Visiting Israel: My first Impressions

Traveling to Israel with the Once in the Lifetime Crew

Visiting Israel has opened up my eyes to a world that I have never seen before, in or out of the media.  There is a conflict in Israel this is known.  What I don’t know is who stole who’s milk and cookies.  What I do know is that if someone stole my Butterfinger I would be highly ticked off.

No one better lay a finger on my Butterfinger

I have only been here for two days and I have learned more about Israel than I have learned about most countries that I have lived in and visited.

On my travels around the world I have met tons of Israelis throughout Argentina, Chile, and even Brazil.  Most people around the world act a bit differently when they are on vacation or away from home.  I was really excited to see everyone in their own dynamic, I was more surprised to see that there was no difference in the way they acted.  One thing that I know for sure is the people I have met so far on this trip are as genuine as that falafel and hummus that is exploding my stomach right now.

A beautiful young lady part of the save a children's heart program

Everyone here is so open.  I’m not just talking about the people that are part of the organization that invited me on this press trip.  I’m talking about my interactions with the people and kids on the street.  There is no black and white (or pasty white in my case) or poor and rich, there is simply a handful of Israelis in a country that are trying to protect their falafels and hummus from a westerner that is learning the correct way to “swoosh” a falafel in hummus.  I almost got it down I promise.

I have only felt the same genuine feeling from the people in one other country, Colombia

Today, I visited two places and learned about religions that I didn’t know even existed, the Druze & the Bahá’ís faith.  I also happened to get close to marriage by trying on a Druze outfit while we were eating desert and drinking coffee.

And gentlemen, you thought the Colombian women were good looking?

Ladies, I have your back to which is why we are going to think about this analytically.  If the women are good looking they are supposed to have cute babies right?  Whenever you travel you are supposed to keep an open mind and not have any judgments about where you are going.

Gorgeous Sunset in Haifa, Israel

How could you not have judgments about how to dunk a falafel?

I mean it takes real technique! I didn’t think about rockets flying through the air or even all the fancy words they speak in the media.  The only thing I was expecting about visiting Israel was for people to be more conservative.  Not the extreme where you can’t pick your nose in public but a bit more old fashioned like in Paraguay where you can’t booty dance to some good booty dancing music. Is that too much booty?

I was completely taken aback here in Haifa.  People are very curious about you and ask where you come from, not what you think about what’s happening in Israel.  I even had the opportunity to meet an Israeli superstar named Mosh Ben Ari who was curious about our lifestyles and not about what we thought about their situation.

To be honest it was really refreshing to meet a people that are so genuine.  Did someone say falafel? (dash to the kitchen)