Milan

I'm flying Alitalia and Milan is a hub city. Now I've been to Italiy twice - last summer and this. Never left the airport terminal - but in my "notch on the belt" rules - it counts!!

There were no internet cafes in Milan, so this is coming to you from Haifa (hooray, I made it!).

First lesson - if you don't know how to use the buttons on your iPod, it probably will be out of "juice" when you want it most. That said, I took my transformer, my converter plug, my iPod charger and my iPod and sat on the floor, next to an electrical outlet at Milpensa - the airport in Milan - and charged that little rascal. Of course, the next plane ride - from Milan to Tel Aviv was on a plane where it was really too noisy to use an iPod. Deep sigh. There went my Hebrew prep.

Second lesson - listen to your friends. Peg told me to buy a neck pillow. I did. It is cushy and has foam microbeads.

Third lesson - believe your friends. Someone else told me they can't sleep on a plane. I have a refinement as it applies to me. I can fall asleep, I just can't remain asleep because the lolling head awakens me.

Fourth lesson - take what your friends tell you and improve upon it and then share it. Use the neck pillow AND roll up the blanket to put on your shoulder under the neck pillow so that when your head lolls it only goes a little way and you can sleep.

Fifth lesson - don't try getting such wisdom (a) when the first plane ride is almost over and (b) when you have a different seat (window, not aisle) on another model plane and your problems are different enough that the solutions from your friends and your improvements don't work.

Rabbi Heath