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This post is a record of July 30, 2011, but was written later.

I ended the day 29 post as our plane was boarding. I decided to continue here since the next events technically took place after midnight (using Israel time), making it day 30.

Having said that, it was actually very confusing to try to tell the time while on the plane. It was a 12.5-hour flight, but we left Tel Aviv just before midnight and arrived in Philadelphia at 5:00 a.m. Another sign that we were seeming to outrun time itself was seen when we looked out the plane window. When we left Tel Aviv, it was completely dark outside. At some point during the flight, Anna opened the window shade and there was either a sunrise or a sunset going on. Then I opened the shade a few hours later and it was completely dark again. When we neared Philadelphia, the sun began rising. We were flying faster than the earth’s rotation and outpacing the sun.

Yes, the flight was long, but Anna and I had reserved seats next to each other so that we could talk. There were also screens in front of every passenger that offered movies, TV shows, music, and more. Anna and I watched a couple TV episodes and then a movie (it was “Unknown,” which is going on my list of favorites). I know there were others on our team, especially those who didn’t get to sit by someone they knew, who plowed through three or four movies during the flight. We were served a meal they called supper sometime after midnight and then breakfast shortly before arriving in Philadelphia. I tried to sleep, but can’t do that very well sitting up.

In Philadelphia, there was more airport rigamarole to go through, from passport control to security to baggage claim. Despite his best efforts, one of our team members, Trevor, missed his connecting flight, so we got to meet up with him once more and say goodbye. Also notable was the moment when Dylan got patted down by security to an absurd degree. He was wearing some extremely bagging clothing he had purchased in Israel, which apparently made the security guy very suspicious.

There was something relieving about being back in the US. Even though it was usually very small, I think there was probably always some fear that something could go wrong in Israel. Now that we were back in our home country, I had the feeling that if anything came up, we’d be okay. Israel felt much safer than I thought it would, but there was still something about the security of being home that was comforting.

Then came the sad moment when we all had to go our separate ways. There was a group that was flying to St. Louis, one going to the Twin Cities, and a few individuals going to Washington, Texas, and Wisconsin. Here is the last photo we took as a group (minus the three still in Israel, those who only came for half a season, and Anna, who took the photo).

John, Dylan, Sarah, Meghan and I went to the gate for our Minneapolis flight. (Felecia was there with us too because her gate was nearby.) It was at this time that people decided they wanted some American food again.

You’ll notice that Dylan’s first American breakfast includes no diced tomatoes and cucumbers or hardboiled eggs. That was intentional.

John went for a coffee that was probably better than the instant stuff he had in Israel.

Felecia, the Wisconsin girl, fed the stereotype and went for American cheese.

And Sarah chose the great American staple: bacon.

My first American food would come later, but first we had to miss our flight.

When we arrived at the gate, no one else was there. I asked why that was, and people said it was because we were early. Someone had checked a monitor while walking through the airport and saw that our flight was still on time. As we waited at the gate, most of us took out our laptops and began checking email. After a while, I noticed there were still no other people there, and I think I mentioned something about it again. John asked me what time it was, and I gave him both the time in Philadelphia and the time in Minnesota. We had all been engrossed in either email or food and trying to deal with the jet lag when I noticed we only had about 20 minutes until the plane was supposed to leave and there were still no other people at the gate. I asked once more and John said that we were at the right one. I don’t know who it was, but someone from our group went and asked someone from the airport what was happening. The person replied that our flight had been moved to another gate.

When we heard that, we all jumped up, packed our things as quickly as possible, and began running through the airport to the other gate. We were in B something and the new gate was C26, which was quite a jog away. Dylan and Sarah ran out ahead, while I was in the middle, and John and Meghan took up the rear. As I ran, I was worrying about whether missing this flight and having to get on another would be an extra cost. I also wondered what would happen if I did make it on the flight but John and Meghan didn’t. In the end, we all reached the gate just minutes after boarding had ended. An airport employee at the gate told us that he didn’t think the next flight was leaving for Minneapolis until 6:00 that night. It was about 6:00 a.m. when he told us that.

We were told to go to customer service, so while still breathing heavily, we did. Thankfully, the women at USAir’s customer service were lifesavers. They found five empty seats on a Delta flight that was leaving in just a few hours. There was no extra cost to this, so we were relieved on all sides.

We moved to that new, correct gate, got new boarding passes, and waited. John told me that part of the reason he didn’t notice we were at the wrong gate was that he had set his watch to Minnesota time and so he wasn’t aware that the other plane should have been boarding when it wasn’t. At this new gate, some ate again, some checked email, and some slept. I fell asleep in a chair for a little while, then got some coffee from the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts to keep me awake. I don’t generally drink very much coffee, and I had already had two cups on the flight, so I also got some light food to help my stomach deal with all the caffeine.

The plane to Minneapolis seemed tiny in comparison to our previous one. The international plane had had nine seats across with two aisles. This little plane had just four seats and one aisle. I had also forgotten how much lower this plane flew than the international one. We could see the ground the whole time.

After just a few hours on that flight, I was finally back in Minnesota.

For a final time, what remained of our group divided. My dad picked me up from the airport, we stopped briefly at my aunt’s place in the Cities so my cousin could help clean the new camera, which was covered in Israeli dust, and then we started the final leg home.

Here were the first three things I did back in the US.

Before we had even left for Israel, Dr. Schuler started telling us that the first thing we’d want to do when we got home would be to eat a bacon cheeseburger, since bacon isn’t kosher, and therefore not very available in Israel, and neither is combining meat and cheese. I generally try to avoid fast food, but people talked so much about bacon cheeseburgers on the trip that I eventually started craving one, too. When the “Baconator” from Wendy’s was gone and I realized that I hadn’t eaten for most of the day and was still hungry, we pulled into Burger King for another. I had to laugh when I saw this sign at the drive thru.

Some would say that sign could just as well have said, “Welcome back to America.”

Since this post is long enough already, I think I’ll write some kind of overall reflection as a separate post.

SEE ALL 17 PHOTOS FROM DAY 30 WITH TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS HERE.