Early Days to Final Preparations

Departure Virginia: 8 July, 4:25 PM EST

Arrival Rome: 9 July, 9:20 AM CEST
Arrival Tel Aviv: 12 July
Arrival Athens: 18 July
Arrival Istanbul: 23 July
Arrival Tel Aviv: 28 July
Arrival Virginia: 29 July 

Cath and I started talking about the possibility of meeting up with her and Andy in Rome almost as soon as she found out she'd been accepted into the University of Texas study abroad course: Learning Tuscany. When I searched for flights, the cheapest was on Air France, which goes through Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris before heading to Rome Intercontinental Airport Leonardo da Vinci, or FCO. More about this later.

In February, when the snow was piling up and up and up around Metro DC, I was under the covers planning a trip to a hot spot(political climate and temperatures). In July. At the time, I was taking a course at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), The Teachings of Jesus (according to the synoptic gospels). This was a wonderful, eye-opening look at the theology of these three books and the unique "spin" each author gave to his stories. Inspired by the fascinating religious, historical, cultural, and geographical elements of Israel, I came up with my first scathingly brilliant idea: "Hey, I'm all the way over there already, why not see Israel?" Plan A was to take a 14-day study/travel course through St George's College, an Episcopal center (I was trying on that flavor at the time) in Jerusalem.

I decided a long weekend would be about all Cath and Andy would enjoy of having a mom around, and I had to be in Jerusalem by the 14th, so I arranged to fly to Tel Aviv on Monday the 12th.

You might recall, my round trip tickets are DC, Paris, Rome, Paris, DC. However, the decision to fly to Tel Aviv meant a significant time-waster going from Rome to PARIS to Tel Aviv. Oh, well. Now I'll be able to say I've been to Paris three times.

A couple of months after I thought Plan A was a go, I decided the focus of that course would be too Episcopalian for me, and wouldn't allow me to see as much as I want to see. But since my flights were set around the dates of the course, I had to come up with Plan B. This required working out itineraries that would fit with the dates I'd already booked and finding my own accommodations.

Still gripped with a burning desire to make a spiritual connection with the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I blazed a trail through a gazillion - well, many, many, many - web sites having anything to do with Israel, with a focus on Jerusalem and the Galilee. I found a company that provides portage and lodging for intrepid travelers who want to make a 4-day, 60 km, self-guided walking tour from Nazareth to Capernaum called Jesus Trail: Walk in the Footsteps of Jesus. In July. Intrepid or foolhardy??

I decided to head straight to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and take day trips to Damascus, Jericho, Masada, and maybe Petra. After searching long and hard for recommendations for a non-touristy place to stay in the Holy City, I found Ecce Homo, a convent in the Muslim quarter. They had an available single room for $50/night (including breakfast), so I booked one for 12 - 19 July. (Below)

I continue to be grateful to have discovered Gila, who calls herself a Connecticut Yankee in King David's

Court http://www.itsgila.com/. She's sort of a one-woman Chamber of Commerce-type who puts out a newsletter filled with come-to-life stories about Jesus, Jerusalem, and the first century CE. I bought a subscription www.itsgila.com/madrichim/ejs1967.htm and became enchanted with her pointers for all there is to see in Jerusalem from rooftops, places where the tourist buses don't block views, and the best places to sample Middle Eastern food. My goal is to avoid everything purported to be a place where biblical personages slept, ate, were buried, were born, and/or preached.

After the 19th, the plan was to head north to the Galilee to start on the Jesus Trail. But, comma, as the NOVA class went along, and my understanding deepened, three realizations hit me: 1) no one REALLY knows where Jesus walked; 2) where Jesus walked is not what's REALLY important about Jesus; and 3)it's REALLY too hot in Israel in July for a 60 km hike.

Anyone who knows me knows that I change plans as easily as I change lanes on a highway. Most of the time I don't even use my turn indicator. This trip follows that pattern. Here comes Plan C: keep the Jerusalem part, but make my own arrangements in the Galilee, with Tiberias as the base, and use buses to travel to Christian and non-Christian sites. This was followed rapidly by Plan C.1, which changed from buses to a rental car since buses typically have drop-off points ~2 km away from every place I wanted to go.

I've been talking about taking day trips, so let me show you something I hadn't realized about Israel. Compare the maps below.

On the left is Israel. On the right is New Jersey.

Israel has 10,762 square miles.
New Jersey has 7,787 square miles.

It's 32 miles from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

It's 46 miles from Trenton to Newark.

That's your geography lesson for the day.

At some point, I became disenchanted with the idea of spending so much time in Israel. 

In July.  I had been studying Greek and enjoyed it a lot, so I thought,"Why not spend some time in Greece?" Then I thought, "Oooh, a Greek island! I can recuperate from Israel. In July. And what if I take a little side trip to Istanbul???"

Hence Plan D: I made flight reservations between Tel Aviv and Athens, then from Athens to Istanbul and back to Tel Aviv, staying four days in each country.

Back to the Internet, where I zeroed in on Sifnos, a quiet island in the Cyclades group that's not frequented by foreign nationals. I found a travel agent on the island to help with ferry schedules and hotels on Sifnos and then in Piraeus to catch the flight to Istanbul. Sandra was warm and friendly, and working with her - my first travel agent of the trip - was comforting. I chose a small pension with a top floor room and a balcony overlooking the bay and the sea. This became the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most.

I continued my research into a place to stay in Tel Aviv before flying to Athens, and one in Istanbul.  In Tel Aviv, I chose the Gordon Inn (below) for its great view of the Mediterranean.

Hard to find a hi-res photo of Istanbul :(

In Istanbul, the Albion Hotel (below) didn't get the best reviews, but it has an elevator (HUGE plus!), a roof terrace, breakfast included in the relatively low price, and too many amenities to list here.

  

(As an aside, one downside to traveling alone is one must pay for both beds in a single room even if it's called a "single." I guess single just means one person in each bed.) The hotel is centrally located in Sultanahmet, walking distance to famous architecture and ferries that cruise the Bosphorus.

Now I'm thinking I'm all set. Except a little glitch changed my plans last week with no planning of my own. I'll call it Plan E, though I'm not really to blame for it. I tried to pay for everything in Greece, and found out the travel agency doesn't take debit cards or use PayPal. Sandra suggested I get a friend to charge it or send the payment to their bank electronically.

At this point, I was not up for this complication, so I decided to cancel those reservations and use Athens as my base. I can still take a ferry to see the Greek Islands, but this way I can visit Delphi and Corinth and any other places on the mainland my heart desires. You might not (or maybe you would) think it, but it was MUCH more difficult to find a nice, inexpensive place to stay in Athens than in Istanbul. All those I found either had bad reviews (dirty rooms/bathrooms, dangerous part of the city, noisy) or the rooms cost more than I wanted to spend. FINALLY I found the Crystal City Hotel, an amusing coincidence since I live less than a mile from Crystal City, VA. This is the most modern, most replete-with-amenities accommodation of the whole trip, and with the most stars (3), and the price is almost half what I would have spent for the Sifnos plan (I think that was Plan D.) It's on Karaiskaki Square in the heart of Piraeus (below), which is about 6 miles south of the heart of Athens.

So now the planning part is complete (I hope!) 

On to the trip preparations.

1) Acquire camera other than point-and-shoot I already have. Check: Canon Rebel Xs (plus I bought a modest telephoto lens).

2) Read camera operator's manual. Check: Well, at least I've started.

3) Acquire contact lenses. Check: got them yesterday. So far they're great for mid-long range distances, but the left one takes a while to settle. I had to get readers for menus and other fine print, but that's a small price to pay. Also, I get to buy some sexy sunglasses :) 

4) Acquire lighter weight suitcase. Check: $15 at Treasure Trove (my treasure of a thrift store - sure beats $175 for those I was looking at on line) + $30 to fix the zipper on a front compartment. It's mid-size and expandable for souvenirs.

5) Acquire travel accessories. Check: every size of plastic bottle you could imagine and a compact kit to hold them; a dual voltage travel blow dryer with folding handle; a Total Pillow (as seen on TV!) - to sit on, put around my neck, and much, much more.

6) Acquire "modest" clothes that are also suitable for travel. In July. (Modest refers to a “cover-up” dress requirement for many holy places, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. It usually means no shorts -for both men and women- no sleeveless tops, and no plunging necklines. Check: keep me away from the Treasure Trove!!!!

7) Keep a running list of what I can't forget to take and check it twice!

8) Start blog. Check: ! (...and speaking of the blog, all the places I'm staying in have free Wi-fi and computers so I can try to keep up with blogging as well as Catherine has.)

She'll be finished with her course this Sunday, and Andy will arrive then. Andy's mother, Ginny, will fly in the day before I do, and the three of them will stay at the Hilton near the airport. Why do I mention this? Because it means they can take the hotel shuttle to the airport the next day and pick me up!!

That's more than enough for my first posting. There have been several ups and downs since February - mostly in the vein of "can I do this alone?" After all, it's not quite the same as going to jolly olde England. I'm thrilled and relieved my starting point will be with my seasoned Italian traveler (pun intended - most of her blogs have been about food). Thanks to Google, Cath and I have been chatting, and we're coming up with some ideas of what to see and do in Rome (that she hasn't already seen and done). 


I guess I've weathered the doubts, and now I'm chomping at the bit to pack!