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Hi folks...how many of you have been in israel? how was it?

ביקרתי את ישראל לפעם הראשון שלי בשנת 2004 לבר המצוו'ה שלי וחזרתי בשנה שלאחרי'ה (ב-2005), ועוד חזרתי ב-2006 לבר המצוו'ה של בן-דודי. להיות בארץ הקדוש זאת חיווה בלתי נשכחת...

Shalom, I am new here and perhaps should have started at the 'introduce myself'...but i saw this question and...here I am instead.
I have been to Israel three times {or was it four?}; mostly Jerusalem, but also have stayed in Ramallah for a month {if that one counts..lol}. Also Bethlehem and out in the country side between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem at several friend's houses. All my visits were usually for a few weeks or longer so i made many, many friends on both sides of 'the fence'.
And no, i am not Jewish, simply a goy who's very curious, a 'street' gnostic as-it-were.  And have been to Synagogue when a mere lad in my early and late teens. You guys ruined me...LOL. I left the xtian church right about then. And never looked back.
{my family has traced us way, way back to around the year 1066 and...guess what they found? oh yes.}

Anyway, it is a most beautiful and incredibly awe-inspiring place, i must say.
My first visit many years ago, during more 'normal' times, a wonderful local Palestinian and I were on the balcony of the King David and with a twinkle in his eye he pointed to the old city and then up to the sky and said something like, "Every where else it is a long distance call to G-d, here it is a direct line!"
He and i laughed but i sensed what he was saying and with every passing day there and with each new intriguing visit...I understood and knew what he was saying.
To stay up until dawn at the King David and watch the ancient wall turn a magnificent golden hue as the sun's first rays come bouncing down. And to sit on the hill that looks down about a mile away and watch that sun's rays bounce off as it sinks into the deserts and the sea, it cannot be described.
I tell all my Jewish friends and their children that they must go at least once...it is simply something one must feel with one's feet planted on the soil.

Recently that happened for a young family I met through a motorcycle ride for a benefit. Their daughter was being sponsored by a group to finally go with a young girl's group. I do think I talked her ears off with my stories of that wonderful Land of Milk and Honey...and what she must see and visit and such.

The couple hadn't the money to send her there and were thrilled to finally have happen this opportunity...for they haven't ever been able to go yet, either, you see. The wife loves me to come by and regal her with these stories of her Homeland. As i talk i can see in her eyes that she is transported there. G-d, i only would wish i had the money to send her. Her husband is also a goy and wants that for his wife,too, but i don't think he has the impetus for it as i do.
It's only because I have been there several times that i am like this so i do understand.
But i am sure it will happen for them both one day. In fact, i know it will

The daughter has since returned but I have moved from there and haven't seen them so far. But they aren't so far away and i think they are going to a bike event this October that i am also going to.

...Oops, sorry, i'm at my cousin's house and her tiny black cat just flew across the room and landed on my keyboard and slid over other assorted things. I must pick them up. This little kitten is a hoot!

Anyway, i must make this brief. I am a writer and must get back to my silly business in a moment.
Perhaps I can get back here later today or tomorrow and pick up where i left off.
Shalom from the Southland's of Florida, y'all.
Go in Peace