favorite fruit and veggie store