The Journey (to Italy)

Fools that we are we worked the day before our trip. I came home at the usual our and Eyal a little early so he could pick me up from the train.

We spent the evening tidying up the house so we would have a pleasant welcome home and also doing the final bits of packing and preparation for the trip.

At one point I just had to lie down and when I got up I was so tired so we decided we must have at least an hour's nap before the taxi arrived. At last there was no more to do and we laid down to rest - I was worried the alarm wouldn't wake us but we didn't really sleep that deeply.

The taxi arrived on time and we piled all our luggage into the back. We got to the train in plenty of time and sat on the platform with a few other groups of people all trailing suitcases, obviously going in the direction of Ben Gurion airport. The train arrive more or less on time and we settled into the air0conditioned carriage. After a few snacks we all gradually dropped off to sleep except my daughter who was so wired on adrenalin she gazed wide-eyed out the window.

Even though we had arrived more than 3.5 hours before our flight the El-Al counters were already open and churning through travellers.

The security line went quite quickly but for some reason the lady gave me quite a grilling – 'When did I make aliyah?', 'What was my Hebrew like when I came here?', 'Where did I live before moving to Israel?', 'Was I part of the Jewish Community there?', 'Did I study Hebrew.'. Then she asked the rest of the family the usual questions about packing the luggage and that was it. It was probably random but people keep remarking on my passport photo (it is quite new but I was more chubby-faced and my hair is now cut differently and dyed darker.) so I may have to renew it.

The check-in counter seemed to take forever but I knew we had packed light. In fact the case and bag for Eyal and me together weighed as much as I normally take alone.

And then we were in the Duty-Free!!!!

Normally Duty-Free isn't a big deal for me – there's a limit to how much alcohol you can get through customs and most of the perfume is out of my price range. Apart from that make-up, electronics and designer clothes just don't interest me.

This time we had decided to treat ourselves to our favourite brandy and I needed presents that I hadn't had time to buy before.

Then I went to the perfumerie to price check – My favourite was even cheaper than the half price offers in Israeli shops and I also discovered Amour Tentacion – not only is it purple but it smells fantastic too. Instead of choosing one I got both!!

When we got to the check-out there was a 'Family Deal' and they gave us a $100 gift card so we went back in to spend that!

But our first stop was at the electronics – I had promised Eyal a digital SLR camera for his birthday. They had the exact model he wanted and with only a little encouragement he handed over his credit card!After all that we were shopped-out and just in time for boarding call.

The gate had already open but we had plenty of time. They lovely people from Eyal were friendly and efficient but I was so surprised when one of the welcoming party wished me 'Good Morning' – It felt like at least half a day had past although it was only 7:30am.

Although we were in plenty of time the plane was mostly full by the time we board. But in fact we needn't have rushed - we had much more time than we expected. Due to a technical fault we missed our slot and take-off was nearly and hour and a half late. Eyal and I used this time to snooze as did our son who had also rested for about an hour on the train but our daughter was too excited to rest.

They were seated a couple of rows in front of us next to a nice gentleman who reassured my daughter when the suddenly turbulence and the lighting of the seat belt signs caused her some concern. I was proud of them sitting so quietly and self-sufficient while other children around us were constantly getting up and making demands of the cabin crew.

The cabin crew were excellent. All cabin crew are polite and pleasant but any route from Israel is not easy – there are always lots of noisy children and Israelis get up and walk around all the time – by the end of the flight the smiles become a little strained and the crew seem weary.

With El-Al the cabin crew are all Israelis – they are used to the national culture, are slightly less formal and in addition to the pleasant demeanour and friendly smiles they have a good sense of humour.

And of course with El-Al the food is always good. Firstly the food is kosher. We don't keep strict kosher but my mother has been served a cheese and ham snacks on certain flights!!! Secondly it takes into account Israeli taste.

On this flight we were served breakfast. My husband choose the omelette which looked freshly-made and tasted delicious. Rather different from the grey, rubbery offerring that passed for egg on our previous trip.

I had the salad, which was a sizeable portion, with vinaigrette and a nutty/seed topping. There was also a darling little roll for the cheese spread seasoned with olive paste. To finish there was bio yoghurt with honey and granola to add (How did they know I have recently been positively obsessed with yoghurt and granola?)

And later on to differentiate from the tea, coffee and water the cabin crew came round with ice lollies – very refreshing!

It was a relatively small plane. Eyal looked at the model number on the information card and remarked that not only had his factory made the blades in the engine but that his department was responsible for the quality control. I assume it was meant to be reassuring.

Being small plane we didn't have screens on the seat backs but as the film was 'Wimpy Kid 2' I was more than happy to finish reading my book. Eyal alternated between snoozing and gazing at the subtitles with a slightly bemused look on his face.

We also had a beautiful view out the window but as there was no flight map included in the information pack we had no idea where we were.

After about 4 hours we landed in a rather cloudy Italy.