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

One of the questions I’m hearing more and more lately is: “Why should I use a personal tour planner when ChatGPT can build me an itinerary in seconds?” And honestly? It’s a fair question. Technology today is incredible. With a few prompts, you can generate detailed itineraries, discover hidden gems, compare hotels, find restaurants, and map out routes across Israel, all before your morning coffee. In fact, some clients arrive with beautifully organized itineraries generated

One of the questions I’m asked most often is: “Why should I use a travel consultant when I can book everything online myself?” You may be a seasoned independent traveler, completely comfortable navigating Israel with a mix of English, Arabic, and the Hebrew you remember from your Bar Mitzvah classes. However, the details matter. When booking online yourself, small mistakes can become big frustrations: Wrong room type - did you know that certain hotels reserve their "inferio