While all my Instagram friends are uploading selfies from Coldplay concerts, from pastoral beaches in Greece, from a belly-to-back costume on a lonely “as if” island when the children’s screams are hidden by sound obscuring reality; While pictures of plates full of food from restaurants in Paris or from the plane star in my feed – I decided to stay in Israel. And not just in Israel, but in the least appreciated place, in the Sea of Galilee. And I was happy every moment.
As I stood on the balcony early in the morning to catch the sunrise and looked at the horizon, I told myself that I wouldn’t trade this moment for any noisy Greek beach, or stress about what happened to my suitcase on the way. How did we get to the point where the “Air Tag” became the most important item in the bag, even before a mobile charger?
I know that it is forbidden to write such things, certainly not in the proud and expensive Israel, which may still use the good words that are showered on a vacation there, and continue to raise the prices in such a way that even the pigs in the barn begin to smell that it stinks too much. But even here there are other virtuous individuals, with logic and decency, who understand that there is no case of a captive audience here and that vacationing in Israel is completely a matter of choice, and if they want us to continue to choose them, they must make an effort.
Israel is a beautiful country, if we take the ugly things out of it, but it is undoubtedly still the dirtiest in Europe. The fact that we didn’t have to go through a busy airport made the whole story of a quiet vacation, carefully chosen, much more attractive than any other option we had before us.
It is this block that is stuck in our throats between us and the destination across the sea – Israel, the field that tens of thousands of people have been passing through in recent weeks, the one that they have to return to after a pampering vacation, cross the passage of the glass windows that overlooks those who are still waiting for their vacation to begin. There is no doubt that this is a passage The most depressing thing in the world. How fun it is to be at home. Even if, my God, look what has become of us from home.
Before the vacation I remembered “Gabi and Debbie”, with the magic stick. I didn’t have time to say that I wish this was reality, and less than two hours later we were already at our destination. There weren’t even traffic jams, only here and there people at the gas station who, like us, wanted another cup of coffee. It’s all about timing in life, and this seemingly clichéd theory proves itself over and over again.
The older I get, the less and less I like noise and bustle of people. Yes, I’m sometimes happy to be at festivals and parties and happy events, but when I’m in vacation mode I prefer world peace and real disconnection. I don’t need sessions or attractions. When I arrive at a touristic place for vacation and see the word “activity”, I feel as if a heavy stone lands on my head. I have no need to be activated. I just need the sun, water, some food and above all silence. It is likely that in the previous incarnation I was a bush of mint. A plant that does not require too much maintenance, and grows best when infested on the balcony.
As a woman who lives in the center of world noise, an urbanite in her soul, someone who can’t really imagine herself living in a sleepy city or a moshav, I play with what happens to my body every time I get outside. These moments when I find the little corner of peace are likened to the phone from Arale from the lottery factory.
I cracked the system, precisely in a place where there are almost no free beaches that are not owned by vested interests, and precisely when on the Sea of Galilee there is a beloved and unhappy city called Tiberias, which is slowly becoming Israel’s backyard – precisely there there is still a small hope for peace. But such a real one. It’s not quiet taking pictures for Instagram, because you can’t beat the photos from Crete, the big blue sea and the breathtaking valleys.
You can’t beat the skyscrapers of New York, you can’t beat everything that’s happening in London, the cuisine of Madrid and the beautiful and green road to Tuscany. But I saw four sunrises this week that filled my heart, they didn’t look as beautiful in the photos as a sunrise in the Seychelles, but I didn’t come to win a photography contest, I came for freedom for my soul. What’s more, it is absolutely possible to beat the mess at the airport, and perhaps at almost any other airport these days in the world.