There's No Place Like Home

After 16 hours cramped up in airplanes, I'm back home from Israel.

At the last minute, I decided to join friends from Los Angeles on an excursion to Masada, the Dead Sea, Petra (an ancient city in Jordan you might recognize from the last Indiana Jones movie), and Eilat. I went about a week without checking email or blogging, and it was great. :-)

Thank you to everyone who sent text messages and emails asking if I was alive and telling me to come home. While the situation is serious and unfortunate, I sometimes feel that the media has a way of turning it into a riveting, entertaining, thriller.

While terrorism, and resulting military response, affects everyone in this world from New York City to London to Madrid to Taba to Bali to Mumbai to Afghanistan, at no time during my trip to Israel could I be found dodging Katyusha rockets in the streets.

But, I appreciate the concern nonetheless. And to those innocent Israelis, Palestinians, and Lebanese who are dodging rockets and bombs or worse, my heart goes out to all of you.

On a much lighter note, I've uploaded all of the photos from my trip. Some highlights to follow in my next entry.