ArcaMax

A. Last year I went to Tel Aviv. My boyfriend and I stayed at this beautiful place on the beach. It was unreal. We didn't want to leave. We surfed every day, went to Jerusalem for a day and then back to Tel Aviv. The food was so good and the people were amazing. It was Yom Kippur, so it was a very loving time. We just loved being by the water. But again, it took a long time to get there and then rent a car and drive. I am aware that there's a lot going on in that area and we were mindful of that.

Q. Are you an adventurous eater?

A. I am. The majority of my diet is probably vegetables, but I'm not a vegetarian or vegan. Nothing is off the table. I like being immersed and adaptable. I loved that week of being totally vegetarian (at the yoga retreat). I didn't miss meat because the food they prepared was unreal. So good! My friend went to Costa Rica and ate everything and lost 10 pounds. We had good food, walked everywhere and had so much fun.

Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?

A. I didn't leave the United States until I was 13 and went to the Grand Cayman. My dad and brothers are surfers and traveled the world. We did a lot of traveling in the U.S. At 17, I moved to New York and then I started traveling more out of the country. When I was 15, I had braces and curly hair. I went to Germany for a month with an a cappella choir group and during the day we taught American culture in the school. That was life-changing to me. I loved being immersed in another culture. I can speak a few German phrases here and there. But they only wanted to speak English with us.

Q. What is your worst vacation memory?

A. Well, within some of our best vacations, terrible things happened. My boyfriend was getting out of the water in Tel Aviv and slammed his toe into a cement block and jammed his toe. It was Yom Kippur that night so we went to the one restaurant that was open that late -- this Russian place. I'm not sure what they served us, but we got pretty lit up! We overslept the next morning and missed our flight. We had to sit in the airport for 11 hours until the next flight. When we were finally in line to board, the agent in line was asking us really personal questions and I was just being light and started laughing. She said, "You think this is a joke? I'm trying to protect you." We thought things could get really bad then. We laugh about it now, but nothing will bring you closer than spending 11 hours together in that kind of situation. It was kind of amazing.

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(Jae-Ha Kim is a New York Times bestselling author and travel writer. You can respond to this column by visiting her website at www.jaehakim.com. You may also follow "Go Away With..." on Twitter at @GoAwayWithJae where Jae-Ha Kim welcomes your questions and comments.)

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