We're Leaving on a Jet Plane: Conclusion

This is part 5 of a 5 part series of blog posts about Sarah and my physical journey to Israel.

Introduction
Virgin Atlantic from Los Angeles (LAX) to London (LHR)
Customs in London & Yotel Hotel Layover
El Al from London (LHR) to Tel Aviv (TLV)
Conclusion
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This was Sarah's umpteenth time making the journey to Israel, and this was trip number five for me. Yet, this was the first time we have made such a long journey together. While this journey took us just under 24 hours of real-time travel, it was the best experience I have had.

Highlights:
*Flying Virgin Atlantic - VA is an incredible airline. The people were friendly, the food was great, the service was fantastic, and the in-flight entertainment is unmatched. If I ever have the opportunity to fly through LHR again, I would absolutely choose VA. Also, the fact that the plane was more than half empty was pretty awesome. I wish I had gotten up, though, and checked out the inflight bar. I was just too tired. Maybe next time!
*Yotel - Probably the best travel upgrade we've ever made. The fact that it was so close to the terminals, pretty cheap, private, and a great space made the Yotel a perfect investment.
*Free bags - Never doubt the abilities of the left hand not talking to the right hand. Although we got a different answer on the phone from VA, we did not end up having to pay for our bags. And we also did not have to pay for our third bag on El Al. Win.
*Never having to share a row with someone else - We really lucked out by getting to spend both flights together in a row without anyone else. I think it allowed us to relax a bit more throughout this experience.
*Nearly stress-free - With the exception of the little hiccup in LA about the visa, our entire travel experience was nearly stress-free. Lines were not long, we never ran late (save the El Al flight which arrived 10 minutes late, but on a red-eye, what difference does 10 minutes really make?), food was decent, and we dealt with very nice people.

Challenges:
*While El Al inflight service is usually pretty good, it was pretty average on our flight. I have had better experiences on El Al before, but then again, it was a pretty short red-eye, so I shouldn't have expected too much.
*Visa. Our experience may have been anecdotal and other people may not have the same issue. Yet, it was worth noting. It's a good thing that Sarah had an Israeli passport and I had my acceptance letter, though!

We really had an easy travel experience. I would recommend doing these same flights to anyone else coming to Israel. While it was not as quick as the non-stop from LA, we arrived relaxed and pretty refreshed. I'm sure being able to take a shower half-way through had something to do with that! We do not yet know how we will fly back to the US in January, but if we were to do this experience in reverse, I don't think we would complain.