ISRAEL (PART I)
As most of you already know, the majority of my family lives in Israel, so once a year, usually in the summer, I like to travel with the kids for a month to Israel so that my family can have a good amount of bonding time with them. My husband comes for 10 days, the remaining 3 weeks I stay without him.
It's never easy to travel with kids, so imagine traveling half way around the world with three kids, but thank G-D it all went down pretty well. Things could've gotten really hectic, as we had a 4 hour delay in Miami, which the last 2 hours were inside the plane. Luckily and thanks to the iPads and toys, we were able to keep the kids very entertained. (For tips on traveling with kids click here).
We traveled with United Airlines and because of the delay we barely made our connection in Newark, but the flight attendants were very nice and helped us all the way. We even forgot one of the kids' carry-ons and the flight attendant ran to our gate, as we were boarding, and handed it to us!
5 Stars for United Airlines without a doubt!
When we got to Israel all of my close family were waiting for us at the airport. I love seeing how excited my kids get when they see my family. The hardest part about living far away from each other is that our kids aren't growing up together, but thanks to the wonders of technology we have always kept in touch, almost on a daily basis.
When we come we stay in my parents apartment in Tel Aviv, and all I can say is that this city is amazing, it's fast growing, with beautiful architecture, amazing beaches, shops and energetic people. Tel Aviv is a city full of life, no matter the time of day, everything is full. It's also impressive how it's all made for kids and adults to enjoy being out all day long. It really amazes me how this country, which has so many terror attacks, can have more life than any other country I've ever visited.
There is a kids playground in every corner, and in every mall. Every restaurant is prepared to entertain kids in some way or another. So it's an excellent city to travel with the whole family.
This summer there has been a series of very big and important concerts, including Guns N' Roses, which my husband and I attended, along with my sister and her husband. It was held in the central park of Tel Aviv, Park Ayarkon. The concert was incredible, over 60 thousand people attended and they played for three hours straight, it was unbelievable.
This first week in Israel we also visited Latrun, which is one of the most diverse tank museums in the world. As well as Mini Israel, which consists of miniature replicas of hundreds of buildings and landmarks across Israel. And last but not least, we visited the Kotel, or the Wailing Wall, which is the most sacred places for all the jewish people. I love having the possibility to teach my kids about diffterent cultures and about our religion.
The remaining days we've walked around with the kids, went to the newest mall, TLV Fashion Mall, also to Sarona Market Place, which is a great concept of restaurants, gourmet shopping and specialty stores. In short, we've been very busy and enjoying the Israel to the fullest!
