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Our early flight from London to Tel Aviv, Israel went smoothly. And, so far…the people seemed normal on the plane. What exactly does that mean? Well…I’m not exactly sure but we thought the people would stand out…that we would feel like outsiders…that everyone would be dressed differently and talk differently but it all seemed quite normal. We could have been on a flight in NY.
We arrived and thought the customs process would be long and grueling but it was fairly quick and efficient. We did have to give the name and address of our friend Ayal whom was showing us around Israel but after a few questions and glance at our passports we were through customs. Candice and Ayal were on their way to pick us up at the airport and in the meantime we changed clothes right away because one step outside proved to be much different weather than Scotland. It was HOT.
We were picked up and greeted by Candice and Ayal (Candice our friend from NY and Ayal her husband from Israel) and they informed us we were driving straight to Jerusalem today! The drive was about 45 minutes and we stopped here and there to take pictures as Ayal narrated details of exactly what we were looking at since the signs were not in English. The signs were in the two main languages, Hebrew and Arab. Hebrew not only sounds nothing like English or any other European language but it is read from right to left and even the numeric system is not the same as ours. So…when things like a check are given…you cannot read what was ordered let alone what the bill totals. Thankfully Ayal was a local and speaks Hebrew!!
We arrived in Jerusalem in a small village near the old city called, Ein Kerem. Ayal’s friend has a studio in which he let us stay a couple of days. It was connected to his lab where he makes all kinds of natural remedies for patients (he had sent me a few items as well when I was going through chemo).
After a bit of downtime, we went into town for dinner. We went to a place called, Mona ( www.monas.co.il/en.html ) which was a nice local restaurant in an old stone building full of art work from students. We quickly realized we were going to love the food here. The veggies are fresh and flavorful. The cuisine like the landscape reminded us of Greece. We ordered a big salad full of bright peppers, tomatoes, onions, basil and mozzarella with a vinaigrette followed by a Barramundi fish (white fish) dish served on linguini. We also had a glass of local wine and delicious lemon tart for dessert.
After dinner we went to bed. Tomorrow we visit the old city of Jerusalem.
Published by Giff Kabat
I grew up in Ohio as a kid, so of course I went to college at “THE” Ohio State University. I graduated in 2001 with a major in business finance. A month after graduation, I moved out to California with my college girlfriend (whom I married in 2005)…and started my career in sales (industrial sales for 5 years…then moved into medical laser sales for 4 years).
In 2009 I was 31 years old. I had a great job, a new house, and a beautiful wife. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby. Everything was going according to plan…and I couldn’t have scripted a better life for myself.
Then in the same year…everything changed. My wife, Brandey, called me when I was on my way to work and told me over the phone, something I never thought could be possible in a million years. My beautiful 30-year old pregnant wife was just told that she had breast cancer. At that moment, everything stopped all at once. I immediately went to her…and learned of our new plan…which began with her needing surgery immediately…and the rest we would find out later.
The day we returned from the hospital after Brandey’s surgery…my father died. He had been battling an aggressive cancer of his own…and although he was the one person I wanted to speak with about Brandey having cancer…I never told him. My sister, Brooke, had just gotten married a few months ago, and although he was weak, he was able to walk his little girl down the aisle of her wedding. On the night before my sister’s wedding, Brandey and I told him that we were pregnant and about to make him a grandfather. It made no sense to tell him that everything had changed for us…so he died in peace knowing everything was “the way it should be” for his only 2 children.
2010 was the worst year of my life. We had lost our baby…and for 12 months I watched my wife fight cancer with multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and drug therapy. It was a difficult year for us…but we made it. When you go through something like this in life, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you. I was amazed at the strength and courage of my wife…and how many good people there are in this world. I will be forever grateful for the ones who never ceased to amaze me with their kindness during this hard time. Family, friends, and sometimes complete strangers…helped us make it through this. I am, and will always be especially grateful to my mother, who was with my dad at the very end, when I couldn’t be there, and when things were at their worst. She has been so supportive throughout all of this, and without her everything would have been so much harder for me.
It’s 2011 now…and the plan we have for our life this year…is to make it the best year of our lives. Brandey is officially in remission from breast cancer and she has a 95% chance the cancer will never come back. Besides the love that I have for my wife and family, the loves of my life are food, wine, and adventure travel. My wife and I love traveling to new places, seeing natural wonders, and meeting new people from different parts of the world. So for the next 400 days…we’ve decided to travel the world…and celebrate our lives. There are so many things I took for granted in life that I will never take for granted again. My father worked for over 30 years at the same job with the same company…rarely took time off…and died at 64 years old right after his retirement. For me, this trip is a combination of a tribute to him, along with wanting to spend the time of my life with the “love of my life.”
* The only thing I will miss while we are gone is our family and friends (who we hope will meet us somewhere throughout our trip) and especially our 3 little kitties we left with my mom in Ohio to catsit for the next 400 days. I will also miss watching “American Football” over the weekend…but I’ll do my best to check the scores in the middle of the night.
GIFF
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Spinning Around The World 
I heard it’s beautiful in Israel! Can’t wait to see more pics. The food sounds delicious too. Say hi to Candice & her hubbie for me. Still miss you guys. 😉