Martin_S.'s VirtualTourist Home Page

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Martin, Arad, Israel

Shalom (Peace in Hebrew) to all travelers who love good people, good wine, good food and beautiful places wherever they may be.

My passport photo shows me just a few short months ago when our daughter Tal entered the Army here in Israel for her two year service. She is doing well and enjoying, you can just imagine how proud we are of her.

I have just recently begun working with a newly organized group of people who want to promote desert trail hiking around our city of Arad. We have marked several short trails already and more to come soon. They have been recognized by the official body governing trail marking in Israel. In June 2004, they will come to inspect our trails and begin marking them prior to publishing them on offical maps.... Last update, July 2004, the trails (8 of them) have been accepted by the trial authorities and field marked, they will be included in next update of trail maps...today you can find them on maps printed by the city of Arad. Now to do some for mountain bikes !!!!

Some of my friends call me crazy, no not that way, but in my hobbies and "free" time pursuits.
I love to mountain bike ride and do walks in the desert.
I volunteer in the Arad Rescue Team, where we do alpine type search and rescue. And my daughter Tal is teaching me to roller-blade now. The whole family loves to travel, experience nature firsthand, meet people and learn of their homes and cultures.
On the flip side I also collect used postage stamps, books and National Geographics. If anybody collects stamps also, let me know.
Which is the real me, don't know, maybe both, take a look and maybe, find out for yourself.

If you are interested in experiencing Israel, there is an "easy" way, you can come for several months as a volunteer to a Kibbutz, the link is: http://www.kibbutz.org.il/volunteers/vomain.htm, I received the link from roypeled who was kind enough to send it to me.

Zohara and I have just recently joined an international group called SERVAS (http://www.servas.org) whose credo is to invite visitors to your country into your home for a day or two and show them what the "inside" story is, take a look you might find it interesting.

(The picture was taken by a friend in our volunteer rescue team, he said it was a good picture so I include it here. I don't remember what I was looking at or thinking about, but it looks to be world shaking).

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VT meet in Dovje, Slovenia 7-2002

The picture shows a few of the orgaznizers of the July 2002 VT meet in Dovje, Slovenia. From the left you can see Carla, Olga, Martin, Polona, Marko, Darja and Patrick.
I was not one of the planners, but they surprised me by bringing some presents for me as it was my birthday, what a great birthday it was.

Lets see, how about a list of the Sampson clan (Martin, Zohara and Tal) travels, maybe by country, yes, that sounds good,

USA (met Vere, Julie, Jessica, Karen, Agraichen, Smurti, Vivian2000 and Guell)
BELGIUM (met Patje, Lea and Gillian)
CANADA
ENGLAND
NETHERLANDS (met Arnoudphilippo)
FRANCE (met Patrick, Ghislaine, Yann, Tankred, Florentin and Pascal)
GERMANY (met Tabatha, Cris and Gabrielle)
AUSTRIA (Stephen, Chaver and Globtrott)
SLOVENIA (met Bohinj, Oja and Daki in 2001 and Jmarkoos, Patje, Carla.Razneb, Speedy77, Olja1234, Suzanne_M, Daja123, Alca and Kom2 (we had a fantastic VT meet in Dovje, Slovenia 27/7-1/8, 2002)
HUNGARY (met Sajt and Andreja)
CROATIA (met Frona, Nykaenen and Croisbeauty)
ITALY (met Kedi+ and Lorenzo)
MONTENEGRO (met Miki & Branka)
GREECE
TURKEY (met Gulench)
CYPRUS
CZECH REPUBLIC
SWITZERLAND
EGYPT
DOMINICA (met TrudyP)
ST.LUCIA
TRINIDAD&TOBAGO
SPAIN (met Carmela71 and Beachdog)

ISRAEL (have met SharonR (Israel), Hilla_M. (Israel), Haya9 (Israel), Sajt (Hungary), DanaK (Finland), Chrizweb (Germany), Bregman (Israel), Ajakent (UK), KarinYeung (Canada), Tamirros (Israel), Orke (Israel), Inuit (Israel), Amiti (Israel), Bbprushnok (USA), Carmela71 (Spain), BeachDog (Wales), Nathalie_B (Israel), Ratna_Desi (Indonesia), Gil_S. (Norway) , rachelis (Israel), g.deniz (Turkey), magor65 (Romania), Mirianamak (Macedonia), Hotsauce (Canada), RhineRoll (Germany), AngieBabe (UK), July2 (Canada), A2Lopes (Portugal), MacedonianUK (Macedonia), UnaS (Israel), Ekaterinburg (Ireland).

ARAD, ISRAEL (friends who have made the trip to us here in Arad) SharonR, Hilla_M., Bregman, Sajt, KarinYeung, BBprushnok, Haya9, Carmela71, BeachDog, Orke, Oja (with Igor and Marko), oneworldc, Grazina, Julie &, BigBenBa (today called Fruit Lover), RachelThompson (with Michael), Bosveldkoning (with Jolandie), G.Deniz, JadedMuse (with David), Vivian2000, Metamihelcic, Trillian2005, AndieS, rachelis, MalenaN, Nathalie_B, kElisa, Trinchen, FRONA, mirianamak, Hotsauce, RhineRoll, touristsheila (with Darcio), CachaseiroAngieBabe, July2, A2Lopes, MacedonianUK (with Frosina and Simon), Ekaterinburg..........(we are now waiting for other friends to come, but YOU only get your name here AFTER you are a guest at our home ;O)))

Where do we plan to visit ------
Each and every country that will let us across the border ;O)))

July/August 2005 we DID celebrate 25 years of marriage rafting the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River..^O^.....

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With Oja in Ljubljana, Slovenia 2001

As you can see Polona (Oja) took us to see some of her home town, here we are on the Dragon Bridge in downtown Ljubljana.
I am happy to say that we just got word from Polona that she and Igor have just had their baby and named him Marko. I told them it was very nice of them to name him after Marko, our host from the July VT meet in Dovje ;O)))))

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With Tabatha in Germany 7-2002

Hanna (Tabatha) took us for a good beer in this garden she knew. Don't tell anyone, but we let Tal try the beer also. We spent some great time together, too short a time though. Recently I got a call from the Germany government asking about letting Tal try the beer, SOMEBODY TOLD ON US!!, Hanna do you have any idea who it was, that guy at the table in red looks suspicious, doesn't he ;O))), or was he just watching our table with my five beautiful girls.

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With Sajt and family, Hungary 4-2001

Imre (Sajt) took us to an evening with his uncle and family, had a great dinner that they cooke for us and the three of us started drinking Palinka (don't ask, if I start explaining what it is we might burn the screen). Needless to say we had to be "aired out" later that evening and went for a walk, no idea if we came back or not ;O)))))
Meeting people like these are what makes traveling so special and not just "another city or mountain".

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Tal and Masada WHS sign, Masada, Israel

In October 2002, Masada, was declared a World Heritage Site and we were at the official ceremony. Tal is standing alongside the signs that were unveiled to show the standing that the site received. It is in three languages, Hebrew, English and Arabic to relfect the three languages of Israel.
(PS: Did I mention that Tal is my beautiful daughter, and everyone says she looks just like me, without the beard of course, but I think she looks like her mother, Zohara, lucky girl looking like her mother and not her father don't you think!!) Just in case you want to check if your country needs a visa to visit Israel you can check it out here:
http://www.israel.org/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Ntz_Israel.asp?let=65

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Soldiers guarding on Masada during WHS ceremony

This picture of the Israeli soldiers guarding during the World Heritage Site Ceremonies is so great, you can see the people at the ceremony in the background, with the Israeli flag flying above them. In the lower right foreground you can see a scale model of Masada. All the soldiers were from front line units. I can believe that they were very proud to have been chosen to guard this very important ceremony.
I think before I close this page, it would be a good time to thank VT themselves!!, VT has helped me find some very, very good new friends and I thank you, and them for that beautiful opportunity to meet and make friends I might never have otherwise. ;O))))))

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Dinner at home, Arad, Israel

We enjoy the company of our friends any time we can, BBQ, picnic, just droping over for a glass of wine or coffee, anytime. Well, Estar and David (our adopted son from WUJS) came over for dinner one evening and we were having a good time when Tal decided that David was eating like a small child, dropping things on his nice shirt, so she applied this bib from one of her old dolls, it looks quite good on him if the truth be told. We of course are saving this picture for when he gets married to show to his future wife. The only question is, should we show it to her BEFORE or AFTER the wedding. For all of you concerned on this issue, please express your opinions as quickly as possible, thank you ^O^