ADULTS- ONLY VACATION

As you know, my baby sister got married in Israel. It is always exciting to plan a trip back home, see all of our families and childhood friends, and be surrounded by the comforts of our youth. And, this time, we had the special occasion to celebrate. My mother’s cooking is a true added bonus, too! Not to mention the free childcare (heck, my parents love our kids so much they’d practically pay us to spend time with them!). All in all, we always look forward to a vacation in Israel.

This summer’s trip was a little bit different though. Allow me to elaborate! Once our tickets to Israel were booked and the trip was in the planning process, I was speaking with a friend of mine from Israel who said she hopes she’ll see me during my trip because a group of our friends will be traveling to Mykonos together around the same time. She excitedly explained that they had booked a group villa and had all of these fun activities planned for the big crew. In the middle of our catchup, I thought how cool and spontaneous it would be for Noam and I to join them! As soon as I googled the infinity-pool covered villa – I mean, it was literally the most gorgeous thing I’ve seen in a while – I was completely and totally in. On a whim, and because it all sounded so fun and carefree, I decided on my own and Noam’s, my husband, behalf to head to Mykonos with the group

Noam and I rarely travel on our own since having kids – in fact, I think the only time was when we went to Burning Man two summers ago (remember that?!). I knew I wanted to join this trip, and it was actually our first adults-only trip for us since giving birth to Romi last summer. It was also our first time visiting Mykonos, so that was exciting in itself. Luckily, the grandparents love watching the kids, and we are grateful for their help and time! We went solo, sans-kids, for just three nights, and we drank tasty beverages and are delicious and fresh foods. We also found time to relax as much as possible and not overthink everything related to the kids. We know they were well taken care of in the best of hands, no matter how much we missed them!

Speaking of missing our kids…I remember the first few days at Burning Man were so hard. It was the first and only time we’d ever left the kids, even for a night, and it felt weird to be away from them, even though they were with my parents and sister back in New York. Being away from my three kids – especially since Ori had a fever at the start of our trip- was a bit weird this time around, too. Even more so, when it comes to baby Romi – not having her with me at all times feels so strange, since she’s with me almost all day long. Nevertheless, Noam and I had a fantastic time and enjoyed the experience with each other, and the greater group of friends.

In thinking about our past trips to Israel, they’ve always involved a flight only to Israel. We haven’t flown as a family to locations that are many hours away, unless the destination was Israel. We haven’t even flown to other spots near Israel while visiting, either. This trip was a first – a hybrid, of sorts. We flew to Israel, then flew out of Israel to Mykonos, and back to Israel

and soon home to America. We really took advantage of the close travel between Israel and Mykonos, something we’d never done before – and definitely plan to do again! Further, although trips home are usually planned with the intention of being home with our family 24/7, we happened to have just visited Israel for a lengthy amount of time earlier this year. My in-laws assured us that our mini vacation within our vacation was not rude at all- they completely supported our couples’ trip, especially since the whole family just saw us for over a month back in March!

I’m going to get back to sorting my pictures from the trip – I’ve been perusing all of the July 4th summer sales in New York on my iPad as I type this post. Let me know if you have any travel recommendations or want to share a vacation look with me. Noam and I had such a wonderful time on this trip, and we’d definitely love to do another adults-only mini-vacation

XX= Neshikot