Pre-Pilgrimage Letter 3 of 3
October 12-20, 2010
Greetings!

Greetings in the Name of our Risen Lord.  

This is the last of three Pre-pilgrimage letters we will be sending before you leave to join us in the Holy Land. If you have missed #1 or #2 please let us know. These letters are intended to get you excited, give you pertinent information and to prepare you for this marvelous trip.

We have a few more things to mention and some to repeat.
Wearing Name Tags
Just a reminder to PLEASE wear your name tag on the plane and throughout the pilgrimage! We have purchased very nice name tag holders that you should have received already, we think you will really like them.

The name tags help us to recognize each other, stay together, remember names, and they're your ticket to meals and into holy sites. Hotels, restaurants, Mass sites, etc. If you forget to put them on we will help by reminding you.
OnPlane1On the Plane
To arrive in Israel in the best condition possible-sleep well before leaving. Drink plenty of water.  Only drink alcohol in moderation on the plane. Try to sleep on the plane. Don't hesitate to take a sleeping pill or something to help you sleep. You will have plenty of time to sleep the first night, but you may suffer jet lag, and we will begin early the first day.
AirportAt the Airport
We have arranged to have a person from Smile Services meet you in the security and baggage area, they are the only ones allowed back there to help you. They will be holding a "STEVE RAY GROUP" sign and will look for your name tags. Their job is to help you if you need it, and to keep  you all organized and make sure you get out in a timely manner. It is all really quite simple to get through the formalities. 

You will:
1) get off the plane and take a long walk,
2) go through Passport Control (no sweat :-),
3) then to the luggage claim for your suitcases.
4)After that walk effortlessly through Customs and
5) out into the Arrivals Hall. Go to the right as you exit Customs and you will see us waiting for you with Amer.

My Israeli cell phone is 054-212-6724 if you have any problems and need to contact me. The escort will have Amer's phone number too. If for some reason your flight arrives early and we are not there yet, just wait and will be there in a few minutes.
Bus3On the Bus
We will load your luggage and take you on the 2 ½ hour ride up to Tiberias -- to the Sea of Galilee! You will be very comfortable. It even has a refrigerator in the dashboard for cool bottles of water. Just drop $1 in and take your bottle of cold water out.  

Amer and I will introduce ourselves on the ride up to Galilee. We know you will be tired and will get you to bed as soon as possible after Mass and a meal.


Hotel4Arrival at the Hotel
Here is the procedure when we arrive our hotel:
  • The hotel will provide keys for your room and tags with room numbers for your luggage.
  • Please put the luggage tags on your luggage as soon as your luggage is unloaded. 
  • The porters will take your luggage to your room as you relax.
  • Shortly after arrival we will have dinner and an optional Mass and announce plans for the next day. This might fluctuate based on the arrival time of the last flight and what time the pilgrims arrive in Galilee.
  • We will have a wake up call set for you the next morning, but set your own alarm too--just in case. We have an early start the first morning.
Meals11Meals & Liquids
It is wise to drink a lot of water along the trip, starting with the plane flight. On the plane drink more water than alcohol.

In Israel it is also wise to drink only bottled water since your digestive system may not approve of the local water. Not that the local water is bad, it is actually very good, but like all water it will have bacteria. The bacteria may be "new" to you and your body may not react kindly. A package of Imodium is a good idea if you think you might have adverse reactions to the water. Sometimes 1 out of 15 might get diarrhea, but it is usually not severe.

We will have $1 bottles of water in the refrigerator on each bus. Please drop $1 in the refrigerator as you take a bottle of water. Also, keep an empty bottle or two for gathering water from the Jordan River. This is also a nice souvenir and useful for adding to baptismal fonts back home.

You will not go hungry-that I promise! Meals are INCLUDED in your package along with some drinks. We will also have some very special dinners outside the hotels and many authentic and delicious lunches. Everyone is always very pleased. Remember that while the meals are covered in the price, extra drinks are not.
Flexibility5Flexibility with Schedule and Itinerary
We have not provided a detailed itinerary for a reason. Record crowds are pouring into Israel in 2010 and 2011. We will have other tour groups to contend with and we need to be flexible to work around them.

Thanks in advance for being flexible and allowing us to adjust the schedule as we go. We will maneuver the events to help you see as much as possible in the most relaxed manner possible.  We will share the schedule with you as soon as we are able, and most nights we will post the following day's schedule in the hotel lobby for you to review it if you wish.
Promptness6Promptness - (Important)
Many people have their hard earned money to visit the Holy Land with us. Moving 50 people around is very easy with our system when everyone cooperates. We usually will leave each morning around 8 AM though some days vary depending on the itinerary.

We will notify you of the wake up time at dinner the night before and have it posted in the Lobby. Everyone is required to be on the bus and ready to go a few minutes before the specified time. We leave right on time.

Late arrivers are left behind! If anyone is late they will have to catch up with us in a taxi-we have a tight schedule and don't want everyone to suffer because of lateness on the account of a few. We will always notify the front desk where we are going so that anyone who misses the bus can call a cab and catch up with us.

This is also the case for everyone arriving late to the bus after visiting each site. Some people like to wander off for shopping or exploring. This holds up the bus for punctual pilgrims and puts us behind schedule. So, I want to emphasize the importance of promptness while touring.
Shopping10Shopping
PLEASE bring plenty of $1 and $5 bills. This will be extremely helpful to make exact change for many things. Water on the bus is available for $1, many of the simple souvenirs you will want are $1 each.

We recommend you not carry large sums of cash or valuables. There are pickpockets, like in any other country, including our own. We will be constantly vigilant on your behalf and will warn you of places especially prone to pickpockets. But is it best to travel light.
We know that many people want to shop for Holy Land souvenirs and gifts to bring home memories, buy for friends, and to help the Christians of the Holy Land.

During the trip we will We will provide plenty of time for shopping and will take you to trusted shops with Christian owners, genuine products and reliable shipping. It is best to be cautious when buying from unknown shops and street vendors. We may tell you some horror stories of experiences that we try to help you avoid.

We reserve most of our shopping for Bethlehem for several reasons:
  • The are honest, reputable and have good products
  • Buying from them helps support 65 Christian families
  • In Bethlehem you do not have to pay the 17% tax
  • When they ship things for you they always arrive and they guarantee their services (not found everywhere in the Middle East, believe me)
  • They have good restrooms
  • Efrem will recite the Our Father in Aramaic, the language of Jesus
  • They will take us on a tour of the factory where the olive wood products are manufactured.

We will also have time for shopping in a few other places where you can buy Jewish products, Dead Sea Skin products, Hebron glass, rams horns, books, and much more. We will also make sure you can ride camels if you want to.

Please do NOT wander into shops as we are moving through the holy sites. It causes great loss of time and makes it difficult to find everyone and get loaded for the next site.

We will limit the shopping during the pilgrimage-to save a LOT of time and hopefully get everyone back the hotels with time each day to catch your breath and rest (or swim, or pray, or explore) before dinner. If more shopping is desired, we can provide an optional trip on the second to the last day for those interested. You will have free time to wander through the Old City of Jerusalem at the end of the pilgrimage.

During some free time many people will wander through the Old City on their own to explore, shop, and to pray at the Holy Sepulchre. It is wise to avoid buying expensive things in the Old City since there are often items which are not what they appear to be. Gold is often not gold, diamonds not diamonds and icons not authentic. Also just use cash since it is not uncommon for "zeros" to be added to checks and credit cards forms.

Remember that all the street vendors and peddlers are Muslims. Most of the shops in the Old City are also owned by Muslims.  After Christians buy from Muslim peddlers they often curse us and Our Lord as we are walking away. We tend to avoid buying from the vendors for several reasons which we will explain on the bus. We are here to support our fellow Christians as much as possible.
BuesSeats8We Don't Reserve Seats on the Bus
Each morning all the seats are "up for grabs" or "first come, first serve". Most people like to rotate seats and move around on the bus during the pilgrimage. Once you have chosen seats in the morning-they are your seats for the rest of the day. But all seats are again open to everyone the next morning.

The only exception is that we need to keep four front seats open for guides and escorts.
Whisper7Whisper Sets
These are like radio headsets. We are the only group that I know of in Israel that provides these for everyone. I will carry a small transmitter and microphone which will be clearly heard on your earphones. With this cool system, we will not have to shout over other groups or gather into crushing huddles to hear. Plus it will allow me talk to you even in places where we are not allowed to talk. It helps me direct you through the streets when we are walking. Each pilgrim is responsible for their headset and will sign for them on the first day. Please guard them jealously, we rent them and the replacement cost for your lost or damaged headset is $100.
Rosary8The Rosary and Singing
If you want, we provide Rosaries for you to purchase for $25 a dozen on the first day so you can touch your Rosaries on all the Holy Sites starting at the Mountain of Transfiguration early the first morning. The Rosaries are made of olive wood by nuns in Bethlehem. 

We encourage you to carry the Rosaries with you at all times to touch each holy site throughout the trip. By the end of the pilgrimage, they will have touched all the sites related to the Mysteries of the Rosary and the life of Jesus and Mary that we've visited. At the end they will blessed by our priests and you can give them to family and friends as marvelous gifts. They will become 3rd class relics.

Click here to see a tentative list of all the places your Rosaries will touch and the places where we will pray each Mystery of the Rosary.

We encourage prayer and singing along the way to enhance our spiritual experience. We are free to sing in most of our liturgies (but NOT in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre). Our priests will lead devotions, prayers, and the Rosary at the sites and on the bus. We all want you to have a wonderful time and we will do all we can to facilitate a deeply spiritual experience for you all.

I have been known to get choked up with tears in my eyes-still, after all these trips. But, nobody wants me to start singing-if I did everyone would cover their ears and run for shelter. But, there is usually a few on each pilgrimage who can sing well and lead us in song and the Rosary at various holy sites and during Mass.

In your Pilgrimage Handbook I have provided many of the favorite songs pilgrims want to sing on pilgrimage. Please feel free to bring your own songs as well. If you decide to request a song in the handbook, please notify everyone so we can all join in and the song won't trail off when everyone forgets the words.
Optional13Optional Last-Day Trip
The last day of our pilgrimage-our last day in Jerusalem-will be an open day. But, you have other options. We encourage everyone to join us on the wonderful optional day-trip.

The cost for this optional trip is $80 per person which will be collected by the escorts early in the pilgrimage.  During the optional trip we will swim in the Dead Sea, visit the top of Masada by cable car, visit Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and tour Jericho. There will also be camels in the desert on this day if you choose to ride one, it is lots of fun and a great photo opportunity.

The time for the excursion is usually from about 7:30 AM - 5 PM. If you chose not to take the day-trip you can do whatever you wish on the free day: hire a cab to visit the environs of Jerusalem, stay in the Old City to explore and pray, sleep, or shop. Most of the pilgrims decide to join the trip, and always think it is well worth it but, we want you have the option to spend more time in Jerusalem if you wish.

Janet and I leave right away to prepare. If you have any questions please contact Suzanne at Corporate Travel Service (800) 727-1999 x121 or sParran@CTScentral.net. My cell phone in the Israel is 054-212-6724.

We are excited to see you in the Holy Land. We will meet you in the arrivals hall at the airport. Remember to hang right as you exit customs.

Shalom,
Steve & Janet Ray

PS: Here are some interesting and helpful websites you may be interested in:
www.Weather.com for weather forecasts in Tiberius, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, & everywhere else.
www.GoIsrael.com travel info
www.Magellans.com for helpful info and travel supplies
www.TravelSmith.com for helpful info and travel supplies
www.BiblePlaces.com pictures and info for hundreds of sites in the biblical world
www.inisrael.com virtual tours of sites in Israel
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org Virtual Jewish Library