I have done enough international travel at this point in my life to know that when you arrive in a country, you should really just stay awake until an appropriate time to go to bed, so that when you do finally lay down, sheer exhaustion will take over and you will sleep the whole night soundly and wake refreshed and accustomed to the local time zone.
As all my fellow travelers know, this rarely happens so simply, and has virtually no chance of happening if you arrive at your hotel at 3pm, take a shower, and promptly fall asleep for a 4-hour nap. Which is exactly what I did.
So I shouldn’t be surprised that on my very first night in Israel I found myself wandering in the lobby of my hostel at 4am, searching for a snack in my pajamas, ponytail, and glasses.
Luckily for me, Tel Aviv is a sleepless city, and even on erev Shabbat I quickly located an open convenience store. Shuffling across the street with my Bamba (favorite Israeli snack) and dark chocolate m & m’s tucked safely under my arm, I could not help but laugh at myself. As I waited to be buzzed back into the lobby of my hostel I stole a quick glance at the Mediterranean Sea; dark waves steadily rolling in to shore, a warm breeze wrapping around my bare legs. Back in my room, snacking away while watching the latest Harry Potter on my iPad, I smiled with the satisfaction that this is just the type of adventure I signed up for.
Brucha Haba’a to me…welcome to Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment