"Life is good to us" dynamon72's Profile

Up until today

As I spent most of my formative years in Bournemouth, an attractive seaside town in Southern England I was intrigued that a seaside town called Netanya in Israel was a sister city.

I arrived in Israel in the early 1950s for a long working visit in a kibbutz called Kvutzat Usha, not far from Haifa, knowing very little about the country. Upon arrival I realized that this country was far more my natural home than any other place on earth. For more than fifty years I have tried agricultural living, first on a kibbutz and later a moshav. In 1960 I returned to being a town dweller moving only recently to Netanya after living in Ramat Gan for many years.

The twinning of the two towns is appropriate. Netanya is also a seaside town, with beautiful golden beaches and attractive cliff gardens overlooking the sea. We even have a modern version of Bournemouth's "cliff-lift".

The main reason for my move about two years ago was due to my dear friend and partner, Hickey, a long time resident of Netanya. Each one of us was widowed quite a long time ago and met through a mutual friend in 2000. Hickey is originally from Montreal, Canada and came to be a farmer in Israel in 1952, first in Urim in the Negev, and then in Moshav Avihail, which borders Netanya. After he left farming, he and his family went to live in Netanya.

Today, we don't live close to the sea, though we can see the cliffs from our part of town, which is in a new and pleasant area. We can even see the paragliders who take off over the sea near a large hotel.

My greatest love, apart from my family, is to travel to far away places. On the last countup I found I had travelled (often more than once) to over 30 countries. Group tours to Mainland China in May 2002 and Russia in October 2002 were great and really fascinating. The most interesting and difficult group tour was made to South America in January/February 2004. We visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Highlights - penguins and wondrous icebergs, racing under the Iguazu Falls in an omega, the carnival at Rio, the steamy rain forests, Machu Picchu, the lost Inca city of Peru. Lake Titicaca and the last straw island tribe, the ladies bowler hats in La Paz, Bolivia. I've covered most of Western Europe and North America by train, by car or with group tours.

The 32 countries

List of 32 countries I (Click on page to enlarge)

I made a list of all the countries and if you press on the photo, you can see how many there are. I slipped in Mexico, but didn't really see much as we spent half a day there while on a Cosmos tour. So that was cheating a little (same with Luxembourg, when on a car tour with friends!). As I have travelled alone fairly often, I found Cosmos to be helpful for single travellers. This is OK if one doesn't mind rooming with total strangers while on a tour. So far I didn't come across any real problems. There is also freedom in choosing what one wants to do within the group framework, outside of the basic itinerary. I"ve had some interesting tours with them. The last and one of the best one was in Florida, travelling from St. Augustine in the North to Key West.

The internet has proved to be very helpful in planning personal tours. The first one of this type was to Ireland with my dear late sister Ruthie in 1996. This was a company in Cork. They arranged a great little hotel in Dublin, leaving us train tickets to Killarney in the hotel bedroom. We toured the Ring of Kerry with a great guide who drove the bus, gave a great "spiel" and even took each one of us personally to our bed and breakfast places. We even got a great deal with the flight. We had been invited to a friend's celebration in Bournemouth and I found a Ryanair flight from there to Dublin and back to Stansted airport! The Cork company almost forgot to charge us and I had to email them to remind them we'd not paid yet!

As I speak and understand Hebrew many of my guided tours have been in that language. In general , Israeli travel guides are very thorough and knowledgeable and one returns with an enormous amount of knowledge.

If you would like to know anything more about my tours, let me know, but of course my earlier adventures would now have out of date info.

Intro Updated Dec 16, 2007
Report Abuse

Personal Pages (1)

Written Dec 19, 2007

2 photos

Netanya and its amenities

1 - 1 of 1

Comments (14)

Reply
- Report abuse
July2 Jun 11, 2010 at 9:42 PM

Best wishes to you on your birthday! Louisa
Reply
- Report abuse
robin4803 Dec 27, 2008 at 8:18 PM

Hi Diana. My husband and I will be in Netanya for 2 weeks beginning Jan 15, 2009. We will be staying at mizpe yam hotel. do you know if they have laundry facilities?
Reply
- Report abuse
MM212 Jun 13, 2008 at 4:08 AM

Happy Birthday Diana!
Reply
- Report abuse
Childish Jun 12, 2008 at 1:04 AM

Hello Diana! Happy Birthday to you ! Have a very special day! Lilia
Reply
- Report abuse
ophiro Jun 11, 2008 at 9:01 PM

Happy Birthday !
Reply
- Report abuse
WorldMeet2008 Mar 8, 2008 at 4:55 AM

Happy International women`s Day Diana! Greetings from Organizing team, Mirjana
Reply
- Report abuse
nicolaitan Dec 6, 2007 at 9:23 AM

appreciate your birthday wishes. Hope you had a good trip back. N.
Reply
- Report abuse
ChristinaNest Nov 17, 2007 at 11:56 PM

what birthday? my birthday is Dec. 16:) Hope all is well!
Reply
- Report abuse
NYTim Nov 14, 2007 at 8:11 AM

I tried to e-mail you at the VT address. Somehow it is not working.
Reply
- Report abuse
ghibli88 Jun 12, 2007 at 1:38 PM

A warm Happy birthday to you,best wishes from hot and cloudy Italy.