Israel
|
|
On Israel’s Eilat and Egypt’s Red Sea Beaches
May 16, 2012 by Robert Schrader
Israel is roughly the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey, so I have to give the country kudos: For such a small place, they have a hugely diverse range of landscapes and destinations. From snow-capped mountains in the north, to Tel Aviv’s coastline to the vast Negev desert in the south, the Holy Land is a wholly rich place to travel.
The majority of Israelis I met were adamant that I had to visit Eilat, Israel’s Red Sea resort, particularly when they found out I would be traveling to Egypt from Israel overland. Indeed, I had no choice but to pass through Eilat and even spent a few hours there, waiting for my Egypt visa.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel compelled to stay in Eilat, even though I probably technically could’ve. I don’t want to discourage you from visiting Eilat — I simply hope my reasons for not having spent much time there will help you decide whether or not you should.
Eilat is Busy
Call me crazy, but this just doesn’t scream “relaxation” to me.
I arrived in Eilat at about five in morning, having taken an overnight bus from Tel…
Read more…
Jerusalem Beer Festival in August
May 10, 2012 by Susan McKee
The eighth annual Jerusalem Beer Festival takes place August 22 and 23, 2012, in the city’s historic train station. Last year, more than 100,000 liters of more than a hundred brands of brews from all over the world were offered in the Israeli city.
During the two-day festival, the train station becomes a huge bar. Besides the large variety of brews, visitors will enjoy the perfect beer fest experience with various food stands, accessories stands, an exclusive beer store and live beer production process demonstrations.
Every night on the main stage, the audience will enjoy a live show by Israel’s leading bands.
(Photo courtesy of Jerusalem Beer Festival)
Logistics, Politics & Sentiments of Traveling to Israel & Palestine
April 19, 2012 by Robert Schrader
I have traveled to Israel twice thus far. The first time, in September 2010, I was naive and bushy-tailed, knowing little more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than what the American media reported. When I saw the blue-and-white Israeli flag flapping in the wind at the end of the Jordanian frontier, I felt unexplainably giddy.
My excitement had, it seemed, been misplaced. Indeed when I left Israel, I practically sprinted back into Jordan — just 24 hours of paranoia, questioning and seemingly endless security checkpoints had done me in! The ordeal hadn’t made me anti-Israel per se, but I did get the impression that I was missing part of the story.
Return to Israel
I devoted much of the year after my first trip to Israel to researching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from all angles. I watched and read as much material as I could find, from debates between young Palestinians and Israelis, to documentaries, to literally hours of raw footage. I was frequently disgusted, usually by the actions of the Israelis, but I still desperately wanted to return to Israel for some reason.
So this past…
Read more…
Entrepreneurs: Look Outside Silicon Valley for Innovation, Talent & Money
April 9, 2012 by Renee Blodgett
While Silicon Valley may be the “hub” for technology start-ups and where the world thinks the top creativity and talent reside, there is plenty of innovation coming out of other parts of the world.
In the states, Denver, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Portland and Seattle are all making strides.
Just this week, I was informed of a few start-ups out of Montana which just closed small rounds.
Outside the states, many entreprenuers and VCs alike know about the flood of activity coming out of Israel, the UK and mobile apps from developers in Eastern Europe, Asia and South Africa (Memeburn is a growing social media and start-up blog for the developing world and a hot new Cape Town-based start-up conference is unveiling in the fourth quarter).
Paris-based LeWeb is one of the hottest start-up and technology conferences around and given its growth and diversity, it’s not just focused on Europe anymore. In the last six months alone, I’ve met 6 French entrepreneurs who are moving from Paris to the Bay Area to increase their likelihood of getting funded and hiring the “right” names. Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore too are…
Read more…
Inspirational Travel Photos: Australia, Hong Kong & Peru to Israel, Morocco & Laos
April 9, 2012 by Robert Schrader
Here are seven of the best photos I’ve taken throughout my travels.
Vangvieng, Laos, 2010
Yanque, Peru, 2011
Zürich, Switzerland, 2011
Morocco, 2011
Tel Aviv, Israel, 2011
Hong Kong, 2010
Great Ocean Road, Australia, 2012
Budget Travel: Cost Breakdown in Egypt, Israel, Morocco & Greece
April 8, 2012 by Robert Schrader
This post is the first in a new category that I hope becomes very popular. I’m calling it “Real Trips” because, simply put, it breaks down “real trips” I’ve taken into their simplest terms, so you can see not only how much I’ve spent on the “big two” expenses — transportation and lodging — but also the logic I use when planning a trip. For reasons of simply sanity, I won’t attempt to recall or fabricate how much I spent on food and other incidentals.
First up is the Mediterranean and North Africa, a region I visited at the end of last summer. This post only covers the first six weeks of the trip that took me there; the second half was spent traveling through Europe for mostly work/personal reasons that don’t tie into the first part of the trip.
The Flight
The first part of taking any trip is getting there, which almost always involves a flight. My trip to the Mediterranean and North Africa was one of many instances in which I booked a multi-city itinerary — in other words, flying into one city, then out of another. In this instance, I chose to fly into Athens and…
Read more…
Exploring the Old City of Jaffa, Israel
March 17, 2012 by Robert Schrader
Officially, the city of Tel Aviv, Israel is known as “Tel Aviv-Jaffa,” a name that dates back to 1950, when Tel Aviv was merged with the old Arab port city of Jaffa.
Although Tel Aviv and Jaffa are now administratively joined, Jaffa could literally not be more different from Tel Aviv, as much as I love the city. While Tel Aviv is modern and dates back just over 100 years, Jaffa is believed to be the oldest port city in the world, with first mentions of the city dating as far back as 1400 B.C.
The next time you travel in Israel, make sure and visit the old city of Jaffa, located just a few minutes’ walk south of Central Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean.
Jaffa can be seen from any of Tel Aviv’s beaches
Location of Jaffa
Jaffa is located so close to Tel Aviv that you can see the old port city perched over the Mediterranean from any of Tel Aviv’s beaches.
The easiest and most pleasant way to travel from Tel Aviv to Jaffa is on foot. Simply walk onto Tel Aviv’s beach road, make a left and walk…
Read more…
Tel Aviv to Texas: Israeli Companies at SXSW
March 11, 2012 by Anna Kaminsky
As featured on Jpost, some notable Israeli companies that will be there include Brandsforce (a technology platform for brands and PR agencies to build and nurture an effective online brand advocacy program), Conduit (white-label toolbars for web and mobile publishers with more than 250 million users including Major League Baseball, Fox News, Groupon, and more), Face.com (Facial recognition technology platform that is best known for its partnership with Facebook, scanning all public photos in your social network and suggesting tags for untagged faces), Hashtag Art (a tool to transform the posts and messages of your online fans and followers into a visual mosaic where the average visitor stays for more than 3.5 minutes…
Read more…
