Israel

I really miss Israel. It started a few months ago when my cousin was getting married and I thought maybe we can go for the wedding. But at the time we were about to do a transfer and didn't want to commit. The wedding was also early December, a busy time of year right before the holidays and winter break. It was an expensive and inconvenient time. So her wedding came and went. Our pregnancy didn't take. And I still miss Israel.

We recently watched the show Fauda on Netflix (HIGHLY recommend) and it made me miss Israel even more. The entire show is in subtitles, which is annoying when you also want to play on your phone at the same time, but it does make you pay attention. I'm fluent in Hebrew but I needed the subtitles for the Arabic. I love Israelis, I love the humor, I love the traditions. I just miss everything I know about it. The last time we were in Israel was December 2006.

The trip is expensive and far away. We would need a chunk of time off work to make it worth the travel time. It's a 12 hour flight and you lose 7 hours because of the time difference so you need 2 days to travel there. Travel back is not as big a deal because you gain your 7 hours back. Which means that 3 days is just for traveling, before you even see or do anything.

Ideally, we'd fly on a Sunday and come back the following Thursday. I think that's enough time to make it worth it, with the ability to recover (i.e., sleep off the jet-lag and unpack and do laundry) over the weekend before going back to work on Monday.

If it's going to happen, it needs to happen soon. I'm hoping for a potential April transfer and I hope it sticks. Even if I don't get pregnant, my busy season ramps up at work and I can't leave work until after mid-June. If transfer does stick, I'd rather not fly pregnant if I can avoid it. Purim is on 3/12 and after that it's time for Pesach preps and likely pre-FET checkups.... so first week of March? How awesome if we can go for my birthday?

Here's a list of reasons why it can't happen:

- My husband doesn't have the time off work
- Cost
- It's too short a time to plan

Here are my own arguments against the reasons why it can't happen:

- My husband has a specific number of paid days off work. He uses almost 90% of them for Jewish holidays. It's worth asking about working a few hours a week extra to make up for those days in advance and/or afterwards so that he can take a few extra days off. I'm sure others have worked something out. If nothing else, it may be worth it for him to take unpaid days for a vacation, since we haven't had a vacation in a long time. It would probably be about 6 business days above and beyond what he already has. This is in addition to the sick days we're hoarding for IVF/FET treatments where he needs or wants to be present.

- Cost: I've been saving for our 10th anniversary for nearly 4 years. The sole purpose of this fund is for an experience/trip. The original idea was to do a Greece/Israel combo but my husband has since lost interest in Greece. Our anniversary is coming up in June. Is this not the best time for a trip, or what??

- It's too short a time to plan? Maybe. But we know what we want and we just need to get our act together to make it happen. It's the age of the internet - we can book flights and hotels. The only other thing is to set itineraries to make the most of the trip and make sure our phones have international plans. It's definitely doable to plan it out.

We can technically travel in June if the April transfer doesn't work. It's an option. But I feel like it's a negative option though. Why push it off? I want to live my life now. Who knows what the future holds or where we'll be in June. The question is whether I can convince my husband. We are not spontaneous people. We rarely travel. We love our house and like to stay near it at all times. We are a Netflix+snacks kind of people, not the kind of people who do international travel and have fun thousands of miles away. Even so. I really hope we can make it happen.