- Because I found during our first trip in 1996 that the experience enriched my Bible study and provided me with many insights and understandings which I believe it is difficult to experience otherwise.
- Because I have been amazed that after listening in on dozens of other tour guides, (a) the information shared is often biblically or historically inaccurate; (b) the importance of Biblical sites is generally limited to only one event when often several great and important events are associated with the location; and (c) typical guides generally offer very shallow interpretation and commentary.
- Because I can provide this experience for less than half the price of a similar tour (more on that below).
- Because tour groups (a) are often so large (30+) that many cannot clearly hear the tour guide; (b) are often so large that many of the best sites (Solomon’s Quarries, Solomon’s Pools, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Tomb of the Kings, Western Wall Tunnel, Mea She’arim, Roman Plaza, St. Mark’s tower, Kidron Steps of Ascent, Jewish Quarter mikveh, Tomb of the Prophets, Mar Saba, Beth She’arim, Tel Balata Archeological Park, Sisters of Nazareth excavations, high place of sacrifice, Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Machaerus, etc.) are skipped entirely; (c) are often so large they are not able to stay where we stay (inside the walled city of Jerusalem and in a convent in Galilee) and cannot move quickly (lunch for 30+, restrooms for 30+, etc., take up much more time); and (d) typically begin their day’s touring about 8:00 a.m. In contrast, we begin each day at 6:00 a.m. This means we do far more every day than most tour groups, we do more at a time of day when it is cooler, and we do more when it is less crowded and, thus, is more efficient.
Bottom line: Compared with the larger, for profit groups, we will see many, many more sites, will have interviews with orthodox rabbis, Palestinian Muslims, and others they don’t have, will enjoy a more “experiential” trip by staying inside the Old City of Jerusalem (not in a hotel in the modern city of Jerusalem) and walking the same walks Jesus took with his disciples, etc., will be gone two or three days longer, and will visit two countries, not one. And we will do all this for far less money than what the larger, more casually-paced, for-profit groups charge.
This is how the tour company makes its income. I could have taken more people in previous years. However, I want these trips to be the best possible experience for everyone involved, and so the number will always be limited. I want those who are very committed to the Lord to experience the “Holy Lands.” Tour companies generally reserve the right to cancel the trip or increase the price if at least 25 or 30 people do not sign up. In contrast, I do not charge extra for our small groups and, in fact, took two groups in 2011 rather than allow either group to be too large.
We will visit Israel and Jordan and do so for $2,710 (tentative price) per person, which includes airfare/travel, housing, food and other expenses with the exception of passport fees, visa, taxes, souvenirs, snacks and drinks. Everything else is covered. Your visas and taxes will cost about $60. A passport costs $135. To see as much on any other tour that covers the country so extensively would likely cost twice as much. See, for example, the website for the Biblical Archaeology Society at www.bib-arch.org/travel-study/ israel2011.asp. Their group leaves February 3 (when prices are cheaper, but it can be cold and rainy) and will travel to Israel only, see less each day, and will have countless “add-on” surprise expenses. The initial price for one person is $5,249 + $492 (taxes) + $200 (gratuities) + supplemental tours (Bethlehem is considered supplemental). The total comes to over $5,941 per person, not counting some meals which are not included, supplemental trips and other extras—add another $500.
Many groups have prices that are much lower than this $6,400+ tour, but they always see less. The common $3,700 tour will still ask you to pay for some of your lunches or dinners, will have some extra charges for gratuities or supplementals, and then may even travel in the February to March or October to November periods when travel is less expensive but less ideal. And none of those groups will see nearly as much as we will see. They have to send an employee with the tour group even when hosted by a professor or minister (to whom they pay a portion of the profit) and have many agency costs. I act as my own agency, make all arrangements, and have no employees, so I can offer more for less. Realize that I may adjust based on what occurs as far as the airline prices (thought I’ve never had to do so yet), but my price will still be only about half the price charged for groups gone for as many days and seeing two countries.
I think there are several possible answers:
- It is a physically demanding trip. We start early and go hard. Jerusalem and its environs involve constant walking up and down steps or hills. Most tour groups avoid much of this by busing from site to site. Generally we won’t be doing so. We will walk so that we can see all the sites that cannot be reached by a bus. If you are not in excellent health and excellent physical shape, do not ask to join this tour. (No, you don’t have to be an Olympian. I have always had at least one traveler over 70 and my mother went with us in 2000 when she was 75 years old and bowed out of only one activity in all of Israel—an activity that was more strenuous than anything currently included on my trips.) Our first full day in Israel is the hardest. We will put in miles of walking on that day. One of the benefits of keeping us moving during the first day is that you will do much better at adjusting to the time than you would if we went to a museum and you had to stand still and listen to me talk. You will be expected to stay up with the group.
- Time to casually shop or take photographs is limited. We generally do not stop at souvenir stores. (Most for-profit tours have such stops because commissions for the tour company for anything the tourists purchase are typically 15%-30%.) There will be a time for independent shopping but never when our group is in the middle of a tour. You will be able to take lots of pictures but never to the point where it holds up the group.
- The unexpected may occur. Because this is cheap travel with no free days included in the itinerary (though we do have some free-time hours) sickness or failing to catch a bus will mean sites are missed. I make arrangements with the drivers when they are used. If one were not to show up on time, it would definitely impact us. We have never had a bus not show up, but it could happen.
- Accommodations are clean, safe and ideally located, but our price sometimes involves group dorms with separate areas for men and women. (Private rooms are available, but you would have to pay the difference.) Our accommodations do not include the five-star rooms included on some tours. They are very basic but ideal for our purposes.
- Most meals are prepared by our personal chef. (She will require some assistance from you.) You will probably eat as well as you ever have. Yes, I know you don’t believe it, and for you Francophiles it probably isn’t true, but I do believe the food we fix is really good and healthy.
- When in Israel, we drive rental cars from Budget. Rental cars allow us to move around the country quickly and without great expense, but they are small cars, not stretch limousines.
- Our price may have to be increased slightly when the trip is over if prices were to increase much. With oil’s rise in 2011 (we paid $8.50 per gallon for gas in Israel), we almost exceeded our budget. I have never had to ask for additional money but almost had to do so in 2011. (We ended with only $3 per person left in our Group 1 account.) I budgeted $10.00 per gallon for gas for 2013. Gas probably cost that much earlier this year, but with the recent fall in oil, I am hoping for more moderate gas prices when we arrive. Of course, there is no way to know what the price will be this far in advance.
- The amount of luggage you will be allowed is more limited than you would be permitted on other tours. One 15”x 22”x 9” suitcase and a school-type backpack or a large backpack and a school-type backpack are all anyone is allowed—two pieces of luggage. Of course, my family did an 8 1/2-week Middle East trip in 1996 with less than these limits without ever feeling a need for more room.
1. General Weather Description: Spring (mid-March until mid-May) is the nicest season of the year, with very comfortable weather. Temperature in Tel Aviv is usually between 61 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are approximately 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit colder, and Eilat is usually 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer. On some of the days you may need a light jacket, while on other days a short sleeve t-shirt will do. Lord willing, our 2013 tour will depart Wednesday, April 24, and return Monday, May 6. Those dates will result in the best weather. If we departed two weeks earlier, we would not enjoy the wonderful Israeli rock melons we all love and the strawberries might not be in. If we left three weeks later, we would be more likely to experience some hot weather and we would begin to be impacted by the summer crowds.
2. These trips are only for those who would benefit spiritually. I do not want to take anyone who simply enjoys travel. These trips are for the purpose of increasing faith and gaining new insights into God’s Word. I took two groups in 2011 because so many wanted to go. However, I do not want to do two back-to-back groups again and, thus, must insist that only those who are serious about their faith ask to join us.
3. All travelers should recognize that there are two types of tours. The most common type uses 55-passenger buses. They have breakfast at 7 a.m. and depart their 3- or 4-star hotel at 8 a.m. They do not visit sites where those who are elderly or very overweight cannot easily go. They move at a relatively slow pace. This is the kind of tour most people would prefer. It is relaxed and comfortable. My philosophy is that a trip to the Middle East is a once-in-a-lifetime event for most people, so moving fast and going hard from morning until evening makes sense. An hour-long breakfast or lunch would rob us of valuable touring time. Sometimes I pick up hot bread for breakfast, and we eat as we walk. At the same time, our day ends early enough for everyone to have a big dinner, enjoy a time of sharing and then get eight hours of sleep each day. I want my travelers to stay healthy.
4. We interview various people as we tour, including an orthodox Jewish rabbi, a Muslim Palestinian, a Coptic Christian, a Greek Orthodox Christian, and sometimes a Jesuit priest, and others. If you teach Bible classes, you will finish the trip with a treasure trove of insights and stories to share arising from these interviews. You should consider taking a small notebook to write down comments, insights, experiences, and potential illustrations.
5. This is experiential travel. No 55-passenger bus groups walk up the Mt. of Olives, though some do walk down. (They must plan their tour based on the most unfit person in any group.) We will walk up the Mt. of Olives. I will let you try to roll a tomb stone. You can explore a tomb complex near Jerusalem that large groups do not include on their itineraries. You can float on the Dead Sea and sit in the cool waters of Ein Gedi. (I’ll take your photos since I never go in myself anymore.) Our men will enter the oldest, continually inhabited monastery in Israel and interview the Greek Orthodox monk. (Sorry, women, but no woman has been allowed to enter for over 1,500 years, and you won’t be the first, but you can explore the monk’s caves.) I want these trips to bring insights that just cannot be obtained from a textbook. We will try to see some of the same sights that Jesus saw, walk the same steps and hear the same arguments made by the Jewish rulers whom Jesus condemned.
6. We do “open-jaw” travel. That means we reduce travel miles by flying into one city (Tel Aviv) and flying out of another (Amman, Jordan). This allows us to see much more than we could see if we just flew in and out of Israel, yet still do very little ground traveling. Also, we can avoid the backtracking which is inevitable if one flies into and out of Tel Aviv.
7. On those years when we go to Egypt (we will not include Egypt in 2013), we get three nights of good sleep before we cross into Israel. I do this to help insure that nearly every traveler will be over any jetlag before the most important part of the trip (Israel) arrives. Two of our first three nights are at a 4-star resort on the Red Sea. Wonderful buffet meals are provided for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a great half-day trip to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine’s monastery are part of that itinerary. (We would never do a 4-star resort in Israel or Jordan as it would cost $400-$500—similar to the USA. We can do it for less than $100 in extremely inexpensive Egypt.) On those years where we skip Egypt (such as 2013), we have a short first day, get to bed early, and then walk the next day. There are lessons taught as we go, but there will be no long lectures, no bus rides, and essentially, no sitting. I find that this plan works well and everyone adjusts very quickly so that jetlag complaints are minimal or non-existent.
8. Our itinerary avoids city traffic. It is easy to get caught in traffic in Tel Aviv or Haifa. Traffic congestion robs us of time, so we try to plan carefully our travel route to miss heavy traffic.
9. Is travel to the Middle East safe? Two responses: (1) The most dangerous part of the trip is the drive to Houston, and the driving we will do in the Middle East (really); and, (2) It is safer to spend the day anywhere we travel than to spend the day in downtown San Antonio or Houston. Our groups in 2011 bought airline tickets for Egypt before the Egyptian revolution had begun. Once the protests began, four travelers considered not going, although all did go in the end. Osama Bin Laden was then killed the day before the first group departed. One of the women shared that she cried for some time due to her fear. However, once they entered Cairo and found everyone so friendly (and were even applauded at one point because the Egyptians were delighted to see tourists—a disappearing but much needed source of national income), the fear was essentially gone. Nevertheless, if I were to believe there to be any danger in Egypt, for example, we would simply skip the trip to the pyramids, the Egyptian Museum, the papyrus factory, etc., and go straight from the airport (east of Cairo) to the Red Sea resort. Yet, perceptions do matter, and I believe the perception among Americans is that Egypt is just too dangerous to visit at this time. So we will skip Egypt until we have seen a year or two of stability and perceptions change. Israel will always have some “incidents,” but tourist areas are especially safe. I cannot remember a terrorist act ever having been directed at tourists in Israel. They are aimed at Israeli citizens, and those are now occurring only rarely. I never feel any threat while there. Jordan is even better. It is commonly noted in guidebooks that it is the safest of all Middle East countries. You will generally find Jordanians more polite and courteous than Israelis and a pleasure to get to know.
1. Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Depart Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, at 4:00 p.m. for Tel Aviv. (This is the tentative flight time. We may choose another departure time but not another departure day.)
2. Thursday, April 25, 2013. Arrive Tel Aviv at 3:00 p.m. Go to Jerusalem. Take bags to rooms and go for dinner. After dinner have two lessons.
3. Friday, April 26, 2013. Orientation to the Old City. Tour Jerusalem sites. Observe Shabbat celebrations at the Western Wall Plaza.
4. Saturday, April 27, 2013. Tour Jerusalem sites.
5. Sunday, April 28, 2013. Worship and tour Jerusalem sites.
6. Monday, April 29, 2013. Tour Jerusalem sites.
7. Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Go to Solomon’s Pools, the Herodian, Mar Saba, see shepherds, visit Bethlehem. Return to Jerusalem. Tour Jerusalem sites.
8. Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Travel to Dead Sea, Masada, Ein Gedi, Gilgal, Sodom, Beth Shan, Jordan River, Yardinet, Mt. Gilboa, Mount Tabor, En Dor, Megiddo and Nazareth.
9. Thursday, May 2, 2013. Go to the Sea of Galilee, Mt. Arbel, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Dan, Caesarea Philippi, etc.
10. Friday, May 3, 2013. Go to Caesarea. Mount Carmel, Beth She’arim and Nazareth sites.
11. Saturday, May 4, 2013. Leave Galilee for Jordan. Go to Jerash (a city of the Decapolis and one of the world’s most impressive ancient cities), Madaba and Machaerus (Mukawir).
12. Sunday, May 5, 2013. Worship with the Madaba Evangelical Church (Tim Williams preaching?). Go to Mount Nebo. Go to bed about 6:00 p.m. in order to leave for the airport around midnight.
13. Monday, May 6, 2013. Depart Madaba for airport (25 min. away) about midnight on Sunday. Depart Amman at 2:55 a.m. Arrive Houston on Monday, May 6, at 1:55 p.m. (before the traffic gets too heavy).
Tim Rampey
trampey@gmail.com
361-218-2103
Israel & Jordan Tour 2015 