Category: Middle East

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It’s been over 3 years: time for some Greatest Hits

fireworks-taa-daa-courtesy-mikul-at-flickr-ccI just want to say that this blog post’s title is totally awful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ’cause I’m feeling like a REBEL. 🙂

Those who know me, know how my mental gears grind and how I over-analyze.

I prefer to think it’s my massive intelligence coming to the fore, but mostly I think it’s plain old worry-wart perfectionist tendencies.

Anyway, after crying in my beer this week about blog ranking, I dug around in the Family Travel Logue archives to find some posts to bring back out into the light.

This allows my readers some discovery fun and also helps me to remember that blogging is not all about whether I dominate Google for certain search terms in exchange for some ad dollars.

….because, you know, I could have my way with Google if I really wanted to (she says with a lot of bluster.)

In between the dust and cat hair, here are some of my family travel blog favorites pulled from the Archives attic. Please excuse any broken links – some of the posts have been around awhile and the Web keeps moving:

***  Travel in Second Life.  Because I don’t get enough of it in First Life and I like my Goth avatar.

***  Inexpensive Travel Souvenirs.  Because I was just starting to figure out video and I combined total vlogging inexperience with all of my worldly shopping from all over my house. Yay!

***  Best US family beach vacations. Because it’s summer, you know?

***  Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World.  This was when I figured out that I ought to listen to my readers even though I’m not personally a huge Florida theme park fan.

***  Visit bountiful Brussels and What my daughter learned in Belgium’s Flanders Fields.   We never felt more immersed in Europe than in Belgium (and the Netherlands, so here’s Rotterdam for you.)

***  Winner of the who-knew-I’d-love-it award:  Big Country – the Kansas Flint Hills.

***  Two of my first big hits: Paris with kids – The Louvre, followed by High above Paris: a meal in the Eiffel Tower.

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Middle East

Visiting Israel

Floating in the Dead Sea (courtesy Jez S at Flickr CC)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.

Masada, Israel (courtesy laurgeo at Flickr CC)

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.

Next year, in Jerusalem….

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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Middle East

Travel with Kids to….Iran?

OK, not really, at least not now. I think it’s a little dicey with kids given the current situation, though not everyone agrees with me.

Ancient Persian ruins at PersepolisBut consider the benefits of taking your family, when the opportunity presents itself, to a destination somewhat off of the beaten track (someplace that allows you to sneak in a history lesson as well.)

As a preteen I lived in the Middle East, when my Navy family was stationed in Bahrain. We’re talking the very early 70’s, so the political landscape was different than it is now. For example, my parents took me to Beirut, and I still remember swimming in the hotel pool at the St. George (it had an underwater window so that bar patrons could admire the bikini’d swimmers.)

My most vivid memory, however, is our trip to Iran. This was before the Shah fell, before the Revolution and the Ayatollah Khomeini, and official government relations with the U.S. were quite friendly. We started in the capital of Tehran, then set out to see some of the country.

My 12th birthday was spent in the university town of Shiraz; that night the restaurant staff even brought a little cake to our table.

I was privileged to see the spectacular ancient ruins nearby at Persepolis; they rival anything you’ll find in Rome, Greece or Mexico.

We then took a memorable bus trip to the Silk Road outpost of Esfahan….my first experience with a squat toilet was that bus trip.

It made quite an impression, but I mostly remember the dramatically beautiful tiles and scrollwork on the Imam or “Blue” Mosque, dating from the 1600s.

Imam Mosque (courtesy Chung Hun, Travelblog.org)

The Iranians we met were unfailingly polite and gracious; my first-hand impressions were hard to reconcile with the anti-Iranian rhetoric that I heard a few years later.

That’s the wondrous thing about travel — people can’t BS your kids when they, unlike the bumper-sticker spouters, have actually been to the country in question and met some of its citizens.

Out of nostalgia, I’ve been reading some posts from folks who are braving the current political climate and traveling to Iran. There’s a lively thread on Frommer’s by some people considering a trip, and I simply love this Pink Floyd-related article in Perceptive Travel.

There’s even a blog, “A Persian Passage,” in the San Antonio Express-News, written by Sean-Paul Kelley, an intrepid traveler who visited Iran this fall.

So, don’t ever completely strike a destination off of your To See list. It would be a shame for some of the most significant wonders in the world to remain undiscovered and underappreciated. Take the pulse of the place in question, consider your own values and tolerance for adventure, and then go as soon as you and the kids are ready.

Update 20 March 2007: Take a look at this article in the San Antonio Express-News by Patrick Zeller, an intrepid guy who took a motorcycle tour of Iran. There’s even a picture of him on the road between Shiraz and Esfahan.

Technorati Tags: travel, Iran, family travel