voy

We have spent the last two days in Eilat, the southernmost town in Israel, nestled at the tip of the country on the Red Sea, between Jordan and Egypt. Hot and dry, this is the ultimate beach/vacation town with lots of families and umbrellas on the shores. Snorkeling and scuba diving is big here, and we have done a bit of snorkeling…first with dolphins in a rescue center, and today out in open water. Visibility is good and there are lots of tropical fish here, but also many young divers who are also erratic swimmers, so I stuck to the safety of lounge chairs most of the time.

A few people have asked us why we chose to visit Israel. First of all, it was Chris’ idea and he invited me along,  to visit Engin’s family in Turkey and then to explore Israel. I couldn’t think of a good reason not to come along, since all travel is appealing to me, and especially to a place as tumultuous and ancient as Israel.

But as we come closer to the end of our trip, I am asking myself that same question…why did we come here? Why do we travel in the first place? We heard some people in our hostel one night talking about Americans and how little they travel. Their theory was that we have so many diverse cultural representations in our own country that we don’t need to cross the globe to find different people or landscapes. I guess that’s a good theory, although I have not seen most of the United States myself, so I can’t say that I have even fully experienced the different cultures of my own country.

But is that what travel is all about, observing “the other”? Having a cultural experience that is different and unique from one’s own daily routine involves observing other people in their own milieu, but as a tourist on a two-week vacation, can one really have a genuine experience in another country? Is participation required to really understand and appreciate a different culture? We have done much observing on this trip, but we also tried to find destinations that were significant to the Israeli people, not just tourists. I often find myself eager to discover places that are “off the beaten track”…but if these secret gems were so wonderful, they would be on the track! I feel caught in a trap; a tourist by name but desperately refusing to live up to that name and the stereotypes that are bound to that image.

Enjoying nature’s beauty in a wide variety of environments and climates is a large part of my desire to leave home…as well as meeting new people and seeing how lives are led outside of my own known routine. But being so far from my family and friends always begins to overcome that urge for the unknown, and I start to remember why I love my home, and I long for the comfortable idea of home. Is that the ultimate result of traveling, a heightened appreciation for home? If I travel all over the globe and see amazing things, but still want to return to my own tried-and-true life back at the origin, then travel has accomplished more that I initially intended. A reinforecement.

Today we leave Eilat and head back north to Tel Aviv. Tomorrow we fly home!