Getting Ready

This is a part of the trip NOBODY takes pictures of.  It wouldn't make pretty pictures.  Getting ready.  Our literature that came from the Center for Holy Land Studies gave us a nice set of recommendations about what to bring and what not to bring on our trip.  It recommends things like bringing your own supply of toilet paper as not all the public restrooms (another topic of itself) supply it, sunscreen, hats that cover your ears and the back of your neck, money in small denominations to facilitate exchanges, sturdy but comfortable shoes, snacks, water bottles, sunglasses, your Bible, all the texts sent with the packet, and a lot of other useful stuff.  Tucked into the list of recommendations was to start walking daily a mile or more to get yourself in shape for the trip.  

Really?  I mean how much do you have do to get in shape for a trip to the Holy Land?  Anyways, it was a little recommendation we did not pay enough attention to. Now the recommendation to pack snacks did get my attention, after all, you don't want to take a trip like this without Oberto Natural Style Beef Jerky would you? Well, we were pretty busy before (and after) the trip so getting around to walking on the tread mill was kind of a chore.  Since it was still pretty icy outside and we didn't want to slip and injure ourselves before the trip, it was the tread mill or nothing.  So, I got on it (after clearing all the stuff draped over it) and walked twice for a total of two miles on two separate days.  

Not enough.  Not nearly enough.  Someone on our trip had a pedometer and clocked our walking.  We averaged over 5 miles a day!  That might not be a big deal if it was on level ground, but Israel is not a level ground kind of place.  You are either going up or going down a set of stairs or a rocky path of some sort and in the spirit of our forefathers that walked to school uphill both ways, it seemed like we were always going up.  This is true.  Often we would walk uphill for extensive distances to whatever important site we were supposed to learn something from.  That's OK since we will be walking downhill when we are done, right?  No, that's where the buses would pick us up and transport us to the next set of stairs that needed to be ascended.  So it seemed like we were always going up.  Even the buses had stairs to get into them.

No, getting ready for a trip like this is not something to be lax about.  There are frustrations like trying to put everything recommended to bring in your suitcase and still having room for things you really want to bring like, clothes. They recommend you bring only ONE medium suitcase per person and keep it to 35 pounds or so.  Well, in my case, one pair of my shoes takes up one side of a medium suitcase and takes up about 30 pounds of my 35 pound alotment.  JoLynn on the other hand can pack a closet full of shoes (not that she did) and still have room left over.  So you get creative about the kinds of clothes you can bring like pants with zip off legs, kind of goofy but useful.  That way you get a pair of shorts and a pair of pants with one garment. I wish they made shirts this same way - with zip off arms.  It would be really useful on a trip like this.  That way you could double the combinations of clothes that you wear without looking like you are wearing the same thing every day, except that BBQ stain in the middle of your shirt might give it away.

Honestly, getting enough shirts and underwear, a jacket, a hat and socks, etc. is a real challenge for a unseasoned traveler as myself.  I'm just not a compact sort of person so my stuff takes up a lot of room.  Getting ready for a trip of this sort takes some planning and attention to the recommendations and a fair bit of creativity.  Its not like my usual pack the night before I leave in the morning sort of trip.  

After getting back home I think I did pretty good.  I think I wore or used everything I packed in my suitcase and I didn't feel I had left out anything I had wished I had thought to bring.  And it all came in at about 38 pounds.  Really, I don't resent the recommendations as it really is nice to travel light and had I gotten in the walking groove before I left I might not have been so exhausted in the evenings.  It's all good and helped us make a great trip.