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I was reading a post on World Hum (a very eclectic and fun travel Web site) that made me think about travel to Israel and whether or not it is too dangerous, which is always a topic of travel discussion.
My own trip to Israel as a single person was very brief; a Navy ship port visit to the city of Haifa, and a guided tour to some of the country’s highlights. I will confess that the entire time on the tour van was a bit nerve-wracking, as we were all US Navy Sailors and made a rather high-visibility and easy terrorist target.
Fortunately, as a woman I was not so obviously a military person (I can avoid the whole short-hair thing, and I don’t wear blinding white athletic shoes like the average American.) I decided that I had a very generous life insurance policy, so if it was my time to croak, my family would hopefully have one heck of a party after my demise.
We didn’t spend much time in Haifa, and the tour included highlights of Bethlehem, amazing sights of Jerusalem like the Wailing Wall and Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, the sobering Jewish stronghold of Masada, nightlife in Tel Aviv and a swim in the Dead Sea.
Here’s the deal, gals — DO NOT go swimming in the Dead Sea right after you shave your legs. The water has a super-high salt and mineral content (that’s what makes it so buoyant) and sticking freshly-shaved legs into it is like liquid styptic pencil. It’s like having your legs cauterized all at once. Ow.
If you’re considering a family trip to Israel (and here’s one family who made the trek) you will need to weigh the obvious dangers with the educational and spiritual benefit. Ironically, it’s very similar to my thoughts on travel with kids to Iran.
Keep abreast of the current situation, evaluate the dangers as unemotionally as possible, and make your best decision. As we so appallingly saw at Virginia Tech, there’s no hiding from nut-cases, so live your best and bravest life.
Update 23 April 2007: Thanks to the very active and interesting Haveil Havalim blog carnival for featuring this post, and to Soccer Dad David Gerstman (the carnival host) for also recommending a book on family travel to Israel.
Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Israel, Middle East
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I disagree with how dangerous it is in Israel. You can keep yourself from feeling unsafe. You do not go in disputed areas. Plenty of english speaking people, tons of history, very clean, beaches, nature hikes,professional baseball for night time. reasonably priced restaurants, All those things give everyone in my family at least something to look forward to seeing and doing this summer. We were there ( some of us) two years ago. This year we are going with my parents as well.All those things except history, you cannot find elsewhere in the Middle East. Everyone has their own feelings on taking risks. I see as much risk in going to Israel at NYC or Washington DC or London.Not as safe as being in small town America.. but realistically, it gives you an indelible enrichening experience to travel and I would not want my kids growing up simply going to Disneyland and the like.
Hi Ronnie,
Well, it’s hard to consider a place safe when you can be blown up in a cafe by a suicide bomber. Random killings do happen elsewhere (Oklahoma City, Virginia Tech) but not as often as in Israel, and it happens at places like beach resorts or in Tel Aviv, far from the disputed areas.
That said, there are most definitely risks when you travel anywhere, and people need to take a balanced view, which I tried to provide here.
Thanks very much for your comments, and for visiting Family Travel.
How could you compare the relative safety of Israel with Iran?
Really?!
It’s more dangerous to go skiing in Europe or wherever there’s snow and mountains.
Hello muse, Thanks for visiting.
I did not compare the relative safety of Israel and Iran. Although I have been to both countries, and enjoyed both, the trips were taken way too far apart in time for me to compare relative safety.
I said that both countries have something to offer families who travel, but that both have safety considerations that come into play.
Sorry, I cannot buy your idea that a ski trip in Europe is more dangerous than a visit to a relatively volatile nation. Risks of a ski trip can be mitigated. It is hard to mitigate against random acts of terror or intifada uprisings.
I very much appreciate your comments, and hope that someday we can all travel everywhere without worrying about losing our lives or limbs to do so.
hi, my name is matan, and I’m from tel-aviv.
just wonted to say that you are always Welcome in Israel…
Hello Matan, Thanks so much for visiting Family Travel; I appreciate your kind invitation to visit Tel-Aviv, and I certainly hope that I can do so in the near future!
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