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

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

In Europe, it is more customary to find people using "smart cards"--a debit card with a chip in it instead of a magnetic stripe. Credit cards are still looked upon with suspicion, and some merchants will outright refuse to accept them as payment (since it costs them money to accept them). If you do use a credit card, you may need to show the merchant how to record the transaction (aka "swipe" the card through the reader which is normally at the top right of the handheld device they use)--I ran into that issue a number of times last year.

You can still get a cash advance from an ATM using a normal credit card, though.