On the road again

March 16, 2010 - 9:13 AM by David · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel

Israel may be a relatively tiny country, but we’re doing some heavy-duty travelling in the next few days.

Tonight, it’s a family wedding in Ariel, in the West Bank near Petah Tikvah, only a comparatively short hour plus drive from Jerusalem. Then tomorrow, we’re making a trek down to Sde Boker in the Negev for the swearing in ceremony of my daughter’s IDF unit upon completion of their first phase of basic training.

Many combat units have their ceremony at the Kotel in Jerusalem’s Old City, but maybe because this is a mixed unit of men and women, the rabbinical authorties decided that they didn’t want the two sexes near each other at the religious site. So, we’re looking at a two-three hour trip each way for the hour-long ceremony. Of course, we’d drive all day for this moment, but a quick jaunt to the Kotel would have been nice.

And then, Sunday morning, we take off for the 4-hour drive to Eilat, where we’ll park the car, walk to the border crossing control center and enter Egypt for a few days excursion in Sinai, inaugurated by a sure-to-be wild taxi ride down to Nuweiba.

But I hope that will be the only thrills we’ll experience on the roads. I’m going to drive alertly, responsibly and defensively whenever I’m onthe open Israeli highway – or stuck in traffic on the blocked Israeli highway. Let’s hope that my countrymen do the same.

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Tags: Ariel, Negev, Petah Tikvah, Sde Boker, Sinai

Sinai-bound

March 11, 2010 - 1:23 AM by David · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Travel

Is it only in Israel that going on vacation can turn into a political act? Or at least one with nationalistic implications?

We needed a family vacation, and decided to get away before Pessah. Despite the infinite holiday possibilities that await us in our backyard of Israel, we talked about going abroad – maybe because of the fact that my wife hasn’t been out of Israel in about five years.

But, when you’re on a tight budget, there’s not that many options – Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Cyprus… or Sinai! We had been down south of our border twice – once on a camping trip on a visit to the region in the late 1970s when Sinai was still under Israeli control, and then about 11 years ago, when we took a wonderful family trip to a resort in Nuweiba, a paradise between the Israeli border and Sharm el Shek.

The responses we received when we told people we were planning to return to Sinai ranged from ‘take me with you’ to ‘how can you go there? There are travel warnings,’ ‘it’s not patriotic to leave Israel and spend your money in Egypt,’ ‘what if there’s a terror attack?’

Well, first of all, there are terror alerts every time I step out my door. Secondly, Nuweiba has some of the most dazzling coral reef and tropical fish north of Sharm, and I’m planning on spending most of my waking hours snorkeling along with it. Thirdly, it’s a great value, much, much money less than a vacation would cost in Eilat, for instance.

As much as I love Israel, I think it can do without my vacation shekels for a one time fling in Sinai. So, get ready, here we come!

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Tags: coral reef, Eilat, Nuweiba, Sinai, vacation

Nostalgia Sunday – Mommy’s trip to Sinai

November 9, 2008 - 10:23 PM by Rachel Neiman · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday

I have no idea what my mother did when she went to the Sinai in the summer of 1968. I mean, I know why she went — she was Shulamith, singer of international folksongs with a large following of Hadassah ladies in the greater Boston area. Check out this photo (and the hats).

Shulamith at Hadassah

And I know that while were visiting Israel that summer, she flew down to Sinai to entertain the IDF troops. Look, here’s a photo of the airstrip:

Shula in Sinai 1968 - airstrip

And I know she sang for these fellows, because she told me so.

Shula in Sinai 1968 - group

But I have no idea if this is where she stayed. I figure it must be. This is the problem with being a kid. Grown-ups don’t tell you everything.

Shula in Sinai 1968 - accommodations

My mother came back from the Sinai bearing a very large pink conch shell and a square box encrusted entirely with shells – even the feet were shells!. We girls treasured those items for years — my little sister still has the big shell — but the box, like most fabulous tschotchkes, is long gone with no photographic record of its existence. Only the memory remains.