[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

1) Get travelers insurance before you arrive. 

It’s extremely frustrating when you get to Eretz Yisrael only to find that your luggage has not made the trip with you, and stayed at the departure point, or, even worse, ended up in another country! When you are spending several thousand dollars on a trip, it’s worth every penny to get insurance that covers your luggage, tickets, and health.

2) There’s no such thing as a “Cheap cell phone” rental. 

Cellphone rental offers vary widely, with some prices seeming too good to be true and others seeming outrageous. But when all is said and done and your trip is over, you’ll realize that the “cheaper” option was in reality much more expensive, after all the minutes and fees tacked on. Getting a rental for $4-5 a day that includes unlimited talking will make your trip more pleasant in the long run.

3) Apartments can sound like a dream- but sometimes they are a bad dream.

While advertisements for short term rentals might seem amazing, offering a “spectacular view”, that view might be of a parking lot facing a construction site.
At the least, always ask for good quality pictures of the apartment to be emailed to you so you have a better idea of what you are renting. Don’t just gloss over them- look for clues in the pictures that will tell you if the apartment is as good as you thought, or if the “rooms” are nothing more than closet sized and inappropriate for the number of people you wanted to place to sleep there.

4) Don’t always rent a car at the airport.

It sometimes pays to get a taxi or van (called a “tender” in Israel) from the airport to your apartment; depending on when you arrive and the parking situation there, it’s much less stress to get to your destination, pay the driver, and take your luggage inside than to start hunting for a parking spot at that hour!

Why take a tired family, exhausted from a long trip, and have them sit around while you wait in line for an undeterminable amount of time at the car rental desk? In addition, you save the $27 airport surcharge and one rental day, which more than covers the taxi.

5) Too Much Money is dangerous.

Don’t bring along too much money- but have money accessible somewhere back home that is sendable to you if necessary.

6) Plan, Plan,Plan.

Everything in your trip, start to finish, needs to be planned… with a backup plan as well. there’s nothing as frustrating like planning a trip north—only to get there and find out that everything is closed due to some local holiday… or that the venue is unavailable or overbooked. The internet is full of information, but much is outdated and some is outright wrong. Always deal with someone that knows what they are doing and has the contacts and knowledge to give you a trip so great that you’ll never forget!

Yossi Landau is the CEO of Planit, Israel’s premier destination trip planner in Israel. He welcomes your comments and questions at [email protected]. For more information or to make a reservation, call the Planit Travel Desk at (718)360-9445 or visit www.planitisrael.com .