My "free" Israel Trip
In two weeks, I'll will be flying to the wrong airport (La Guardia) to take a taxi to the correct airport (JFK), to spend the night in a terminal to board a plane to Israel. While I'm not looking forward to spending the night in an airport part or ridiculous ice breakers and over-the-top enthusiasm, I am stoked to see Israel.
The itinerary looks great. I'll be doing all the touristy things a Jew does in Israel, so I won't feel ashamed wearing a fanny pack or hiking boots. I'll ride camels and climb Masada like I should have done in an organized trip years ago when I cared more. What was I thinking back then? Oh yeah, I wasn't. (I'm not really convinced that I think now...)
The only downside to this trip, if you could call it that after all the good Birthright does, is the cost. It is actually not free to travel on this trip (I should have known). You must buy insurance, pay your counselor/security guard/medic, bring money to buy some meals and other necessities, and most importantly, shell out a couple hundred dollars to get to and from NYC. When it is all said and done, the trip will have cost me well over $500 but it will have been worth it.
In the meantime, I have to finish a 20 page paper, a poetry portfolio, take an exam, and grade over 50 student essays before I leave the bitter state of Kansas.
After I return, I will be taking a train trip from New York to Spartanburg, SC. Why? Good fucking question. I had bought a ticket to Charleston, SC to spend time with a friend there, but those plans blew up due to the this random unluckiness I seem to be radiating especially hard this week. Who knows how I will get from Spartanburg to Knoxville or Asheville. Amtrack doesn't go through the mountains. At this point, I don't really care. Mentally, I've checked out. I just need to get through each hour without disaster.
I've never been such a hot mess before. People can probably smell the stress oozing from my pores.
Can you sense it in my blog post? No....
Carry on.
2 comments:
Told you I will pick you up in Spartaburg and take you to at least Asheville. THAT timing will work out perfectly. Or we could say fuck it and spend Christmas on the beach just the two of us. Actually, I kind of wish I'd thought of that sooner, because that sounds really pretty awesome.
Eitherway, it's still a ridiculous situation piled on top of more ridiculous situations. :-)
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