My flight out of Seattle was mostly uneventful.As someone who hates to check bags, I was a bit bummed to find out that Lufthansa had a carry-on limit of 8 kilos (my non-full and size-appropriate bag was 10 kilos). I\u2019ve had enough bad experiences with lost or delayed luggage that I prefer to carry-on for anything less than a week. In the end, it didn\u2019t matter (more later).<\/span><\/p>\n I flew from Seattle into Frankfurt, and arrived with just enough time to run<\/strong> to a different terminal and catch my flight. I had 5 or so minutes to spare, so I suppose I could have just jogged, but after the 11 hour flight, I needed a bit of exercise anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n I stayed at the Dan Panorama in Tel Aviv. After admiring my beach view and unpacking, I found something to eat and went to bed.<\/span><\/p>\n Wednesday, October 26.<\/strong><\/p>\n Microsoft Israel has offices in Haifa and Herzelia and I spent the day in Herzelia talking with testers in a variety of settings. Surprisingly, I had energy all day and had some good conversations (from my side at least \u2013 I hope the folks in Israel found the discussions helpful).<\/p>\n Then it was back to the hotel for dinner, a bit of work, and bed.<\/p>\n Thursday, October 27.<\/strong><\/p>\n Once again, I didn\u2019t sleep well (I can\u2019t believe I claimed for years that jet lag was something I never worried about). The good news is that I finally finished reading Life –\u00a0 the Keith Richards autobiography. It\u2019s not the most well written book, but to me, it was a fascinating page turner. I\u2019m not a huge fan of the entire Stones\u2019 backlog, but to me, the 10-year period from Beggar\u2019s Banquet through Some Girls is some of the best rock music ever made.<\/span><\/p>\n Since I\u2019d given up on sleep, I loaded a dozen or so of the Rolling Stones singles from that period and went for another run on the beach. When I got back, I had breakfast, checked in with Shmuel <\/a>(my host from Intel), and \u2026went back to bed.<\/span><\/p>\n Shmuel and I went out to dinner, then we both called it a night.<\/span><\/p>\n Friday, October 28.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"View](\"http:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/WP_000408.jpg\" "\\"View")
<\/a>I landed in Tel Aviv mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Since I sat in row 54 of an HFP (huge plane), I was just about the last person on our flight to arrive in a packed passport control room. After spending some time in the second slowest line, I switched to the actual slowest line and eventually was allowed into the country proper. By this time, my bag was off the plane and was one of the few left on the carousel, so I grabbed it, found a taxi, and went to my hotel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>I used to never have a problem with jet lag. As yet another sign of my age, I didn\u2019t get a great night of sleep, but at 5:30am I got out of bed and went for a run on the beach (or next to the beach). It was fantastic \u2013 perfect weather, the sound of the ocean, and a bit of blood pumping through my system gave me energy to face the day.<\/p>\n<\/a>My presentation at Intel was in the afternoon, so I had time to get some rest, wake up, and prepare a bit more. From my point of view, the presentation went well \u2013 the audience seemed engaged and receptive, and I received good comments afterwards. I feel fortunate to have been invited and hope the folks at Intel found my presentation useful.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Shmuel picked me up Friday morning for some sight-seeing in Jerusalem. First stop was the fascinating (and somewhat depressing) Yad Vashem<\/a> \u2013 the Holocaust Memorial. From there, we went to an open market, wandered a bit and had lunch. The final stop of the tour was Old Jerusalem and the Western Wall<\/a>. I was fortunate enough to meet Shmuel\u2019s wife and five children there as well. After a bit more wandering, I headed\u00a0 back to Tel Aviv.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n