Traveling To America – Part 1

Don't worry, we didn't start out with so much luggage

It’s been two months since we returned from our travels in the USA & Canada in 2011. Finally settling back into our comfortable routine, I think I finally have the time and energy to blog again. If it’s alright with you all, I’d like to share here some of our travel stories and replay our trip story, bit by bit, over a series of posts.

Be warned, these posts are bound to get long at times!

First, I need to explain why we decided to travel, why for so long, and why to America.

Life here in Israel can get very hectic at times. We are news junkies, almost all of us, and with headlines ranging from rockets in the Southern (or Northern) parts of the country, to new developments in the Iranian nuclear project, it can be stressful at times. In many ways, living in Israel is a bit like sitting on top of a pressure cooker – hot, humid, noisy and you’re always afraid the whole thing may just blow off.

Sometimes, you just really need to get away from it all. Taking a break is something many Israelis do from time to time. They go “abroad”, usually during summertime, and it doesn’t really matter where to. If you visit Israel’s airport, Ben Gurion, on a summer day, you’d think the entire country is being evacuated.

Of course, that impression is due, in large part, to the fact that Israelis seem to generate a unique optical and aural illusion, making them seem like more people than they actually are. If you see a group of a dozen Israelis, you are probably really only looking at three people. I’m not sure if that’s just because we tend to be loud, or because we move around a lot, but that’s just the way it is.

Getting away from our overcrowded small country is something of a necessity, if you can make it at all. Anyone who can afford to, will leave the country occasionally for a much-needed break. In the year preceding our own exodus, 2010, Israel’s Bureau of Statistics recorded no fewer than four million two hundred sixty nine thousand and one hundred departures of Israeli citizens. The total population of Israel at that year was seven million and seven hundred thousand people. Trying to compare to Americans here: with over 308 million Americans in 2009, only 61.5 million trips abroad were recorded. That includes crossings over to Canada or Mexico, which half of these trips were.

Why for So Long?

When we first came up with the idea of traveling to see the Great American West, IsraeliDad asked me to find out which were the absolutely best places to visit. The list I came up with included Yellowstone, Yosemite, The Grand Canyon and the Canadian Rocky Mountains among many other places. It was clear we had a lot of mileage to cover in order to see it all. The more we talked about this, the longer our itinerary became. Starting with a plan of six weeks, the plan kept growing and expanding.

At some point, it became clear we were talking about more than a regular trip. We were about to take a break from our routine life, pack up the kids and ourselves and leave behind our home, families and work, and go out to explore. Six weeks became six months, and turned from a vacation into a once-in-a-lifetime family adventure.

For a home-dwelling hobbit like me this was scary. I freely admit that I was pushing my own boundaries here and definitely getting way out of my comfort zone. Maybe this was a mid-life-crisis kind of decision too: to boldly go where I had never gone before? Either way, planning considerations soon took over and my focus shifted to practical matters.

Why America?

We were looking for a destination that combines interesting places, nice people and a tolerable climate. Traveling with two young boys, it had to be safe. Visiting a country where you need to get vaccines or take malaria tablets, or even boil the drinking water, was not an option. By the same token, we wanted a place where we could rely on having good doctors and decent hospitals.

Next, we were looking for a destination that could be traveled at length, for several months, and that we could afford. That pretty much ruled out Europe, where car rentals and accommodation are even more expensive than here in Israel. The US, with its weak dollar, seemed very appealing, with spacious motel rooms easily available at under $80 a night, cheap gas and cheap car rentals. Now, I know that Americans keep complaining about the high cost of living there, particularly when it comes to fueling those monster trucks, but trust me, gas is cheap in America. To be more specific, it’s half the price of what we pay for here.

Last, but not least, they speak English in the USA (mostly, anyway). That meant it would be easier for us grownups to find our way around and, even more importantly, would be a good chance for the kids to pick up a useful second language.

We had visited the USA once before, and only once. In 2009, we flew over to the Southwest and spent three weeks in California, Arizona and Las Vegas. I know Vegas is not a state, but it makes more sense than saying we visited Nevada, right? We hated Vegas, but we absolutely loved everywhere else. Going again proved to be an easy choice.

Now that we covered the Why’s, I’ll share some more in my next post about the preparations.

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