Well, looks like my travel plans to Israel are finally set. Leaving the 23rd of September and returning the 5th of October, which means I make it to my cousin Maia’s wedding and miss about the first week of the school year. Ah, it’s expendable. And it’ll be very good to see family again.
*sigh* There’s some very odd things about this trip. First, that I haven’t been back in so many years that I’m a very different person from who I was the last time there; it’s like meeting my family again. And second, that there’s a strong feeling that every encounter there may be the last — either because I may never return, or because several of the people there may no longer be there when I do. So many people from the older generation are beginning to show their years… and the situation there is always unstable. The stress of the past two years’ war has not been good for anyone.
Oh well. I plan to eat some damned good food while I’m there, and maybe spend some time wandering through the marketplace, haggling over rugs or antique copperworks or whatever, and sit on the beach, watching the sun set over the Mediterranean. If you squint hard enough, you can still see Phoenecian ships go by on the horizon.
Yonatan Zunger’s Blog 
Hey, if you squint hard enough here, you can see ’em go by. Just have to squint really hard… And maybe be on something. Or sleep deprived. Or in a time machine, that helps too.
I want to see you not long before you leave. I think it will still be difficult for both of us, but like I’ve said before, I view going to Israel as a life-threatening situation, and I’d never forgive myself if we didn’t see each other before you left and something happened to you over there. Let’s talk about it over IM or something.
eep. Are you going to Jerusalem, or any of the hotspots?
May I make prayers to Our Lady of the Friendly Skies et al. for your safe passage?
Can I talk you into bringing something little and significant back for me?