Holy Land Tour Downloads

  • Join the WhatsApp Group

    We request that all of you download WhatsApp to your phones. It will be the primary way we will communicate with you during our trip. 

    Join WhatsApp Group here

  • Tour Roster

    Names, emails, and phone numbers! Plus, you can (and should please!) add your flight information here.

    Coming Soon!

  • Downloadable Itinerary

    Coming soon!

  • Packing List

    Here are our recommendations!

    Click Here

  • History of Israel Outline

    Here is a selected timeline of the history of Israel from 2000BC until today!

    download

  • Bible Passages

    Here is a list of passages that connect to the main Biblical sites we will be seeing each day.

    Get the list

When to arrive and depart

Arrive no later than 5:00pm on Friday, May 24th, and depart no earlier than 10pm on Sunday, June 2nd.

If you are unable to meet these requests, please let us know.

If you plan to arrive early, you have a few options: 

  1. Wait in the airport lobby for everyone else. This is by far the simplest - but most boring - option. 

  2. Take the light rail train into Tel Aviv and explore the city, but be sure you are back at Ben Gurion airport by 5pm. 

  3. Take the light rail train, taxi, or bus to Jerusalem and check in early to your room at the Notre Dame Hotel. Then explore the Old City!  

If you arrive a day or so early, that’s totally fine. Just remember that the expense of that is not included in the tour. We are happy to recommend some hotels, but booking those and transportation to and from will be your own task and expense. It’s not uncommon that some travelers arrive a day or so early and explore Tel Aviv (since we don’t go there on the tour) or get in some extra exploring of Jerusalem. Just let us know if you decide to take this approach. 

FREE TIME RECOMMENDATIONS IN JERUSALEM

  1. Old City shopping and wandering. We encourage you to put this at the top of the list. Get a map or just wander. Wander down David’s Street and the Christian Quarter Road. Shop antiquities in our guide Mahmoud’s family shop! Visit the photography shop (Elia Photo Service) on St. Francis Road, down from the New Gate. Up for a fun challenge? Try walking to all seven gates!

  2. “Eating walk” through the Old City – find fresh pita, something tasty at Jaffar Sweets, iced coffee at Austrian Hospice, etc.

  3. Rampart walk. Walk on top of the walls of the Old City. A very special experience.

  4. Tour of David Citadel Museum.

  5. Museum on the Seam. Socio-political contemporary art museum built on the Green Line.

  6. Educational Bookshop. Our family’s favorite bookstore in Jerusalem. Has just about every book published on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  7. American Colony Hotel – great bookshop, same owners as the Educational Bookshop. Good place to sit, drink coffee, and read. You can sit on the patio by the bookshop or go into the hotel to the restaurant in the open courtyard.

  8. Hezekiah’s tunnel. Just read about it. It’s pretty awesome. Not for the claustrophobic though!  

  9. Kind David’s Hotel – coffee and dessert out on the patio facing the Old City. This was the hotel that was bombed in the 1940s by the Zionist paramilitary group the Irgun, and has been the hotel of choice for world dignitaries for years.

TOUR PREPARATION

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

For those that love to do some preparation, here is my Amazon recommended list of books and films on Israel and Palestine! If you’re just looking for a good primer on the conflict so you have some foundational understanding, then I’d recommend one of these two: Israel and Palestine: Competing Histories The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Very Short Introduction Both are quite short and admittedly a bit dense, as they are historical accounts. But they are incredibly informative. Looking for a novel? Try The Lemon Tree. 

TRAVEL INSURANCE

As I mentioned on the calls, this is where I go for my travel insurance: AIG Travel Guard. I’d recommend taking out a policy on the full cost of the trip—flight plus the $3950/person. This will cover any medical costs associated with the trip, as well as a refund if I have to cancel the tour due to new COVID restrictions from Israel, or if you have to cancel for personal/family reasons. Be sure to look over the stipulations of each policy before purchasing and be sure you are getting the one you need! 

PASSPORT

If you don’t have a passport, now is the time to apply! If you have one, be sure it will still be valid after December 3, 2024, six months after our return date. 

I highly recommend getting this travel adapter/converter. It will allow you to plug multiple devices in at once. And it works in multiple countries! Looking for a money belt? There are many to choose from. Pretty much all the same, so pick the design you like best. 

If you want to learn some of the languages, I recommend Duolingo! You can study both Hebrew and Arabic on there. I am currently studying Arabic, 10 minutes a day, and am proud to say I can nearly read the script after three weeks! I do it on my phone through the app, but you can do it on the website as well. 

International phone plans. I strongly encourage you to get an international plan so you don’t end up accidentally spending 100s of dollars on charges. Here are the links to learn more about the plans for each major phone network: Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile. 

NUMBER TWO

PLEASE join the tour WhatsApp group! I would request that all of you download WhatsApp to your phones. It will be the primary way I will communicate with you during our trip. 

I highly recommend getting this travel adapter/converter. It will allow you to plug multiple devices in at once. And it works in multiple countries! Looking for a money belt? There are many to choose from. Pretty much all the same, so pick the design you like best. 

If you want to learn some of the languages, I recommend Duolingo! You can study both Hebrew and Arabic on there. I am currently studying Arabic, 10 minutes a day, and am proud to say I can nearly read the script after three weeks! I do it on my phone through the app, but you can do it on the website as well. 

International phone plans. I strongly encourage you to get an international plan so you don’t end up accidentally spending 100s of dollars on charges. Here are the links to learn more about the plans for each major phone network: Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile.