Singaporean mom living in Israel: Traveling from Singapore to Israel

Twentysixoctober has moved to Israel!

Many readers told me that they are interested to know more about Israel so I'm starting a diary to record my life in Israel: Life in Israel.

Here's my first post in this diary!

On 6 March, 11pm (Singapore time), we arrived at Changi airport with 70kg worth of luggages.

Yes these were all that we brought for our one and a half year stay in Israel.

We checked in at the airport early as we were allocated different seats when we checked online.
It's a long story... We had called SQ prior to reserve 2 bassinet seats next to each other. Their staff assured us that it was done and confirmed. But disappointingly when we checked online 48 hrs before our flight, we were not placed next to each other. 

Don't feel like repeating this unpleasant story again.

So we checked in early and requested for a change in our seats. Fortunately, they helped us to change our seats to be next to each other. I could not imagine how inconvenient it will be if we were not seated next to each other.

We heaved a sign of relief when we finally got our boarding pass. After we settled the important things, we went to relax at the SATS premier lounge!

Took a few photos of Aedan posing with his passport.

A photo before take off. Happily seated next to each other! :)


Our 12hrs flight from Singapore to Zurich was exhausting.
Right after we got to our seats, we were given an additional seat belt for my baby which was to attached to my seat belt. I had to put him on my lap during take off/landing and whenever the seat belt sign turned on. I heed the advice from other mommies to nurse Aedan during take off and landing to reduce his ear pressure. It did help during the take off but it was unsuccessful during landing as Aedan was already full and refused to latch on...
After the flight took off, we were given a bassinet. Frankly, the bassinet was not useful as when had to carry him whenever he fussed. And there were many times that the fasten seat belt sign appeared just mins after we finally made him fell asleep in the bassinet. (It was really frustrating that we had to carry him out from the bassinet whenever the seat belt sign appeared.)
A way to calm Aedan down during the flight was to carry him and walk around in the airplane so I will recommend parents to bring along their baby carrier. During our flight we had our meals served at different time and we took turns to eat while the other carried him. Though it was tiring, we were glad that we made it and it is definitely a memorable experience.

During our transit in Zurich, we visited their family service area which is located inside the check in area for family with kids to rest and play while waiting for their next flight.

Their family service area is awesome with lots of activities for kids of all ages, cosy seating area for parents and also a very clean diaper changing area (the cleanest one I've ever seen!)

On our flight from Zurich to Israel, we met a mommy who was traveling with her 5 months old baby by herself from Zurich to Israel.
She told us that she is an Israeli who has moved to Switzerland with her hubby and flies frequently back to her hometown.
I could feel her patriotism as she spoke good words of her country. She told us Israelis love babies and there are many baby activities in Israel. Yay!! that's good news for Aedan.
She even offered to exchange contact numbers and told us to contact her if we need any help.
I have started to like Israel even before reaching the country.

Arrival time in Israel: 2.45pm, 7 March
Singapore time: 8.45pm, 7 March

We survived 17 hrs of flight and landed safely on the holy land of Israel, the place where we are going to spend our next one and a half year.

This was the scene captured while waiting at the customs.

There were so many people visiting this country! My hubby mentioned that it wasn't so packed last time when he was here.

After arriving at the airport, we went straight to collect our rental car which my hubby reserved. I waited for about an hour for my hubby to settle the paper work. My first time experience of their efficiency.

Man with black hat, black suit, white shirt and long curly side burn. We saw many people dressed like this in the airport. I later realised that they are known as ultra-orthodox - the most religiously authentic group of Jews who practice religious teaching. 

This white car will bring us to places in Israel!

We took another 2hrs drive from airport to our new home in Haifa which is the 3rd largest city in Israel. According to my hubby, Haifa is the city for work and study so it is a peaceful town with not much activities. But he promised to bring me to tour around other part of Israel.

Israel time: 8pm, 7 March
Singapore time: 2am, 8 March

Yes! Finally we arrived at our home sweet home in Israel. It is small cosy apartment with one bed room and toilet.

We were exhausted when we unloaded our luggages! After 17 hrs flight and 2 hrs drive, we finally made it to our new place.
Glad that we are safe and all went well.

That's it for today and I'm going to blog more about my other days in other posts.

Do follow Twentysixoctober Facebook page for more stories.

Have fun reading,
Twentysixoctober