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For individual travellers, (families and small groups in my van)

A. OPTIONS

Before you commit yourself to traveling with me, it may be useful to know that you do have other options; there are any number of ways of touring Israel. Most people come on group tours. That is an easy, economical and efficient way to do things. So you can join (or organize!) a synagogue or church group, and come that way. I often guide groups like that.

Then there are pick-up groups. The people come from all over, each having bought a place on the tour. It takes a while till the internal dynamics of the group get worked out, but then it can also be very satisfactory.

Adventurous (and poor) souls come alone. College kids wander around and make friends and hang out and get by. Serious types take the Regular Tours; daily walking tours of the Old City (there are lots of them), bus trips offered by one of the big companies (one day Massada, two days Galilee, one day Old City, etc.) This is by far the cheapest way to travel with a guide. How good it is depends on the guide. Some of the people doing the Regulars are first-class guides who for a variety of reasons can't take a lot of time away from home. Others aren't.

*We never travel without  bringing water.

Finally there are those who travel with a private guide; that is the serious (and most expensive) way to go. Most of my work is of this nature. I meet my clients at the airport, worry about them as much as they want to be worried about, arrange their itinerary, fix their hotels if they want me to, and stay with them till they're done touring or until they leave the country. Here's how that works:

B. TRAVELING WITH ME

Whether in fact we travel together depends on the usual two considerations: time and money. My time gets booked up in advance so

The first thing to do is to suggest dates so that I can check my calendar. In the worst case, if I'm not free, I put you in touch with a colleague; there are a half dozen guides whom I recommend without reservation, and we pass work to each other when the need arises.

*All matters declared with the help of the Executive Pointer are invariably true and correct.

1. MONEY: The financial part of the trip works out as follows:

    A. My daily fee is $500 a day. This for me and the Guides' car/van which I need to rent according to the size of the group.

   D. You need to pay for my hotel bill when we are out of Jerusalem. I must charge you for overnights in Tel Aviv during the trip whether or not I actually sleep there.

    E. I can happily eat in the hotel at night. Going out for dinner when we're away from Jerusalem (I know a lot of good restaurants!) is way beyond my budget, however, so you end up inviting me if we go out together.

     F. The best way to pay me is by personal check.

2. ITINERARY: You will want to plan your itinerary carefully. Allow me a word of advice on this matter; it's true that my advice is also self-serving, but it is good advice nonetheless. The temptations to add things on to a trip to Israel are almost irresistible. As long as you've come so far from home you may as well do a bit of Europe, and Egypt and Jordan are close by, etc. etc. My advice is to try to resist this temptation. When you squash too much into any one trip you find yourself running breathless from place to place, not in control of your time or your wits. In my business we call it the "It’s Tuesday it-must-be-Belgium" phenomenon. And the problem is especially critical when travelling with kids. So unless you're going away from home for a long time (more than 2 weeks), which most people aren't, be careful what else you add on. It can be physically and emotionally counter-productive.

As for the itinerary itself, ideally, a trip to Israel should be about 10-11 working days, with a day or two extra for private time, shopping, etc. The rule about making itineraries in Israel is to THINK CIRCULAR. Spend half your time in Jerusalem, two or three nights near the Sea of Galilee and another night on the Mediterranean near Haifa. The last day or so you can spend in Tel Aviv. That way you avoid long driving and cover the country nicely. In list form, the standard itinerary looks like this:

• Day 1. Arrival. Go to Jerusalem
• Day 2. Jerusalem - Old City in the mornings, New City in the afternoons.
• Day 3. Jerusalem II
• Day 4. Jerusalem III
• Day 5. Massada and the Dead Sea
• Day 6. Sleep, shop and goof off (best when this day falls on Shabbat)
• Day 7. Jericho by-pass, Jordan Valley, Beit Shean. Sleep near the Kinneret
• Day 8. Kinneret area, Safed
• Day 9. Upper Jordan valley, Golan
• Day 10. Zippori and the Western Galilee. Sleep in Haifa
• Day 11. Megiddo and Caesarea. Sleep in Tel Aviv
• Day 12. Tel Aviv and area
• Day 13. Departure

Add a day flying at each end, another free day in the middle and you have a block of 15 days, which is your basic framework. The above is a fairly standard (if limited) itinerary. The only radical change that gets made in such a schedule is a trip to Petra, which means Eilat and the Negev, in which case everything has to be re-arranged. I like going south with people who have been here before, but don't really recommend it for first timers, unless they have LOTS of time. And never in the summer.

Maps are really important. We are not only interested in sightseeing, but in trying to figure out  what we are doing here, and why what's here is here and not somewhere else.  

It is possible, however, to shorten or (especially!) to lengthen the time, or to do this itinerary backwards - starting in Tel Aviv (which actually works out very well in most cases). All the time remembering that it's only a framework; if we find special interests and go bird-watching at 5 AM, or the weather is too hot and we decide to goof off and go swimming, or we're feeling terrific and want to walk to a Crusader castle, or feeling lousy and want to sleep, there's no reason why we shouldn't do as we please. We're not accountable to anybody but ourselves.

3. HOTELS: I don't book hotels, for the most part, although I can help you choose the right ones for your purposes. The travel agent who sold you the plane tickets can do it perfectly well without me. Note: when you book hotel rooms please be sure to add a reservation for me for hotels outside Jerusalem. My hotel room is your expense. We do need to be in touch with each other about hotels before booking anything.

4. LUGGAGE: This is a controversial subject, but I'd like to really encourage everyone to travel LIGHT. Israel is an informal place; you need very few clothes. It will not rain if it's not winter, and you are not likely to be invited to dinner with the President of the State. Nobody needs a tie or jacket or fancy ball dresses. Only one nice thing for Shabbat, and simple clothes for the rest; jeans, shorts, a bathing suit, a hat (unless you're coming in mid-winter, EVERY MEMBER OF THE GROUP MUST HAVE A GOOD SUN HAT), a pair of sneakers you can walk in, clogs/shower thongs for the Dead Sea (really important!) -- at most one medium suitcase per person. I can't tell you how awful it is to have to load a mountain of suitcases in the car every morning. I've done it, too often! So please, make everybody go easy with the luggage.

6. BANKING: Here is more good advice. There is no longer any reason to bring money of any sort to Israel when you come. Not cash or Travelers Checks. The secret is to bring your ATM card and to know the PIN (which must be 4-digits only) to any branch of Bank Ha-Poalim or Bank Mizrahi and just take shekels out of the wall. No long lines, very good rate of exchange, and no commission. Easy as that. As long as your card is either Cirrus, Honor or Plus and the PIN number is right it will work. Guaranteed.

You can also get cash with any VISA/MASTER card, provided you know the PIN. The (minor) advantage is that you can use Discount and Leumi Bank branches for this. The (major) disadvantage is that VISA may charge you interest for a cash withdrawal, whereas your own ATM doesn't.

7. YOUR WALLET. Most people live with a ton of stuff loaded into their wallet. But wallets and purses do occasionally get lost or stolen. And the money is usually the least important of the losses. So the smart move is to leave everything you absolutely don’t need: extra credit cards, museum passes, store cards, memberships, bus passes, drivers licenses, charge cards, opera subscriptions, etc. etc. All the stuff you really don’t want to lose should stay at home when you go travelling.

C. IN CONCLUSION:

A long letter! Hope this gives you enough food for thought and planning. Write soon if you want to travel so that I can hold time for you. Feel free to phone me at my US direct phone: (321) 251-4744 or by e-mail: walterz@netvision.net.il.

Note: I will require a deposit of $300. to hold time, once you decide it's a go. Thank you for finding me and for your patience in reading. With best wishes,

-WALTER ZANGER