The Nomadic Family Travel Blog

Contest starts May 25th! Good luck!

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Those of you who want to get some of the insider stuff that no one else will ever see, those who want to read the posts that will never go public, take my hand. It’s my little thank you for all of you who silently watch our videos late at night, who travel vicariously through us, who dream and find a bit of their soul in my babblings. So, So, to join the mailing list, add your name to the rss of the blog to get every post to your inbox or write me on the contact form stating that you want to get the newsletter and I’ll just add you to the list that gets the newsletter. I’ll add you to the list, with great joy and honor.

Just like we thought we knew how to be parents before we had kids, we were sure that all the prep-work we had done (eh-hem, Kobi had done) would make our access to finances a breeze. We still have that amazing sleeve Kobi’s mom sewed up for us to hide the most important stuff. We still have the traveler’s checks, unused, that Kobi purchased for a rainy day waaaay back in 2011. We still have our American and our Israeli credit cards. But, we also have had a lot of trouble lately using those credit cards and have found ourselves (*cough* Kobi *cough*) running to ATM machines to withdraw money for some basic purchases.  [...]

What is your favorite place on the entire planet? OMG, tough question right? Is is that little garden beyond the strawberry patch on that mountain, or that sandy tropical beach there where the palm tree swayed just so? In our third year of world travel, I can still tell you that debatably my favorite place on the globe was sitting on that neighbors-threw-it-away-so-we-took-it coral/pink sofa, with my favorite cat in the world Bareket in my backyard with the wind chimes doing their thing, cat purring, my upper Galilee mountain-side wild grass dancing in the sunlight breeze. The couch and my soul-mate cat are both gone, but my memory of that spot, those moments are still there.

What is your favorite place in the world? We asked, and 17 of top travel bloggers answered. Enjoy this unreal photo essay brought to you in a gorgeous harmony of those who travel as a way of life. If you love a place you see, click on the link to related post included. Enjoy the chorus, and tell me which ones make you want to travel most.

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In Israel, we have this super famous singer named Chava Alberstein. She’s surprisingly well known outside of Israel too. She’s got this one song called “London” in which she describes that she’s going to London and she’ll be so busy shopping, strolling through the different and exotic, dining out, and attending high-class entertainment venues. At the end of the chorus she says something genius and profound,“London’s not waiting for me. There, also, I’ll be alone.”

And she’s right. We can get as busy as we want, as productive and time-management-y as we wish, but we are who we are wherever we’ll be. Same shit different day. Same me different continent. Yes, and no. Yes, because I can’t escape who I am and what gnaws at in the silent chambers of my soul no matter how far I go. No, because when you travel, you’re not busy with carpool, cleaning the house, running errands, and being productive trying to scotch-tape the breaking pieces of your life in place. And no because when you travel slowly, you’re not busy with logistics, seeing all the sights, and all the flotsam and jetsam of being on the move, and you can do some serious dream-come-true-making through mental, physical, and spiritual renunciation that you simply could not back home.

So, we went to London many years ago, eons before the kids were born, once with my little brother while chasing our favorite rock star Mika, and yes, we want to go again with the kids for our newest insanity plan. [...]

In case you didn’t think we were insane, now, you know, without a fraction of a doubt, that we are. Enjoy all them lil family moments that should not be published, but are (indication number two that we are not suited for the general public). We love you.

We’re starting a new way to thank you for reading and following our adventure. Join our mailing list where we’ll be we’ll mail our readers insider videos, photos, and thoughts we don’t share anywhere else. Not on Facebook and not on YouTube. So, to join the mailing list, add your name to the rss of the blog to get every post to your inbox or write me on the contact form stating that you want to get the newsletter and I’ll just add you to the list that gets the newsletter. I’ll add you to the list, with great joy and honor.

Welcome to the new series: Inspirational Comments. When someone reaches out and shares and says what their soul is vibrating, I bow, deeply. I want to share with you the comments, the life people, the voices from around the globe who say, “Carry on,” and re-inspire us anew. This one is from a beautiful Californian Yoga teacher we met while living on Koh Rong Island, Cambodia:

G: what more can i say…… thank you would not even come close to touching the rawest and gratitude my soul is vibrating.

If you like what we do, help us keep it alive, please click Google+ and other sharing options on the little bookmark to your left. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh, and listen. We’re doing something new and exciting. We want to start sharing with our readers on a deeper lever. We’re opening a mailing list in which we’ll mail our readers insider videos, photos, and thoughts we don’t share anywhere else. Not on Facebook and not on YouTube. So, to join the mailing list, add your name to the rss of the blog to get every post to your inbox or write me on the contact form and I’ll just add you to the list that gets the newsletter. I’ll add you to the list, with great joy and honor.

sunflowers, bubbles, sun, wind… feels like a best friend, no?

Throughout high school and well into adulthood, I had a best friend named Shelley. She was everything one could wish for in a best friend. She stole a full-size PC from the school newspaper office so I could finish a paper (pre us having a window-compatible computer at home), stayed all night playing Monopoly the night my baby brother was born, shared her lunch when mine sucked, and spent all weekend cramming into my brain half a semester worth of Chemistry that I was too busy mourning the love of my life leaving me to study. She loved me when I was shining, pitiful, shameless and shameful. We’d cruise through town in my 1977 Chrysler Cordoba screaming the lyrics to Jack and Diane full blast on homemade tapes, including those 80′s DJ’s interrupting the songs.

When Kobi and I were ice cream truck drivers at one of those turn-over-the-couch-cushions-to-find-enough-change-to-pay-the-rent stage, She got married. Since I could not afford buying a ticket to Israel, she bought one for me. “I can’t get married without you Gabi.” When she negotiated a day off a month, guess who drove 5 hours North to see little ole me that first Sunday of every month? You wouldn’t change this friend for nothin in the world.

When I was too pregnant to get up by myself with Baby Number 3, he banking job sent her to Egypt.

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Turns out this party has been in rule for 55 years, and that that is some sort of a world record. Turns out the blue-flags with the justice scales don’t want to be going anywhere. Turned out there were a lot of honking horns and just a few skirmishes that the police had to break up near the BackHome Hostel, our home. Turns out, if you’re caught using a fake I.C. (ID) you will be turned over to the police, and until they arrive, and I quote, “Your safety cannot be guaranteed.” Here’s some photos and video I shot, one is a great interview of people passionately believing in their choice of government. For someone who is really, really not into politics and governments at all, I do pray that this country (and all the other 300+) just find a way to do the people right. Enjoy! [...]