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Israel 2024: Preparation Guide

Our tour of Israel in 2024 has the opportunity to be a life changing experience but that opportunity is greatly dependent on the amount of investment our group members are willing to make in preparation for our trip. With that in mind, below are written resources that are being provided in order to help with your personal preparation for the trip. All of these volumes are in PDF format.

Volume 1 (September 21, 2023) – Caesarea Maritima and Herod the Great

Volume 2 – Coming Soon…

6:00am came early this morning, but we had a nice breakfast at 6:45am, and the kids in our group did a great job of getting everything packed up and out of their room. Today our little group changed a bit as we had one of our girls to a different bus because of being on a different flight home. This meant that Emma joined us for the day. All of the busses pulled out around 8:00am with a goal of going to Arlington National Cemetery.

Unfortunately due to traffic, and the massive crowds at Arlington, we had to leave shortly after arrival in the parking lot in order to make it to our scheduled time for the Holocaust Museum.

We headed back to DC and took a short walk over to show the group the front of the White House.

This morning we got to sleep in an extra hour and had breakfast in the hotel at 8:00am. The busses left by 9:00am and headed toward the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland.

Our second morning began with a lovely breakfast at the hotel and we pulled out just after 8:00am. The first stop of the day was the US Capitol Building. We parked on the front side of the Capitol and then walked up the hill to the back.

From there we walked over to the Supreme Court building and took a photo of the group.

At the start of this post, I want to acknowledge the school shooting that took place at Covenant School this morning just after we arrived in Washington D.C. Covenant School is less than two miles from the Lipscomb Academy Lower School where my wife Olivia works, and less than three miles from the Upper School where both Kate and Sara attend. Learning about this during our day was overwhelming, and difficult to deal with emotionally. This was especially true considering the many connections those in the Lipscomb family have with the families who lost loved ones. While we still enjoyed our day in D.C., it understandably cast a heavy shadow. I cannot comprehend this act of evil nor the loss of these precious souls. My heart hurts and my prayers will be continually lifted for all involved.

This week I am accompanying Sara while serving as a chaperone for the Lipscomb Academy 8th Grade field trip to Washington D.C. I was able to go on the same trip four years ago with Kate, and am thrilled to be going again with Sara. Olivia dropped us off at the airport at 5:30am to meet up with our group of approximately 125 students, teachers, and chaperones. The group was split into two flights (Southwest & United), leaving at two different times, and flying to two different airports (Reagan & Dulles). Even with all of this going on, the process of getting boarding passes and navigating through security was pretty smooth. Kudos to Bob Rodgers Travel, Southwest and United Airlines for having everything ready to go!

All, we have a mailing list for anyone interested in news and information concerning future trips to Israel (and possibly other Bible related destinations) hosted by Timothy. If you would like to join this mailing list, please complete the form below. You will receive an initial email and will need to confirm your subscription to be added to the list.

 

For anyone interested, you can access our family’s photos from our recent trip to Israel via the links below. All photos are separated by day and can be downloaded from the linked site.

These are medium resolution and are suitable for social media. If you would like access to the full resolution images, please contact me directly.

Days 1-3 – Travel, Tel Aviv, Tiberius (May 27-29, 2022)

Day 4 – Zippori, Arbel, Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Mt of Beatitudes, Magdala (May 30, 2022)

Day 5 – Nazareth Village, Golan Heights, Caesarea Philippi, Tel Dan (May 31, 2022)

Day 6 – Bet She’an, Qumran, En Gedi, Dead Sea (June 1, 2022)

Day 7 – Masada, Beer-Sheba, Valley of Elah (June 2, 2022)

Day 8 – Western Wall, Southern Steps, City of David, Jewish Quarter (June 3, 2022)

Day 9 – Mount of Olives, Pool of Bethesda, Via Dolorosa, Holy Sepulchre, Garden Tomb (June 4, 2022)

Day 10 – Israel Museum, Herodium, Shepherd’s Field, Bethlehem (June 5, 2022)

Days 11-12 – Caesarea Maritima, Jezreel Valley, Tel Megiddo, Jaffa, Travel Home (June 6-7, 2022)

I’ve had a few requests for a printable copy of my 2022 Israel Photo Journal that was posted on this blog. A PDF version with all of these posts can be accessed via the link below. The full journal is 243 pages (146 MB).

Israel 2022: Journal – 243 Pages (PDF copy suitable for printing)

The beginning of the day today was spent on our airplane. I passed the time watching movies (and sleeping through some of them). After a pancake breakfast, we landed in Miami.

Today started especially early because of Covid test requirements to re-enter America. I was very nervous because the last time I got a Covid test, it didn’t really go well. Right after breakfast, we headed over to get tested, and it went far better than I expected, and the fear was way worse than the actual test.

Today was our last day in Israel and I got up at 5:45am this morning to get ready and finish packing. We had to be done with breakfast early to take a COVID test at 7:30am for our return flight to the United States.

After the COVID test we boarded the bus for a long ride to the northern coast and Caesarea Maritima. This was a site we were supposed to see on our first day that was missed but Ami was able to rearrange our schedule so that we could fit it in today along with Tel Megiddo.

I snoozed a bit this morning until 6:40am, and the Sara and I quickly got ready to meet Olivia and Sara for breakfast.

In the dining room I ran into Murad who was our guide on my last trip to Israel. We ran into him again later at the Israel Museum. It was good to see him. 

For Breakfast, we had hot food again now that sabbath is over. I combined some eggs with three more cheese danishes. I never eat like this at home!

We boarded the bus around 8:15am for a short drive to the modern city of Jerusalem. Today is Shavuot, which is Pentecost of the Feast of Weeks. The streets were pretty quiet because of the holiday, but we could see many Orthodox Jews heading to the Western Wall.

Today was a more chill day, but I am still exhausted. We’re approaching the end of our trip, but we still had a lot to fit in today. As always, we started with a wonderful hotel breakfast.

I really felt like I hit a wall yesterday and was so super tired when I went to bet last night. Even though I slept well, I still felt exhausted when I woke up at 6:30am with Sara. Thankfully I caught my second wind later in the morning. Breakfast was a bit different since today is Sabbath. Very little hot food, as it had been prepared earlier. I found a wonderful cheese danish and ended up eating three of them. I also had three cups of coffee to try and give me a boost of energy.

We boarded the bus around 8:15am and headed to the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. I had brought my travel tripod, and we quickly got the group together for a picture in front of the city. It was stressful trying to get it setup and use the remote trigger on my phone with so much activity going on around us. However, I’m really pleased with how it turned out. This is absolutely one of my favorite photos from the trip so far. This was when I got my second wind.

Today, I got to sleep in a tiny bit before we started the day, and let me tell you, I needed it. When we get home, I’m going to need to take so many naps (and I’m not even a nap person). Nonetheless, I still got up and had a lovely breakfast.

Sara and I are back to being roommates in Jerusalem because our two rooms are far apart again. We both got up at 6:30am and then met Olivia and Kate for Breakfast in the main dining room, which was pretty uninspiring…even the coffee. Thankfully the rest of the day was filled with inspiration. We boarded the bus around 8:15 and set off for the Old City of Jerusalem.

Today was quite a good day. We spent a lot of time in Jerusalem, and we saw a lot of cool things. The day started, as always, with a nice breakfast in the hotel dining room.

This morning Olivia and I both got up just before 6am. Our two rooms were right next to each other this time, so we let the girls be together last night. This was our only night in Ein Bokek, as we will be staying in Jerusalem for our final four nights.

We met up with Kate and Sara around 6:45am and walked down to the Dead Sea to take a few pictures before heading back to breakfast. This breakfast was not as good as in Tiberius, but had a couple of really good cafe lattes, so all was not a loss. Our group loaded our bags and boarded the bus at 8:15am, and we headed off to Masada.

Today, we spent a bit less time exploring and a bit more on the bus, but we saw a lot all the same. After packing our things and having breakfast, we moved out of our hotel by the Dead Sea.

Today has probably been my favorite day so far. I’ve had a great time, and the sites we visited were especially impressive and beautiful. We strolled along the promenade to get one last view of the Sea of Galilee and to look for cats again. After that, we had breakfast in the Caesar Hotel one more time.