Is it safe to travel to Israel? Part 2 of "The trip that goes wrong."

 After a grueling night under a table in the Houston airport, I flew to Newark. We couldn't get seats on the same flight, so Gerald came two hours later, and soon we were boarding another flight headed to Tel Aviv. This one was successful, and after eleven hours, we landed at the Ben Gurion Airport. Ragged from two days of travel without a bed or shower, we stumbled into the terminal and lined up at Passport Control. 

Within just a few minutes, chaos ensued. Sirens blared around us as airport personnel herded everyone into a stairwell and down to a cement enclosure. It seemed my degree of exhaustion left me helpless to feel much emotion. Had I been less tired, I might have been scared? Had I known what was happening, I for sure would have been. As we were directed into the stairwell, I looked at one young airport employee and asked, "Why are we going in here?" He didn't speak English but understood enough to replay, "Safer." What? Safer from what? Were we having some sort of emergency drill? I looked around for someone who might speak English and took a chance on a kind-looking lady standing near me wearing a badge to identify her as airport security. "What's happening?" I asked. "Yemen Missile strike," she replied.

Is it safe to travel to Israel? In that moment, it surely didn't feel that way. We were in lockdown for around 30 minutes, after which, we were allowed to go back up to the terminal and continue passing through Customs. The officer who checked our documents apologized, "Sorry for the 'excitement' only minutes after you arrived. Welcome to Israel." And that was that. Business as usual moving forward. It was odd, but since everyone else around me returned to normal, I did too. 

While waiting for luggage, I searched for information on the attack. Sure enough Yemen had launched a missile targeted at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Fortunately, its aim wasn't perfect. It landed outside the airport but not too far away. We didn't see the damage until we exited, but that will be part of tomorrow's installment of "The trip that goes wrong," so stay turned!