Travel

You Got Chocolate in My Wine! No, You Got Wine in My Chocolate!

January 19, 2012

I’m a big fan of wine tastings. And an even bigger fan of chocolate. So when I had the opportunity to visit the new Tishbi tasting center, which combines both wine and gourmet imported French chocolate, my interest was piqued. Moreover, my palette was proud of yet another Israeli innovation, not so much hi-tech this [...]

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FOMO at the Dead Sea

November 22, 2011

When I was ten, my parents planned a trip for the family to Disneyland. But a few days before we were set to leave, my father got sick – it was a cold or a flu, nothing serious, but still, the trip was cancelled. I was devastated and, since then, I have tried to never [...]

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Train Construction Ahead

November 8, 2011

When our kids were young, we had a videotape they used to love called “Road Construction Ahead” which was all about, well, road construction. It featured hard hats, tractors and lots of concrete. The truth is, I loved it too – I’m a nut when it comes to anything in the stages of being built [...]

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Sunk Costs on the Road to Tel Aviv

November 3, 2011

The evening was intended to be a gala celebration of the partnership between Tel Aviv and Los Angeles. 400 Angelenos, in Israel on a Federation mission, along with another several hundred local Anglos of Angeleno-descent, filled the Smolarz Hall on the Tel Aviv University campus. There was a program planned with glamorous entertainment: opera, performance [...]

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Art in Umm el-Fahem

October 26, 2011

We visited one of Israel’s most unusual museums last week. The Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery, in the Israeli Arab town of the same name, is a small gem, way off the usual museum track, and absolutely worth the visit if you’re traveling between Tel Aviv and the Sea of Galilee…and even if you’re not. The [...]

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A Personal Validation of Zionism

September 28, 2011

When I backpacking around Europe and Asia, some 25 years ago, I felt a mix of disdain and sadness for the many tourists I’d encounter ensconced in their oversized, air conditioned tour buses, being ferried around from site to site, taking in the highlights through tinted windows which they’d abandon only at carefully selected cafes [...]

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Unaccompanied Minor

August 19, 2011

I took my 13-year-old son Aviv to the airport last night. He was flying as an “unaccompanied minor” to Los Angeles to meet up with his grandparents who have promised him two weeks of unmitigated American fun (roller coasters, beaches and all you can eat sushi – yum, I wish I was 13 again!) The [...]

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The Blum Family Trek to Nepal

May 3, 2011

Over a year in the planning, our 3-week trip to Nepal and India – conceived as a way to celebrate my 50th birthday and Aviv’s bar mitzvah – went off without nary a hitch. Other than some unseasonably bad weather and a few dashed expectations, the trip was so unbelievably beautiful (as well as physically [...]

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Spotting the Wild Israeli

May 1, 2011

With all the Israelis who head off for the Far East on extended post-army trips, we were pretty sure we’d meet tens, if not hundreds, of our fellow countrymen and women during our recent trek in Nepal. On the first six days of the trek, though, we met Brits, Canadians, lots of Germans, Japanese, Korean [...]

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Sniffing for Chametz in India

April 28, 2011

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted – that’s because we just got back from our long-planned family trek to Nepal and India. We all arrived home safe and sound on Friday. Our luggage was less fortunate. As I write, it’s still sitting in the Mumbai airport. Normally this wouldn’t be so unusual [...]

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