Holiday Destinations

Best Holiday ever

As 2017 is coming to an end and we're going to welcome 2018 tomorrow night, I was thinking back about the great holidays we've had last year and the ones that we've already planned for next year. One thing led to another where I started thinking back about the best holiday I've ever had.

This is very difficult to say as during your lifetime you do different holidays with different people/groups. You might've done some backbacking alone or with a friend, you might prefer beach holidays over city-trips and as a family it's completely different again.

For this reason I have created 3 categories, 1: Holiday (anything that comes to mind) 2: City-Trips and 3: Special Occasions. Below you can read my 3 favorite by these categories and I would like to know from you what are yours any why, so that we can exchange experiences and inspire each other.

_{Sunset over the old harbor of Tel-Aviv}

1. Holiday: Israel
2. City-Trip: Washington
3. Special Occasion: South-Africa

Israel

_{Zippori National Park, once the capital of Galilee with remnants from the Roman and the Byzantine periods. Now internationally renowned for its well-preserved mosaics.}

1: This was a difficult choice, we were in Crete last year and for the first time as a family of four, then we had some great family holidays in Holland, Italy and Germany with the in-laws, but I chose Israel for a few reasons.

First of all the weather, it was January and despite the cold weather in Europe we were still walking around in t-shirts and it was never colder than 18 degrees C. We had fantastic food everywhere we went, good quality and innovative. It was relaxing and we had time to visit historical sites, shop and enjoy life, despite traveling with a baby.

To top it all off, the people were friendly and helpful everywhere we went, maybe this was because we travelled with a baby, but it does make your holiday easier and more relaxed.

Washington

2: Why did I choose Washington over Prague, Budapest, Lisbon, New York, Amsterdam, London and many other cities that I've visited? Several factors

Again we felt very relaxed here, despite my wife being almost 7 months pregnant. In comparison with New York the sidewalks were easy to navigate, there is a lot of history and historical buildings to visit and the people were very friendly and helpful. It is also fantastic for shopping and museums.

It doesn't take long to travel the city and the majority of tourists are Americans. There are historical sites and monuments everywhere and many sites that you recognise from films and series, quite surreal to walk around in a town like that. Especially when you visit the Capitol, White House or the Lincoln Monument.

South-Africa

_{My first encounter with a Leopard in the wild}

Anyone who has been following my travel blogs knows why I love South-Africa. The place is so diverse with so much to do. We were there on our honeymoon and we started it off with a safari at Londolozi Private Game Reserve, where I took this picture above. Afterwards we did a self-drive holiday from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town. We discovered the Garden Route, the Ostrich capital, the southernmost point of the African continent and much more.

The country is fantastic and diverse, we had unforgettable animal encounters, we ate fantastic food, stayed in fascinating places, saw memorable sights and met cool, friendly and open people everywhere we went. The country was everything I didn't expect and will always stay in my memories. I have written several blogs on the destination, so for more details, please read those, here are the links to my blogs about South-Africa thus far:

Blog 1: https://steemit.com/travel/@wolfje/a-wolfs-journey-around-the-world-south-africa-part-1
Blog 2:https://steemit.com/travel/@wolfje/a-wolfs-journey-around-the-world-south-africa-part-2-the-garden-route
Blog 3: https://steemit.com/travel/@wolfje/a-wolfs-journey-around-the-world-south-africa-part-3-mossel-bay-to-hermanus

I'm very curious to hear about your favourite destinations and travel advice. The world is large, let's discover it together!

Doron