It was time to leave South America and head back towards Europe in preparation for meeting my Mum in a few weeks. We hummed and haared about where to go…we were desperate for some beach time. We were staying with our good friends Jo and Cameron who are huge fans of Brazil so Brazil it was. Palm-fringed beaches and caiparinhas, here we come.Until we saw that most of it was entering the wet season. b*****! So our second choice was Jordan and Israel.

Tel Aviv was like most big cities but the bonus for us was the beach and a place to nurse our awful jetlag. The surf was up as well, small and onshore but good enough, but I didn't have a board so decided to leave it for the way back when we fly out. Security was everywhere, x-ray scanners to enter the bus terminal, the shopping centers and around the places of worship.

We were so curious about Jerusalem; it's always in the news. What would it be like?

It was amazing! The Old City was beautiful, quiet and calm. We visited all three of the holy sites for the Christians, Jews and Muslims and went to a great museum that put all of Jerusalem's history into perspective and even why the war exists around it today.

We then bussed to Eilat in the far south for a dip in the Red Sea which was crystal clear and cold.