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A sandwich I can’t remember, a dance I almost missed, and the trip that rewired everything.
My sis GOT the video of me dancing in Jerusalem. Didn’t even know it existed until writing this article, I just know I never forgot that moment. He was such a delightful man. Here’s a pic from the moment below.
I’m in a jewelry store in Jerusalem, dancing with an older man I just met. No plan. No reason. Just music and a moment that happened because I said yes to a trip I almost didn’t take.
I watch that clip now and I think – I almost let fear rob me of this.
The Lie I Believed For Years
I’m gonna be straight with you. I was scared of the Middle East.
Not a little nervous. Scared. Like, I-don’t-want-to-die scared. Years of news cycles, headlines, and secondhand opinions had built this image in my head that the entire region was a war-zone wrapped in danger. I had zero desire to go.
My sister changed that.
She wanted to go to Turkey. I resisted. She pushed. We went. And Turkey broke something open in me – this realization that the picture I had in my head didn’t match what was actually on the ground. The people were warm. The food was unreal. The streets were safe.
So when she said Israel next, I didn’t fight it. I jumped at the thought.
That one decision started a domino effect that would eventually take me through Qatar, Dubai, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait (the best five star I’ve stayed at to date), and Jordan.
The Middle East went from my biggest fear to one of my favorite places on earth.
But Turkey and Israel were the door.
Tel Aviv Hit Me In The Stomach First
I don’t remember the name of the sandwich place. I’ve tried. It’s gone. I wil find it if I look harder (usually I save all the restaurants I peruse and forgot to save this one). But I remember the taste like it was yesterday.
The thing doesn’t even look impressive. Nothing about the presentation screamed “this is about to change your day.” But I took one bite and immediately knew I was coming back. I didn’t just go back once. I went back multiple times during the trip. That sandwich became a ritual.
On the last day, I ordered 3–4. I got three for myself. I didn’t think my sister would want more than one…come on bro.
That’s the thing about great food in unfamiliar places – it doesn’t announce itself. It just shows up looking ordinary and then wrecks your expectations (My favorite pasta place? a little spot in Kyoto that only two other people were in when I visited).
Tel Aviv also gave me some of the best gelato I’ve ever had in my life. And I’ve had gelato in Italy, so that’s not a throwaway statement. They do this fruit gelato thing – I had mango and raspberry – and the blend was so perfect it felt intentional in a way most gelato doesn’t.
Like someone actually thought about how those two flavors would land together instead of just scooping whatever was there.
Gelato in Tel Aviv – Dizengoff Square
The city itself had this energy. Modern, fast, beachy. Good food on every corner. Music on Sundays. But Tel Aviv wasn’t the reason I came. That was Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Will Swallow You Whole
Let me tell you something nobody warns you about. Walking through Jerusalem is disorienting in a way that doesn’t compare to any other city I’ve been to – and I’ve been to over 60 countries.
The alleys twist. The tunnels loop. Pathways that look different end up in the same place. Pathways that look the same take you somewhere completely new. It’s like the city was designed to keep you wandering, to make sure you couldn’t just pass through without getting a little lost first.
Photos: Jerusalem alleys, tunnels, winding streets, the church in Gethsemane.
We had a guide. I’ll say that much. We also had to ditch that guide – strategically. I’m not gonna get into the details, but let’s just say it got a little sketchy and we made the right call.
Sometimes travel throws you a curveball and you gotta trust your gut over politeness. We trusted ours.
Even without the guide, we kept walking. That’s the thing about Jerusalem. The confusion isn’t a bug. It’s the experience. Every turn has something – a shop, a conversation, a smell, a piece of history you didn’t expect to stumble into.
The hotel had mosquitoes. Like, a lot of them. I don’t even remember the hotel name, but I remember those mosquitoes like roommates I didn’t ask for. Just part of the deal. You don’t go to Jerusalem for the hotel.
They don’t bite ME though….just my sister hehe. So of course, I like keeping the windows open.
The Part Most Travel Writers Would Skip
Here’s something a lot of people don’t know about me.
I’m really into philosophy. Specifically, biblical philosophy and stoicism. I’ve read Epictetus. I’ve read Marcus Aurelius. Don’t quiz me on every doctrine – I won’t pass. But I engage with that material seriously. And the Bible? I rip that thing apart constantly. Not from a religious angle. From a wisdom angle.
Most people hear “the Bible” and immediately file it under religion and move on. I get it. But if you approach it with an objective lens – just looking at it as one of the oldest collections of human insight on discipline, suffering, consequence, and purpose – there are nuggets in there that hit harder than any modern self-help book on the shelf.
So walking through Jerusalem?
That wasn’t just tourism for me.
Standing at the Garden of Gethsemane – the place where, according to the text, a man wrestled with the weight of what was coming and chose to face it anyway – that hit different when you’re physically there.
It’s one thing to read about it.
It’s another thing entirely to stand in the space and feel the age of it.
The realness of it.
Ice Cream and a Reality Check
There’s a moment from the trip that sticks with me for a completely different reason.
I’m sitting somewhere in Jerusalem eating ice cream. Just vibing. And suddenly there are people everywhere – signs, chanting, energy. A boycott. Protests related to Palestine. I had no idea what was happening. I was literally mid-scoop trying to figure out why the street just changed.
I’m not going to get political here. That’s not what this article is about. But what I will say is this – we left Jerusalem, and shortly after, everything in the region escalated. The conflict intensified. The news got heavier. The window we had to experience that city in relative peace started closing.
We got there right in time. I don’t take that for granted.
A few years later, we met some Israeli guys in Vienna at a chocolate museum, who were stuck and they couldn’t get back home because of all the stuff happening between Israel and Palestine.
The Domino That Won’t Stop Falling
Israel was supposed to be a one-off. My sister wanted to go. I got over my fear. We went. Done.
Except it wasn’t done.
After Israel, I looked at my sister and said let’s keep going. We hit Qatar. We hit Dubai. We did the UAE. We did Oman. I remember being in Dubai and saying “we’re going to Qatar tomorrow” like it was nothing. Like hopping between countries in a region I used to be terrified of was just… Tuesday.
Then I went back. Did it all again – plus Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. The Middle East became my thing.
And here’s what I need you to hear if you’ve never been: it is one of the safest places in the world. I’m not exaggerating. The hospitality is unmatched. The food is insane. The history is layered in ways that make most Western cities feel like they were built last week.
I know that doesn’t match what the news tells you. It didn’t match what it told me either.
And then I went.
I’m Going Back
Sixty countries in and I still think about that sandwich. I still watch that video of me dancing with a stranger in a jewelry store. I still think about standing in the Garden of Gethsemane feeling something I can’t fully explain.
Israel surprised me.
It humbled me.
It made me angry at myself for almost letting fear win.
If you’re sitting where I was a few years ago – curious but scared, interested but hesitant – I only have one thing to say.
Go.
The version of you on the other side of that fear is someone you haven’t met yet. And trust me, you’re gonna like them.
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I’ve been to over 60 countries and the Middle East remains one of my favorite regions on earth. This is the first in a series of travel articles breaking down the places that changed how I see the world. Next up – I’ll take you somewhere else you’ve probably been afraid to visit.
Context: The biggest thing, let me see. Oh, so a lot of people don’t know this about me, but like, I’m really into philosophy, especially biblical philosophy and stoicism. Um, don’t ask me any of the names, like, of course, I know like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, but like, I don’t remember all of their doctrines, but I love biblical philosophy so much that I will literally study and rip apart the Bible all the time just because there’s so much wisdom in the book, if you look at it from an objective lens, which a lot of people don’t. They just think it’s religious bullshit, um, but it’s actually a really great way, really great wisdom in there and really great nuggets. But Going to Jerusalem was a big highlight for me because I got to see Garden of Gethsemane. Um, so like just touring and walking around all of Jerusalem was a really huge highlight for me. I’ve always wanted to go, but you know, I was scared to go to the Middle East. Um, but that was a really amazing experience. The walking around the city is very confusing in Jerusalem because there’s just so many alleys and so many tunnels, and they all, so many of them look the same or just look similar. And so you definitely could keep going on and on and on and on and on without really knowing your way. We did have a guide, but he did end up being a little bit sketchy. Um, I’m not really sure what happened there, but we did have to ditch him, um, strategically. So, not really gonna say much about that there. Um, other than that, the weather was pretty good. It was pretty toasty. Um, Jerusalem was definitely the highlight, but Tel Aviv had amazing food and I’m actually looking forward to going back at some point.
Okay, let me see what else. Um, I was actually pretty scared to go to the Middle East, um, but my sister really wanted to go to Turkey at the time, and I’m like, I was like, just scared of the Middle East in general because I had heard so much negativity about it. Once we did Turkey, um, I was like, okay, let’s do this. Let’s go to Israel because she really wanted to go to Israel. I’m like, okay, after Israel, like, we did Qatar, we did Dubai, we did UAE, we did Oman, and then I’m trying to see, do we do another one, but yeah, we did that. We, like, I’m just like, bro, let’s just keep going. And I remember we were in Dubai and I’m like, we’re going to Qatar tomorrow. Um, And then again, I went back to the Middle East later and did all those countries again, plus like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. So I’m like a really big fan of Middle East if you’ve never been. It’s one of my favorite places on earth. It’s also one of the safest places to be in the world. But that’s like a tangent. Israel was great. I actually miss it. Like, I miss that sandwich every freaking day. Um, walking was amazing. I had some of the best gelato of my life there. They also have really great, like, fruit gelato, if you’re into that. I had like mango and raspberry, which was like the perfect blend. Um, And I have pictures for all these, so just remind me to add the pictures.
Okay, so I’m writing my first travel article, and this one is gonna be about Israel specifically. So I was there for about a week. I did Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I’m just gonna give you some notes so you can make an outline of everything. And just like if you can, yeah, and then I’m gonna paste it somewhere else. So first off, I found this freaking sandwich place. I forgot the fucking name of it. The sandwich doesn’t look that spectacular, but it was so good that I kept getting multiples. Oh my gosh. I danced with this guy in Jerusalem, and I didn’t know I had the video, but I just realized that, oh my gosh, I have the video of me dancing. That’s amazing. Okay. So I did get to dance with a guy in Jerusalem. The food was amazing. It’s interesting because like, that’s around the time they started doing like, what do you call it, boycotting or whatever. I forgot what you call it for Palestine, but I didn’t know what was going on. I was literally eating some ice cream and I saw all these people like boycotting and I’m like, what’s going on? And it’s interesting, like after we left Jerusalem, like, that’s when everything kind of started and we just like got there like right around, right in time, so we could like enjoy it without all the political conflict. Let’s see, the hotel had tons of mosquitoes. I forgot the name of it. And…
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