Globus Holy Land Tour

I just returned from traveling with a Globus Faith group to the Holy Land and think that others may like to know about it, so here goes…..

 

I traveled with a group of 10 of my clients on The Journey through the Holy Land with a Jordan Extension through Globus Faith tours.  The company was good to work with throughout the entire process.  Our rep, Paul Christenson traveled to Walker to give a presentation on the tour. There were a total of 34 on the Israel Tour and 21 on the Jordan extension.  A multi-national group which we enjoyed.  Right off the bat I would say that this in not a tour for people with mobility issues. Lots of walking on uneven surfaces, steps and more.

 

None of us knew what to expect in this part of the world and I had 5 people cancel shortly after they booked because they were fearful due to the political climate in the Middle East.  Our anxieties were unfounded.  Israel was welcoming and we saw very few military personnel.  Jordan was the same. We felt extremely safe—even more than home.  We did have a ‘tourist police’ on the motorcoach with us in Jordan, but we never did figure out what his job was as we always had to take all of our valuables with us whenever we left the bus.  He did intervene when a person in our group was shortchanged by a vendor and the vendor was very quick to make things right!

 

Since our tour was faith based, we traveled to the Biblical sights in Israel, which are all relatively close together.  Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and shared passages from the Bible as appropriate. Some of the group renewed marriage and baptismal vows. Israel is a beautiful country—the Sea of Galilee a popular vacation spot.  Masada and a chance to float in the Dead Sea were a highlight.  We spent a night in a kibbutz and really enjoyed that experience and the opportunity to learn about life in a kibbutz.  I felt more like a guest than a tourist.  The crown jewel, of course, is Jerusalem where we spent 5 nights, doing a combination of local tours and day trips. Our hotel, the Leonardo Plaza, was very central so we could easily walk to the Old City, out to eat and shop.  On Sunday, a free day, guests on the tour had the choice of a day long optional tour, or to be on their own.  I and my travel mate chose to be on my own and attended worship at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer which is directly adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We had an opportunity to visit with the pastors who are from Ohio for over an hour about the political situation which is quite confusing to the outsider.  We then took the light rail to the Holocaust Museum which is very extensive and sobering.  The most exciting experience in Jerusalem was a midnight biking tour that I arranged for 7 of us!  To ride through the Old City when the tourists were gone, the shops closed and the streets empty was quite an experience. We went on a rooftop to view the city and were at the Wailing Wall at 12:30AM and it was awesome!  Traveling into Bethlehem which is on the West Bank Palestinian Territory was easy for us, but our guide was not able to go with us and we had a step on local guide. 

 

Jordan was an amazing surprise as none of us knew anything about the country other than Petra.  I was so glad that I watched the movie ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ before I left because it helped me to really understand that part of the history of Jordan and Middle East and certainly Wadi Rum.  Old Testament history is here. We had some long drives, but we enjoyed being able to rest and enjoy the desert scenery, Bedouin camps and so forth. Wadi Rum and Petra are amazing!  Walking through the entire Petra site is about 6 miles round trip but there are horses, carriages, donkeys and camels to give you a lift!  Some of us rode the camels for the experience and it was fun.  Wadi Mujib is like the Grand Canyon. We ended with two nights at the Movenpick Resort and Spa on the Dead Sea which is as nice as any 4-5 star resort in Mexico and the sunsets brilliant. You can see the lights of Jerusalem at night.  We would have loved to skip the final day of touring to just stay there, but did not want to disappoint our guide. 

 

I will not mention the hotels in detail, but they were all at least 4* properties and very comfortable. Food was good, although there was certain ‘sameness’ everywhere.  There was also a good supply of McDonald’s and KFC’s.  Our buses were modern and comfortable and there was onboard WiFi in Israel. 

 

The Holy Land was much more touristy than I expected.  Souvenirs from the usual cheap to high quality items were everywhere and I thought cheapened any spiritual experience anyone was expecting. Bargaining is part of the experience. I never changed my USD because they were accepted everywhere.

 

I would not hesitate to recommend travel to these countries.  The press has done them an injustice—similar to Mexico.  I really don’t know what a non-faith based tour in Israel would encompass because the motorcoach tour buses were at all of the same sights. People of all faiths (or no faith) were at all of the sights we visited.

 

Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.

 

Rollie