Have you ever wanted to go on a holiday but weren’t sure if you really should go and visit the country of your choice?
After having read a certain book in 9th grade (yeah, I know that’s ages ago), I have been obsessed with all things Israel ever since. This obsession actually goes to the point where I bought myself a beginner’s course book to learn Ivrit (Modern Hebrew).
Now I’ve been offered the unique chance to travel there with a good friend, some members of her family and a bunch of people we both don’t know, yet. The price, accommodation and destination of this two week long roundtrip are more than just interesting.
However, I’m still hesitant to book considering the still very strained political situation in the country.
And there’s my parent’s and family to inform, too. They’d probably rip my head off for taking such a great risk to go on a holiday…
What would you do? Got any suggestions and/or helpful information to help me take a decision?
Go. There is always a reason not to go. The political situation is Israel is well publicized. Almost everywhere has some kind of political problem - that’s what politics is - but mostly it’s concealed from the guidebooks.
Do it now. People get more careful, or more nervous, as they get older. If you don’t go now, you never will.
My sister and her husband regularly visit Israel. His mother used to live there. I’ve never been, but I regret it. I doubt I ever will now.
I’m with Inny. Fear-based thinking gets you nowhere, because there is no end to it. Providing you survive, you will probably find the visit invigorating considering the challenges people face there day to day. I bet life seems a bit more real there; or perhaps, interestingly surreal.
When i was an American Field Service exchange student, we actually had AFS students who were placed in homes in South Vietnam, during the war. That blew my mind.
Go. I’ve never been, but my cousin has been twice and she absolutely loves it there. As long as you’re of legal age, there’s not much your parents can do about it.
Why not go? My wife and I went to Israel for three weeks in December and just into January. (This is when, in part of the country, there were rockets going back and forth and so on.) We never really felt in danger (though one of the days, when things first started up we we’re inconvenienced only slightly in that most of the stores in east Jerusalem (predominantly Arab) where we were staying were closed for a day in a kind of solidarity strike). We’d go again in a heartbeat.
You’ve wanted to go there this long. The circumstances are right. You can’t know if another opportunity like this will come again. And who knows when the political situation there will be any better?
While there is a time for caution, there’s also such a thing as being overcautious.
When I was 17 years old, the year I graduated from high school, I planned a trip to Ireland. I’d been hoping and dreaming of little else since I was 13. Then I let my family’s fears talk me into going to Washington D.C. instead (this was during the height of The Troubles). I enjoyed Washington, but a part of me died with the loss of that Ireland dream. I finally did get to go…30 years later…but that was a long time to table a dream that really didn’t NEED to be tabled in the first place.
In the final analysis, bad things can happen to us wherever we are. Good things can happen to us wherever we are. Nothing is certain. If you have the chance to realize your dream now, do it now.
Go
Israeli security is some of the best in the world. I doubt you’d be in any more danger there than in a typical big US city. Plus, your tourist dollars would be a needed boost to the Israeli economy.
Thanks for the memories Keith.
I saw a lot of those things when I was 20, and went with a group (accompanying my mother and grandmother whose lifelong dream it had always been.) This was in 1982, and the political situation at the time was not ideal, causing a person or two to drop out of the group.
But it was an interesting trip, without incident. I’d prefer to go without the group thing if I did it again.
I don’t really understand wanting to go from one high density population center to another high density population center for holiday. However we have a friend who was there just before the last troubles started and he had a blast. Me, I’d rather float a river.
I don’t know if you live in the USA but if you do, you are in more danger here.
I have reasons not to go but physical safety isn’t one of them. More people
are killed in a largish American city in one night than in all of Israel in
one month or more.
The places not to go are where there are mobs of people rampaging,
or bombs are going off or… But Israel isn’t like that. You might stay
away from the towns on the boarder with Gaza that are being
rocketed. But there too the risks are very slight.
I see your point. Sometimes that would be just the thing too.
I guess that, for me, the fun is seeing how one place in the world differs from another. So, when I’m abroad, one of the most entertaining things to do–much more than the usual tourist hot spots–is to go in the grocery store and buy a few things. Or observe how the street signs are on the corners of the buildings instead of on posts. Or watching the zany traffic from the relative calm of the hotel window.
Keith, toda for sharing the pictures. They’re beautiful and somehow surreal. I guess one cannot begin to imagine the wonders of being there before one’s really in the place.
And thank you everybody for your encouraging words and most of all for bringing some reason into my inner debate.
I talked to my “absolutely not Israel enthusiastic” boyfriend yesterday about my problems making up my mind and he looked at me as if I were crazy and said nothing.
So I asked him what was wrong. And he replied: “If you haven’t made up your mind, why is it you brought back your “Learn Ivrit” book from your parent’s place where it had stayed in a box for over five years now?!”
Duh, what can I say?
Taking all of this in account, especially Red Wolf’s comment about finally realising one’s dreams and Jim’s comment about life in the US presenting more danger on a daily basis than elsewhere, it’s definitely time for me to go there.
You’re all so right about this one thing: bad things happen everywhere and so do good things. And then there’s always chance or luck or one’s guardian angel - whatever you want to call it. Honestly, when travelling to the US in 2001, who would have expected that a simple error ( baggage being loaded into the wrong plane hence delaying the flight) would save me from being in New York on a sightseeing tour on a most dangerous day?
And that’s exactly the problem. Ever since that time, my parent’s are very sensitive to the places I go, subconsciously fearing the worst.
I’m unsure what to do.
I’ll definitely go on the holiday - application was sent 3 seconds ago and accepted - but am I going to tell my parent’s about it, will I be able to be evasive about the destination of my trip until it’s over? Most likely not. My mum and I are very close and she’ll weasel it out in a second. Plus, I cannot expect my boyfriend or anybody else for that matter to not slip up in an unguarded moment.
However, one thing’s for sure, I’ve got to solve this problem, soon.
About your “Learn Ivrit” book, I honestly don’t think it’s necessary, indeed, it could be counterproductive, for you to “polarize” your thoughts about Israel, that you’re either “for” or “against” Israel, etc.
I am not a Jew, but I am a goyim who happens to know his way around a “proper” kosher kitchen, milk, meat, pareve, etc., and then some.
It also happens that I have closely worked with, and have known, a number of Arab people, too.
Jews are Jews, and Arabs are Arabs, but there are many things to like about each of these peoples.
If anything, the troubles seem to come more from their governments, and that really is a shame.
Again, I’d say that you really should go there, while keeping your mind and your heart open.
Stay away from areas of known trouble, of course, and otherwise you no doubt will have a great time!
I think if it were me, I’d just come right out and tell the folks. You know, "Mom, Dad…you know I’ve had this dream for a long time, and I’ve decided that I don’t want to put it off any longer. I’ve signed up for a trip to Israel with ________. I know you have concerns, but you also know that I will be careful. I love you, and I don’t want you to worry, so I’ll be happy to give you all the information I can about the trip, but I’d never forgive myself if I passed up this opportunity.
“‘A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are for’”
