Like elsewhere around the world, in Israel, the government has instructed us to stay home except for essential activities and the occasional journey out (employing physical distancing of course) for some fresh air. The airport is almost shut down. Hotels have closed their doors. Visitors are non-existent.

Despite these current conditions, spring has returned to the Holy Land. The weather in Israel is balmy, green and verdant, blossoming, and cool. A walk in nature has become my go-to activity to calm the nerves, soothe the soul, feast the eyes, bless the nose.

Click to join me on a walk through the citrus orchard and smell the blossoms.

Accompanying me on my 90-minute walks are select podcasts, chosen for topic and presentation. One favorite podcast is How I Built This by Guy Raz who interviews successful entrepreneurs whose products we all know: Birchbox, Ben & Jerry’s, Stripe, Lulumon – you get the idea. For lessons in persistence and perseverance, look no further.  The interviews are so absorbing that my walks get longer and longer.

Citrus orchard guard house, 1930s

Travel podcasts intrigue me equally. I’ve probably “walked 500 miles but I could walk 500 more” listening to Rick Steves as he explores Italy, England, and beyond. Today, however, the podcast, Women Who Travel from Conde Nast Traveler, kept me walking through fields of wheat and sorrel, around citrus orchards, wading across fields of red poppy flowers and yellow dandelions – and was over too soon. Solo travel was discussed as were personal trip planning approaches. But for me the key podcast was about the art of flaneuring delivered by Erika Owen, author of the book on that topic. Basically, Erika describes an approach to travel that is “wandering with intention”. This concept can be applied in foreign countries and your own backyard, so to speak.

On my hikes in nature these last days, I am flaneuring although I did not know that. During these wanderings, I discover sites 10 minutes from my house that were unknown to me. With my head engaged in a podcast, my eyes visually feasting, and the endorphins running through my body, I am traveling in a way suited to these strange times we live in.

Overhead a phalanx of storks glided across the blue sky as they made their way from Africa to Europe – little do they know of the quarantine rules that await them…

Stork migrating from Africa to Europe via Israel. Photo by Amit Spivack

One day, airplanes will fly again, hotels will welcome guests, and we will be here – in Israel – with open arms.