Remembrances of the Holy Land (Epilogue)

PHOTO: Doron Bookshtein

If you've spent time reading any of the trip blogs, Thank You!
If you've read through all 14 parts, I applaud you mightily!!

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are pluses and minuses to going on an organized pilgrimage. We had 28 people in our group, including guide, a nice intimate size. Everybody pretty much got along with everyone else and the size was small enough that we were able to use a single bus. ReGeneration's previous group had around 40 people and required two buses.

I had chosen the single room upgrade option. At first glance it's wonderful to be able to go back to your hotel room and simply vegetate in silence. Also, you can pretty much unpack your baggage and spray it across the whole room without much worry. Clearly an upside for anyone who isn't a Neat Freak.

However, there was a downside. Sometimes it's too easy to go back to the room and bask in solitude. With the exception of the first night in Amman, and that Tuesday in Jerusalem, I never really did do anything in the evening with anyone else. Had I been in a double occupancy room, no doubt I would have went out purely due to peer pressure.

Having the single room option sort of puts one out of the loop on many simple things, and it's not in my character to overtly search out what others are doing. Nor did anyone really go out of their way to share what they were doing in the "off-time." (In no way am I suggesting it was their responsibility to).

If you're one that feels you must have a single room. I can understand that. Just make sure you make that extra effort to constantly be involved!

Additionally, in a nutshell, I went halfway around the World to watch television, and it wasn't even Israeli television! The whole idea of catching the Sharks' playoff games in the evenings may have sounded good on the surface. However, it relied on Internet that was either spotty at best, or ridiculously expensive. I should have just got over the idea I'd be missing the first round of the playoffs and explored where I was. Meaning, throw yourself 100% into your trip!

Before the trip I'd purchased The Christian's Guide to the Holy Land on recommendation by trip leaders, going through and highlighting everywhere we were supposed to go. Then I barely touched the book. While it had nice blurbs on everything over there, including Bible passages for each location, I didn't use it nearly as much as I could have.

I cannot stress enough that one should read their Holy Bible!! It goes without saying that a Christian should read their Bible. However, there were points where Doron and TS talked about things happening which I was vaguely familiar with. Had I been more versed in Bible reading it would have been more enjoyable.

One should also spend time trying to understand the current political situation that exists today. I had picked up The Palestine – Israeli Conflict, A Beginner's Guide which some regarded as the most balanced book on the conflict. The first part was written by an Israeli, while the second part was by a Palestinian. I'd only finished the Israeli section before the trip, so didn't have an idea of what to look for.

Keep a journal!!! I wish I had. In writing these trip blogs, I relied on photographs to jog my memory. I'm sure I've forgotten things I would have recorded at the time, and I might have been more choosy in what I did record.

I asked several trip members whether they'd kept a journal. Sadly, those that did respond said "no."

My trip was in 2008. Small portable computer devices have expanded like crazy since then, especially with a myriad of tablets out there. If a person owns a laptop or tablet, they MUST take it with them. If not to check email, then simply to keep a journal and to backup photos to from the day's shooting.

That brings me to another item; a good camera. I went the extreme, dripping with a high end dSLR and several pro-quality lenses, along with all sorts of things need to support that. It produced great quality photos. Far superior than any point and click might. But, it didn't produce squat once it stopped working. I foolishly left a backup body to save a little weight. Never again!! I also brought a tripod and a monopod. With the exception of the night shots at Kibbutz HaOn, the tripod was just taking up space.

Do yourself a favor and get the best quality camera you can afford. dSLR are coming down in price significantly, as are the removable lenses, which provide a far better quality than most consumer cameras. Whatever you're considering, a camera on a phone is NOT an option. (Someone recently photographed their wedding with an iPhone. Mark my words that they're going to regret that some years from now.)

No matter what camera equipment you end up with, don't be afraid to click that shutter button. We're no longer in the age of film where you have to be selective. Shoot freely, download them to your computer at night, and then delete garbage that will never be used! Otherwise you may end up with 10,000 photos, three-quarters which are out of focus, blown out, too dark or just plain bad.

If you're on one of the major cell phone carriers there's a good chance they will operate in another country. Do your research ahead of time. I have Verizon, which operates in Israel and Jordan. Before going, I found out that they had a Blackberry loaner program, which allowed me to spend some extra money for the month and have data connectivity, as well as make phone calls, for one (relatively) low price.

Another person had her 1st Gen. iPhone, which was only on AT&T at the time, and she was able to make phone calls only some of the time. The lesson is you don't need to get a burner phone locally just to be able to calls inexpensively. You just need to make sure you have the right plan.

Don't be afraid to actually buy souvenirs along the way. I ended up with very little souvenirs, and what I did buy, is nothing I'm overly excited about. Though it would have probably simply ended up on my wall I sure wish I'd bought a shofar, like CM did. They're totally cool and sure are a conversation piece!

Would I go again? Absolutely!! After coming back I found there were lots of things we didn't see even at the sites we went to simply because of time.

Would I try to go it solo? Yes again. However, you have to really consider what you're going to do, and what you're going to miss without a traveling partner.

Even if you were to stuff your mind with all sorts of data, it's just not the same as having someone to share the traveling experience with, or a guide who is well versed on the subject. Having a traveling partner also gives you an extra sense of security in some of the lesser safe-feeling areas.

If you do decide to go it on your own, plan your trip strategically. Unless you're going to spend months over there, you're probably going to have to trim some places out so you can concentrate on others, and not leave lacking. Petra, Jerash and Aqaba were amazing places to experience. But, I have to wonder if we hadn't spent the time in Jordan, could we have seen lots more in Israel (regardless of the cost factor)?

Remember to bring your ATM card with you. Banks are plentiful in that the cities and your card should work in most ATMs, depending on your financial institution, without a big exchange fee. This way you won't have to carry cash with you into the country you're visiting, and you're less likely to end up at home with a ton of unspent foreign currency.

If you're in Jordan, US Dollars were accepted fairly frequently. Less to some degree in Israel.

Don't just eat in fancy restaurants, and you must seek out shawarma and kanafeh!! There's something special about eating shawarma from a street side vendor in Nazareth! (For you vegetarians, you can get falafel if you must).

Lastly….HAVE FUN!! It might just end up being the trip of your lifetime!!

--FIN--

Remembrances of the Holy Land (Homeward)

PHOTO: Google Images

Morning came way too soon. I wanted to make time stop so we could spend see more of Amman. Getting on the plane meant returning home and the daily routine of driving to Benicia, talking to customers on the phone all day, before driving home and doing it all over again the next day.

We lost another trip member as TS was going to stay for a couple more weeks before checking out Egypt for a possible pilgrimage. We were all sad to be leaving him here, and I think he looked a little sad as we pulled off as well. I imagine being solo in Jordan is not nearly as fun an experience as being with a close group of people for over two weeks.

Check out was fairly early because we had a morning flight from Queen Alia International Airport. The short drive to the airport was  the quickest 20 miles I'd ever ridden!

Just as we were nearing the airport I saw a really highway sign that I wish I could have grabbed a photo of. It was one of those green signs that lists destinations and how far they are. In this case it listed Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia!! Unfortunately, by the time I noticed it, we were passing it too fast to get a decent shot.

We arrived at the airport in what seemed like plenty of time to catch our flight. That was until we got in the door and saw the departure lines. Absolutely insane!!

It took forever just to move a few feet. Then we sat in line for a while. Finally we reached an inspection table. They went through my camera gear and didn't question anything except for all my loose AA batteries, which they confiscated. I tried to explain I needed them for my camera, and even showed them how to load the camera. But, that didn't seem to matter. At least they didn't take the batteries that were already inside the camera.

I thought we were done, only to find out this was a preliminary check. Like the TSA agent that takes your liquids and toothpaste here in the USA. (Though no pat down or machine that showed your underwear).

The line was even slower than the first because they needed to check through everything. Our plane was supposed to be taking off at that moment, and I had visions of us having to hang around the airport for another flight.

Apparently someone somewhere decided that since our group accounted for  28 of their passengers they'd hold the airplane until we completed customs and boarded. (Try getting that done in the USA!).

To expedite our clearing customs, they had one of their woman inspectors going through men's luggage. I felt really bad for her as mine was packed with all sorts of dirty smelly laundry which were going to wait for the wash at home, not to mention that it was packed tighter than a drum. On top of that, women normally only deal with women's luggage, and men with men's.

She went through the first layer of stuff, and then gave up, and left me pack it all up.

Once on board, we were ushered to our seats with some haste, and the plane quickly took off, sending us homeward bound.

After departing, Royal Jordanian goes around with a Duty Free listing of beer, wine, alcohol, and other things you can buy and get away with not paying taxes. I debated over and over before deciding to buy a sleek blue bottle of Jordanian Arak, an anise liquor.

The bad news is they only had one bottle on board, and it was already spoken for. The good news is that GC bought it! (She'd later share it at our trip reunion party. Was pretty good stuff).

The flight attendants must've hated our group. Not only did we delay them nearly an hour, but we kept playing seat roulette. I don't anyone actually sat in their assigned seat once the seat belt signs went off.

And I'd bet some of the other passengers were irked with us too. Within a short amount of time all the complimentary red wine had been consumed. Not to let that stop the fun, CB broke out a bottles she'd bought in Jerusalem, and an impromptu party started on the other side of the plane.

I was comfortable not moving around, since there was nobody sitting next to me for a change. A little while later CH came over and we chatted about the trip for nearly an hour. No particular reason, but this was the first time we'd really talked to each other for any amount of time. Just didn't happen, and I was glad she made the approach.

As it happened our flight path took us over southern Austria, which is where one of my grandmother was from. I swear that there thick cloud cover opened up just at the right time to see a city. Was it Klagenfurt? I tell myself it was, but I have absolutely no proof. The cloud layer came back just as fast as it had dissipated.

The rest of the flight mercifully passed, for the most part, while I was sleeping away.

International Customs, at JFK, went surprisingly fast for me. Perhaps five minutes at most. Not so much for my friend StL, who apparently shares a name with some guy on some Watch List. He said he gets hassled regularly when flying.

We said good-bye to RV and RC. RV lived in New York City so what pretty much home. She went around and gave each of us a great big hug before disappearing into the long terminal. RC was staying so she could visit with someone on the East Coast.

We had about five hours to kill before our domestic flight, and a few of us seriously considered catching the subway for a trip into Manhattan just so we could say we were there. However, a concierge quickly dissuaded us because Pope Benedict XVI was in town, giving a mass at Yankee Stadium later that day.

Normally, it's an hour each way to Manhattan. Then add time to look around, and we'd have been hard pressed to make our flight on a good day.

Not sure why, but on our return leg we flew American Airlines into Oakland International Airport, rather than SFO. DB had been feeling pretty bad and just after the plane left the ground you hear that unmistakable sound. Amazingly, the flight attendants let some others in our group get out of their seats and give her a hand with cleanup. Mind you this was done at something like a 40⁰  angle during ascent.

On the flight back, SeL first sat next to me, then someone else switched with him, and then someone else, before they moved elsewhere, leaving the aisle seat empty. Someone might've developed a complex. I was just happy for the extra room.

Having learned a unique sitting position on the way to Jordan, I sat leaning my head into the seat back in front of me. It may not have looked comfortable, but it worked! The six hours weren't noticed.

Just after 11:30p we touch down in Oakland. Everyone was quiet, and said our good-byes. My sister was waiting for me when we arrived. I hung around a bit to make everyone got rides since BART turned into a pumpkin at Midnight.

A short 16 minute ride home, a brief hello to the dogs, and it was off to bed. Morning, and work, were going to come way too soon. Surprisingly, I really didn't have any jet lag when I got up.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Remembrances of the Holy Land (Adieu USA)

PHOTO: Dave Kim
The morning of April 8th (2008) couldn't come soon enough. Had it really been over a year since ReGeneration announced its latest pilgrimage would be to Israel?

We were supposed to arrive at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) by something like 4am. Sounds really early, but I'd been used to getting up about 5am-ish for the job I had at the time and, truthfully, I pretty much stayed up all night packing anyways.

By the time my sister and I arrived, a good dozen people were already hanging around the United Airlines check-in area. After awhile my sister said her good-byes and we got into a rather long line.

Nobody seemed to move for the longest time, and I started wondering if we were going to make our flight. We did, including those that were running really late.

We pulled away from the gate and slowly made our way out to the Departure runway only to queue up behind several planes. After a minute, or so, we made that final left-hand turn onto the end of the runway. The pilot sat there for about 15 seconds before the engines started to roar.

For those that have never flown before, it's an interesting sensation. There's a huge amount of noise and vibration as the flight crew fires up the engines. Despite that you roll forward slowly, picking up speed exponentially. With the back wheels still rumbling down the runway, the nose pitches up to a fairly steep angle.

All of a sudden the rumbling stops as you the plane climbs into the sky. At this point your body experiences an eerie sensation as the engine whine can still be heard, but there's a floating feeling.

When I used to travel back East for business, my modus operandi was to stuff in my ear buds, crank up the mp3 player and wait for the flight attendants to bring around the complimentary miniscule bag of pretzels (or nuts) and half glass of soda.

After consuming the Food in hand, I'd shut my eyes (usually about the Sierra Nevada mountain range) and fall asleep. Generally, I'd wait up somewhere over the Mid-West, only to nod back to sleep before waking up a few minutes before landing. The routine made a long flight not seem so long.

This behavior also had the added benefit of not having to talk for six hours to a total stranger you've been stuck next to. On this flight I was sitting next to a senior citizen.

I happened to wake up some place over Northern Quebec, but couldn't fall back to sleep. My neighbor was really sweet as she tried nicely to strike up a conversation with me. I decided I couldn't just sit there and ignore her. She shared about how she was going to visit her son's family in New York.

When I shared that our church group was going to Israel her face lit up, saying how that must be so exciting. We really didn't talk religion itself, more so about traveling, safety in the Middle East and church in general.

As the plane dropped over Jamaica Bay, I actually felt a little sadness that our conversation was ending.

It had been about six and a half hours since leaving SFO. Up until this point, that had been about the longest time I'd ever been stuck in an airplane, not counting one December flight which had major delays due to a plane sliding off the runway in Chicago – but that's a whole 'nother story!

This was my first time flying through JFK International Airport (JFK), and I was expecting lots of security in light of this being a post-9/11 World. I'm sure they were there, but weren't obvious to the untrained eye. Either that, or I was just oblivious from the long flight.

Normally, I'd be checking into a motel about this time. Unfortunately, we had only finished the first leg of travel. Due to the SFO-JFK flight being late, we only had about an hour to make our way over to the Royal Jordanian Airlines desk for the mandatory three hour pre-board check-in and wait for international flights.

You'd think that with JFK being the 17th busiest airport in the World there were lots of things to do. Unfortunately, once you've checked into an international terminal, you're were pretty much stuck with little to do. Maybe we were already tired, but we pretty much found some tables in the food court and took some time to check email and surf the web a bit (this was still in my pre-Facebook era, as funny as that sounds).

We finally boarded our flight for Amman, Jordan sometime around 11pm EDT. This was my first experience with international travel, as well as a foreign carrier. I have nothing but praise for my experience. People were leisurely brought onboard. Everything seemed to be ultra clean, as if this was the plane's maiden flight.

We took off to the south and then veered to the East, paralleling Long Island. I have to be honest, one of the things that popped into my head was the horrific ending to TWA 800, which some people claim was shot down by an errant missile.

Shortly after takeoff I toggled through the entertainment options available on the small TV screen buried in backrest of the seat in front of me. I paused on the only channel that seemed to be working. It had a drawing of an airplane inside a compass, with a square box in the upper right-corner.

Apparently, flights with a large Islamic clientele offer this service so the devout Muslim will know which direction Mecca is during prayers. As it was now after midnight nobody seemed to be overtly praying, and must've finished their Isha before leaving New York.

Several minutes after reaching cruising altitude, the flight attendants came around with cards for us to indicate which variety of inflight meal we desired. It may seen funny, but the policy was to still serve dinner on the flight despite it probably being sometime after Midnight.

When the attendant reached my row she handed me an aluminum foil box, with a small bull's head logo. (Other's available were chicken, fish and vegetables). When I opened it it was piping hot, and tasted wonderful.

Another thing that sets Royal Jordanian apart from American carriers is free booze!! Even Economy Class passengers have the ability to have pretty much whatever well drinks they want. I had a couple of Scotch whiskeys. Not sure what brand. Didn't matter. They were well received.

Shortly after everyone received their beverage of choice they turned the cabin lights off, and asked people with overhead lights on to turn them off, and try getting some sleep.

The attendant didn't have to ask me twice as by this time I had a major headache blasting away inside my skull. (No, it wasn't from the Scotch). I was from getting used to new glasses which I'd foolishly picked up the day before leaving. They were a major change in prescription – the first in nearly five years.

The flight to Amman was over 10 hours, arriving somewhere around 6pm EEST. While my headache was pretty much gone, I was pretty wiped.

Queen Alia International Airport (AMM) was a 1980s era airport. While it certainly wasn't dirty in any definition of the word, it seems a little dark to me.

The walls and floor reminded me a lot of the elementary school I went to as a child. There was one big central room, which had divisions made by dividers which resembled those you might see in office cubicles.

Customs went without any events, and it was out to our bus, awaiting outside through a couple of sliding doors. The seats and carpeting were a dark green and muted red, with patterns.

I'd seen plenty of photos of the Middle East, especially once I knew I was going to visit. But, this felt surreal, as this was my first time in a foreign country other than Canada or Mexico. We slowly made our way through 22 miles of roads and streets to our hotel.

There was an odd quality to the sand and what few dried out bushes and trees could be seen. One could argue that the same can be found here in the southwest. However, it just didn't feel the same. You'd have to experience it to know what I'm talking about.

We stayed at the Golden Tulip Grand Palace Hotel, in central Amman. First observation on arrival were the metal detectors  and x-ray machines at the entry way, which reminded me of entering any USA Federal building. Not a comfortable sight as neither seemed to be in use at the time.

They had us spread out over a couple different floors so told us to put tags on our luggage and they'd bring it up. They were also nice enough to keep the dining room open so we could eat.

After eating, our group met up with our constant companion for the next couple of weeks, Doron. He's an Israeli tour guide, but he was able to come over to meet up with us in Amman since we'd be heading towards the Galilee the next day.

We were all exhausted by this point. However, he told us all "Do not be afraid to go out" that night and see the town. He also advised us that we should seek out a pastry shop that made the World's best Kanafeh. Kanafeh is a wonderfully sweet cheese pastry that comes in many styles.

Of the 28 people on the trip, about eight of us took the challenge and headed in the direction Doron said to go. We walked for what seemed like forever and were about to give up when we came on a busy mall. You can only image the look all us American tourists got as we came in at one time.

I think mall security was a bit nervous as they shadowed our group until we left.

At this point we decided to give it a couple more blocks, or so, before giving up. All of a sudden when we ran into a shop called Habibah. The decor reminded me of a combination between Subway Sandwich and Baskin-Robbins. (I recently found out this shop IS World renowned!).

The young Jordanian guys were only too happy to give a great discount to the American girls talking with them and we ended up with an extra amount of Kanafeh, which someone eventually took back to the hotel.

After 30 minutes we headed back to the hotel, full of sweets and ready to drop for a night's sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED…