My early years in Israel:

If Jane Austen had written a book called; “Nili’s Travel Adventures”, she might have borrowed from Northanger Abbey’s opening paragraph and said, “No one who had ever met Nili in her early years would have supposed that she was born to be a travel junkie.  Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own personality and disposition, were all equally against it.” *

My parents showed quite a bit of the adventurous spirit when they left Poland in the 1930s to settle in Israel, then again emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s.  That was the sum total of their adventurous spirit for many years.  They never cared to climb a mountain, camp, visit a developing country.  Although later in life they enjoyed going to Israel and Europe, they never ventured beyond their comfort zone.  During my growing up years, we rarely even ate at restaurants because my father liked my mother’s cooking best.

As for me, I was not a very adventurous child.  I liked my home, my routine, and my mother’s cooking.  I didn’t even want to go to camp.  In fact, until I was eleven, I had never traveled out of my birth city, Tel-Aviv.  However, right before my family emigrated to the U.S., my mother felt that I should see a bit of the country and we traveled for a few days.  That was my very first trip.  I wish I could say it sparked a travel bug – it did not. I didn’t like the food or the sleeping arrangements.

Nili on the Ship headed to the U. S.

The ship stopped at Naples, Italy and we took a side trip to Pompeii.  I don’t really remember much about that visit except that the site was impressive.  The boat also stopped in Halifax, Canada.  We left the ship to tour Halifax wearing our “warm” Israeli clothes, which did not quite make it on a cold January morning.  By mid morning I had the beginning of frostbite and we returned to the ship early.  It would be more than a dozen years before I had the opportunity to go on another international trip.

Life in the United States: Before Children

We settled in Chicago, IL and during the next 8 years my family took modest annual trips to small resorts in Wisconsin and a couple of trips East to New Jersey to visit family.  These trips were fun but being a picky eater, I worried constantly that I would be served some food that I would not like to eat.  Does that sound like the basis for a Senior Adventure Travel Junkie?  Unlikely.

I attended college at the University of Chicago, only 1 hour from the family home in Skokie but at least I lived on campus and learned to deal with a bit of independence and broadened my food tastes.  It was only when I met my first husband, Thomas Logan, that any real travel and adventure entered my life.

Tom had a very different upbringing from me.  His father worked overseas and Tom spent many years in the Belgium Congo and in Turkey.  Soon after we met, we drove to California to meet his family.  It was the first time that I traveled west from Chicago.  Driving 2,200 miles across the country, over the Rocky Mountains, the 12,000-foot passes and seeing the scenery in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California was very exciting.  I had no idea that the world was so beautiful. Tom encouraged me to go hiking and camping.  At first I did so just to please him but soon I realized that I was really enjoying being out in nature.  Our hiking trips in the California foothills were not hugely adventurous but at least they took me out of my comfort zone.  

Our honeymoon, in 1966 almost squashed any burgeoning adventurous spirit or desire for interesting and unusual destinations.  Most people go to Hawaii or the Caribbean on their honeymoon but not us. Tom thought it would be romantic to go to Moosonee, Canada on the Hudson Bay.  After all, it is so isolated that only the train (not a road) can get you there.   

Nili at the Hudson’s Bay Company in Moosonee.

Being duck hunting season, we were greeted at the Moosonee station by the returning hunters, waiting to take the train back south with their dead birds. Moosonee was a tiny, unattractive town with open ditches at the side of the road.  There were about 500 feet of dirt roads, but everyone in town had shipped their cars up and spent the entire day driving their vehicle back and forth on these roads.  The choice of restaurants consisted of one hamburger place and a Chinese restaurant.  What a depressing place.  The only bright spot was the friendly B & B.  The morning dawned cold (40s) with a fine drizzle and we had had enough. We got on the next train going back South.  If this was adventure, I didn’t want to have any more of it.  In any case, we were too poor to try any other trips other than family visits for the next few years.

The Children years:

Some people may manage to combine the “Children Years” with adventure.  I mostly managed mis-adventure.

In 1969, when our son, Sean was born, we went to Managua, Nicaragua to visit my in-laws, who were working and living there.  Nicaragua, under the dictatorship, was a lovely place for Westerners to visit (though not so wonderful for the locals).  We took lots of day trips and saw much of the countryside, but mostly I spent the time taking care of a cranky 3-month-old who had just learned to turn over from his stomach to his back but couldn’t go the other way.

When Sean was 9-month-old, Tom again wanted visit his family in California.  We had 10 days off from work but not enough money to fly.  Therefore, we drove for 3 days in each direction and had 4 days with the family.  This would have been an overly ambitious and difficult trip in any case but with baby in tow, it was hell.  Tom did all of the driving and I took care of Sean, who had just learned to walk. 12 hours a day in the car for 2,200 miles was definitely not what he wanted to do. 

I must have been a slow learner (or overly compliant) because a year later, we again drove from Chicago to California, this time in a two-car caravan with my mother-in-law.  Sean was marginally better, but the mother-in-law addition was a disaster.  She and Tom fought the whole trip.  Why would I have agreed to another trip you ask?  I felt I had no choice.  Tom wanted to see his family in California (mine all lived in Chicago) and we were students and could not afford to fly.

In 1973, Maggie was born and the adventure scale dipped even lower. Car trips became more unnerving with 2 kids in the back fighting.  I wince at the memory. All I wanted to do was stay home where it was easier to care for my kids.  Tom did not share my feelings.  He loved car trips (he was able to block out the crying and fighting) and this became a thorn in our relationship. 

The exception to my stay-at-home attitude came in the guise of two international trips without the kids.  The first was to Germany by way of London in 1970 to meet my husband, Tom. The second was to Israel in 1976 to see family and friends.

Tom had been away in Egypt for 4 months as part of an archaeological team. He asked me to meet him in Germany on his way back to the United States. My mom and dad offered to take care of 8-month-old Sean for two weeks.  My flight to Germany allowed a stop in London and I decided to arrange a 24-hour stopover there. I never traveled on my own before and had no clue that I could have arranged lodging and transportation to and from the airport a head of time.  I had no travel maps or a guidebook and was totally unprepared.  It was a bit scary to be in a strange country, but also very exciting.  I managed to get around London and enjoyed the freedom of deciding just where to go. I did learn a valuable travel lesson – the pain of jet lag.  I had been very excited on the plane to London and stayed awake most of the night watching movies.  I arrived in London in the early morning and by 5PM I was exhausted and went to sleep.  Unfortunately, I then woke up at midnight and could not get back to sleep.  Bad move.  When I travel now, I sleep on the plane then I stay awake until at least 9 PM at my destination (or take a short afternoon nap).  I rarely have serious jet lag problems with this formula. 

Once in Germany, we stayed with family and friends and were well taken care of at each location.  I loved seeing castles and the countryside.

My other international trip was to visit Israel by myself after an absence of 20 years.  My arrival at Ben Gurion airport was a bit stressful.  At passport control I handed the agent my US passport.  He asked to see my Israeli passport (the US Passport lists your birth place, therefore, he knew I had been born in Israel).   It seems that I am a US citizen everywhere but in Israel.  I would be allowed into the country but I could not leave without an Israeli passport.  I stayed with an aunt during my two-week visit and she was very helpful in assisting me to apply and receive the Israeli passport in time for the return flight.  I now travel to Israel with both the US and Israeli passports.

I loved being in Israel on my own.  I had been very homesick and it was wonderful to walk around Tel Aviv and try to recapture memories.  So much had changed over the 20 years, but our old apartment building was still there, as well as the park near the house.  My old school, which stood all alone when I attended it, was now squashed between tall modern hotels – it is located in prime real estate area across the street from the Mediterranean Sea.  

We had traveled so little when I was living in Israel, Therefore I wanted to see more.

Nili in front of the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem.

Swimming in the Dead Sea was a fun experience.  The salty water actually does help a person float. I knew then, that I would be back.

My life changed dramatically over the next decade.  I divorced, remarried and acquired a stepson, Stefan, who lived with us 50% of the time.  I went back to school and earned an MBA in accounting at Rutgers University, and changed careers from teaching at a pre-school to a finance position at a major corporation.  

My second honeymoon, with my husband, Jerald Vetowich was very different from the first honeymoon.  This time I was not looking for adventure – I was looking for rest and relaxation as well as romance.  My parents took care of the children for a week and we flew to Aruba.  It was perfect – no dead birds and open sewers, just lovely beaches and good food.

As the children grew older, we ventured forth again, taking modest trips.  Vacations were child centered with visits to family in Chicago and Michigan as well as to such destinations as Bush Gardens and Disney World.  Most of those trips were car trips because we could not afford flights for 5 people.  Of-course car trips with the children were always full of noise and liveliness as well as fights and boredom.

With demanding full-time jobs and a house full of children, we had no time to even dream of adventure.  We spent the next few years chauffeuring the children to their activities, working and running a household. 

However, as the kids grew a bit older, I began to consider a family trip to Israel. I was wanted to introduce Jerry and the children to my birthplace. I spent months before the trip prepping the children about what they would see and what it means to me. Packing for a plane trip for 5 people plus camping equipment was quite a feat.  We had two tents, 5 sleeping bags, cooking utensils and clothes.  We rented a jeep like van with no air-conditioning (trying to save money).  

We began our trip by driving south from Tel Aviv to Eilat, the southernmost point in Israel, on the Red Sea.  Eilat is a lovely resort town with lovely beaches and a great aquarium, but it was not an ideal place to camp.  It was very, very hot all day and we could not go into the tent until late in the evening when the air had cooled.  In addition, the ground each morning was muddy from the dew.  If it had been at the end of our trip or even in the middle, we probably would have chucked the camping and checked into a hotel.  But it was our first site and we weren’t going to give up so quickly.  On the plus side the campground was conveniently located, just a short walk to the beach.  In addition to the difficult camping, we had another misadventure.  Sean jumped from a bridge into the water and stepped on a sea urchin.  It was very painful at the time, but worsened and eventually required medical help, when the urchin’s needles in his foot became infected.  Luckily, health care in Israel is very good and inexpensive (at least it was at that time). 

From Eilat we drove north to Masada and the Dead Sea.  Masada is a fortress in the desert where Jewish zealots held out against the invading Romans and died as martyrs.  We chose to hike up to the top of the hill and it was wonderful.  The kids could really appreciate the story by seeing where it happened.  Then we took them down to swim in the Dead Sea.  They found the experience of floating in the salty water, very exciting and very funny. 

Stefan, Sean Nili and Maggie overlooking Jerusalem

He was great about answering the million questions the kids had and he took us to a local place for lunch. The boys enjoyed the local food. My daughter who like the younger me, was a picky eater, discovered, what would be her mainstay meal during the trip, pita with French fries.  From then on she was happy in restaurants.

We camped at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, just about 10 minutes from Jerusalem, in a beautiful grassy campground.  We had a choice of cooking our own food or eating in their dining room.  Attached to the campground was a wonderful water park.  We had a delightful break from sightseeing, spending a day at the water park.

We also camped at the Sea of Galilee and along the Mediterranean near Caesarea.  We met lots of interesting people, mostly Europeans, who were also visiting the country on camping trips.  We combined sight seeing and beach time whenever we could.

We ended the trip in Tel-Aviv, in a 3- star hotel near the beach (the hotel is no longer there).  We visited my extensive family in TA as well as spent time at the lovely TA beach.  We all felt that we had had a wonderful adventure.  It left such lovely memories that both Maggie and Stefan returned to Israel when they were in college. 

The Empty Nest Years

Soon, as most parents learn, the children leave home and the day-to-day responsibilities (though not financial responsibilities) for the children are over.  All of the sudden we could go wherever and whenever we wanted to go without having to find childcare.  We were on our own with no children and no pets. 

Unfortunately, (or fortunately) I had climbed high enough on the corporate ladder to make it difficult to take vacations for longer than a week at a time. Jerry had left the corporate world, and was working for a small company that was depending on him, therefore, he, also, could not leave for any length of time. Our adventures had to be local or short.

But adventure was calling, therefore, we perfected the art of short trips, going to Paris for a 4-day weekend, flying to Israel for a week, or taking a 5-day Bermuda cruise.  

Some of my travels were work related.  Our company had its international finance headquarters in Geneva and I made many trips to that lovely city.  I also had the opportunity to go to Turkey, on business.  Jerry tagged along for the sightseeing portion of the trip.  

These trips wetted my appetite to see more of the world, but my work schedule would not permit going too far or for too long.  I began to look toward retirement as an opportunity for travel.

*Actual quote from Northanger Abbey is: “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.  Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her.”