Touchdown...

00:28 17ᵗʰ August 2026

Arkia flight number 912 lands at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport. While most passengers' journeys are ending, mine is just about to begin...

E.T. phone home

Before passport control I face the wall (lowecase "w"), where I make a phone call back to the future, simultaneously telling my constantly WhatsApp-ing worldwide family, to go to bed...

Sasha greets me, we go to the passport office, where they discover that my visa made me 3 years younger... Lol.

After a brief cigarette break, off to the office for the first paperwork of the day.

Probably not many people have so many middle names, I request either all or none to feature on my official papers. All it is.

I'm given my ID card, new immigrant certificate, some bottles of water (making me wonder, whether my night will really stretch that long), a card loaded (no not that much) with money.

Not the time to leave my baggage behind (this is definitely a fresh start)

And we're off to collect the suitcases, all three of them; which are doing the rounds on the carousel.

Sasha kindly grabs two trolleys, and we're off through customs into the bare arrivals hall.

Without a thought, I follow Sasha towards the taxi rank, when

From behind the walls of doubt a voice was crying out (Lionel Richie Say you, say me)...

"Péter" (in Hungarian)!

I turn around and am greeted, out of the blue by my sister, nieces and nephews! What a heartwarming moment, I'm not alone after all.

Sasha kindly snaps a photo or two and we're back on schedule on our way to the taxi stand.

First appointment successfully scheduled...

While my eldest nephew and I wait for the taxi to arrive I log onto the government's

website.

Fortune favours the bold, or as my father used to say, the fools; I find an appointment for 12 hours later at 14.42: 🥂🍾

With that, we jump into the arriving taxi and ride off into the approaching sunrise only to drift off for a brief nap on arrival at our destination...

Good night, or as the locals say:

לילה טוב.