Sitting at the airport a few weeks ago, waiting to board a flight for a short trip to London, I decided that it would be much better to arrive back in Israel before I leave. All I need to do is to blank out the reality of the trip itself. I'll take a taxi back home, open my bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label, cut myself a slice of ripe Stilton from that marvelous delicatessen in Soho, put my feet up, and enjoy the memories of a wonderful West End play, that extraordinarily beautiful waitress at the neighborhood bistro, that amazing final session of the Second Test at Lords, and the pleasure of spending quality time with family and old friends.

How great!  No alarm clock at 5 a.m. to ensure I check in on time, no nervous aggravation as my taxi encounters unexpected early-morning traffic, no standing in line waiting for the usual inane questions from a kid who can see from my passport that I am a seriously frequent flyer, no rush through the duty-free stores in the naïve belief that here are bargains that it would be criminal to pass up. No struggling down the aisle to my child-sized economy class seat, no fight to stuff my single small carry-on bag into an overhead locker already crammed with the multiple possessions of my fellow travelers, no seriously weight-challenged seat companion overflowing into the minimal space that I had reserved, I thought, for me alone, no picking at a reheated excuse for a meal simply as a way to pass the time, no squalling baby in the next row, no defective headphones, no arrival on time only for the aircraft to be held for an hour circling endlessly over my destination at the whim of the local air traffic controllers.

No wait for a suitcase that has surely been misrouted or misappropriated but then appears sheepishly on the conveyor as I am just about to look for the airline service desk, no search for the pre-ordered hired car until a phonecall discloses that a mistaken booking offers me the choice of waiting forty minutes or resigning myself to an airport bus or train, no arrival at my hotel in the rain, only to find that this really isn't my lucky day…..no reservation, no vacancies, no helpful suggestion about what I  should do next.

There must be a better way to enjoy the pleasures of the outside world without actually having to go there.

And when you start to think about it, there is. Let's take the $1,500 which has to be the minimum I spend for an air-ticket, ground transportation, hotel for a few days, over-priced restaurants, and extortionate roaming charges for my mobile phone, and look for an easier way to spend it.

Well, if my reason for travelling is to visit family or friends, or for meetings with business associates, I could start by inviting them to visit me. If they are as interested to see me as I am to see them, then that should cut down the number of trips I have to take by at least half. If that doesn't always work, in these days of video-conferencing, Skype, web-cams and other devices for low-cost face-to-face contact, it may not be the same as a handshake, hug or kiss but it comes close.

My premium brand of alcoholic beverage can be obtained at my local store. An additional NIS 150 over the duty-free price will make a very small dent in that $1,500. A fine selection of cheeses, comparable to anything on offer anywhere, is readily available at the specialty shop near the Carmel Market.  A subscription to a couple of extra sports channels on TV will allow me access to just about any event that takes my fancy.  There is a cornucopia of beautiful waitresses to ogle all over Tel Aviv. Granted, I cannot duplicate the pleasure of paying £50 or more for a seat at a West End play, but then I sometimes wonder if I do it because it seems like the thing to do when in London, rather than for some sort of unique experience that really justifies the expense.

What am I missing by not travelling? Apart from all the aggravation of the process itself, I have seen enough museums, monuments, churches, mosques, Jewish quarters, wonderful landscapes, beaches and exotic surroundings to last me for at least another lifetime. On the other hand, when I go abroad, I definitely miss my family here, my home, my dogs, the climate (yes, I love it), the masochism of the daily news and everything else that makes up what it means to live here.

No contest.  I am going to take a modest 50% of that $1,500 and blow it on a few superb evenings at some favorite restaurants not a thousand miles from home and on a few other extras as listed above. I am going to go abroad without going and I am going to finish my trip before I start. This has got to be my ultimate win-win situation. Maybe I will sound jaded to some and no doubt that 'abroad' holds an attraction for those who have yet to see much of it, but I know what works for me.