Friends,
I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday and are getting excited about our upcoming tour. Many of our group is from Abilene Texas and as that is where Carissa and I live we were able to have a Q and A session with about a third of our group. Carissa was kind enough to record each of the questions that were asked so I will provide them for you here and now!
How much walking will be in any given day?
The vast majority of the walking will be walking around the ancient sites. We are seeing where the people of the Bible lived and moved. The only way around these sites is on two legs—so we will be using them. There will be one gentle hike in the wilderness of zin, one unavoidable hike to Gamla, and two optional hikes up Mt Arbel and Masada. The physical toll of this trip will be time spent on feet. There will be quite a lot of it over the course of the trip. I recommend a good pair of hiking shoes or boots and walking in them 2-3 miles a day 3-5 times a week. Get your shoes broken in and get used to being on your feet!
What kind of shoes do you recommend?
I recommend hiking boots/shoes. Tennis shoes could work—but I think you’d be much better off in a sturdier shoe. I’ve used these for Mountain Climbing, Elk Hunting, and Israel touring they last a long time and haven’t failed me yet. The cost comes from the fact that they are fully waterproof. You don’t need that for our trip it will not rain. If you are going to buy new shoes—break them in before the trip. You want to avoid blisters as much as possible.
Should we bring first aid kits?
I would recommend bringing whatever first aid kit makes you comfortable. Yehuda (our Israeli guide) will have a first aid kit as well as Carissa but I’ve found many people prefer to have their own stuff. The 4 things I would highly recommend packing are Ibuprofen, Pepto/Tums, Imodium, and some kind of blister-care like moleskin. It goes without saying that you should bring whatever prescription meds your doctor prescribes.
How Light Should We Pack?
I will be taking the max size suitcase that United Airlines permits. When we change hotels—we will bring our bags down and load them on our tourbus. Then they will be unloaded and taken to our rooms in our new hotel. You will have a daypack with what you need for the sites to carry with you on the bus. I would say pack what you need for the 10 day journey. Check out GTI’s site for packing lists or wait a couple of weeks as we put together some videos about what we are packing.
Do we need nice clothes for anything?
Not really…Typically I have “site clothes” and “hotel clothes”. I bring 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts that i will cycle through during the day and one or two outfits for hotel dinners in the evenings post shower. Carissa and I are big fans of hotel sink washing clothes and hanging them to dry during the day. We will have one nice dinner before flying back but it will be in a room to ourselves and the dresscode will be casual.
Modesty for women?
We will be in the middle east which in general is more conservative than American standards. When we are at ancient sites there will be no problem with shorts/tank tops etc. But, on the days where the sites have churches with them (Mostly in the Galilee and Jerusalem) Carissa recommends having a “modesty kit” in your daypack. She brings a long skirt and a shawl to toss on when we walk into the church areas then take it off when she’s back outside. As for men there is not much of an issue. I’ve worn shorts and a t shirt to just about every place and never had any issues. On days when our sisters have to throw on a skirt i typically wear my thin hiking pants just to make sure I am giving no offense to my sisters or our Catholic/Orthodox brothers who enforce the dresscodes. Carissa is planning to record a video to talk about this specifically—feel free to contact us with more questions.
What does a typical day look like?
A typical day begins with breakfast in the hotel around 6:00am (remember we will be traveling 8 time zones so the number doesn’t mean much). They have excellent coffee and bread/cheese/fruit/yogurt type stuff. Depending on the day our bus will leave typically around 7am unless we have a long drive or really want to get a head start on the other tourists. Expect 6:30am in Jerusalem as it is the busiest location. We will take the bus to our first site—walk around while I and Yehuda point out things of interest. Then, we will gather in a shady spot and I will give a lesson on the site as well as biblical points of significance at that site. After that we will head back to the bus and be on our way to the next site.
Lunch will often be quick. Some days it will be a picnic style lunch with pita, hummus, lunchmeat and soda. Other days we will stop at a restaurant for a quick bite. Then we will be off to our next site. The process will continue till 4-6pm in the afternoon where we will head back to the hotel, shower, eat dinner, visit, and head to bed. Then we wake up and do it all again!
COVID Protocol Update?
Israel has announced that it will be accepting unvaccinated tourist starting March 1. It has not announced its relaxation of the PCR test 72 hours before travel, or the PCR test upon entry to the country. Hopefully they will relax these restrictions before we travel—but the fact that they are relaxing restrictions is an excellent sign. Either way, I will be isolating as much as possible the two weeks leading up to our trip.
As new developments occur—I will be sending out more updates. Also, inMarch/April we will have one or two meetings where I teach a bit of Israeli geography. I will send out zoom info for any who want to attend—as well as time and dates for those in Abilene. See you soon!
Zachary McCartney