Dec 20 - Good Driver; Not-So-Good Jew.
The anchor for this vacation is my cousin's wedding in Bushey, London on New Year's Eve. To that end we were connecting through London both ways, but had a lengthy, ten-hour layover in Heathrow on the way east, We decided to use this time to drop off our wedding clothes in Bushey so we didn't need to drag them around the Middle East with us.
Renting a car for eight hours turned out to be more convenient (and cheaper) option than trying to get around by train, though all I could get was a stick shift. This worked out to be a perfect storm for an accident: I was jet-lagged, sleep derived (Economy seats for the overnight flight), driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car and working the stick with my left hand, hadn't driven manual in years, in a car that was fresh off the factory floor (only 11 miles on the odometer) with not a scratch on it, on the M25 in London winter weather... so of course I declined *all* insurance options... BECAUSE I'M A BADASS!!!
In a small coincidence, Bushey is where a few members of my family is buried so we figured we'd make a stop at Bushey Jewish Cemetery while we were in the area. Before the trip I spent a good deal of time figuring out how to get there and where each family member was buried. We rolled up at the gates of the cemetery and found them firmly shut, and then slowly we both arrived at the same conclusion: neither of us had done the math that I can't visit my relatives in a Jewish cemetery on Saturday afternoon!
Clearly I am not in very deep, meaningful contact with my ancestral Jewish heritage.
(At least we were successful in dropping off our luggage for the wedding so the outing was not a complete waste.)
As an aside, a lot of people have been questioning our decision to head to Israel given the conflict that has been going on there this year. My response has been twofold: (1) if you want to visit this area of the world when there is no conflict going on, your best timing option is roughly 20,000 BC; and (2) the truce between Gaza and Israel has been holding steady since August, some four months ago. Right on cue, when we returned to Heathrow the news ticker on the monitor in the car rental shuttle let us know that the truce between Gaza and Israel that had held since August had just been violated. Perfect timing.
On the plus side, we lucked out and got an unrequested, free upgrade to Premium Economy. (The flight got overbooked and I was the first frequent flyer to check in - a day ahead of everyone else due to our long connection.) This was much needed since a second consecutive night attempting to sleep in Economy sleeps seemed unfathomable.
On to Israel...
Renting a car for eight hours turned out to be more convenient (and cheaper) option than trying to get around by train, though all I could get was a stick shift. This worked out to be a perfect storm for an accident: I was jet-lagged, sleep derived (Economy seats for the overnight flight), driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car and working the stick with my left hand, hadn't driven manual in years, in a car that was fresh off the factory floor (only 11 miles on the odometer) with not a scratch on it, on the M25 in London winter weather... so of course I declined *all* insurance options... BECAUSE I'M A BADASS!!!
In a small coincidence, Bushey is where a few members of my family is buried so we figured we'd make a stop at Bushey Jewish Cemetery while we were in the area. Before the trip I spent a good deal of time figuring out how to get there and where each family member was buried. We rolled up at the gates of the cemetery and found them firmly shut, and then slowly we both arrived at the same conclusion: neither of us had done the math that I can't visit my relatives in a Jewish cemetery on Saturday afternoon!
Clearly I am not in very deep, meaningful contact with my ancestral Jewish heritage.
(At least we were successful in dropping off our luggage for the wedding so the outing was not a complete waste.)
As an aside, a lot of people have been questioning our decision to head to Israel given the conflict that has been going on there this year. My response has been twofold: (1) if you want to visit this area of the world when there is no conflict going on, your best timing option is roughly 20,000 BC; and (2) the truce between Gaza and Israel has been holding steady since August, some four months ago. Right on cue, when we returned to Heathrow the news ticker on the monitor in the car rental shuttle let us know that the truce between Gaza and Israel that had held since August had just been violated. Perfect timing.
On the plus side, we lucked out and got an unrequested, free upgrade to Premium Economy. (The flight got overbooked and I was the first frequent flyer to check in - a day ahead of everyone else due to our long connection.) This was much needed since a second consecutive night attempting to sleep in Economy sleeps seemed unfathomable.
On to Israel...
P.S. Happy third annual Whale Day to all.
posted by Paineroo @ 11:05 PM
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