Preparing for Israel

Dear Friends and Family,
Oh my gosh, I have a blog! I feel like I have just leaped into the 21st century and am a bit nervous that I'm out there in web-world. The purpose of this blog is to journal our trip to Israel and to help us to keep in touch with family and friends more easily.

Stu and I began planning this trip in early 2008. We met with friends, discovered many had already been to Israel, and found another couple who wanted to join us--Susan and Joel Brosse, our neighbors here at Trilogy, in Phoenix, Arizona (actually--in Peoria, Arizona northwest of Phoenix). Susan is a great web explorer and she did all of the leg work in finding us a tour group. Here's how the trip will shape out for Stu and I.

We leave Phoenix on Friday, February 27th, heading for New York. Cousin Audrey is meeting us at the airport, we'll spend the night at her house in Coram Long Island. Saturday we're off together to visit Uncle Larry, Aunt Roz, and whichever other cousins are available for our one day trip. From Uncle Larry's place we'll head for JFK airport where we'll most likely wait around for a while until our 11 PM flight leaves on El Al for Israel.
Sunday, March 1st, we'll arrive at Ben Gurion Airport (I'm so excited I can't believe it is finally happening.). We've rented a car, although we've been forewarned about the crazy Israeli drivers--each one I'm told owns the road. We'll drive 2 1/2 hours north to Tiberius where we have swapped for a time share. We'll spend a week in the north visiting Tiberius at length, the Golan (heart of Israel's wine country), and Haifa Univesity.
Following Tiberius and points north, we head to Tel Aviv where we have rented a small apartment on the beach for three days. We haven't planned our whole itinerary so we'll share it with you as it unfolds.
We'll meet the tour group on March 11th, and our friends Joel and Susan, and spend the next 15 days letting someone else lead us around.
When the group leaves on March 25th, we're going to Jerusalem where we'll stay for another 8 days. We've rented a studio apartment in the home of a potter. We're looking forward to watching her work, to spending a lot of time in and around Jerusalem catching anything we might have missed with the tour.
We'll leave Israel on April 1st, around ll PM and arrive in New York the same day, I think. Again we'll spend time with our family, mostly on the island, and then return home April 7th just in time to prepare Passover dinner.
We can hardly believe the time is here, and already anticipate when it will be behind us--boo hoo.
I haven't packed, or even thought about the clothes to bring. We always figure what we missed we can do without or buy along the way. As long as we have jeans, comfortable shoes, and a sweater, we can do anything. Shabbat clothes are a must and we do have them on the list.
We hope that you pop in as often as you want. We'll attempt to post pictures and journal--if I can figure out how to do that.
Our Israeli phone number is 011972528891810. Calling from the states is no charge. Calling back is a bit costly, but not prohibitive. We'll plan to stay in touch via e-mail (Israel is very connected and we are traveling with a lap top). The phones are for emergencies and for getting around in country.
Hope that you are all well, that you check in, and that I can manage to keep the blog going and keep it interesting.
Shalom,
Adrienne and Stu