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Israel & Jordan Zoom Session

Added Sep 20, 2022 •

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Recorded on Monday, September 19 by Dr. Imperial & Ms. Nunley.

Show Transcript

recording thank you that portrayed lamp broke his ankle yesterday but just between you and me I think the Niners have a better shot with Garoppolo I think Trey needs another year of although a broken ankle was a notch as had an opportunity to see the details of the trip this is only a few of you I can see your faces can you give me a thumbs up if you seen the day-to-day itinerary of the trip all right. You okay someone let me start with the big picture I have been eyeing this trip for many years I've never been to either of these places I should tell you at least not by traveling by book but I've always considered to be like like so many people who said the navel of the world center of the map of uni everything else and and I will tell you the part of my my attraction to this part of the world started when I was eight years old when I watch Lord of War Arabia as a little kid I'm a history major and the Islamic history now go back to when I was a kid I was always fascinated by the history of its beyond that obviously Jerusalem is it important three the three great model three Aztec religion on Earth there is so many there's a history that we can't even begin to pretend that in a daze we're going to touch on all of it but we're going to do our damnedest and before you start talking about that let me let me start with this parents may be a little bit concerned about safety in traveling to this part of the world that I can appreciate that Israel of course you always hear about the bad things but Israel is also one of the most secure Nations on Earth and Jordan is one of the most stable of all the Islamic Nations on her I have been on eBay trips with kids from Rock twice turkey and a couple of years ago when the pandemic broke out without your deep we were in Egypt we I have a dream maybe or something someday looking of Tunisia but it's not safe and no and no other place would I go read at this point but Jordan is a very safe country now I'm going to I just was watching a CBS Sunday Morning with old people watch on on CBS on Sundays did The Amazing Race season 33 is going to Petra and to Wadi Rum which are two of the places where we will be visiting in Jordan briefly we're going to fly into and out of Tel Aviv is the most Cosmopolitan City in the Eastern Mediterranean and I'm very briefly but we're going to be doing is we're going to start some they're going to on the coastal Road desirea we will visit Nazareth I'm going to go pretty fast and I cuz I don't want to keep you up too much we will go up to Galileo we will be following the. Point a lot of good that. the path of Jesus after that we'll shift over into Jordan and we will visit the Roman ruins of that the Roman city of sirach I will be will see montauban and Mount Nebo all in in Jerusalem who is Jordan before we go to Petra and then take a longer drive down to Wadi Rum I'm kind of feeling you've looked at these places before cuz I don't want to tell you about all of them but I will let you know if you want to talk in Hollywood terms you seem Petra and in a lot of it than the movies Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and all that Petra is important not because of Hollywood anytime they want to feel like they're on Mars they film there but but why do rum is is one of the most important Crossroads of the northern Arabian and will spend the night there in a in a what they call a Bedouin Camp I think it's more like glamping than actual camping then we will turn back and move into Jerusalem and we'll spend a few days we will Eve didn't places of importance to Judaism both ancient and modern we will take a look we will visit Masada where do we would you may know of course from rebellion 74c and then we will head back towards Tel Aviv and fly home that's the brief itinerary I think send out a detail at jittery for this for anybody who would like to see it that's the trip right now what I'd like to do is if you can see if you're on mute or not if you have any question cuz they're going to talk about some of the later on by some of the rules going to go bye bye cuz traveling is is has some challenges to it does anybody have any questions at this point and if you do just please speak up cuz I have three screens that I can only track one of the time okay I'll give it to my seven seconds I need a little bit deeper this trip and these trip be my chance to see Mary's kids I did lots of trucks in my career all of these trips in the travel agency that we use that we will my confidence I love these people TSA tours of the group of used it's a privately owned a family-owned travel agency out of the Phoenix area and we've kept them for all these years because either about as affordable as you can get number to they are also immediately responsive to us I can make a phone call in what is the middle of the night in Arizona and we get a response the date they know what we're about one of the co-owners true old with us last year to Croatia and to Venice and I believe she is traveling with us again partly because she's very interested in the company's very interested in expanding their student tours into this part of the world the traveling sell the kids will be in double rooms there might be depending on the numbers occasionally one or two rooms at triple up but for the most part for most of the trip the kids will be in double they will be. with them the the trip itself and I and I will tell you inflation has not been kind to us this year last year at this time when we were looking at this trip and we did we didn't pull the trigger on last year because covid still had it's a little nervous about where we couldn't couldn't travel last year the price was $3,800 this year is a roughly speaking about $1,000 I said only because it depends on how many kids signed out the price the more kids we have the lower the price goes but you should expect the trip to be about 47 $4,800 plus whatever souvenirs kids may want to buy ask you can a student double this trip and not spend any extra money yes I've had kids travel and not spend any extra however most kids if they bring some money for souvenirs they get hungry I think we probably by about five lunches on her own on this trip all breakfasts and dinners are are included in this and there's one lunch on the Sea of Galilee that paid tips of fees for entrance into museums and sites like Masada are all covered and by the way in the Middle East tipping is important that may be one reason why chips are a little bit under the cost a little bit more expensive there is liability insurance or everyone traveling there is additional liability insurance for families who are interested in it and I will send that out in due time to everybody but pretty much the way these travel trips work is once we land in Tel Aviv will be met by a guy they will walk us to a nice School Bus you know the kind of annoy us when we're following them in Francisco and we will have that bus I would imagine on this trip the entire week will probably have the same bus driver and the same tour guy that might be asked if we going to Jordan that all depends on how it operates an end they will be guiding us throughout we don't have to navigate for ourselves anything they'll drive us right up to the hotel the hotel or have always been centrally located I am in the main city of the main places for us the meals range from pretty good to great if we're eating for a night in the in a hotel there their they're fine there's plenty to eat this is of course going a trip to the Middle East so the food will be different down the road will talk about dietary needs for people who are vegetarian and all that but there will be no you should not expect that we're going to be running to McDonald Pizza Hut for our meal we do want the kids to stretch a little bit and expand their culinary Horizons as much as anything else let me know pause again to see if there are any questions cuz I can't read your face did post a link to the proposed itinerary in the comments section so if you look in the comments you can click on that it will take you to the enrichment week website and itinerary that we are falling at this moment have a question I'm sorry if I missed it so I'm this is Julie Coble Max is my son he Israel with his middle school I think you know that and I think in some cases I don't remember if they had any kind of security traveling with them or any kind of safety switch or guide group just kind of that's inherent there like how does that work in my previous trips yes when we've been to places where there was any chance at all of something they might be a little bit Jiggy there was a security guard the traveled with us it was never necessary but although I haven't talked specifically about where we might run into security traveling with us with Troy who's the head of the company we did broadly speaking talk about that the Border Crossing into Jordan will be a more importantly back into Israel I am told is is one where it'll take a little bit of time that the fact we carry American passports will make it easier but it still will be it'll take longer coming back in I will find out more about that as we go the place is where we're going to rot in Jordan's Ross Wadi Rum and Petra are highly interested in everything that I studied in the past about these trips very well guarded because it means an awful lot of money to the to the Jordanian government and its meal you probably know a lot more about it than I do. For what my friends who gone Israel told me that again the security is extremely tight I will find out more about that as we go great thank you yeah the themes of the trip that I should tell you this I'm going to tell your kids we're going to do some reading before we go always said you don't want to go to a place and then find it to be really interesting and then leave and not can a backwards go back and see where you just were those summer reading books the ReUse have several chapters on on israel-palestine on the Middle East and all that we will be reviewing that stuff before we travel at we will have or about two months weekly meetings on campus to get ready for the trip but you don't want to come here think well I'm limited in the story of that you girls campaigning for 6 months that I we were taken to Jamaica this is not a trip to Jamaica I would love to go to Jamaica the girls would love to go to Jamaica but this is not a vacation this will be a really enjoyable but this will be about learning about three three monotheistic religions in this area we're going to talk about history ancient and modern we're going to enjoy the food we're going to meet people and then talk to them and try to put a human face on all of these places and yes I can see the question there are local experts that we we meet on these tours our tour guide usually introduces us to still be a special tour for the the Holocaust Museum when we go to Israel they'll be one in in in Wadi Rum and if you don't know anything about Wadi Rum take a look into it is loaded with history it goes back to prehistoric times there are petroglyphs there I put in my little blurb your kids brought them home my childhood was misinformed by by like Lawrence of Arabia leading the Arab Revolt Lawrence didn't leave the Arab Revolt Lawrence help out the Arabs in the Revolt by what is true is that not only did the movie still there they passed through there this is where tribes met the Arab tribes met before they attacked they went on the long journey to attack Aqaba in 1916 so that yes there will be a special guys in experts when we go to various places I'm going to open up for more question cuz I can have a tendency to talk especially into my computer any more questions at this point let me share a couple things that Kathy molinelli would like me to share for everybody first of all it to keep up with all this when we send email please open them even if you think I'm long-winded I'm not I'm very engaging and entertaining but more importantly chappie stuff is is very important for a billing deadlines and all that if you don't have a passport or if your passport is going to expire in August of 2023 you're going to need new one so that the kids will need to get a passport quickly and do not wait the backlog from covid is diminishing but it's still taking longer to get a passport in a did before covid back in March 2020 so take a look at it we had one student last year who ended up not going cuz they didn't look at their passport until February last year and that's just simply is not possible to get it can a human human want to jump a little bit here but the application process about the kids needing to attend the meetings you want to jump in on that recognize some of you were on my mind so you are so Excuse me while I go through this but yes it's all listed there's also on the website that if you go into the st. Mary's website under Student Life therapy enrichment week shin and there's a whole section on the application process that the kids need to come to a meeting a mandatory meeting with me first in order to get the application and this is why I really want to be very clear that these are educational trips they are educational you're not going to go with your 15 Dusty's and all room together and do your own thing you're going to be walking a lot you're going to be experiencing culture and so it's it's it's can't be kind it's going to be tiring for sure we keep my plate and we get them up early and so you have to be able to adapt and you wanted one earlier is that actually your passports need to be good until October 2023 six months after the March date so if you can check that's what the renewal is a lot of countries will not let you travel if you don't have a passport that's good for 6 months of 20 past the date that you will ride back so just going to give a heads up read your email please I don't want to be disciplined I haven't had discipline problems on my trips at least if I did they were so clever they got away with it but why do bed checks but the kids are travel with us I always make the joke that if you travel with the principal and he is the jury and the judge dispersed true we're going to another and then these are two countries that don't play around and we had over the years mainly and domestic trips kids bring vaping pens with them and try to sneak a man or the little one oz bottles of whatever that then they stole from Mom and Dad these are extraordinary bad idea and and and students who are want to do something like that probably don't want to travel on Erie trip was the river so the wall talked a lot about that I don't want to belabor that because I'll tell you we haven't had problems or trips I have enough problems with a D in my wife and other people on the we take cuz the kids have been really respectful we have had trouble over the years in New York we had we had trouble last year and London part of that was because the group of friends were together and the kids Aiden London without moving for a while so they started looking for where they could go get a beer but that will probably won't be Jordan is probably not a great beer drinking country and we are going to talking to the kids before they go for kids with with health issues or the shift over here we would like to know those the TSA company has a has places where we can visit a doctor in every city I will tell you that I have the doctors in the middle of the night in Valletta Malta and in Eve's Egypt which was one of the more extraordinary doctor visits I've ever had my life but being aware of Health needs I've been all that it's important to be informed of all that we're just want to make sure people have a shot to Washington the chat so one question was what size as a group are we looking to take and yeah I do believe we've taken groups as large as 32 I think of the ideal size is about 2425 part of that depends on the chemistry the kids but we have taken ripped up his largest 30 we would need at least 16 to make this a viable ship payment being required Catherine talk about payment date Louis Tomlinson okay so the email I sent today there's a link to a website so we could you go to the st. Mary's website and go to Student Life Enrichment week you'll see that everything's right luminary jendiz every regenerates are all posted there on the website we just have to find the enrichment week Tab and then if you go to the sidebar it'll talk about the application process and the due dates for Billings and everything else what one thing that's our business office has always been very good at doing is working with families to so this is if you scroll down there on the side there this is patient information and then you can see her flyers for the trip and swimming area generates for trips so you can access all the information there that's really good information Mom and Dad's to try to look at the trip into tail so if you clicked on tonight later on tonight Israel Georgia see everything over or you can do it now so all that's there and then there's like two pages of day today original map it's a long trip this is a longer trip and it's one day longer than we usually do which means we get home on Sunday and the kids go back to class on Tuesday and then only have till 2:30 6 hours to recover sleep will be important we I do we do shift or departures when we're traveling sometimes tour guys like to get off at me to get out there by 8 a.m. which means you have to eat breakfast at 7 but but part of it we need to sleep to so I can adjust that the question about is there a process by which the tour will be called off due to State Department issues the answer is a process but we keep checking throughout now especially in the the covid age that we went to Italy and Croatia last year and both countries were were second from the highest as far as being aware of a problem due to covid but yeah will take a look and see where we we we always do take a look at that Jordan historically has been one of the most stable countries in the Middle East in the think we're all pretty bunch of we're about Israel you know that the violence that occasionally where is between the Gaza Strip and Israel if when home ostroff is the Rockets back and forth with the idea you know it happened sure but right now we're operating the we're going to be okay are we are not going near the Gaza Strip so generally speaking be staying as you can see where we're going down Lee Nazareth Tel Aviv on the coast but mainly Jerusalem alright this light is not flattering me I just want you to know I don't I didn't realize these that the age of my neck but now I'm now I am up and turn lights out does anybody have any last questions I just posted the link to the original Wii portal so you can view what I just had up on the screen if you click there and then if you look further up in the chat I did pay the itinerary but again if you go to the original Wii portal you can access it as well all right the next time those of you who are still interested in the trip would be hearing from me is probably in a couple of weeks after we get through all of the applications and picking kids are various trips I will be in touch with you via email probably once every couple weeks starting men early mid October much more frequently when we get when we returned early January again we're going to have meetings with the kids once a week usually what we had back in the old days at lunch but we might do it during into study time on Wednesdays or Thursdays so that we can start trying to catch it up so we know what we're going to see when we see it before we see it okie doke all right everybody God bless you thank you homework is your vegetables and I will see you guys soon thank you so much thank you so much have a good night thank you baton Vape

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