27/03/2019
Today was our ‘airport day’…we knew it would be a bit of a wasted day as we would have to spend a long time there before our flight after midnight that night, but until you are sitting there doing nothing for 12 hours, you dont’ realise how long the wait really is & how incredibly boring airports are! After packing the night before we had to check out of our Air BnB at 11am and as there was no storage for our bags, we headed straight to Tel Aviv airport. We first caught a cab to the train station where we had to argue with the cab driver when he wanted to take us all the way to Tel Aviv !! However we were ready for him after previous experiences and once he realised he couldn’t get what he wanted he started complaining that he’d hurt his back lifting our bags! I thought here we go, he’ll want more money, so I explained that I can lift the bags fine and I did actually warn him first that they were heavy. He then obviously got over the heavy bag situation and wanted then to take our bags down to the train platform level – told us there were only stairs & we wouldn’t be able to manage. We refused and I told a white lie that we were meeting someone, gave him the agreed 80 sheckles and basically dragged our bags off him and thankfully he went away! Crikey, you have to be on your game with these blokes! And there was an elevator….;) !!
The train was fast & efficient & we were there in 25 minutes. Once again the special assistance for Mum at the airport meant we didn’t have to stand in the line for the El Al security questions, they came to us so Mum could stay seated and we skipped all the queues for passport control and baggage screening. Although I did have to do the drug dog walk – Mum was waved right through – obviously not a potential suspect 
A ride on a cart to the gate with a lovely young man who waited for 10 minutes chatting away to Mum while I claimed my tax back and then at 12.45am we were on our way to LAX – a 15 hour flight which I must say was at the tipping point of tolerable ! Thank goodness for Premium Economy & the extra leg room. Then we had a 6 hour wait for the flight to Honolulu and finally 48 hours after leaving Jerusalem we were in our very comfy beds at our hotel on Waikiki Beach ! Mammoth flying effort and not something I would be keen to repeat any time soon.