Rookie mistake and TripAdvisor wisdom

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Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash 
Planning a trip to Israel has been as much an exciting process as it’s been a huge learning experience. Along the way we’ve made a few rookie mistakes. Nothing so drastic that it wasn’t easily redeemed, but rolling-our-eyes, forehead-slapping and laugh-worthy at the very least.

Our travel dates were largely dictated by the tour we selected, but we also decided to have a few days in Israel before the tour started, so as to acclimatise, adjust to the time difference, catch up on sleep after the long haul, and relax a little while getting a bit of a feel for Israel. We also enjoy travelling on our own as much, if not more, than travelling with others, and have never done a group tour (together), so maybe we were also allowing a bit of breathing space to psyche ourselves up for that! A few days in and around Haifa, an area we would not be seeing much of on the tour, seemed like a good option.

Long story short, after deciding on the departure date and flight schedule and locking that in, we booked 4 nights at a great little airbnb in Haifa, and started researching all the things we could do. Then we set about figuring out the best way to get from the airport (not in Tel Aviv, but between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) about an hour and a half south of Haifa. The train seemed like it would be a great option - station at the airport, straight through to Haifa. Perfect.

First rookie mistake. We arrive in Israel at lunch time on Saturday. Yes, Saturday. If we’d bothered to do a little more early research, it might have dawned on us, but it took a question to the TripAdvisor forum before the penny dropped. Saturday. The sabbath. Shabbat. NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT!!

So we laughed. At least we still had options. Taxi - too expensive. Sherut (like a shared taxi) - less expensive. Hire car. Whatever means we chose to travel from the airport, we would need to hire a car at some stage anyway, so we opted for the freedom to go our own way from the start. Hire car it was. Thanks again to the amazing and generous folks who freely share their advice on the TA forums, we discovered the best (most recommended) hire car company, and that the most efficient way was to book directly via the Israeli website. Hire car booking done.

TripAdvisor was also the source of many other great tips in the planning of our visit to Israel - where to get cash on arrival (best tip = don’t exchange $$AUD before leaving Australia) and where the ATMs are located in the airport, best SIM providers, how to use Google maps offline (= no data roaming), where to find the rental car company desks, best driving route to Haifa, as well as advice on our mini-itinerary in and around Haifa. One regular forum poster even shares his own Israel Travel Guide with anyone who requests it. The generosity on TA is amazing.

Another great recent find (the week of our departure) was a website called Traveling Israel and a series of related YouTube clips by an Israeli tour guide, that have been really helpful. One in particular took us on a tour of Ben Gurion airport, and recommended a visit to the Information Desk in the luggage hall, if only for the free maps. Being a bit old-school, and not fully trusting the accuracy of offline Google maps, I’ll be grabbing as many maps as they’ll give me!

Rookie mistakes aside, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed the planning for this trip and hope that our efforts pay dividends in a greater understanding of the country we’re visiting and less time scratching our heads and wondering what to do!!

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