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3 Favorite Packing Accessories

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When I was a kid, I loved packing because it meant we were about to travel somewhere. I also loved flying. How times have changed… Now flying is plain agony for me and packing is a chore. Journey schmourney. Sometimes the joy is in the destination and the best we can do is survive the journey and arrive with everything we need, neatly packed in an efficient and organized fashion.

So, without further ado, I present my favorite packing accessories fromTravelSmith, three tools that make packing fun, almost.

Shelves to Go
This is brilliant – a hanging shelf unit that collapses into your suitcase. Hang it in your closet, pack the shelves, put it in your bag. The shelves keep their contents contained and organized. At your destination, lift the shelves out of your bag and hang them in the closet. Your clothes are out where you can see them and access them easily, without having to unpack.

Large Shelves To Go
Open: 20″L x 12″W x 23″H. 1 lb. 12 oz

Small Shelves To Go
Open: 18″L x 12″W x 23″H. 1 lb. 8 oz.

Shelves to Go
Shelves to Go

 

Packing Envelopes
These not only organize your bag but keep clothes neatly folded and wrinkled free. They come with a folding board, very helpful.

Large TravelSmith Smart Envelope
18″L x 12″W. 14.3 oz.. Holds 4-5 jackets, skirts or pants.

Small TravelSmith Smart Envelope
15″L x 10″W. 10.7 oz.. Holds 6-8 shirts, skirts or pants.

packing envelopes

packing envelopes

Compress-it Cube
Compress a 5″ stack of clothes to 1″ with magic zippers. You can take five-times more clothes!

KIVA® Large Compress-It Cube
10½”W x 1½”D x 13½”H. 5.75 oz.

KIVA® Small Compress-It Cube
10″L x 7″W x 5″H. 4 oz.

Compression Cuba

Compression Cuba

Travelers with Ya’lla Tours get a discount on TravelSmith purchases!

The winner of this week’s drawing is Terry from the Hawaii General Store & Gallery in Seattle. You too can be a winner! All blog followers are entered. We draw a name every Wednesday. The current prize is a $10 Starbucks gift card.

Ya’lla Tours Hearts Travel Agents

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Ya’lla Tours is one of those rare tour operators that does not solicit business from the public and that does not chase down your clients directly after you make a booking with us.

I cannot count how many time that I have sat in an office where the lament of the  travel agent and owner is that this individual (or group) booked and then XYZ Company came along and directly took the next booking from the individual or group. I also cannot count the number of times that that same agent and owner will book XYZ Company again.

Why?

The reasons vary: XYZ Company is preferred; XYZ Company is what this client wants; XYZ Company is less expensive than the others.

Another client is gone to XYZ Company.  For good.

Ya’lla Tours invests a lot in travel agents.  Every penny of the commission paid to you is worth it, because you deliver a better qualified client to us and we form a good relationship with you. We do not have a booking engine on our extensive website purposely, because we do not want the public to be on the site and booking things that many do not even understand.  Ya’lla Tours has done 113 agent educational FAM trips over the 20 years in business, and at the end of each trip, Ronen Paldi, President of Ya’lla Tours, will fly to Israel, to Turkey, to Morocco or Greece, to wherever and hold a day-long seminar on how to sell and market what you have just experienced with us, and why you should use Ya’lla Tours.

Ya’lla Tours does love (heart) travel agents.  We have proven it year after year, and you know what, we want and will ask for your support in turn.  Stop giving away your valuable clients to companies that promise the love but then jilt you in the end.  Travel agents, if you have preferred operators taking bookings directly or taking your clients, let your boss know and let your consortia know; that way we all stay in business and make some money.

Guest blogger Rich Davis, Ya'lla Tours USA Sales Manager, Midwest Region

Guest blogger Rich Davis, Ya’lla Tours USA Sales Manager, Midwest Region

3 Hotels We Love in Istanbul’s Old City

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Hagia Sophia Hotel Istanbul Old City

This hotel’s best feature is its location in the heart of Sultanahmet. It’s practically on top of the Hagia Sophia Museum, the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque) and the Basilica Cistern and an easy walk away from Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. It’s a modern hotel, converted from an existing building and opened in August of 2011. The rooms are clean and spacious and some offer sweeping views of the Hagia Sophia Museum. We use this 5-star hotel in the Diamond and Platinum categories of our Istanbul tours.

Hagia Sophia Istanbul Old City

Hagia Sophia Istanbul Old City

Hagia Sophia Istanbul Old City

Hagia Sophia Istanbul Old City

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Saint Joan of the Worms

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“Worms?  You brought worms?”

We were on a motor coach on a busy street In Havana, on a legal ministry trip to deliver lotions, soaps and medical supplies to the Cuban people, and this was the question as we gathered some of our supplies for a stop at one of the churches.

“I thought that was something you brought home with you,” said another traveler.

Laughs.

“Not real worms,” said Joan, the worm carrier.  “Fake ones.  For bait.”

Our trip through Cuba took us to a number of stops, but finally the right stop for the delivery of the worms took place not far from the Cuban home of Ernest Hemingway, the famous American author of The Old Man and the Sea.  Hemingway lived in Cuba from the 1930’s to just after the Cuban Revolution of 1959.  There he wrote and he drank and he was known as “Papa Hemingway.”

Not far from Finca Vigía or Lookout Farm, there is a bust of Hemingway  on a pillar near the sea. The motor coach stopped and while some of us – okay, only me – sat and relaxed in the heat of the sun, others, including Joan, walked to a nearby pier where children and men were fishing. That is where she delivered her worms.

I can only imagine the sight. A bus full  of Yanquis arrive from nowhere and deliver what might be the first rubber worms ever in Cuba to an unsuspecting village crowd one afternoon and then disappear forever. It might go down in Cuban legend and lore, especially if those worms catch some big fish.

And with every legend there is a hero or a heroine, and that would be our own St. Joan of the Worms. 

Saint Joan may get her own bust right next to “Papa Hemingway.”

ricardo
Guest blogger Rich Davis is the Ya’lla Tours Midwest regional sales manager.
He just returned from escorting a group in Cuba. Check out his previous posts RevisitingTrinidad de Cuba and The Old Man and His Pee.

Lost & Found in Wadi Rum

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I visited Wadi Rum while co-escorting a group of about 30 with Rich Davis, our Midwest sales manager and frequent guest blogger. Our incomparable guide Ahmed was our true leader but we were there to make sure all services ran smoothly and keep track of everyone. It was a large group, so we were forever rounding up stragglers and counting heads. Of course our #1 responsibility was as keepers of The Box, but I mention this only as a cryptic allusion to another post sometime in the future.

Wadi Rum was towards the end of the 10-day tour of Jordan and was a highlight for me. I was very excited when our bus dropped us at the visitor center, where we were to board 4×4 vehicles and ride into the wadi and meet the bus on the other side. The visitor center consists of single story buildings and a wide open courtyard looking directly out at the famous Seven Pillars rock formation.

The 4×4 vehicles weren’t quite lined up when we arrived and the group was spread out around the center, looking at the displays, visiting the toilets etc. Like a nice hostess, I got in the end of the line for the restroom. When I went into the lady’s room my group was spread in all directions and the 4x4s had not arrived. When I came out 3 minutes later I didn’t see a single face I recognized.

Visitor Center, Wadi Rum, Jordan
Seven Pillars, Wadi Rum, Jordan

Although it was true that I had been left behind, the thought was so inconceivable that it didn’t even occur to me until I had walked around the whole center and made a visual sweep of the outside perimeter 2 or 3 times. How does a group of that size disappear in 3 minutes? They were so gone I couldn’t even see their dust. Thirty scattered people coalesced, distributed into 6 vehicles and rode beyond the horizon, with their dust, in 3 minutes. I had been corralling these nice people for over a week and couldn’t fathom such a thing. It’s a mystery to this day.

I know what you’re thinking. OK, 5 minutes, max. I swear.

Just as I was realizing my situation a  handsome man in traditional dress approached and asked if I needed anything. I’m pretty sure he had been watching me circle and was way ahead of me. He took me to an office where I phoned Ahmed, who sent a truck back for me. Because they were split into so many vehicles, no one even knew I was missing.

A few minutes later a Bedouin-driven Toyota 4X4 blew up in a cloud of dust. I rode in the cab with the driver who drove very fast across the sand while peeling an orange and sharing it with me, section by section. He swerved abruptly a few times and I squealed involuntarily, which he found highly amusing. He chatted away in Arabic the whole ride, although I think I made it clear I didn’t understand him.

It was only 10-15 minutes before we reached the group, which was stopped to take in the astonishing scenery. The assumption was made that I had stayed behind to conduct important Ya’lla business. I did not dispel that myth. Only Rich and Ahmed knew the truth.

You’re where?
Ahmed & me
Ahmed & me
Bedouin driver in Wadi Rum, Jordan
off-roading in Wadi Rum, Jordan
off-roading in Wadi Rum, Jordan
Ricardo of Arabia (aka Rich Davis)
Wadi Rum, Jordan
traditional transportation, Wadi Rum, Jordan

Read about Petra, biblical Jordan and border crossing between Israel and Jordan in previous posts.

Visit www.yallatours.com/jordan to see our Jordan tours, all privatly escorted and customizable.

The Old Man and His Pee

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Hemingway's bathroom, Finca Vigia, Cuba

Hemingway’s bathroom, Finca Vigia, Cuba

Most all of us do it: we read while on the throne. Today that reading can be done with an iPad or the old-fashioned way, on paper.

While visiting Ernest Hemingway’s home on a legal trip to Cuba I became curious as to what the most famous American author of the 20th Century might have read while going potty.

Hemingway lived in Cuba from the 1930’s to 1960, when he left due to the Cuban Revolution of 1959.  He had a beautiful home just outside Havana called Finca Vigía or “Lookout Farm.” When Hemingway left Cuba the government took possession of his home. After his death in 1961, his widow was allowed to come back and take some personal things back with her, but the house remains as Hemingway left it, lined with books and trophies of his big game hunting days in Africa, and, of course, his reading material in the bano.

Hemingway and Cuba have quite a history together. Hemingway wrote a number of his famous novels there, including The Old Man and the Sea, which was based on a local fisherman. So intertwined with Cuba is Hemingway, that many people when visiting go to some of his favorite haunts, including his home and the El Floridita Bar, where the Daiquiri was invented.

We were on a legal trip to Cuba, whose purpose was to deliver much-needed goods to the Cuban people, such as soaps and lotions and medical supplies, but I had a chance to see what Hemingway read while pooping, so I examined the bookshelf next to the commode. You can only view it from the outside, as with all the rooms in the house, and I craned my neck to take a look at some of the volumes.  A few stood out.

One book was on the adventures of big game hunting and one other that caught my eye was a biography of Houdini.

Houdini was of course the famous escape artist of the early 20th Century, and I couldn’t help but wonder if, for all his bravado, whether Hemingway suffered from constipation and if he was reading about different escape methods that might have included ingested food.

The next time I go to Cuba, I will search out the el supremo story of what the most famous person in Cuba reads on his throne.

Fidel?

ricardo
Guest blogger Rich Davis is the Ya’lla Tours Midwest regional sales manager.
He just returned from escorting a group in Cuba. Check out his previous post written from Trinidad.

Petra, Stupefacente!

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I’m trying to figure out how to write about Petra without resorting to overused, and thus meaningless superlatives and adjectives of wonder. The English language really needs some fresh words to describe truly impactful places and experiences. I considered making up some words of my own but made-up words are mostly just annoying.

How about we use Italian adjectives. Say them out loud with feeling; remember to pronounce all of the vowels and include exuberant hand gestures: MAGNIFICENTE! FORMIDABILE! MAGICO! STUPEFACENTE!! Now you get the picture.

I was stupefied by Petra. For me, the only other site that matches the stupefying effect of Petra is the Giza pyramids. I’m sure there are many other places that would strum a similar chord (Machu Picchu for one) but I haven’t been there yet.

I don’t mean to rank Giza and Petra the best places I’ve seen. I never know how to answer the question, “What’s your favorite place?” Every place has its own power. The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Athens Acropolis, the Fez Medina, the Sahara Dunes…each strikes at a different angle and evokes a unique response. It’s a vibrational thing. I can attempt to categorize them but I can’t rank them.The Category of Stupefaction (TCS) encompasses stunning feats of design and engineering, with an element of mystery.

Within TCS I would make subdivisions. Petra’s being was commercial; so, coming from a highly commercial place and time myself, culturally it’s somewhat more relatable than Giza. The ancient Egyptian culture of Giza, despite all we know about it, is still quite alien (and I don’t mean ET alien, necessarily). Part of Petra’s effect is its spectacular physical setting. Giza is many things, but naturally beautiful is not one of them.

Thinking about the specific ways I’m moved by different places and why sent me on a bit of a tangent. Thank you for your patience. You got the abbreviated version, believe me.

Back to Petra, where I was stupefied by sprawling monumental remains of an elegant city carved into the red sandstone walls of a desert canyon.

Petra is entered through a long narrow split in the mountains called the siq. It’s about a mile long with 500 foot striated, undulating walls on either side, barely 10 feet across in some places. The whole way through, around every bend I was anticipating my first glimpse of Al Khazneh (the Treasury), Petra’s most famous monument, which is positioned to fill the hairline view through the end of the siq into the city. I had butterflies in my stomach, my heart raced a little. The walk through the siq is thrilling because of where it leads but it’s also incredibly beautiful in and of itself. Besides the natural loveliness, I noticed channels carved into the rock walls, which captured rain water to protect the city from flash floods and to create a man-made oasis. Petra’s sophisticated water works also included miles of ceramic piping from area springs and over 200 cisterns.

At my first sight of Al Khazneh, the rest of the world dropped away. I was conscious only of moving toward it. Then I was there, standing in the shadow, climbing the steps, feeling the cool stone. It’s real and more impressive than any photograph or breathless blog reminiscing can convey. And there’s so much more. Al Khazneh is just the beginning.

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Petra was a city of 50,000 at its peak 2,000 years ago, built by the Nabateans, a nomadic Arab tribe that controlled the trade routes in the area. The city was established in the 6th century BCE as a hub for traders traveling from the east and south to the Mediterranean port at Gaza. Imagine the camel caravans carrying exotic products from China, India, Arabia and Africa en route to points across the Roman Empire.They all passed through this crack in the mountains and they paid to do so. Petra was fabulously wealthy.

The freestanding buildings are mostly gone. What remains are hundreds of rock-cut tombs, temples, theaters and dwellings. You need a full day in Petra, at the very least. If you want to really explore, take three days or more.

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Petra is in southern Jordan, about 165 miles south of Amman and 85 miles north of Aqaba. You can do a day trip from Eilat in Israel or Aqaba, but it makes for a very long day (it’s about a 2.5 hour drive each way).I highly recommend spending at least one night at Petra. The town of Wadi Musa sits just outside the ancient site, serving Petra visitors much as Petra served itinerant traders back in the day.

Read about biblical Jordan and border crossing between Israel and Jordan in previous posts.

Revisiting Trinidad de Cuba

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My first time in Trinidad de Cuba was in 2003.

There have been some changes since then, as the city has taken on a much more tourist friendly attitude and is reflected in the increased number of shops and restaurants.

Trinidad de Cuba, the province of , Sancti Spíritus, was founded December 23, 1514, by a rich Basque landowner from central Cuba. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988.

The main economy is tobacco processing, but tourism is an increasing source of income for the residents of Trinidad.  In years past, Trinidad was a cultural center with theaters and music schools, and a haven for silver and goldsmiths. Today, there are, of course, the tourist shops, but also some very good street markets where you can find some authentic Cuban handicrafts, including textiles.

We visited a number of the old villas or palaces, which are now museums and then walked across the plaza to the Santísima Trinidad Cathedral, which is the largest operating church in Cuba. It is very ornate, with many side alters dedicated to various saints and the Virgin Mary.

In some free time I walked from the Iberostar, which is a 40-room, boutique hotel on a wonderful plaza, and had a quick meal at a tiny private restaurant. My meal was a large ham, egg and cheese sandwich and two Cristal beers, a local Cuba brew. My total cost: 7.50 Cuban Pesos, which is about $9 US. But it was my bar amigo who was most interesting. He told me he was a “professor.” I asked of what, and he said “tourists.” Meanwhile, the well dressed bartender (and owner, I imagine) was rolling his eyes. I think the “professor” was making a bar-to-bar study of the visitors who came to Trinidad and his podium was the bar and his lecture was to anybody who would listen. Still, he was extremely friendly, and as I left he wished me a great stay.

Back at the Iberostar, our group had decided to stay in and have a pizza party, featuring some very good pizza (thin crust). I begged a few slices and was impressed, and I am from Chicago, known for pizza.

All of Trinidad is a living museum, and it is frozen in time, because of the shifts of economy during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century, so everywhere you go you are walking on old cobble rock streets, passing ancient houses with red tile roofs, and listening to the music, which is everywhere.

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Speaking of music, I have noticed now that every meal seems to come with a band. And every band come with a $10 CD. Some people like that and some don’t. I don’t mind it too much, but like home, I sometimes pay them to go away.

The one thing about Trinidad is that they do need the soaps, the lotions and the medical supplies that we bring. There is such a lack of things that we can easily buy at dollar stores or that we get from hotel stays. You just wish you could bring more, because more is always needed.

I stepped outside the Cathedral and an artist was doing pen and ink drawings of the plaza, and he asked me “when it will all end.”  He meant the United States imposed travel and trade embargo.  I shrugged. “Soon?” I said with doubt.  Fifty plus years now, so who knows.  “Yes,” said the artist, “that would be good.”  We both knew that “soon” in the political world can be decades.

If you see nothing else in Cuba, see Trinidad.  It is so beautiful and the people so friendly. You will love it.

ricardo

Guest blogger Rich Davis is the Ya’lla Tours Midwest regional sales manager.
He is currently escorting a group in Cuba. Internet connection from Cuba is spotty, so I don’t have Rich’s photos yet. I wanted to get his post up to stay as current as possible, so included some images from previous trips. We’ll do a post of Rich’s photos in the near future.

Camel Riding and Other Fun in the Sahara Dunes of Morocco

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Baby camel in the Sahara Desert of Morocco.

Baby camel in the Sahara Desert of Morocco.
He’s smiling.

My favorite camel story is from a few years ago, while I was escorting a group of travel agents in Morocco. It was a group of twenty or so very experienced agents, mostly women. I have escorted quite a few fam trips in my 15 years with Ya’lla Tours and this was a particularly happy and relaxed group of intrepid professionals. Ronen (Ya’lla owner) was traveling with us for the whole trip, rather than arriving on the tail end, as usual. That took a lot of pressure off. He lives to schmooze. Me, not so much.

After quick visits to Meknes and Rabat and two days in Fez, we drove south over the Atlas Mountains and on to Merzouga at the edge of the Sahara desert. From Merzouga, we rode camels into the Erg Chebi, a vast area of wind-blown dunes, to our Berber camp. This part of the trip was the highlight for most of us and the mood in the bus was raucous and giddy as we pulled up to the herd of camels waiting placidly, mostly, for their next assignment. While the bus maneuvered into a parked position, most of the group was pressed to the camel-facing window, cooing and exclaiming. The camels sat on the sand facing back, unimpressed. Still in the bus, random group members called dibs on specific camels to whom they felt a personal connection, “The one with the red harness is mine!” “I want that one over there!” This became a trend until one of the women imagined out loud what was being said on the other side of the window, “The skinny one is mine!”  “I don’t want the one in the red t-shirt!”  “These people need to lay off the snacks.” Hilarity ensued.

Finally out of the bus, we paired off with our mounts. One camel had been complaining loudly since we drove up. I’ve never, before or since, heard a camel make such a protracted and adamant statement. He was mine. I don’t know what the fuss was about but he calmed down once we got moving. Tracy (Ya’lla operations manager) also met a memorable grumbler with a group she escorted in Morocco. They called him Chewbacca. Maybe Chewie and my camel were one in the same.

We didn’t ride far, just up and over a couple of dunes. We stopped and toasted the sunset with champagne and then carried on over a couple more dunes to our camp. From bus to camp, it was probably less than an hour. That was enough. Riding up and down sand dunes on the back of a camel is strenuous. On flat ground, it’s much easier. (If you’re considering a camel trek of more than a few hours in the Sahara, I recommend some months of Pilates beforehand for core strength and regular use of that machine at the gym that works the inner and outer thigh, the good-girl/bad-girl machine. You’ll especially need strong inner thighs so concentrate on the good-girl moves.)

The next morning, camels were available to anyone who wanted to ride out to watch the sunrise. I think most people chose to walk. I know I did. Walking up and down 300 ft sand dunes under your own power is no piece of cake either, but definitely worth the effort. You crawl more than walk on the way up and slide-sink/somersault-roll on the way down. Engage abs and quads, mind the knees.

Young “guides” from a nearby village gathered at our camp before dawn to offer their services. I followed a tweenaged boy into the cold, dark morning. We put 3 or 4 dunes behind us and at the top of number 5 he motioned for me to sit and stay and then disappeared. A few minutes later he reappeared with an arm load of a dry reedy plant that made a fine little fire to warm our hands. Now dawn was breaking and a great range of red sand mountains emerged around us.

Do you think I can find photos of any of this? No. I’m going to keep searching. In the meantime, here are a few from different fam trips to Morocco. They are illustrative even though the quality is not great. Is it better to have a post with medium quality pictures than with no pictures at all? I just don’t know.

Forward ho! That’s our NW regional sales manager, Grant Westenberg, on the back. Sahara Desert, Morocco
A local Berber guide helps a group member with her head scarf, Sahara Desert, Morocco.
A Blueman helps a Ya’lla traveler climb a dune in the Sahara Desert of Morocco. Tuareg Berbers are known as Bluemen because of their traditional blue scarves and robes.
Traditional Berber tent in our Sahara Desert camp. Very cozy!

Check out our Morocco tours here www.yallatours.com/morocco.

Israel Border Crossing, the Outs and Ins

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We get a lot of questions about Israel border crossing. It’s very common to combine Israel and Jordan as travel destinations and somewhat common to combine Israel and Egypt. Continue reading →