The ink was barely dry on my blog about whether families really need a bulletproof bus to travel around Israel, when I saw a new headline. "Travel warning: State Department urges Americans to reconsider travel to Israel." Another warning. Another headline. Another reminder that, apparently, travelling to Israel is something we should all be very worried about. And I thought: Hang on a second. Because if you're sitting thousands of miles away, thinking about bringing your fami

At least, that's what you might think if you're planning a trip to Israel from thousands of miles away. One question I am asked frequently is: “Do we need a bulletproof bus?” Last month, a family planning a trip to Israel wanted to visit some places that, from their perspective, sounded a little… adventurous. They wanted to know whether they needed a bulletproof vehicle. Then they asked about an armed guard. I explained that, for private tourists, neither is normally necessar

A few years ago, I was chatting to a fellow tour operator who was based in Europe. He told me about a group he was arranging for a client from Japan. They were traveling to Budapest, and this was a 34-person group. And do you know what struck me? He already had the rooming list. Two years before the trip. He had the hotels booked. He had the itinerary. He knew where everyone was going to be on pretty much every day of the trip. I remember thinking: Wow. Imagine being able to

I recently watched a video about El Al that made me stop and think. The video looks at the airline from a very different perspective, including the way its aircraft are designed and tested and the extraordinary attention given to security. It was fascinating. But it also got me thinking about something much more practical. When you're planning a trip to Israel, how much should you be willing to pay to make sure you actually get here? Because sometimes, that's the part of the

I remember the morning Millie emailed me, bubbling with excitement. She and Josh had been dreaming about their family trip to Israel - three kids, ages 9, 12, and 14, a perfect blend of wonder and chaos, all inside a two-week trip. Together, we crafted a dream itinerary: a mix of bustling Tel Aviv markets, water hikes in the Galilee, desert thrills, Jerusalem history - and, of course, a full-on culinary adventure. Millie was a huge foodie. She had lived in Israel for a year a

Every summer, my WhatsApp starts pinging with families planning their Sukkot in Israel. One conversation this week made me smile. Let's call her Miri. Miri is a busy grandmother whose happiest weeks of the year are spent in Israel surrounded by her children and grandchildren. They've been doing this for years, and by now they've got the logistics down to a fine art. The apartment has been booked months in advance. The Yom Tov meals are planned. Everyone knows where they're sl

Kashrut standards is often one of the subjects people are most confident about... until we start talking. Recently I had two clients who couldn't have sounded more different. The first was Jake. "We only eat Badatz," he told me confidently. "We'll need Badatz hotels." "No problem," I replied. So I began looking at hotels that cater to that market - places with a more religious atmosphere, separate swimming hours for men and women and, in some cases, no televisions in the room

Planning a family trip to Israel can feel overwhelming before you've even packed a suitcase. Flights. Hotels or apartments. Car hire. Restaurants. Activities. Guides. Let's start with the obvious. Israel is expensive. In fact, over the last few years, some activity prices have increased dramatically. Just this week, a guide told me that an activity which used to cost around 200 shekels for a family of six now costs closer to 600 shekels. There's no point pretending otherwise.

When you've invested so much in creating memories, you deserve to spend your time making them: not worrying about everything else.

Imagine landing in Israel after a 10-hour flight with five tired children... only to discover you have nowhere to sleep.

Judy had done everything right. Her flights were booked. Her accommodation was arranged. She’d packed her passport, travel insurance, and medication. Or so she thought. A few days into her trip, she realized one of her prescription medications had been left behind in the United States. Thankfully, she had travel medical insurance. Surely a quick phone call would sort it out. It turned out to be anything but simple. The first hurdle was the phone number itself. The number prov

Imagine walking into your Airbnb and realizing that, while everything looked perfect online, not only is there no kosher kitchen (there was left over treif in the refrigerator), but there's no mezuzah on the door - something that you rarely find in Israel. That's exactly what happened to Yitz last summer. I don’t say this to scare anyone. It's just that, when we travel, it’s so important to know what we’re comfortable with; what our personal standards are; and what we are loo

Since October 7th, life in Israel has been anything but ordinary. When I talk to clients overseas, I often share how resilient Israelis are. During a war, you will still sees families on the beach, kids laughing by the waves, and then, if a siren sounds, people calmly move to a shelter until the all-clear, before returning to their day. That’s part of being Israeli: the determination to keep living, keep connecting. And yes, some people come, and others decide to wait, and th

At the end of last week, we were overjoyed to welcome our very first family in a few months, to Tel Aviv, eager to begin their dream trip to Israel. Like so many visitors, they had spent months planning their journey. Their itinerary included time in Tel Aviv before heading north to continue exploring the country. But as we all know, life in Israel can be unpredictable. Late Monday night, missile sirens sounded, raising concerns that the security situation might escalate. The

A couple of hours from now, a family I've been working with for months will finally land in Israel. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be particularly remarkable. After all, that's what I do. Families book trips. I plan itineraries. People arrive. Adventures begin. But this booking feels different. The family actually booked months ago, long before the war with Iran started. Since then, I've watched cancellation after cancellation come through. Pesach trips were cancel

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of knowing your audience when designing a travel itinerary. https://www.suzannelieberman.com/post/know-your-audience-why-family-travel-itineraries-need-to-fit-all-ages Shortly after, Joe (name changed to protect the innocent) took a swing at me on social media. He claimed a tour guide should just inherently know what the client needs - and, well, he hadn’t even read my post! So, let’s pause, have a little laugh, and dig int

One of the more common mistakes travelers make is choosing a hotel before they’ve really thought about the kind of trip they want to have. People often start with star ratings, price, or photographs. They scroll through endless images of beautiful lobbies, pools, and elegant bedrooms, assuming that the nicest-looking hotel must automatically be the best choice. But travel doesn’t work that way. A hotel can be absolutely perfect for one person and completely wrong for another.

Planning a family trip to Israel? Here’s something many parents discover the hard way: what works for adults doesn’t always work for kids . . .

Sarah was determined to do Israel “properly.” Not rushed. Not over-scheduled. Not trapped in a tiny hotel room eating overpriced schnitzel while the kids bounced off the walls. So when she found a beautiful holiday apartment near the beach in Tel Aviv, complete with a kitchen, washing machine, and enough beds for everyone, it seemed like the perfect solution. “This,” she told Yossi triumphantly, “is how Israelis vacation.” And for the first few days, she was absolutely right.

I hear this all the time. Usually, it comes from lovely, intelligent people who have been to Israel before. Sometimes they came on a gap year in the 1990s.Sometimes they spent a semester here in college. Sometimes they visited cousins in Ra’anana fifteen years ago and are convinced they “basically know the country.” And nowadays, there’s a new addition: “We have ChatGPT.” Honestly, I understand the thinking. Flights are expensive. Hotels are expensive. Israel is expensive. Pe