Reasons why you shouldn’t go to Israel
. . .without reading this first.
If you have come here because you saw our advertisement saying “Don’t go to Israel . . . until you look at this first”, Great! Read on.Let’s be candid. A Holy Land tour with any good tour company will be worthwhile for anyone who goes. The reason is that you are dealing with HISTORY. And history doesn’t change. The guides who go with you (not the advertised “educators” but the licensed Israeli guides) give the same basic information for each location. So what is the difference between travel company tours? Why choose one over another? All want you to go with them, and we are no different from that perspective. However, there are three important considerations in choosing one tour over another: Price, Time and Benefits.Before I explain each one, let me tell you about my philosophy on Holy Land tours. This is a different type of tour from the usual U.S. tours where you go to “see” the sites for entertainment value or personal pleasure like a fall tour to Maine, or a Redwoods tour to northern California. And it is different from a cruise. This is a SPIRITUAL experience. Most people go to Israel for religious purposes rather than for a vacation. Therefore, I believe your experience should enhance your testimony of Jesus Christ and the scriptures. This is our approach. It is a before, during and after tour approach.
BEFORE the tour we set the date of a tour about 9 to 12 months ahead of time so we can have at least 8 FREE two-hour seminars. For the 2011 November’s tour we will do 10 seminars! The seminars are a chance to meet and mingle with the people going on the tour before leaving. With other tours you just meet them at the airport. Having these seminars before the tour also allows anticipation for the tour to build. Money can be saved, necessities purchased, and reading done….the New Testament and other books about the life of Christ, etc. It’s kind of like the build-up to Christmas. It’s as exciting for me as the actual day. Our tour motto is “STUDY HERE—ENJOY THERE!” The seminars and the time before the tour allow us to do that, study here.We give each participant a blank personal journal and a tour notebook binder. The journal is for personal thoughts before the tour, during the tour and after the tour. It also is for taking notes during the seminars. The notebook binder is like a scrapbook. Here you keep the various handouts given at the seminars, the email updates about the tour which contain fascinating information, the tour brochure, etc. We give out pins and fridge magnets with our special tour logo. We also distribute the songs we will sing at the sites we visit.
DURING the tour is the time to be a sponge and just enjoy the experience. It’s not the time
to be in a classroom. It’s the time to be in the “lab” actually seeing what you have studied and learned before your trip. Of course, there are some reminder facts given on location and reading of key scriptures at the sites, but if you are prepared ahead of time you can appreciate the things you see and experience so much more. Notice the interaction of the three major religions in Jerusalem—the Jews, the Muslims and the Christians. Relax and enjoy the sights, the sounds and the smells of a world you have read about but never seen in person.
AFTER the tour is where we shine, and where we are different from EVERY other tour. We have over 13 benefits which come with our tour. Some I have already mentioned like the personal journal book and the notebook binder. Two other major ones are a 2 hour personalized DVD movie we prepare during the tour so you can REMEMBER your tour for the rest of your lives. This is an unbelievable value. Take a look at a clip of one of our previous tours.
But that’s not all. We also prepare a 76+ page color group journal which is personalized to your tour. It gives information about each of the sites and an ongoing daily account of what we experienced and the “unique” things of each day. It also includes comments from other tour members, funny things which happen on every tour, and great photos.
We also have a barbecue the summer after we return. We renew our friendships with the other tour participants and give out the DVD and printed group journal. We also do some other fun things relating to our experience in the Holy Land. It’s an event everyone loves.
Now let me explain the 3 reasons to choose one tour company over another. This is not an exhaustive list but it will give you some idea of what to compare. Consider all three reasons.
#1 reason is PRICE. All good LDS tour companies give you a great tour. But most everyone wants a good deal for the least amount. Comparing tours is difficult but not impossible. Each tour does things a little differently. Every Israel tour goes to most of the same places, and stays in the same quality hotels, but they advertise it differently. For example consider airfare. Most tours include it from NYC to Tel Aviv. But they don’t include the SLC to NYC roundtrip. That’s extra. Or the tour company may advertise their price but put an * and say “airfare extra.” Airfare, depending on time of year and the airline, is about $1550 from NYC to Tel Aviv and about $400 from SLC to NYC.
Here’s an example. One major LDS tour company advertises their Israel tour including Petra and Egypt for 10 days as $4,999+ air. When you add on all airfare to the basic cost you are now at $6,950. This is $1,900 MORE than our tour (which is $5,050). And that’s just the tour price. Check out our tour brochure.
You also need to consider other “add-ons” such as tips (all tips including hotel staff, guides, bus drivers), travel insurance (look at both the cost of the insurance and what the policy covers), how many meals are provided, and if the tour charges extra to go to Masada or the Dead Sea or Qumran. The written information on these can be very confusing and so you need to call the tour company. That’s too bad. We spell out each significant item so you can see what goes into your “final cost.”
As you add up all the costs involved with a tour company’s price, you will find almost all companies are within a couple thousand dollars of each other. But you may want to maximize your dollars by doing more for the same or less price. For example, for the price of going to JUST Israel with a couple of major tour companies, you can tour ALL 3 countries (Jordan, Israel and Egypt) with our tour! Why, you ask? The answer is simple. EO takes MORE people to the Holy Land than anyone else by far. So they can pass on the savings they make with hotels and airlines to you.
#2 reason is TIME. This involves both the length of the tour and the time of year. The least expensive time to go is in the spring or fall, the “off-season.” That is common with all tours. The summer is the busiest (along with Christmas), but summertime is VERY hot and crowded.
How long should you take to tour? Most Israel tours are 10 days. But the first and last days are travel days. On our tour we do BOTH Jordan and Israel—and we don’t miss any major sites in either country. How can we do this? We get up a little earlier and stay a little longer (without missing our buffet breakfasts or dinners!). So we give you Israel AND Petra, the new 7th Wonder of the World! Petra really is worth it! That’s where the last four minutes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade movie was filmed.
We go in the spring or fall to these Holy Land countries (including Egypt as an optional extension). So, compare other tours that go where we go and our cost and you’ll see a clear difference. As I said before, the reason we can do this for the price we do is VOLUME. Educational Opportunities (called EO), the company which arranges our tours, is the largest Christian tour company taking people to the Holy Land in the United States. That allows them to pass the savings to you. And, we don’t have the overhead costs of mass advertising like other tour companies.
#3 reason is BENEFITS (click here). What are you going to get from your tour? What kind of experience do you want before, during and after the tour? This is where our tour separates us from all the others. NO OTHER TOUR COMPANY DOES OUR 13 FREE BENEFITS. Take a look at our whole list.
Some companies say they take several hundred people to the Holy Land each year. Great. We associate with Educational Opportunities. They took over 4,000 people to the Holy Land JUST IN THE FIRST 4 MONTHS OF 2011! Based on that figure, they are on course to take over 12,000 people in 2011. This is TEN TIMES the amount of the most popular LDS tour company. Does that mean EO is 10 times better? No. But because of those numbers each year, EO has a full time office and staff in Jerusalem which NO other tour company has. The point is there are many tour companies who go just a few times to Israel but have excellent tours.
Some tours use “educators” or “popular artists” as hosts. It is all an attempt to convince you they are the “best” tour company to go with. Look at their “educators” and compare them to other tours. How can they say one “educator” is better than another? All major tour companies, except one, use a local Israeli licensed guide anyway. So do we. And the local “guide” gives the history for the sites you will see. In the end it is all a marketing ploy to get you to go with that company.
And after you return, what do you have to remember your experience? Our tour gives you tangible items which will last you the rest of your life as memory enhancing keepsakes. Your Holy Land tour is just another tour UNLESS you can remember it forever! Who else gives you for FREE a 2 hour professional personalized DVD Video of your tour? No one—but us! And we do even more. Take a look at the 13 reasons why you should come with us to the Holy Land.
CONCLUSION.
I end as I began, don’t go to the Holy Land until you COMPARE WHAT WE DO FOR YOU WITH OTHER TOUR COMPANIES. THERE IS NO QUESTION WHERE THE BETTER VALUE IS. But the decision is yours. As I say to everyone who asks what tour company to go with, “No matter what tour company you go with, just be sure you GO. Any tour of the Holy Land with anyone is better than no trip at all!”
So if you have a desire to go to the Holy Land, give us your serious consideration.
We limit our tours to 40 people or less—and November 2011 Tour is FULL, but join the rest of us for the next
Holy Land Tour 
you’ll never forget and wish you had done years before.
Shalom!
~Bruce and Pat Barton, contact us with any questions you have or to discuss your situation.
Click here to see our Holy Land November 6, 2011 tour brochure
Click here to see ALL 13 of our FREE benefits for coming with us on this Holy Land tour.
