Domestically, we have options. Two of our three children live far from Pennsylvania, so we have taken road trips to Maine and Colorado, both of which have provided the experience of different regions and landscapes.
We made a trip to England and Scotland about 20 years ago, and that was a memorable venture. For me, though, the trip of a lifetime was one I made to Israel in 2013. A small group of us spent two weeks driving around the country, starting in Jerusalem, heading south into the Negev, then back north to Tiberias, Nazareth, Cana, and on to the Lebanese border and the Golan Heights, ending with a stay at a hostel above the Sea of Galilee before heading back to Jerusalem again.
In between, we visited Beersheba, Mitzpe Ramon and the makhtesh, and Sde Boker, where David Ben Gurion chose to retire; climbed the Snake Path to the top of Masada, hiked into En Gedi, swam in the Dead Sea, experienced several checkpoints in the West Bank, stayed in a hostel on the shore of Lake Kinneret, a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee, and swam there, stayed along the Mediterranean Sea in Acco, ventured further north beyond Qiryat Shemona, stayed at Tel Hai, a hostel with a view of Mt. Hermon, lingered at the headwaters of the Jordan River, took a side tour of an old Israeli army bunker from the 1973 war with Syria, which was close enough to the Syrian border that we might have been able to walk there.
There was so much more, including all of our time in Jerusalem itself. We got to know our way around the Old City pretty well, ventured out into the new city a couple of times, and put a lot of miles on our footwear.
It was a remarkable trip, likely a bit different than most guided tours, and one I was glad to have experienced before the flare-ups and old animosities reared their ugly heads yet again.
3 Cents' 