The time has almost come!
Luckily I haven’t had to do much
waiting because up until exactly 3 months ago on March 6, we did not know if we
for sure would be traveling this summer. Everything fell into place that day
when both my brother, Josiah, and I got accepted to our Birthright Israel
program! Birthright is a gift to all Jews between the ages of 18-26 who want to
discover their heritage and go on a free 10-day trip to Israel. It is going to
be a very good educational experience and we will be going to different
destinations around Israel and doing different activities in these
places such as hiking, visiting historical sites and markets, and of course going out. There are numerous categories of trips you can pick, from a more
music-oriented trip, young business professionals, special needs and even LGBTQ
to name a few. My brother and I decided to be a little more badass and picked
an “Israel Extreme” option where we will be doing a bit riskier and fun stuff,
like rappelling down mountains, cave crawling, and rafting down rivers. We’re
pretty excited about it but a lot of our focus lately has been on what we are
doing AFTER Birthright since everything on Birthright is already pre-planned for us.
An amazing perk about going on Birthright is that all
airfare to and from Israel is completely paid for! There is also a trip
extension option where you can stay up to 3 months after your program ends so
we immediately requested an extension. You do not have to stay in Israel the whole of your extension; you just have to fly back to America from Israel. Our program leaves from New York on June
29 (so we arrive in Israel on June 30) and it goes until July 10. Well, we decided
we wanted to hang around until August 25. Just a TAD longer…
Our parents both went to Israel when they were younger and
decided they would like to meet us there after the program, so they’re flying
in on July 10th and we are going to go on some tour that they chose.
After 10 more days in Israel, we are going to head over to Jordan for 4 days! I
don’t really know what to expect from this 14 day Israel & Jordan tour but
since all the logistics are already worked out, I am just going to sit back and
relax and go with the flow. We are going to head back to Israel after Jordan so
that we can fly out of the Tel Aviv airport to….London!
My mom has been wanting to go to London for a while now, and
after she saw how much I enjoyed it last year when I went after Semester at
Sea, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. We are arriving LATE on the 24th
but will be staying for 5 days until the 29th. We planned a lot of
random stuff like a Stonehenge & Windsor Castle Tour, Buckingham Palace
Tour and she has in a mind many places she wants to see. I was in London for 3
days last year and I felt completely satisfied with everything I saw, so I’m
excited to be the one to show them around this time (if I even remember where
everything is).
After London, we will be flying to Zagreb, Croatia on the 29th.
Originally my brother and I were going to make our way over there when
backpacking, but my mom saw how beautiful the country is and wanted to go
herself. I’m glad my parents decided to go because public transportation in
Croatia is awful and we have had to book pretty expensive private cars and
tours to take us places. We have a lot of cool things planned for Croatia but I
will get into that later. My parents are staying until August 3 and flying out
of the Dubrovnik airport as my brother and I transfer to a hostel. THIS WILL BE
HIS FIRST HOSTEL. I’m so excited. He has no idea what to expect. We will
only be staying there for one night, because the only other thing we cared about doing in Croatia was a Game of Thrones tour! We are both diehard fans so we can’t
wait.
August 4 we are leaving Dubrovnik and flying to Budapest,
Hungary. I forgot to mention that our parents are taking our luggage from
Birthright on the flight back home with them so we will be living out of our
backpack for the next 3 weeks. I backpacked for 3 weeks last May so I already
know what necessities I need and it’s going to be easy peasy lemon squeasy. It’s
going to feel amazing to feel so free again! Hopefully my brother will enjoy it.
So on the rest of our itinerary is:
-Budapest, Hungary
-Munich, Germany
-Berlin, Germany
-Amsterdam, The Netherlands
-Seville, Spain
-Madrid, Spain
-Valencia, Spain
-Barcelona, Spain
Obviously I like Spain...a lot. This will be my third time in Barcelona in 4 years!
I am so excited to begin this next adventure! I leave for
New York on June 25 with Josiah and it will be the first time we have traveled
alone together without our parents so it will be nice to start in America. When
I get back home on August 26, I have to start job hunting right away. I just
graduated but I can figure out a job anytime…who knows if I will ever get the
chance again to travel for such a long time!
