Shalom Hartman this summer

[cellio]

I just registered for the Shalom Hartman Institute summer program in Jerusalem (after confirming a sane refund policy in case the region goes pear-shaped in the meantime). My rabbi recommended this program a few years ago and I've been eying it every year, and this year the stars aligned (dates, interesting topic, timely responses to email queries). It sounds like a great experience and I'm excited to finally be going.

I'm also kind of nervous -- not about the program, and not about the Iran thing (I can always bail), but rather about being a solo international traveler. This will only be my second time off the continent and the first time I went with a tour group so I didn't have to personally arrange anything, and somebody was steering us in useful directions. Those of you who've done this "foreign travel" thing, this is your enthusiatic invitation to tell me anything you think I ought to know, no matter how big or small.

Whee! Eeek!

Comments

[fauxklore]

I wouldn't worry about taking local currency. If you can even get shekels in the U.S. they will be at a very poor exchange rate and you will pay high fees. There is no shortage of ATMs at TLV and around the country. (And one can pay for a surprising amount of things with U.S. dollars.)

I travel a lot, often alone, to places where I don't speak the language and where things are considerably less developed. (Israel is a first world country. Almost.) So feel free to ask me any specific questions.

Oh, re: flights, if you can't get non-stops, think carefully about connecting times. I've been presented with way too many options that have minimum legal connecting times and no margin of error. Allow at least 2-3 hours to connect at most European hubs. (FRA and CDG connections almost always require long bus rides from a remote parking stand to the terminal. And Israel has a lot of additional security which slows things too.)

[cellio]

Thanks for the advice! I haven't chosen flights yet, so I may have some questions for you about better and worse places to connect. (There are non-stops from New York, and there are flights that stop in various places in Europe. If I can get one of the former I will, if it isn't crazy-expensive compared to other options.)