Day 01 - Shephelah: Beth Shemesh, Azekah, Beth Guvrin (Maresha), Beersheba

The majority of the Hill Country group traveled together from Los Angeles International to Israel with a transfer in Istanbul. Our thirteen hour flight was delayed by a half an hour which eventually caused us to miss our connecting flight to Tel Aviv. We were met at our arrival gate in Istanbul a customer service agent from Turkish Airlines with tickets for the next flight to Tel Aviv. Also affected by this delay was the 52 person GTI group from Henderson, Nevada. We were able to get checked in on the plane but we had a delay because of de-icing, We left Istanbul shortly after midnigt and once in Israel we got to our hotel and into our beds by three, only to awaken three hours later for breakfast and the start of the tour.