Guide to Traveling to Israel from New York

We have used many different services for our car when leaving from JFK in New York This time we used Smart Park located at 123-10 S. Conduit Avenue, South Ozone Park, NY. Telephone them at 718-529-0090. We drove in and were helped immediately. We gave them our keys so they could move around our car. We found the staff to be friendly and helpful both ways. Smart Park drove us to the airport. When we arrived back in the states we called them and within five minutes the van was there to pick us up. The price will vary because you may be able to find coupons but if you don't you will pay over $300 for three weeks so look for coupons!

The flight:

We deliberated about using our frequent flyer miles and going with Delta or paying full freight and going on El Al. We chose the latter because we were told that it was faster, safer, and in general a great airline. It may be great because we support Israel by flying El Al but my husband and I were very disappointed in general with the airline.

Security was excellent going to Israel. I felt no qualms about getting on the plane and the two plain clothes officers couldn't be missed. Coming home our shoes were not checked and we could carry on bottles of water.

The El Al crew seemed rushed. No one said hello and it seemed as if the flight attendants didn't smile. Israeli's are called Sabras, which is the flower of a cactus - prickly on the outside and sweet on the inside and our first interaction with native born Israelis exemplified that!

The seats were narrow but I liked that we each had new paper mats for our heads. The movie/television screens we each had were not individualized i.e. we had to time the movie just right in order to see it from the beginning. That was too bad because on an 11-hour flight it would have been nice to have a set up such as KLM and Virgin Atlantic.

There are literally dozens of food choices and one thing I can say is that we didn't go hungry. We were given snacks, a hearty dinner and breakfast and left an hour late but got in 45-minutes early!

The way back was a different story. Our plane had mechanical problems with the engine, which included no air conditioning. We sat in that airplane for 2 hours until the pilot was given the go ahead. I would have to think long and hard before using El Al again.

The car:

We arrived and got our bags and then met two men who were holding up a sign with our names. One of the men drove us to a gas station, which is where Tamir Rent a Car's office is, and put us in the car we wanted - an Avio, which was perfect for the two of us. Returning the car was a cinch. We parked it in the airport's garage where we were told to park and left the car phone, which we rented along with the GPS, which we rented and the garage ticket in the trunk. The phone number is (972).9.8616470. Don't forget you can use Skype to call Israel for pennies!

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